BioShock: Difference between revisions

[[File:BioShock_Cover_4436.jpg|frame|[[Lightning Bruiser|In Rapture, Mr Bubbles drills YOU.]]]]

 

''A city where the artist would not fear the [[Media Watchdogs|censor]], where [[For Science!|the scientist]] would [[Above Good and Evil|not be bound by petty morality]], where [[Objectivism|the great would not be constrained by the small!]] And with the sweat of your brow, Rapture can become'' '''''your''''' ''city as well.'' }}

 

 

It is the year 1960. Beneath the surface of the Atlantic Ocean, there lies an underwater city, Rapture, founded in 1946 by industrialist Andrew Ryan. Built by individuals tired of the oppressive hands of church and state, it is populated by the greatest minds of the world. It was to be a [[Utopia]], but the discovery of ADAM, a [[Psycho Serum|powerful but addictive mutagen that can give the user incredible powers]], coupled with Ryan's own draconian policies and basic refusal to place any restrictions on ADAM's sale and use, turned it into a nightmare. Now Rapture is infested with homicidal mutants, fighting each other for the scraps of civilization left standing after a disastrous civil war.

 

 

Jack soon finds his only way out is to fight through hordes of "splicers", the deranged and [[Uncanny Valley|hideously mutated]] citizens of Rapture, using anything he can get his hands on to survive. His arsenal includes both traditional and not-so-traditional firearms (a revolver, a shotgun, etc.) and "[[Applied Phlebotinum|Plasmids]]", special [[Lego Genetics|gene-modifying injections]] that give the user [[Psychic Powers|incredible powers such as telekinesis and pyrokinesis]]. Jack can also hijack Rapture's own security cameras, robotic drones and turrets and use them against the splicers.

Aside from its complex story and jaw-dropping setting, part of the draw of the game is the ability to use the environment, weapons, and plasmids in interesting ways: one can light a splicer on fire, then electrocute the poor soul after he or she leaps into the nearest body of water. Or the player can use the grenade launcher to stick proximity mines onto an [[Exploding Barrels|explosive barrel]], then throw it at a group of enemies with Telekinesis for a huge explosive attack.

 

* [[Accent Relapse]]: {{spoiler|Fontaine goes from an Irish accent to a Bronx one when he reveals himself.}} [[It Makes Sense in Context]].

* [[Amazing Freaking Grace]]: Rosebud Splicers can sometimes be heard singing this as they are idly walking around.

* [[Anachronism Stew]]: Despite Rapture's advanced biotechnology, its architecture and ads hark back to an earlier era. As its for its conventional weapons:

** The Shotgun is a Spencer 1882, introduced in 1882.

* [[Apologetic Attacker]]: Poor Pigskin insists that he's only attacking you because his bosses are making him, and he'd rather go to bed.

** ''"A man chooses. A slave obeys."''

** {{spoiler|"Would you kindly..."}}

* [[Badass Boast]]:

* [[Badass Preacher]]: The Waders splicer model, who spouts religious rantings as he attacks you with an electrified pipe or a set of meat hooks, and who also doubles as a [[Badass Spaniard]] due to his accent.

* [[Barbie Doll Anatomy]]: {{spoiler|Fontaine in his [[Final Boss|final]], [[Sculpted Physique|end boss form.]]}} Apparently, {{spoiler|hulking yourself up with ADAM}} causes your privates to wither away.

* [[Big Damn Heroes]]: At the end of the original final boss fight, {{spoiler|1=the spliced-up musclehead slams you across the room, stalks over, and is about to pound you into mush, when a Little Sister jumps on Fontaine from behind and stabs him with her ADAM-collecting syringe. After he throws her off, a small horde of Little Sisters jumps him and stabs him to death.}}.

* [[Boss Banter]]:

* [[Boss in Mook Clothing]]: Some of the machine gun-wielding Splicers in Apollo Square have even more health than the game's major bosses, but are otherwise completely indistinguishable from the regular, significantly less durable machine gun-wielding Splicers.

* [[Bullfight Boss]]: The final boss of the original. You can try it against the Bouncer class Big Daddies in either game, but [[Lightning Bruiser|it's pretty risky]].

** Steinman starts bitching about beauty while 'operating' on a dead body. It's not technically a cutscene - you can run in and attack him straight away and cut him off but he's got a lot to say before he's ready to attack you, so you listen.

