Looking back, I can safely say Bioshock is one of the best games I’ve played in recent memory. I could discuss the various aspects it gets right for days, but instead, I’m going to be a bit grumpier and talk about what it could have done better. For today, let’s focus on what it does with emergent gameplay.

Bioshock provides the player with a complex simulation to play around with. The opening act does a fantastic job of introducing you to Rapture as a living world which you can influence. The player is even rewarded for “thinking outside the box”, which is something a worrying number of sandbox games fail to do at all. But where Bioshock falls short is encouraging the player to think outside these bounds.

Some may argue that the reward is the encouragement. To an extent, it is. At the start of the game, players experiment to familiarize themselves with its mechanics. But once the player gets better, they get into a routine, and the encouragement is lost. This isn’t a gamer thing so much as it is a human nature thing. Once you figure out an effective way to kill Splicers, or a sure-fire way to take down Big Daddies, the rewards are irrelevant. The rewards only worked when the player needed them. Now that they don’t, the experimental aspect of Bioshock gives way to the repetitiveness of your standard-fare first person shooter. It’s a shame, and I’ll admit that I’m as guilty as the next person in this regard, but it’s to be expected.

How do we fix this?

(read on…)

Rapture is an incredibly unpredictable world. The simplest task, one that I’ve done dozens of times during the course of playing Bioshock (and games in general) can change dramatically given the slightest complication. The task at hand was securing a room. The complication? A security camera looking me square in the eyes.

The alarms sound, and within seconds security bots are swarming around me. I quickly survey the room. Two security bots, and two Splicers (the thugs of Rapture). I electrocute a security bot and stumble towards it. If I hack it, I might be able to turn this battle around. In my frazzled state I manage to botch up that routine job and I’m left in deeper trouble that I was already in. I’m losing health fast. I retreat, heal myself, and get back into the fray.

I’m still being attacked from all angles, but I hear something. A familiar, haunting moan. Slow, echoing footsteps. It could only be one thing: a Big Daddy. Normally it’s a sound that sends chills up my spine. But this time, I hear opportunity. A new plan is hatched. With a wry grin on my face, I select the “Hypnotize Big Daddy” plasmid and toss it at him. Now he’s on my side. I have half a mind to stay and watch the action unfold, but I’m shaken up and very low on health, so I dash out of the room. I don’t know exactly what happened, but when I re-entered moments later everything that moved was lying on the floor, charred or broken. Only the Big Daddy remained standing.

I’m tempted to kill him and steal his loot, but I can’t bring myself to do it. How am I suppose to kill the creature that just saved my life?