Original BioShock enemy concept art that was left out of the actual game.Many years ago when Irrational and Ken Levine first started showing conceptual images for this game, I was excited for it. As someone who had beaten System Shock and System Shock 2, loving both, I fully hoped BioShock would be a spiritual successor. However as the development of the game proceeded, and Levine's original concept became ever more diluted due to 2K's meddling, my excitement waned. Shortly after BioShock released, I watched a friend play the game for about thirty minutes. I recall thinking BioShock looked to be what I feared; a watered down System Shock for the masses. Not long after that, Levine released a postmortem explaining how 2K had indeed neutered some of his ideas, and forced Irrational to alter initial concepts for increased mass appeal. So in light of all that, I had no interest in playing BioShock and forgot about it. Sequels came and went, and the series seemed to sell and review well.
Unused boss from concept draft.Earlier this year, it came to light that BioShock had become ten years old. In regards to its age publications started talking about BioShock again. I thought that maybe it was time to finally play BioShock for myself. And so I started it up about two months ago on Xbox 360. I put about three hours into it and... didn't really have any fun. (As a comparison; S.T.A.L.K.E.R. came out only a year after BioShock, and it accomplished a lot of the same ethos but with far greater skill, being an experience I adored and completed.)
Original little sister concept left, 2K approved redo on right.
So, I stopped playing BioShock. I have considered forcing myself to play through BioShock as a scholarly endeavor, hoping the experience will improve immensely to warrant its high status among popular gaming. But my three hour take away was this is a dumbed-down System Shock with a heavy handed objectivism slant. There's also something off putting about the graphics that bothers me. Articulating what that is, is difficult. It's something to do with the three dimensional objects seeming comically large, whilst simultaneously being crammed into narrow spaces. This creates an uncomfortably claustrophobic atmosphere steeped in goofy surrealism. It seems like BioShock tries to be a horror game, but it's nowhere near as unnerving as System Shock 2.
One of the many "biohorror" enemy concepts left out of the final product.All of that said, it's possible I'm somewhat wrong about BioShock. Perhaps if I put more time into it, and maybe even finished it, I'd walk away with changed opinions. I do appreciate the underwater aesthetic, and there's a lot that could be done with the steampunk vibe. However the original concept for this game was far darker and more grotesque, and I wish it'd maintained the original vision. But maybe when I'm ready to take another break from Xenoblade Chronicles (man is it a
long game), I'll dip my toes back into Rapture's leaky waters. In the meantime, I'm hoping other new-to-BioShock players step up to the challenge. This is a different experience in 2017 versus 2007 after all.
