BioShock: More Like Ayn Rand Than Initially Thought
A new splicer for BioShock 2...The Old-timey Football Splicer!
A little while ago, I finally started playing BioShock, a neat-o lookin’ game from 2K Games. It won some awards when it came out, and as Bioshock 2 is soon to be released, I thought it was time. I remember being pretty excited about it when the game first came out way back in 2007…
As I first wrote about Bioshock in my First Impressions category, I was amazed at the visuals of the City Under the Sea, Rapture, and the literary nerd in me was intrigued by BioShock’s use of Ayn Rand as an inspirational jumping off point. And at first, when I first started playing Jack, my first-person shooter I never get to see, I was happy and interested. I was engaged, much like reading Ayn Rand for the first time, but alas, that engagement turned sour by the time I reached the end.
I have to say the final battle in BioShock leaves a lot to be desired. And that is kind of how I feel about most of the “boss” battles of which there are few. Most of BioShock involves you running around looking for stuff to use to do stuff like mix chemicals and then take the new chemical compound somewhere else in order to do something with it. Maybe if I had listened to the many characters talking at me over the two-way radio I would have known what I was doing and why I was doing it rather than just running around and killing things.
Not that I’m bitching about killing things, but where at one time, I was following the story and into the plot, by the end of the game, I totally didn’t care anymore and went around on autopilot, saving Little Sisters and taking out the four varieties of Splicers as well as the Big Daddies, before becoming one myself. Which I guess it a one-way journey, and saving little girls from genetic engineering is more important than me/Jack returning to normal society ever again.
And I was so sick of hacking things…I started blowing everything up rather than hack them, missing out on the assistance of hacked security bots and turrets, but not caring as the hacking is tedious and relatively unrewarding. Also, there is an actual cut-off point for money. Once you hit $500, your “wallet is full.” Huh?
The ending kind of reminded of Dead Space in that the person you think is on your side turns out to be a major douchebag, except in Dead Space it made sense, whereas in BioShock, it’s a guy who’s motivations for screwing you over are not quite clear. Something about implanted memories or a “sleeper agent” — I don’t know, nor did I care by then.
All in all, Bioshock was fun for the first 8 hours or so. Just like Atlas Shrugged…
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