We all know that BioShock 2 is on the cards, but so far nobody has a clue what it's going to be about. Recently however, a rumor has started cropping up suggesting the game will be a prequel set during the civil war that killed Andrew Ryan's underwater city of Rapture.
While a somewhat logical move, I don't know how I feel about this. One of the best parts of BioShock was how much of the player's imagination it invoked, and how a bigger picture was detailed through scant resources like audio diaries of Rapture's citizens. I don't know if I'd like to see such wonderfully crafted and subtle little hints exposed in such a way. Does BioShock 2 even need to be set in Rapture anyway? I think not.
As always, this is nothing but rumor until something more concrete surfaces, but it's worth a discussion. What would you think of a prequel? Are you as nervous as I am on such an idea, or are you all for it?
[Thanks, Evo]
Jim Sterling serves as reviews editor for Destructoid.com, head of the Podtoid podcast, and produces a number of news stories, original features, one-of-a-kind videos. With his passionate argumentative style, controversial opinions, harsh delivery, and dedication to brutal honesty Sterling is a name that you can't help but recognize.
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Contest:
7:05 AM on 01.08.2008
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My brief thoughts - if they continue to set the game in Rapture then I think this is the way it should be done.
Though I wonder how they would be able to work it without setting it in Rapture..
I think that Bioshock is a great game, but that doing a sequel/prequel would ruin it for us.
Another game taking the essence of System Shock and Bioshock would be best I feel.
Heh just my ramblings :P
Be cool as-long as it got Andrew Ryan in it and no Fontaine.. his a dick.
How they do it I don't know, but it would be awesome :D Like seeing rapture as what it was originally before it got ruined and torn.
Move on with something else to wow us.
IF they are insistent upon making more Bioshock games, then this should be the only way to go.
Even though I'd have my concerns about smearing such a good title with a second iteration of bioshock I'm pretty confident in the team's ability to deliver.
mmmm, Speed Boost-Berry!! more delicious than beating a little sister's skull in with a wrench!
To your question, Jim, a question: is it still BioShock if it doesn't take place in Rapture?
Granted System Shock took place on Citadel Station whereas System Shock 2 took place on the Von Braun/Rickenbacker, but there wasn't an entirely huge difference between these settings. I'm not really sure such a close analogue for Rapture exists.
Honestly, BioShock's setting was the best aspect of the game, in my mind. Many elements of the gameplay, and even a few plot devices (Atlas=Polito, anyone?) were borrowed or adapted from earlier games, particularly System Shock 2. The concept for BioShock's plasmids, for example, is directly ripped from SS2's "Psi powers." This is not a slight on the game; Irrational/2K billed the game as a spiritual successor to SS2, after all. My point is merely that plasmids do not make BioShock particularly unique.
The game's setting, however, is all its own. Rapture was the single most original and immersive game world I have seen in years...maybe ever. So I pose another question: If BioShock 2 is not set in Rapture, will I want to play it?
I'd play it, I think the downfall and seeing rapture go from good to bad would be really interesting. But at the same time, it probably wouldn't be as good because its not like they could make an entirely new rapture.
2) I think that not enough game developers use the Zelda/Final Fantasy logic: Just because you make a sequel to a franchise doesn't mean it has to follow the story line. So make a Bioshock sequel, but have it be about something totally unrelated. You've left Rapture perfectly...let my imagination stay where it's at with it.
I can't see that game being any better by making it different. We'd be playing through the same city, same environments, obviously very little Big Daddy killing. That stinks of fail.
that is all.
Whatever, if its a prequal I'll survive
Although I don't like the idea of a prequel.
but thats a good thing. bring in other visionaries to make bioshcok2 just as unique as the original. though i doubt that will happen.
bioshock wasn't meant to be a franchise. i don't want a sequel/prequel. i want another game from ken levine.
Mah luvva staaands on golden saaaaaannds
Aand watches the ships
that go saaaaaiiiiiiillin'
every franchise needs to visit the cosmos.
A prequel would kick ass and I'm done!
The best part about Bioshock was discovering, through audio diaries and otherwise, just how everything went so wrong. I mean, that's mainly what the damned game was already about!
Why make a new game where you play through the story you just got finished telling?
But I'd probably buy it anyways.