BioShock (series): Difference between revisions

** As you start getting closer to {{spoiler|Fontaine}}, he starts complaining about your "betrayal", insisting that "nobody told you nothing but lies" and referring to himself as "family".

* [[Hypocritical Humor]] / [[Irony]] - many of the splicers really don't know what they have become

'''Another female splicer:''' YOU'RE INSANE! }}

* [[An Ice Person]]: Martin Finnegan, and the ice-element Houdini Splicers found later in the game. You can turn an enemy into a [[Human Popsicle]] in either game with [[Freeze Ray|Winter Blast]] and other attacks.

* [[It Got Worse]]: The running theme of the series.

* [[It's All About Me]]: Andrew Ryan. Frank Fontaine. Pretty much everyone in Rapture, really. [[Ayn Rand|That's kinda the point, though]].

** As regards Ryan in particular, it's hinted by the audio diary "Fontaine Must Go" and the fact that his name is plastered all over the city's signage that his motives in building Rapture were less to do with creating a haven for the world's elite, and more to do with creating a haven for ''himself'' where he could milk the inhabitants for all they're worth... one way or another.

* [[Karma Meter]]: The first one attempted it with the Rescue/Harvest choice for dealing with Little Sisters, and even the game's director admitted the black or white choice was a poor implementation. It was also incredibly harsh: harvest just two out of 21 Little Sisters and you get the evil ending. The sequel seems to go through the motions by giving you the same choices again, just twice, ''but'' there are also three characters whom you can choose to kill or spare, which also affects the ending, giving a total of four; Mother Theresa, baby-eater, [[Judge Dredd]], and [[I Did What I Had to Do]].

* [[Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping]]: Intentional - see [[Fauxreigner]]. Amusingly, the guy who voiced Atlas is actually Irish, doing an exaggerated version of an Irish accent. So, you end up with {{spoiler|An Irish guy voicing an American guy pretending to be an Irish guy.}}

* [[Opening Narration]]: Jack, the player character, looking at a picture of his parents. [[Heroic Mime|It's his only line in the game]].

* [[Organ Drops]]: Spider Splicer Organs can be used as med-kits, if one has researched them enough. Whether or not it's cannibalism depends on [[What Measure Is a Non-Human?|how human you think the Splicers are]].

* [[Papa Wolf]]: The Big Daddies, of course.

** Bacground music in ''2's'' [[Red Light District|Pink Pearl]] consists entirely of this.

* [[Public Service Announcement]]: Some deliciously cheesy dialogues occasionally kick in on Rapture's P.A. system, usually excusing security measures.

'''Jim:''' ''Now'' you're talking, Mary! }}

* [[Punk Punk]]: Has shades of [[Diesel Punk]] (In Era), [[Bio Punk]] (In Technology), [[Steampunk]] (In Asthetics), and [[Ocean Punk]] (In Location and city function)

** "Grab a [[Half Life|crowbar]] or somethin'!"

** The 'Baby Jane' splicers, are most probably a reference to the novel/1962 film ''[[What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?]]?'', which involved an aging, psychopathic ex-child star, trying to get back into show business. The splicer even quotes one of the lines from the film:

** It was probably unintentional, but Dr. Suchong sounded a little like a villain from ''[[Jonny Quest]]'' in not just his ethnic origin, but in that he inadvertently {{spoiler|causes his own demise...}}

** The Little Sisters' glowing [[Village of the Damned|eyes]].

* [[Spiritual Successor]]: To ''[[System Shock]]'' and ''[[System Shock]] 2''. Almost all of the game mechanics are identical to the latter. In fact, in interviews with Gamasutra [[Word of God|developers have stated]] their starting plan was "''System Shock 2'' did pretty well, let's make ''System Shock 2'' again."

* [[Superior Species]]: While not a distinct species, the citizens of Rapture fit, due to plasmids and gene tonics. Or at least they did, until they [[With Great Power Comes Great Insanity|started overdoing it.]]

* [[Take That]]: There is a lot of debate over whether the game is a giant [[Take That]] to Objectivism. [[Word of God|The developers]] have said that it was a [[Take That]] to extremism, using Rand as an example.

** The Waders model Splicer is a parody of Evangelical Christians that criticizes their questionably excessive worshipping.

* [[Uncanny Valley]]: Intentionally invoked in the original, where everything from the Splicers to the Little Sisters just looked ''wrong'' even if they weren't horribly mutated. The sequel discards it, making the Little Sisters more adorable (since, after all, you're conditioned to protect them) and the Splicers less inhuman - which only makes them ''more'' horrifying by accentuating their mutations and deformities.

** There's an in-universe example in the sequel's Journey to the Surface ride at Ryan Amusements; in an audio diary, Andrew Ryan himself notes the uncanny valley quality of the animatronics used to dissuade children from wanting to leave Rapture.

* [[Under the Sea]]: The first game somehow avoided a [[Down the Drain|water level]]. The sequel lets you tromp around in your big old diving suit, but mostly to see some scenery and as a [[Breather Level|breather]] between action sequences.

* [[Underwater City]]: Rapture, though by the sequel the ocean is making a comeback.

** Sofia Lamb attempts to invoke this tirelessly throughout the course of the sequel, but for the most part her accusations are ineffectual. Although, if Delta's been a particularly abusive father, it can hit pretty hard.

* [[White Mask of Doom]]: One of [[Mad Artist|Sander Cohen's]] [[Motif|motifs]]. Additionally, the New Year's Eve 1959 party was a masquerade, and some Splicers still wear creepy animal masks.

* [[Why Isn't It Attacking?]]: You, potentially.

* [[With Us or Against Us]]: Ryan's take on the civil war. "Innocents? If they haven't chosen to defend Rapture, they've chosen to side with Atlas and his bandits. So there are no innocents. There are heroes, and there are criminals."