* [[Dead Guy on Display]]: The main hall outside Ryan's office is lined with corpses impaled onto pillars, all unsuccessful saboteurs or assassins.

* [[Death by Irony]]: If the player {{spoiler|kills Sander Cohen and takes a photograph of the body}}, Xbox360 or Playstation3 owners will earn the "Irony" trophy/achievement.

** You can get a similar trophy in the sequel by {{spoiler|1=[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xk7bSYtJ_Pk using telekinesis to chuck a golf club at the animatronic Andrew Ryan's head in Ryan Amusements]. This one's called [[A Worldwide Punomenon|"9-Irony"]].}}

** Look closely at the turrets, and you'll see that they're all basically diesel motors bolted to swivel chairs.

* [[In Soviet Russia, Trope Mocks You]]:

'''Ghost 2''': You don't fuck Fontaine... Fontaine [[Precision F-Strike|''fucks'']] you! }}

* [[Ironic Nursery Tune]]: Some splicers sing "Jesus Loves Me", a popular children's hymn, over and over. Not exactly a nursery rhyme, but it fits. The first Little Sister you see sings a song to the tune of "Frère Jacques".

* [[Mission Control]]: [[Deconstructed Trope|Deconstructed]]. {{spoiler|The guy on the other end of the radio telling you what to do? He isn't helping you, [[Mission Control Is Off Its Meds|he's ''controlling your actions'' and ''your choices are illusory'']]}}.

** After [[The Reveal]], Tenenbaum serves as this.

* [[Notice This]]: Flashing pick-ups kinda take the challenge out of a scavenger hunt. Of course, it becomes part of the big [[Deconstructed Trope]] after [[The Reveal]].

* [[Office Golf]]: Andrew Ryan does this [[While Rome Burns|while Rapture collapses around his ears]].

* [[Playing with Puppets]]: {{spoiler|Ryan does this to you when you confront him.}}

* [[Properly Paranoid]]: Peach Wilkins, though you don't find out that he was right until much later. Also, Ryan {{spoiler|correctly accuses you of being an assassin at the end of Smuggler's Hideout and asks who "sent you"}}. A lesser example from the first game: while the Splicer model Ducky is mostly just a paranoid, unhinged maniac, he does get one thing right: {{spoiler|"Fontaine's dead? No, he's not, he's living it up and he's laughing at me!" While Fontaine is not laughing at Ducky exactly, he is still alive.}}

* [[The Reveal]]: "I chose the impossible... I chose...'''RAPTURE.'''" The projector screen moves away and you see the city in all its glory.

** The moment you realise why Atlas and Ryan keep asking you {{spoiler|"Would you kindly...?"}}

** "Ain't that Just. Like. RYAN?!"

* [[Tomato in the Mirror]]: {{spoiler|Triple-whammy: not only are you a test-tube baby conditioned to be the perfect obedient assassin, but you're also Ryan's bastard child, ''and'' you've been under mind control for the entire game.}}

* [[Trigger Phrase]]: Factors into [[The Reveal]], as well as a lot of the story's third act.

* [[Twenty Bear Asses]]: Some of your goals in the game will ask you to get X amount of a certain item. This is especially used in Arcadia and Hephaestus.

** And the more memetically popular: {{spoiler|"Would you kindly... powerful phrase. Familiar phrase?"}}

** Also:

* [[Why Won't You Die?]]: Ryan's question to Jack about a third of the way into the game.

* [[With Great Power Comes Great Insanity]]: The automated public address system throughout Rapture reminds citizens to use ADAM in moderation. "Remember, a careful splicer is a ''happy'' splicer!" Obviously, they didn't listen.

* [[Xanatos Speed Chess]]: Fontaine plays a mean game of Speed Chess. When his initial plan (get the entire city spliced up to the point where he is effectively in charge) breaks down with Ryan blowing up part of his smuggling operation and seizing his legitimate assets, he fakes his death, reinvents himself as "Atlas", and triggers a city-wide civil war by pointing out that Ryan became everything he (and by extension, the hardcore Objectivists who followed him into the ocean) hated in the process of fighting Fontaine. During the fighting, everyone got spliced to the gills, resulting in crippling Adam addiction, and the conditions for peace included handing Fontaine's seized assets over to Atlas.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Science Fiction Video Games]]

[[Category:First-Person Shooter]]

[[Category:Xbox 360]]