Amibguous Cad
Member
The original Bioshock was really something special, something that I'm not sure that could be greenlit in today's market, at least at the AAA level. "First person shooter deconstructing Ayn Rand" sounds like the kind of twee indie bullshit that I'd expect to see with minimal production values and middling execution for twenty bucks on Steam these days. Not something one of the largest publishers in the world would throw its weight behind.
Not only did it have a killer premise, the philosophical underpinnings weren't just window dressing or pretension. The game actually had something to say, even if that something was as simple as "Rand bad." Everything in the game was designed to reinforce its theme of decadence and hubris, and it all hung together in a coherent way. It even managed to mostly avoid dissonance between story and gameplay and actively made the gameplay reinforce its themes. I don't have time to go into all the reasons why it succeeded, and I'd probably need a replay to tease it all out. But off the top of my head:
-The plasmids. Probably more than anything else, this reinforces the game's central themes. They play a central point in the game's backstory, being the reason why Rapture collapsed in the way it did. (though seriously, Rapture? You're gonna make a religious reference for your Randian utopia when Galt's Gulch is sitting right there?) They're supposed to be a seductive element of power, and I think one of the first plasmids you get even explicitly references garden of eden iconography. And they feel amazing to use. There's little more satisfying than luring someone into a pool of water and watching them sizzle when you unleash the electricity at them. In any other game, this is just juvenile power fantasy. More thoughtful gamers probably realized that this feeling is exactly why Rapture collapsed in the first place.
-Resource constraints. Thematically, it wouldn't work if you felt powerful all the time. So the game doles out plasmid fuel and ammunition sparingly, and you've gotta shepard your resources. Maybe I was just bad at the game but I always felt like I was one bad fight away from exhausting my stores and being completely vulnerable. Again, the game is basically saying to you - "you think you're powerful, but you're very dependent. It could all go awry in any second. Once your resources are gone you're toast. Your power comes with a price." Again, both resonant, and makes for interesting gameplay
-Environmental manipulation. The Randian hero is above all clever. She does not only triumph through force of arms. And Bioshock is very, very good at making you feel clever, at using everything in your disposal to eke out a victory. Again, just blowing shit up wouldn't have worked as well for a game about human intelligence gone awry.
-The characters. Most of them are all examples of what happens when hubris gets the best of you and human desires run amok. Sander Cohen's aritistry in Fort Frolic is the one you all probably remember, but I was also taken by the obsession with beauty from the plastic surgeon.
-You all probably know why "A man chooses, a slave obeys," is brilliant, but I will note that it grooves well with what I've known of some real life Randians that like to imagine themselves savvy social manipulators.
-Even the poorly executed final boss fight can be justified as an illustration of how trite and adolescent the Randian hero actually is.
(okay, I honestly have no idea how the big daddy/little sister thing reinforces the themes, but based on how much else the game gets right I'm assuming I'm missing something.)
Meanwhile, Bioshock Infinite has... *has to look it up because the game was so damn unmemorable* vigors, I guess because that's what a Bioshock game has? I'm willing to make narrative sacrifices to gameplay if they're good enough, and vigors are definitely good enough. It's just that they replaced the gameplay functions of plasmids and didn't replace their thematic functions. I like Booker and Elizabeth's relationship, and I'm guessing they were trying to tie the themes of freedom for the slaves, freedom for Elizabeth, and the pointed lack of freedom for certain American classes, into some unified whole. But it never comes together. And again, the sci-fi schlock of the ending was kind of interesting in its own right but it feels like it comes from a completely different game than the rest of it does. If I squint there's probably something there about the freedom of movement in the Skyhooks reinforcing through gameplay the other themes of freedom in the game, and maybe something about Andrew Ryan having to hide his utopia under the sea while the Americans built their's in the open where everyone can see its power. But it just doesn't hang together. With enough work Bioshock Infinite could probably be worth the name, but it's like a particularly raw rough draft.
If you'll permit me to be a little pretentious here - I was honestly dismayed by the generally positive reception the game got. It was like "oh, no one actually liked Bioshock for the reasons I liked it." Give a well executed shooter, bolt a few philosophical references and quotes on, call it a day satisfied that you've added a touch of class to your despised hobby. It certainly didn't do anything to disabuse me of the notion that y'all are insane for showering Braid with laurels for being purposefully obtuse and referencing nuclear war a couple of times.
