“A man chooses… a slave obeys…”
Mike and Casey pile into a bathysphere and flee the surface world, and the clawing hands of Big Government and the Parasites to reserve their tables at the Kashmir Restaurant with first panelists Patrick Johnson, and Carlos Rodela of the Video Game Break Podcast. Our topic, the revolutionary 2007 video game, BioShock and its sequels.
We explore the immersive game world of Rapture, the failed undersea utopia inspired by the free-market Objectivist philosophy of Ayn Rand. We look at whether video games can transcend the reputation of being a fun distraction, and whether they can truly be works of art in their own right. And finally, we contemplate the limitations and possibilities of player choice in games, and whether complex storytelling is at odds with the agency to make character decisions.
Music:
“The Ocean On His Shoulders/Welcome To Rapture” from BioShock by Garry Schyman
Previously titled: “Being a Selfish Asshole Is the Best Thing You Can Be”
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it is an interesting case in Bioshock 2 that you actually get to see the world through the eyes of a little sister….And BOY was that a nightmare in a beautiful disguise. But then again, What do I know? I’m just the guy that likes 2 more than infinite.
Listening to the opening comments about the first game, I started thinking of the dissonance between the constant propaganda about how perfect, idyllic and utopian Rapture is, combined with the omnipresent physical proof of that lie, and it’s essentially a comprehensive, modern re-take on Percy Shelley’s ‘Ozymandias’.
In retrospect, I will actually make an argument that 2 is not just doing the first game again, I would say that Inffinate is actually a remake of 2. Think about it, The plot of both is that you are up against a religious leader with an army, fighting for a girl with immense powers that can Help or destroy the world as we know it. Though in my mind 2 did the “lost child with powers beyond her understanding” better, since Elenor had a lot more personality than Elisabeth ever did.
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