Hey everybody, Bioshock is a pretty short game. I already beat it. On the easy mode, yeah, but, I wanna talk about something else.
In video game circles, whenever a game is modeled after a more popular game, it is one of three things: it is either a ripoff, a clone, or a killer.
A ripoff is pretty obvious. A ripoff is a game that tries to imitate the most superficial aspects of a popular game in the hopes that gamers will throw their money at it. Recall all the 3D platformers that came out after Super Mario 64 did, or all the "Sandbox" action games that came out after Grand Theft Auto 3, or all the real-time strategy wargames that came out after the original Command & Conquer did. Most of them were ripoffs. Moving on,
A clone is a game that is obviously modeled after a popular game, but is really fun in its own right, even having its own gimmicks that aren't overly, gimmicky. Megaman Legends was a clone of the Legend of Zelda games, and to be more modern, Crackdown is a clone of GTA, and Bioshock is a clone of System Shock 2. They are usually almost as good as their inspiration, but not quite.
A killer is a game inspired by a popular game that surpasses its inspiration. Duke Nukem 3D was billed as "The Doom Killer." It played a lot like the Doom games, but guess what? It improved on Doom in every way imaginable. This sometimes happens in long-running franchises within itself. Super Mario Bros. 3 is the SMB 1 Killer. Megaman 3 is the MM2 killer. MM2 itself was the MM1 killer.
Bioshock is not quite as god-like as SS 2 was. SS 2 was much longer, more challenging, had better story, better variety of enemies, better variety of weapons, and you could hold as much ammo and "money" as you could find. Still, Bioshock was no slouch, either. It has fantastic graphics, "Beyond the Sea" by Bobby Darin, the ability to make Big Daddies fight for you, and firebolts. Motherfucking firebolts. As if the flamethrower and flame plasmids weren't enough.
Now to wait for Bioshock 2.
P.S. I now look forward to having nightmares about narcissistic musicians obsessed with bunny ears for the rest of my life, now. Thanks, game developers!
