It took me a little bit to warm up to Bioshock 2. But once I warmed up to, I fell in love with it on several different occasions. For instance, when my upgraded gatling gun caught a thuggish splicer on fire and the Little Sister perched on my shoulders squealed with delight, proclaiming, "Marshmallows!" As near as I can tell, she only did that once during the entire play-through. That just makes it all the more precious.

After the jump are nine more times I fell in love with Bioshock 2.

9) Realizing that the tick-tick-tick sound is water dripping on my helmet

8) I was going to say coming to Siren's Alley. But then leaving Siren's Alley happened. I definitely fell in love with Bioshock 2 all over again upon leaving Siren's Alley.

7) Being out in the ocean and seeing a shark languidly circling overhead

6) Realizing that I could pick up traps I'd placed that hadn't been set off. I could even take back the spears I'd fired from my speargun.

5) "A double-barrelled shotgun? How stupid. What is this, Doom? Why would they put a...Whoa! Okay, that is awesome." To say nothing of the phosphorus rounds or fitting it with four extra chambers so it can hold six shells.

4) Seeing that my summoned apple-box bots had unique names. Usually cute ones.

3) While I'm giving those slicers the what-for, the Little Sister taunts, "Daddy's giving you cards and parties!" Yeah! Wait, what? I have no idea what that means or if that's even what she's saying, but it sure is adorable.

2) When I found out my name

1) The end. And the part right before the end. And the part right before that. Bioshock 2 has three fantastic treats waiting for you at the far end of the game.

It's Bioshock 2 week:
Monday: the review
Tuesday: what you just read!
Wednesday: helpful tips from the other side of the game
Thursday: the multiplayer review
Friday: a conversation with the developer