T w e n t y S i d e d

I’ve been waiting for this episode. The Big Daddy transformation was a cavalcade of lazy plotting, supported by a layer of contrivances, and glued together with a few pounds of sloppy videogame logic. I think it actually undermines the earlier themes about free will. Now that you’re no longer a slave and you’re free to think for yourself, the game requires you to do something dumber and more illogical than anything that you did while you were supposedly under control of others.

This section of the game very nearly wins the title of “Most Obnoxious Plot Door”, a title which currently belongs to Neverwinter Nights 2. But BioShock gets off the hook because this plot door only takes about thirty minutes, not five hours.

It’s a shame we had to cut this sequence in the middle. We point out the rest of the flaws with the Big Daddy Quest in the next episode. Then there’s one more mini-episode after that one where we wrap this series up. We’ve already selected our next game, so your pleas are futile.

Enjoy!

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

This is a killer episode. If you’re playing the drinking game, you’ll be missed.

Also, for those of you who have been looking forward to our little fits of indignant nerd rage: “HI! DID YOU MISS ME?”

This is the low point of the game. The mood and atmosphere are wrecked by the relentless combat, which is getting old. The random plasmid is an amusing idea that drags on for too long. The story has spent itself and is now just dragging along out of sheer single-mindedness. The cavalcade of splicers should have been about half as long as it was. And Fontane should have kept his yap shut.

We’ve got two more episodes left.

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.