BIOSHOCK 2
So what the hell happened with Bioshock 2?
This time, we've been dragged back to what was left of Rapture after the closing of the first
game. It's 10 years later and you wake
up as one of the iconic "Big Daddy's," lumbering around in some giant
Victorian era diving suit. Which for all
intents and purposes is where the first game left off.
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I didn't make it more than a few hours before I gave up on
the game. It's one of the worst reviewed
of the franchise and for good reason. Even
with a metacritic
user score of 7.9 out of 10 it wasn't anything more than a recycled storyline
with slightly improved controls.
For all the hype and the 3 intervening years fans had to
wait, they had a right to expect more.
In short, if you like FPS games and really enjoyed the "Little
Sister" storyline in the original Bioshock this game's for you.
As such, it's not for me. I was bored with it. Instead of wanting to see more I just wanted
out. As a now fan of the first game this
is nothing less than a fail. Gimmicks like
he inclusion of multiplayer were even more laughable. 2K and Irrational games milked the franchise
cow and I was having none of that milk thank you very much.
but, at least I didn't pay full price. ...
BIOSHOCK INFINITE
So finally, mercifully, I was onto Bioshock Infinite. Arguably the only game I really paid for and
even then at a 75% discount.
It opened with my character seated in a rowboat being taken
to a secluded dock at the base of a lonely lighthouse. Hmmm, seems familiar but I soon found that's
where the most obvious Bioshock reference ended.
Columbia...
OMG, this was incredible.
I was hooked, hours melted away.
A rich, lavish, utopian world and you just knew something was going to
screw it up. That something was you.
I love that!
It was still only a DirectX 9 game but they used every bit
of it. Did I still trip over invisible
curbs, get stuck in Velcro shrubbery and occasionally have to contend with
controls as sluggish as an Atari 2600 joystick?
Yes, of course, just like any other DirectX 9 game but it didn't
matter . The story was good, the
environment every bit as immersive as Battlefield 4 or Call of Duty. Again, I was hooked.
I liked the way the developers let you get a feel for the
place before people started shooting at you.
I also appreciated how they let you take a breath between bullets as
well. The themes were clear. Hyper religious zealotry driven by megalomania
with a side of racism just for good measure.
Fascism was there as well but more of the nationalistic
breed than Andrew Ryan's corporatocracy.
The good of the state or at least the idealistic society it purported to
be were paramount.
It was engrossing.
I remember strolling through a cobblestone street with a
barbershop quartet singing, "God only Knows" in 4 part harmony on the
Victorian equivalent of a land speeder.
Which I accepted till it occurred to me that this particular song was
actually released by the Beach Boys in 1966.
This was supposed to be 1912.
In another section of the map I heard CCR's "Fortunate
Son"
Amusing. Just an
Easter Egg but it seemed to fit the now uneasy backdrop of what was rapidly
becoming a dystopian world.
Just like the first game I was pulled along. Learning new abilities and gaining new
weaponry to further my cause. Unlocking
puzzles and always keeping a sharp eye out.
In games like these you learn to look in every nook and exploit every
cranny.
It's how I survived...
Twists, turns, heart wrenching morality and outright
slaughter, you never knew what was coming at you. History buffs would chuckle at the distortion
of their tomes. Stone effigies of the
likes of John Wilkes Booth and Jefferson
Davis alongside George Washington.
Looming larger than them all was the primary antagonist,
Zachary Hale Comstock, the Prophet as
he preferred to be addressed.
So the game continued on with the story revealing itself
like the layers of an onion.
Brilliant....
Sadly, it all had to end.
The final crescendo, the answer nagging for your attention throughout
the entire game was at hand.
Except...
The devs screwed it up.
Cheating me out of a hard fought and anxiously anticipated
conclusion.
Irrational Games decided to cheap out on the end and instead
of leading you to a natural conclusion placing a final "God
Battle" in the way of unlocking the secrets I'd invested so much time in
learning.
What the hell?!
Instead of seeing the end credits I was forced to defend
some blue jar on the deck of a floating air barge from hordes of invading foes
I was ill-prepared to dispatch.
I was sent scurrying to YouTube to find an answer. After a dozen attempts and just as many
failures I relented. I've been defeated
by a game mechanic. It was like getting
to the last chapter of a book and finding someone had ripped out the pages and
locked them in a box then thrown away the key.
Life's too short...
The game became a grind and one that took me further away
from the story. It broke the immersion
and for that sin I cannot forgive Irrational games.
Again, just as in the first game and all of Bioshock 2, the
idea was to protect something defenseless with less than adequate means.
I don't have any patience for that. Challenge? yes! Stupid? No!
Again I was resigned to YouTube to see what was denied
me. Gracious souls either more skilled
or more lucky than I had posted the footage I would never see from my own
efforts.
All of the failings that were mere annoyances became
impenetrable barriers to me. How could I
go through the entire game without the need of trainers, cheats or hacks only
to be thwarted at the end. So much for
being a straight shooter.
At least you had console commands in Bioshock 1 and 2. No such luck in Bioshock Infinite.
BIOSHOCK EPILOGUE
Those similarly afflicted (and there's a lot of you out there) have our revenge, however. It seems the same crass disregard for fans
has now extended to Irrational Games itself.
Ken Levine shut
down the studio forever leaving most of its staff to fend for itself
elsewhere. It seems the same DNA that
created my annoyances with Bioshock was really just an expression of studio
head Ken Levine's callousness.
So while the second DLC for Bioshock infinite is shipping
now don't expect any more. Even with
infinite universes, there are no more pages to Bioshock's story.
Maybe that's a good thing...
In an alternate universe where Levine let Irrational Games
continue, maybe the follow-up to Infinite would have been just another Bioshock
2.
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