The ending of BioShock was acclaimed for being super trippy, unexpected and clever, and whilst it does nothing to ruin the wonderful game that came before it, you have to wonder whether - in its attempts to be shocking - it actually makes any sense. Here goes, then: at the end of the game, you find out that Booker DeWitt - the player character - is actually the father of his young and attractive sidekick, Elizabeth (glad they didn't kiss or anything; that could've been awkward). Then you learn that Booker sold Elizabeth in other dimensions (those exist), and that he also became Zachary Comstock - the antagonist of the game. Comstock also bought Elizabeth. Insane, yes? There's more... At this point, Elizabeth explains to her father that the only way to prevent him from becoming Comstock and being an evil tyrant is for them to go back to a time before he made the transition and for her to kill him. Which she does: she drowns him. But here's the bit that makes the least sense: the reason Booker choose to become Comstock in the first place was as an act of religious atonement for the part he played in a massacre. So why has he turned evil? It just doesn't ring true that Booker, attempting to atone for his sins as a man of faith, would become the racist ruler of a city in the sky. None of this is touched upon, leaving absolutely no explanation as to how such a transition was made - or why Booker choose that name.
Sam Hill is an ardent cinephile and has been writing about film professionally since 2008. He harbours a particular fondness for western and sci-fi movies.
