Digitally Disillusioned

I recently took the time to finish Bioshock. Being adorably similar to one of my favorite games ever - System Shock 2 - I was really eager to see how they finished off the plot which at least at some points appeared quite nuanced. It ended up being a bit disappointing, but we’ll save the spoilers for after the break.

The comparison of Bioshock to System Shock 2 is inevitable, and in some respect that reflects more poorly on Bioshock than Bioshock deserves. It has been a long time since Shock 2, and even back then Shock 2 didn’t sell very well which is why it’s been so for a successor, even a spiritual one like this, to come along. If I was them I’d recycle some of the awesomeness that infused the earlier game too. The younger generation certainly isn’t going to notice the similarities, and while it is relevant to dwell on them I don’t necessarily mean it entirely as a criticism.

The only criticism I do intend is how I see some things that didn’t quite work in System Shock 2 still not quite working, and it is just a bit dissapointing to see all the time between Shock 2 and Bioshock go into a few specific areas while nothing was done to the plot to really make this game a slam dunk. But to say more we need spoilers, so click through if you want more.System Shock 2 had a very weak final portion - the “Body of the Many” - and it was sad to see such an overall exceptional title end on such weak notes. Bioshock has a similar turning point, the final, fateful meeting with Andrew Ryan. This point comes much earlier in the game, relative to the end of the experience at least. However, the decline in quality is much more subtle and more gradual, and instead of turning bad (because, really, System Shock 2 really sucked from that point on) Bioshock just becomes a little more bland and a little more mediocre than it was at the beginning. It is important to emphasise that “after Ryan” Bioshock remains a fun, detailed, fantastically beautiful game with entertaining gameplay and decent level design - things Shock 2 lacked at the end.That is not really a scathing criticism, and perhaps the parallel is all in my head, but seeing that parallel after the long delay between games is disheartening.

The real decline in Bioshock is all related to the plot, and the delivery of the stories denoument. See, before meeting Andrew Ryan, Bioshock gave the player a lot to think about. There was a consistent quality to the game world that made you really wonder about Rapture, the people that came here, the people that were left, and what was really going on. You felt there were stories in Rapture that we not being told, that even with the linear avenue through which you explore Rapture it had a feeling of presence.

After Andrew Ryan you shoot some stuff until the game is over. And the last thing you shoot - the “boss” - is pretty ridiculously over the top.

One of the big “draws” to Bioshock was the inclusion of the Big Daddies and Little Sisters. And in the end I felt this was a bit disappointing as the inherent conflict of the abuse of small children was really glossed over, and only makes itself known a few times. Indeed, as it is introduced, the decision to harvest the Little Sisters does not seem especially monstrous. You don’t really feel like a compassionless ogre for doing it - not until much later in the game, when it is much to late to avoid the “bad” ending.

And boy is the bad ending BAD. Certainly the idea of moral choice is interesting, but the consequences of your behaviour should be commensurate to your actions and Bioshock does not live up to this obligation which is required to make the moral melodrama palatable. Honestly, Bioshock ranks up with Deus Ex : Invisible War in incomprehensibly bad endings that are only loosely related to the substance of the game. But to rub salt in the wounds the endings to Bioshock are ridiculously short.

Once you discover the big secret of Bioshock, many things in the game take on new light - you do not control your behavior to the degree you think you did. I find the idea of giving the character motivations unknown to the player that just happen to coincide with the linear path through the game to be really trite and manipulative. It pulls you out of the experience, as its not your experience any more - its some characters experience you get to pilot for some reason. I asked right off the top “why am I doing all this dumb shit”, more importantly “why the fuck did I find a needle on the ground and jab it in my arm?” and the answer is I didn’t have a choice but I just didn’t know it.

Note that “Would you kindly” doesn’t even fit into the initial infusion of ADAM so actually it just makes no sense at all.

I play games to have choice, to make choices, to interact with the game space. The FPS genre is a very intimate experience - you are seeing things directly - and creates an expectation of intimacy with the narrative. Unless expressly stated in the story, the player is YOU. That is also important to the moral decision making process.

Now, in an adventure game I don’t mind when Solid Snake goes off and does some dumb shit in a cutscene as those games are about moving from cutscene to cutsc ene, relating a predefined story based on a character you just get to muck around with for a bit. But in a game like Bioshock I usually have more control of the experience, that while a linear progression through levels I control how to interface with that experience. Bioshock robs you of that feeling, and it was irritating.

The game also posesses an obnoxious degree of spawning splicers in to places you’ve just looked. Unless there was some “air duct” or other logical back door mechanic at work that I missed, I find that really ruins the suspension of disbelief in a game. You can use it a little bit - especially in open corridors to simulate wandering traffic - but they overused it. I was in the “Eugenics Lab” and cleared a room, converted a turrent to be friendly and shoot enemies, and as soon as I left the room the god damned turret goes off because some idiots spawned in behind me. That is just bad design.

The “sleeping splicers” gimmick is only slightly better, but was again overused. And the sharp ramp in difficulty - especially on leadhead splicers - was really obnoxous. I had to switch up my gameplan to compensate - which was a nice change of pace - but it felt really arbitrary and diminished the immersion the art department had worked overtime on. The game really needed a new enemy to show up at that point instead of arbitrarily ganking things you’ve been fighting all game.

There are a number of other things that were obnoxious and unnecessary: the inability to review your plasmids outside of stupid vending machines. I could accept not being able to change them (but why then can I change them when I pick one up then?) but please let me SEE them. The similar inability to know at a glance what research you have done. And, the ridiculous overabundance of vending machines - there was one in Fontaines apartment for crying out loud.

I liked how hacking varied in difficulty - safes gave me a really hard time mid game - but the overabundance of autohack tools really triviailized that. On medium, 10-15% of crap should be left behind as unhackable. It gives you a feeling of curiosity and reminds you that you are not superhuman. I’ve not played Shock 2 in a long time, but I remember being REALLY cautious about what I used autohacks on. Not so here.

The last point can only be to go back and say that while I loved the aesthetic, the Von Braun (System Shock 2, sorry kids) was a more believeable space than Rapture. Neither was perfect, but Rapture felt more like a game than the Von Braun. Stuff was put places - notably turrets - with the goal to specifically fuck with you rather than feel like it was fucking with everyone, you just happened to come along.

Don’t misunderstand. Great game. HIGHLY recommended. But interesting in how it didn’t improve on Shock 2, and interesting in how it didn’t carry its fantastic opening though to the mid/end game. Overall, I’d say its a 8.5/10, but System Shock 2 was a 9. If I rag on Bioshock too much for your taste it is perhaps only because I like it when my “sequels” excel over their predecessors, not feel like “best of” compilations with new art.