Bioshock: Where's the Beef

            This past week I was finally able to play through the original Bioshock. Let it be said before I continue, and the whole  of the Internet comes down on me like a raging storm. I will not spoil the ending. In fact I won't even come close.

             Rapture is a wondrous place, filled with mystery and intrigue, a place run by a  man seeking freedom from the morals of religion and the restrictions of science. Andrew Ryan builds Rapture with the motto "No God only man", and the player witnesses the consequences of this belief as they traverse the dilapidated halls of this underwater city. That is one of the many joys of  Bioshock, discovering what secrets the city holds, and how these secrets brought the city to its ruin.

            Along with these secrets Bioshock offers insight into a character who calls himself Atlas. Atlas is there from the moment the player steps into Rapture. Speaking to the player over radio Atlas asks them to save his family which Ryan has trapped somewhere in Rapture. As the player nears the family's location they realize that Ryan is one step ahead of themselves and Atlas.? Ryan kills the family by blowing up the submarine in which they are trapped moments before the player is able to reach them. The player's mission then turns from rescue to assassination as Atlas ask, "Would you kindly go and kill the son of a bitch

            So the player is propelled forward to Ryan's office where they confront the man, and Bioshock offers up its major revelation. The player was not just a man who had crashed in a plane and found refuge in a  lighthouse. He was not just a man who had found his way to this dystopian city, and he was not a man who had tried to help a desperate father. He was an assassin who brought down a plane In order to reach Rapture and kill Andrew Ryan. An assassin activated by the simple phrase "Would you kindly".

            Ryan tells the player that they are in fact  a pawn of Atlas sent to kill him so that Atlas  can take control of the city. Ryan effectively asks the player what makes a man, or as he so eloquently puts it, "A man chooses a slave obeys". the player is essentially is a slave, able to do only what is told. Ryan is so willing to make this point that he orders the player to kill him, and the player character does so without question..    

            As all of this is taking place I thought to myself, that was great, such a fantastic twist and an engaging cast of characters, I'm not going to forget this ending anytime soon. Now all I have to do is find a way to escape Atlas's control and  confront the man and take my revenge, that shouldn't take more than forty-five  minutes to an hour right? I couldn't have been more wrong.

            The problem isn't that the game thrusts the player back into Rapture for another three to five hours, I love Rapture, and I would explore it forever. The issue here is that after Ryan is killed the story is essentially over, all the player has to do is play a prolonged dénouement,  one that last three to five hours. Think of it this way, before and immediately following Ryan's death the player learns all they are going to learn about their past, about Atlas and his battle with Ryan and about the Little Sisters and their relationship with the hulking Big Daddies.

            To that point, while it is true that the player becomes a Big Daddy however, the change comes because the player has to get through a door that only a Little Sister can open. Don't get me wrong I was thrilled when I realized that I would be a Big Daddy. Though as I dawned, helmet, suit and boots I realized I wasn't really a Big Daddy. The change came, but it was a purely  cosmetic change and not a change in character ability. Throughout the game the player gets the sense that the Big Daddy is the pinnacle of strength and fortitude in the world of Rapture. Though when the player takes on the mantle of this paragon it becomes nothing more than a giant key for a door.

             Bioshock is a great game, it just struck me that the game's climax is not near the end, but instead occurs in the middle as a result the game suffers for it. Again, being in Rapture for an extended period of time is not the problem. The problem is that the player's extended stay in this underwater city does not add  to the information the player already knows. So by the time they confront Atlas,( who at that point is revealed to be Frank Fontaine) the player's emotions have cooled and the fight loses most of its emotional impact.

             Bioshock is an example of how a singular powerful moment can define a person's experience. It is interesting to me that this particular moment can be so memorable and thought-provoking that it makes the player not care what happens after it. Though for me it just makes me think "Where's the beef"? What more do you want to say with this world or its characters? In this case it does not continue to answer that question and it just kept me asking, what more do you need to say?