“Bioshock” and “Bioshock Infinite” an analysis of These Two Modern Gems
First off we should find out the settings for each game. Bioshock takes place in an underwater utopian city called Rapture with skyscrapers towering at the bottom of the ocean surrounded by bright and flashy neon signs and all the 60’s attitude that goes with it. Meanwhile Bioshock infinite takes place in the 1920s and in the sky! With a heavenly atmosphere and a barber shop quartet around almost every corner you’ll be hard pressed to find a better depiction of a technologically advanced flying city in the 1920s.
Next up, we should investigate the feeling of each game. “Bioshock” gives off the feeling of being a scavenger since throughout the entire game you spend most of it exploring the city and rummaging through trash, dead bodies, and broken machines for ammo and health. Combat in “Bioshock” is also quite scary it’s fast, loud, and desperate truly giving off a sense of powerlessness. Even when you win since there is still an entire city filled with these monsters and only so many bullets you can scavenge.
“Bioshock infinite” on the other hand gives off a feeling of alienation and isolation since you know nothing about this city or any of its inhabitants. Even as the player explores this world further, they will only feel more and more isolated since the whole city seems to be a part of this strange cult that seems to worship George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin as angels. The combat also helps add some contrast to the world of infinite since you are in this amazingly beautiful flying city that looks like paradise on “earth.” The fighting is incredibly savage in fact out of the two games “Infinite” is the bloodier of them. These fights are filled with screams, blood, and broken skulls helping to add to the sense that although the player is in what looks like paradise the enemies who built it and even the player themselves are still just brute savages. Once the fighting is over the game does an amazing job of bringing back the feeling of alienation/isolation by making it o that the only thing you can hear once the battle is over are the ambient sounds of your footsteps.
Finally we should look at the downfalls of each city. In “Bioshock” Raptures downfall is the substances known as ADAM. It can rewrite the genetic code of your body letting you shoot fire out of your hand, reshape your entire body, or even read people’s minds. The downside, ADAM is highly addictive and the population of rapture only discovered that after using it for at least 5 years. The other nail in the coffin is that once you start taking ADAM you can never stop because once you inject ADAM into the body it rewrites your genetics to become dependent on it. It is also worth noting that prolonged use of ADAM causes the human body to deform. What could possibly happen if you don’t routinely take ADAM? Simple, insanity and sickness so top that off with nobody knowing there was a downside for 5 years and you got some problems.
Meanwhile in “Infinite” instead of some mystical substances being the down fall of Columbia, there is only one source of this city’s troubles a man named Booker DeWitt (the player character). Booker comes to Columbia to find a single girl and bring her to meet some unknown third part outside of Columbia. The only problem is that this girl he needs to bring back turns out to be Elizabeth the daughter of the prophet of Columbia father Comstock. Who as it so happens knew that one day somebody would try and take her away and has made the entire city believe that she is the one who will lead Columbia to rule all those deemed inferior or don’t believe father Comstock’s words. While not as grand as “Bioshock’s” fall it is worth noting that “Infinite” placed heavy emphasis that without Elizabeth, Comstock’s dreams would never come to fruition. The player does manages to show Elizabeth that her supposed father is actually a madman bent on racial purity and oppression.
In the end, while both games still have their faults that we won’t dissect in this paper. “Bioshock” and “Bioshock Infinite” are both amazing games that do a great job of immersing the player into almost living worlds.
