It’s been rather a long time since I finished a game, though thankfully not as long as it’s been since I finished BioShock. All the same, definitely too long. But over the past few weeks and culminating in an enforced snow day on Tuesday, which is slightly ironic when you consider that I never bothered to get the plasmid that lets you freeze people into ice sculptures, I played its unimaginatively-named sequel, BioShock 2, to completion. It seems overly harsh to proceed by saying that “unimaginative” was a convenient choice of word since it can serve double duty by also describing the gameplay, which has a few cosmetic changes but nothing especially new. Honest, yes, but harsh; and I think that feeling of harshness stems from the part of my brain saying, “well, it’s a sequel, of course the game play is the same. That would be like complaining that Halloween II had a tall guy in a mask who went on a murderous rampage while trying to schedule a family reunion![1]”
If, like me, you accept my brain’s premise there, the really important question is, how does the game rate on the basis of plot and theme? And the answer to that is a little complicated. BioShock, as you may remember, was unapologetically cruel to the objectivist philosophy described by Ayn Rand. Or, depending on your perspective, it was compellingly accurate about the end results of objectivism run amok. BioShock 2 seems on the surface to be written as apologism for that cruelty. At least, the simultaneously cartoonish and ham-fisted portrayal of Sophia Lamb as Andrew Ryan’s philosophical nemesis reminded me so much of the strawmen used by Terry Goodkind throughout his Sword of Truth series that I assume the main point of BioShock 2 was apologia.[2] “That doesn’t sound complicated at all,” you are no doubt thinking. And you’d be right, except that there are moments of real brilliance (mostly in the end game[3]) that shine through that muck and leave me considering aspects of both the original and this game all over again in that light. So, yeah. Complicated.
[1] Insofar as, y’know, of course he did, that was the whole point of it being a sequel.
[2] There is every chance that this is a real word, and a slightly lessened but still significant chance that I’ve just used it correctly.
[3] And therefore firmly in the territory of spoilers. See the ROT13 comment I’ll leave by tomorrow for more detail.
So, there are two specific things I want to reference:
The first is how the game treats the Little Sisters, small girls who wander Rapture gathering up the biotech goo you use to upgrade yourself all the time. They accomplish this gathering by wandering around with giant needles, retrieving the goo from dead bodies, and all the while sounding like Drusilla from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Stark insane and seeing apparent beauty in the most shocking grotesqueries. Spoilers begin in the next paragraph, and surely you know to use rot13.com to translate then?
Lbh fcraq gvzr *nf* n Yvggyr Fvfgre, arne gur raq bs gur tnzr. Naq gur jbeyq lbh’er frrvat guebhtu ure rlrf vf n ornhgvshy tybjvat jbeyq, pbzsbegnoyr naq fbsg sbphf naq svyyrq jvgu pbhpurf, ehtf, sbhagnvaf, jryy-qerffrq crbcyr bs yrvfher; naq va snpg, gur qrnq crbcyr sebz jubz lbh ner tngurevat gur ovbtravp tbb ernyyl qb ybbx yvxr natryf va ercbfr. Gur bppnfvbany syvpxre-tyvzcfrf bs gur qrpnlvat, yrnxvat, ivbyragyl ybhq ernyvgl qhevat guvf frtzrag ner nyy gur zber ubeevslvat guna gurl’ir orra guebhtubhg gur tnzr, cnegyl orpnhfr bs gur pbagenfg, bs pbhefr, ohg zbfgyl orpnhfr bs gur qrrcre vafvtug vagb whfg ubj pehryyl gurfr puvyqera ner orvat hfrq. Crbcyr unir orra pbafgnagyl nggnpxvat gurz, zheqrevat gurve cebgrpgbef, naq hfvat gurz yvxr purff cvrprf guebhtu gur gra lrnef bs guvf jne, naq lrf, gung’f onq, ohg gb shegure frr gung guebhtubhg vg nyy gurl unira’g orra tyrrshy ubeevsvp tubhyf, ohg vafgrnq unccl puvyqera jvgu ab cbffvoyr pbzcerurafvba bs jung vf orvat qbar gb gurz naq jul? Znlor gung fubhyqa’g or zber ubeevslvat, ohg fbzrubj vg vf.
The second reference spoils the actual ending scene of the game, or at least the one I got. More below, and then I’m done.
Lbh’er jbexvat gb cebgrpg gur znva nagntbavfg’f qnhtugre, znvayl sebz gur znva nagntbavfg urefrys. Fur vf n tebja hc Yvggyr Fvfgre jub unf orra zbqvsvrq va fcrpvny jnlf orlbaq rira gubfr tveyf, sbe gur checbfr bs orvat noyr gb fhofhzr rirelbar’f xabjyrqtr naq rkcrevraprf vagb urefrys, juvpu fur pna gura gnxr sebz Encgher naq bhg vagb gur jbeyq ng ynetr gb fnir rirelbar sebz gurzfryirf. (Guvf jbhyq or gung fgenjzna bs n cyna gung gur Enaqvna ncbybtvfgf jub V oryvrir jebgr guvf tnzr ner envyvat ntnvafg, evtug?) Fb, fur unf guvf pncnovyvgl, lrf, naq va gur zrnagvzr fur unf n obaq jvgu lbh gur cynlre, naq frrf rirelguvat lbh qb, rirel pubvpr lbh znxr. Gurfr pubvprf pbafvfg bs n) jurgure lbh serr gur Yvggyr Fvfgref be hfr gurz hc gb trg n ovttre funer bs ovbtravp tbb, o) jurgure lbh zheqre ure sbezre anaal sbe bccbfvat lbh gbqnl, p) jurgure lbh zheqre gur zna jub fbyq bhg lbh naq ure naq nyfb gur nagntbavfg sbe gung znggre naq gura ehvarq n ohapu bs crbcyr jub jrer tbbq-urnegrq ohg fhfprcgvoyr gb znavchyngvba juvyr gur nagntbavfg jnf tbar, naq q) jurgure lbh zheqre n guveq punenpgre jubfr zbgvingvbaf V pna ab ybatre erpnyy. Fhssvpr vg gb fnl gung fbzr crbcyr cebonoyl qrfreir qrngu, naq bguref qrfreir yvsr, naq pna lbh tvir vg gb gurz? Jryy, fbeg bs. Abg va erirefr, ohg bar be gur bgure va gur zbzrag, lrf. Naq fur sbezf ure zbeny pbqr sbe gur raqtnzr onfrq ba lbhe pubvprf.
Abj, nqzvggrqyl, V pna’g fnl sbe fher jung jbhyq unir unccrarq vs V unq orra 100% sbetvivat, ohg V jnf n jrvtugrq 80% be zber. V tbg jung nccrnerq gb or gur tbbq raqvat, jurer fur jnf tbvat gb tb bhg naq uryc crbcyr jvgu ure tvsgf, ohg abg sbepvoyl uryc gurz gur jnl fur zvtug unir. Ohg, naq urer’f jurer vg trgf jrveq: gurer’f ab vaqvpngvba V jnf qlvat, ohg bapr jr ernpurq gur fhesnpr, fur fhpxrq bhg zl fcvevg nf ure cbjref nyybj, chg vg va urefrys, fb gung V pbhyq nyjnlf jngpu bire ure naq uryc ure jvgu shgher zbeny qrpvfvbaf. Naq, hz, vg frrzrq yvxr fur zheqrerq zr juvyr V jnf urycyrff gb npuvrir gung.
Which, I’m just saying, was a compellingly thought-provoking outcome to the game, and I am forced to wonder what other possibilities existed. Maybe the internet knows, though?