I am at least heartened by the fact that memory of Infinite has largely faded and the game doesn't enjoy a particularly great reputation anymore. Even if most people don't overanalyze their games to an absurd degree like I do, I think all of those great decisions that Bioshock made really did pay off to the average gamer, if only subconsciously, and that's why Bioshock's stuck with us while Infinite was forgotten a few months after release.
Not only did it have a killer premise, the philosophical underpinnings weren't just window dressing or pretension. The game actually had something to say, even if that something was as simple as "Rand bad." Everything in the game was designed to reinforce its theme of decadence and hubris, and it all hung together in a coherent way. It even managed to mostly avoid dissonance between story and gameplay and actively made the gameplay reinforce its themes. I don't have time to go into all the reasons why it succeeded, and I'd probably need a replay to tease it all out. But off the top of my head:
-The plasmids. Probably more than anything else, this reinforces the game's central themes. They play a central point in the game's backstory, being the reason why Rapture collapsed in the way it did. (though seriously, Rapture? You're gonna make a religious reference for your Randian utopia when Galt's Gulch is sitting right there?) They're supposed to be a seductive element of power, and I think one of the first plasmids you get even explicitly references garden of eden iconography. And they feel amazing to use. There's little more satisfying than luring someone into a pool of water and watching them sizzle when you unleash the electricity at them. In any other game, this is just juvenile power fantasy. More thoughtful gamers probably realized that this feeling is exactly why Rapture collapsed in the first place.
-Resource constraints. Thematically, it wouldn't work if you felt powerful all the time. So the game doles out plasmid fuel and ammunition sparingly, and you've gotta shepard your resources. Maybe I was just bad at the game but I always felt like I was one bad fight away from exhausting my stores and being completely vulnerable. Again, the game is basically saying to you - "you think you're powerful, but you're very dependent. It could all go awry in any second. Once your resources are gone you're toast. Your power comes with a price." Again, both resonant, and makes for interesting gameplay
-Environmental manipulation. The Randian hero is above all clever. She does not only triumph through force of arms. And Bioshock is very, very good at making you feel clever, at using everything in your disposal to eke out a victory. Again, just blowing shit up wouldn't have worked as well for a game about human intelligence gone awry.
-The characters. Most of them are all examples of what happens when hubris gets the best of you and human desires run amok. Sander Cohen's aritistry in Fort Frolic is the one you all probably remember, but I was also taken by the obsession with beauty from the plastic surgeon.
-You all probably know why "A man chooses, a slave obeys," is brilliant, but I will note that it grooves well with what I've known of some real life Randians that like to imagine themselves savvy social manipulators.
-Even the poorly executed final boss fight can be justified as an illustration of how trite and adolescent the Randian hero actually is.
(okay, I honestly have no idea how the big daddy/little sister thing reinforces the themes, but based on how much else the game gets right I'm assuming I'm missing something.)
Meanwhile, Bioshock Infinite has... *has to look it up because the game was so damn unmemorable* vigors, I guess because that's what a Bioshock game has? I'm willing to make narrative sacrifices to gameplay if they're good enough, and vigors are definitely good enough. It's just that they replaced the gameplay functions of plasmids and didn't replace their thematic functions. I like Booker and Elizabeth's relationship, and I'm guessing they were trying to tie the themes of freedom for the slaves, freedom for Elizabeth, and the pointed lack of freedom for certain American classes, into some unified whole. But it never comes together. And again, the sci-fi schlock of the ending was kind of interesting in its own right but it feels like it comes from a completely different game than the rest of it does. If I squint there's probably something there about the freedom of movement in the Skyhooks reinforcing through gameplay the other themes of freedom in the game, and maybe something about Andrew Ryan having to hide his utopia under the sea while the Americans built their's in the open where everyone can see its power. But it just doesn't hang together. With enough work Bioshock Infinite could probably be worth the name, but it's like a particularly raw rough draft.
If you'll permit me to be a little pretentious here - I was honestly dismayed by the generally positive reception the game got. It was like "oh, no one actually liked Bioshock for the reasons I liked it." Give a well executed shooter, bolt a few philosophical references and quotes on, call it a day satisfied that you've added a touch of class to your despised hobby. It certainly didn't do anything to disabuse me of the notion that y'all are insane for showering Braid with laurels for being purposefully obtuse and referencing nuclear war a couple of times.
I am at least heartened by the fact that memory of Infinite has largely faded and the game doesn't enjoy a particularly great reputation anymore. Even if most people don't overanalyze their games to an absurd degree like I do, I think all of those great decisions that Bioshock made really did pay off to the average gamer, if only subconsciously, and that's why Bioshock's stuck with us while Infinite was forgotten a few months after release.
