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Bioshock 'Constants'... let's list them (Spoilers... obviously)

posted 12 years ago by sascha-17
6 replies | jump to latest

I was thinking about this even before I knew the ending: Bioshock and Infinite share tons of concepts, character-types and plot points. So I thought I'd list the ones that stuck in my mind and ask around for more that I might have missed:

1. Setting. Both games take place in highly "improbable" cities (bottom of the ocean vs. 20,000 ft. up in the air). Both are accessed by the player via a small capsule (bathysphere/rocket), which are both launched from a lighthouse.

Both cities have cut the ties to regular society and regard themselves as a kind of haven for disgruntled elites. Rapture was founded on that very idea (being a haven where the world's brightest heads could thrive with minimal government intervention), while Columbia seceeded from the Union to pursue its own radical ideals.

2. Anachronisms: Both games are set in the past (1912/1960) but feature environments and technology that are so advanced that they'd be highly futuristic even by today's standards.

3. Class struggle: Both cities are dominated by cutthroat capitalists who are challenged by some sort of underground worker-movement who want to take control away from them. In both cases, the leaders of these so-called freedom fighters turn out to be just as evil as the ruling elite they're fighting.

4. Main antagonist: Both games have mysterious main baddies, who get virtually no screen time, but are still always present through voice recordings, posters and rants on the PA-system. Both baddies are killed off rather anticlimactically and in a very, errr, personal manner by the player.

5. Secondary villains: In both games, these are the leaders in the fields of industry/art/etc. in their respective cities.

6. Plasmids/Vigors

7. Player character has a mark his hand/on his wrist (chain tattoo/"AD").

8. Both games have girls with special powers as pivotal characters. In both cases, those girls have some sort of mechanical/mechanized guardians which are incredibly vicious towards enemies, but incredibly gentle towards the girls. Both guardians use green/yellow/red light emanating from their heads to convey their current state of aggressiveness. Heck, Elizabeth even looks like a grown-up version of a little sister IMO.. :)

There's probably tons more, so feel free to add to the list.

S.

[–] The_paranoid_android 12 years ago

9. Repeated lines like, "Is it someone new?"

10. Huge existential crises for the main protagonists

11. The importance of water. With Rapture at the bottom of the ocean, BioShock 2 saying that society will be 'reborn' in the womb of the ocean, and with Infinite, it's a thematic motif.

12. Free will vs pre-destination

13. Protectors: The Big Daddies and Songbird, who care like family members for those they protect.

14. Industrialists: Frank Fontaine, Augustus Sinclair, and Jeremiah Fink who use humanity altering products to serve their own wants.

...

[–] mvn801 12 years ago

15. Father-daughter relationship: In the world of BioShock, the playable main character is a father figure to the female protagonist.

16. Parental relationship of main antagonists to protagonist: The main villians are parents to a protagonist. Andrew Ryan is Jack's father, Sofia Lamb is Eleanor's mother, and Zachary Comstock is a sort of father to Elizabeth.

17. Lack of control: In Rapture, Jack lacks free will, so he cannot control his future. In Columbia, Booker's choices often leads to the same end.

18. Geniuses: Tenenbaum and the Luteces.

19. Shepherd-flock mentality: Sofia Lamb and Zachary Comstock are shepherds to... whatever flocks they have. Of course, there's also the use of lamb (the followers, Sofia's surname).

20. Eventual destruction/degradation: Apparent in the opening title cards of all three games, where the title is shown pristinely, but ends up in a degraded state. Nothing good lasts. The three games start in different parts of destruction, with BS1 in a world beginning to be ravaged, BS2 in a world that's near completely destroyed, and BSI in the peak of a city's glory just before the destruction. Order always goes toward chaos, and these beautiful cities are no exception.

21. Religion: Rapture and Columbia represent the two ends of religion spectrum. The religious stance of both cities illustrates the character of the people.

22. Love: Jack's love for the Little Sisters is the only thing he can control and is what saves them. Delta's love for Eleanor is obvious from the start, but Booker's love for Elizabeth takes a while to be realized. Ultimately, love is important in the ending of the stories.

23. Redemption: I'm sure there's a handful of examples here, but the two that stands out to me is Tenenbaum and Booker. Tenenbaum tries to redeem her actions by helping in the second story. Booker redeems himself by his prevention of Comstock.

[–] Ahstaroth 12 years ago

Funny, if any other company created this game they'd call these 'rip-offs' and 'derivative', not 'constants.'

[–] Batesmeister93 12 years ago

24. Being saved/revived - B1: Jack is saved by Tennembaum after killing Ryan, B2: Delta is saved/revived by Eleanor at the beginning and in B:I, Elizabeth saves Booker after the first encounter with Songbird.

25. Starting weapon - A pistol is always featured as the first firearm in possession of the protagonist. B1: Jack gets a revolver from a pram, B2: Delta (albeit in the opening cutscene, not actual gameplay) uses a pistol to shoot himself while hypnotised; and B:I, Booker starts off with his pistol after taking it from the box on the way to the lighthouse.

[–] HarryRidgway 12 years ago

26. opening: This similarity is only between Bioshock 1 and Infinite, but the point still stands.

In the first Bioshock, you are in the sphere and suddenly a window opens and you have a beautiful view of Rapture, along with a soundtrack playing when this happens. In Infinite, a window opens and you have a beautiful view of Columbia, while a soundtrack is playing.

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Last seen films:

Rushmore. 8.5/10
Flight. 10/10
The Experiment (2010). 8/10

[–] RubleNoon 11 years ago

27. They are video games.

28. You control the main character through the use of some device with a series of buttons and possibly even some analog control sticks.

29. #26 isn't a constant if it isn't present in all games.

30. #29 and #30 are not constants either because they are unrelated to the game itself.