(In which Wootex talks about the lack of death in Bioshock and what that means for the game).

In the incredibly engaging world of Bioshock, death is a complete impossibility. No matter how many times you get drilled by a Big Daddy or step directly on a proximity mine, you will always instantly find yourself just a few steps back in a vita-chamber. All of the damage inflicted on your enemies remain and you still have any items you found, basically in Bioshock, the only punishment for death is an extra couple seconds of walking.

At first, this actually seems like a pretty good thing. After all, dying in a video game has never been a huge deal, punishment is usually limited to going back to your latest quick save or checkpoint, or in the case of some older (much shorter) games: bringing you back to thebeginning. Basically, just making you replay sections you've already played. All Bioshock is doing is eliminating the unnecessary frustration of replaying the same sections. Well, not really, I hope to explain why Bioshock would have been a significantly different and (even) better game.

The advantages of immortality:

Before I begin to be overly critical, let's look at the possible reasoning the developers decided to go with the system they did and what that system does to improve the Bioshock experience.

Cuts down on frustration: This is by far the biggest advantage to the no-death system. I, like probably anyone reading this, play games with the main intention of having fun. And, probably like most people here, my idea of fun isn't continually dying and being forced to replay the same section over and over until I feel the urge to throw the controller through the window. Under the new system, any section is rendered beatable through constant attrition. Without fear of death, Bioshock is a far easier, faster playthrough.

Keeps you immersed in the world: Nothing really takes you out of the experience of a game like looking at a constant barrage of "now loading" screens after every death. With Bioshock, you can stay focused at all the little details in Rapture without having to worry about quick saving or where your last checkpoint was. This really makes a largedifference.

The merits of mortality:

(consider this your intermission)

O.K., so there seems to be a couple of advantages to lack of death, but what sort of benefits does death give us (If I wasn't talking about videogames, that sentence would be more than a bit weird). Really, there are more advantages to death than you think.

Gives you a sense of accomplishment:"I beat the game on hard" really means nothing when you consider that as long as you put in the time, it's really impossible not to beat the game. At many points throughout the game, I actually felt a little bit dirty as I shot at the big daddy from inside of a vita-chamber. Often, the game left me feeling that I had not actually beat anything, but rather I managed to grope my way through with the crutch of un-death.

Adds more value to the game:Bioshock (in terms of a shooter) is not a short game, and if you really take the time to explore the environment (which is well worth it) the game becomes fairly long. With that said, adding more value to a game never hurts, and forcing the player to replay sections is a fairly easy way to do it. You may think that this goes in direct contrast with avoiding frustration, but it doesn't have to, just dying a few times doesn't automatically lead to frustration as long as you are still having fun replaying the sections (see the next point).

Forces you to get the most out of the gameplay: This is the clincher. The problem with no death is that it allows you to make it through the game without really exploring all of your options, which are the heart and soul of Bioshock. Instead of just shooting at a big daddy while constantly respawning, imagine that you don't get to respawn instantly, so you must go on a search to find more ammo or tonics to really give you the edge. Really, not only is it adding more value to the game, but it's forcing you to use all your tricks at your disposal to really feel that you've played well, which is really one of the most satisfying feelings in games.

Who wants to live forever?

Bioshock is a great game, but like pretty much every other game in existence, it could have been better. One of the more doable routes to improvement would have been to integrate a checkpoint system that at the very least was optional. Many games have made an almost complete transformation from being games to being experiences and it's clear that the developers of Bioshock wanted to make the experience as focused as it could be by removing the threat of death. However, it's important to remember that death doesn't only exist to make a game harder, but rather, to make the gameplay that is there feel more meaningful, improving the experience for everybody.

As usual, thanks for reading and please comment, what do you think of the lack of death in Bioshock or games in general, do you think it's always a good/bad idea? etc...