Final Thoughts: A Some Years Later

When we promulgated a similar article based happening the underivative BioShock, we found that a couple of graphics cards at the time could provide playable performance victimisation the superiority predetermined at 1600x1200 (1680x1050 is the widescreen version of this resolution).

In fact, mid-pasture and level some high-end nontextual matter card game of the time, equivalent the GeForce 8800 GTS and Radeon HD X1950 XT struggled at 1600x1200 with average frame rates dipping below 40fps. Thus we concluded that if you were not excessively picky about performance, you could get away with a GeForce 8600 GTS using low settings at resolutions at or on a lower floor 1280x1024.

We went on to say that regrettably Bioshock didn't seem to be the same stake when victimization low nontextual matter settings and we get the same impression with this sequel. As far as graphics are concerned, BioShock 2 is very redolent of the original and we had a petrified prison term telling the two asunder. Patc some may find this disappointing, it is largely good news for gamers happening a budget, particularly those who cannot afford to blow $300+ on a graphics menu.

Gamers using a 22" LCD sieve leave be put off with an affordable graphics cards such as the Radeon HD 5750. Some may even feel the Radeon HD 4770 acceptable.

Those with 24" screens will find the Radeon HD 5770 to take enough backbone to act as BioShock 2 at 1920x1200 using the high quality predetermined. If you haven't upgraded for a piece and silence keep going a GeForce GTX 275 or Radeon HD 4890-level artwork card then you are well outgoing the requirement to run this game with all eye candy ruttish.

Having now soundly tried and true BioShock 2 using a small army of graphics cards, we can safely say that gamers should only aim to play this pun using the high quality preset. Not only did we see a significant diminution in visual quality when using the medium select preset, but the performance was non greatly developed.

The Radeon HD 5750 byword its average frame rate increase by 8.5%, a mere 6 fps earn, while the minimum frame rate was increased by just a single frame. Slower graphics cards, such as the GeForce 9600 GT, also saw smallish gains, with the median increasing past 9% which worked dead set be a dismal 4 extra frames per second. These small performance gains simply Don't vindicate the noticeable reduction in visual quality.

In terms of stability BioShock 2 did have its fair parcel of teasing bugs and spell some of them could be goddam connected graphics scorecard drivers, we were still disappointed. The game also has an annoying level of anti-piracy measures, just as the original did. Information technology's this kind of features that put me off buying such games. The multiplayer aspect is similar to Call of Responsibility: Moderne Warfare 2 in the sense that you have to be connected to the Internet to wager terminated LAN, and that is sportsmanlike rubbish in my though.

However my personalized feelings parenthesis, the problems that we encountered when examination BioShock 2 included visual errors with vsync disabled, occasional crashing when using Crossfire, and the unfitness to change resolution without having to first ALT+TAB out of the game. Actually the issue with dynamical the resolution was once more sole limited to ATI graphics cards, though once or twice the issue bestowed itself when using Nvidia ironware.

What we were forced to do every time we wanted to interchange the resolution was to prize the desired setting and click apply. The screen would then go blank and remain that elbow room indefinitely unless we quickly bump off ALT+Pill taking USA to the background and then hit Elevation+Check once again to re-enter the game. This had to be cooked within the 15 second countdown or the resolution would revert back to its previous setting.

This made benchmarking quite a painful arsenic you can imagine, having right away finished this run over a hundred times. The slider bar used to select the resolution is also very clumsy, while on the cocksure side we likable the menus in BioShock 2 as they were spry and easy to navigate. Thankfully this is likely a task that many of you will only do on rare occasions.

Finally, the only other request I have for my own benefit, and of feed those curious in testing their scheme's performance, would be for 2K Games to include a well-stacked-in benchmark feature to help gamers accurately measure the impact various visual quality settings give on performance.