***SPOILERS AHEAD, ye be warned
I hold the original Bioshock on a very high pedestal. Its approach toward deconstruction of a linear narrative was, in a word, phenomenal. I was near giddy when I heard the good people at 2k were planning a return trip to that underwater paradise (lost) Rapture. Then the news broke that you would be playing as a Big Daddy, and in my mind from then on it seemed much more like a cash grab then a fully fleshed out sequel.
Honestly, that is what it feels like most of the time. It just doesn't seem like a story that anyone really wanted to tell. Bioshock was a big enough hit that they had to make a sequel, so they started with the idea (gimmick) that you would play as a Big Daddy. From there they made a decent story to wrap reason around exactly what you're doing in Rapture.
They just went in the wrong direction with Bioshock 2. The reason Rapture was so captivating in the first was due to the mystery. Seeing a mans dreams and ideals be destroyed by human nature was riveting. Almost all that effect is lost in Bioshock 2. Ironically, they started with the right idea. The opening cinematic shows Rapture as it was before it went to hell in a hand basket. The rest of the game I couldn't shake the feeling that I wanted to be playing that game. I wanted to see Rapture in all its glory, talk to normal people, watch someone record an audio diary.
Apparently the only thing to do in Rapture is record your thoughts
This is still a Bioshock game though, and at its core it delivers with a finely crafted twist. The entire game you are chasing after your Little Sister, who was taken from you by Sophia :amb, the new villian. While the first game took the path of slavery vs freedom, Bioshock 2 leans toward the act of choice. Namely that the choices you make don't really effect you. You can be a nice, mean, or neutral Big Daddy, but what you won't realize till the end of the game is that your actions were never meant to shape you, they were shaping who Eleanor (your "Daughter") would become. In the end that is all that really matters about the game, and as a person standing at the precipice (read: several years away from) of parenthood, I found the message quite resonating. Who you are is not as important for yourself, not in the long run. When you have children, who you are can directly effect who they become.
So Bioshock 2 wasn't so bad after all. It didn't quite have the same impact as the first, but it did better than most. Lamb's anti-Ryan persona makes for a terrific antagonist, and filling in some of the blanks from the first game (even though done through audio diary) was a great touch. Also, there is a very cool scene toward the end where you play as a Little Sister, and you see Rapture through their eyes, very interesting stuff. If you were a fan of the first Bioshock I'd highly recommend it... If you haven't already played it... At the very least it can well stem the tide before Bioshock Infinite, which lets face it, looks AMAZING!
New subject matter for Infinite... Can't wait!
No comments:
Post a Comment