How do you follow Irrational Games' BioShock, an undersea thriller still considered one of gaming's most beloved shooters? This was the imposing question publisher 2K had to answer in the roaring wake of the original game's success. To the then-perked ears of many, they came up with the answer, "let's learn about the Big Daddies". Rapture itself has detail and care dripping out of every busted pipe, but its lumbering giants aren't quite as characterized. Naturally, the prospect of delving into their backstory and even playing as a Daddy ourselves raised some eyebrows when first revealed. And then the gameplay happened. The overly action-reliant gameplay which openly drops the survival and horror infusion which helped establish the legacy of the first game. Then the story happened. You know the one; the story that claims to take place several years after the events of the original, but still casts you as the "first" Big Daddy. The one that systematically replaces Rapture's haunting atmosphere with shallow villains, all while clinging absentmindedly to the moral disparities of its predecessor. It is to coherent what a cactus wrapped in wax paper is to a pillow. BioShock 2 not only fails to better the series' Big Daddies, but doesn't hold a candle to BioShock 1 in the contest of gameplay. Actually, it may hold a candle to it. But only while the candle is underwater. What great ideas have you seen wasted in games? Let us know in the comments below!
A freelance games writer, you say? Typically battling his current RPG addiction and ceaseless perfectionism? A fan of horror but too big a sissy to play for more than a couple of hours? Spends far too much time on JRPGs and gets way too angry with card games?
Well that doesn't sound anything like me.
