After a few days of reflection (and constantly checking behind my back) Bioshock is, by far, the creepiest game that I've ever played. Of course, besides Zombie games... I don't think I've played any really creepy games (although 'Barbie' for NES comes close.. *shudder*). The atmosphere, the characters, the gameplay, the dark halls and blind corners all play a part in scaring the SHIT out of you!
Even though I completed the game going on a week ago, there are still parts of the game that I can't get out of my head, and that I probably won't forget anytime soon. Instead of dwelling on them and letting them linger in my subconscious, I figure maybe writing about them will help suck these demons out of my head.
So I present to you, with no further delay.. except for this one, the 5 Creepiest Moments in BIOSHOCK! (Spoilers below!)
5. Beginning of the Game
Well, they really set the tone of this game within the first 5 minutes of playing it. Most games like this would 'ease' you in to them, as to not 'scare you away', but not BIOSHOCK. You start off crashing into the ocean on a plane after a short cut-scene, and you're quickly directed to an eerie lighthouse. You walk in the door and it shuts behind you. There, you see some large statues, some flickering lights and an elevator type thing with a lever inside of it. When you pull the lever, all hell breaks loose. You are lowered down, down, down to the bottom of the sea, where you are shown an impressive underwater metropolis... then the fun begins. As soon as you stop, you can see a scene outside of your elevator window where a man is attacked, and gutted, by some sort of Zombie looking thing. She(?) then goes up to your window (where you are helpless but to watch), slams it a few times.. whispers in your ear and proceeds to attack your chamber. With no weapons, you really do feel like there is nothing you can do, and when the doors finally open, you don't want to go leave.
4. The first 'Big Daddy' fight and encounter with a Little Sister
He's on the cover of the game, he's in all of the commercials and advertisements for the game and he is literally 'larger than life'. However, nothing truly compares to the first time that you round a corner, and there he is.. a 'Big Daddy' ready for a fight with his 'Little Sister' along for the ride. This moment was built up for so long in my head that I literally had no idea what to do when he started to attack me. How on earth do you destroy something covered in armor, with a huge drill as an arm and with a tiny girl hanging on him? The answer.. you don't.. at least not before dying a few times. Sure, there are some tougher battles later on in the game, but this one truly catches you off guard, and if this guy doesn't surprise you, there are others that will. I don't really get the whole 'Little Sister' thing (why a little girl?), and I don't want to know what the Big Daddies and Little Sisters do when they are alone, but I do know that there is no more satisfying feeling then dropping one of these monsters and freeing (or harvesting if you're a bastard) the little girl slave that was attached to him.
3. Feelings of Helplessness
To me, there is nothing worse than witnessing something terrible happening and not being able to do anything about it. I'd venture most of you feel the same way, and I'd also venture that 2K Games knew about this when they were creating this game. From the beginning of the game on, you are subjected to moments of being completely helpless to change what is going on around you. The plane crash, the opening sequence, being frozen in a block of ice, being semi-conscious as a Little Sister climbs over you, killing Andrew Ryan.. the list goes on and on.. and it just keeps getting more creepy as the game goes on. Whether you are not 'physically' able to do anything, or 'mentally' (being 'forced' to do something via mind control) able to do anything, the feeling of helplessness really permeates this game's theme as much as anything else. At times, it WILL send a chill down your spine.
2. Bunny man sitting on a chair
Really? It isn't creepy enough that there are guys running around with Bunny masks on, or that there are statues of people covered in cement lying around.. but they just HAD to put the two together. When you really are least expecting it (and trying to avoid a Big Daddy), you go up a stairway, and there he is in the corner. A 'bunny man' sitting on a bench, frozen (covered in cement) with a bright light shining on him. This didn't scare me as much as is creeped me the hell out. There are other statues that are supposed to frighten as well, and they do, but not quite as much as this solitary bunny man, except for...
1. Attack of the Killer Statues!
Picture this in your mind-brain for a second, ok? You walk into a large L-shaped room that has a single light in the corner across from you. There is a small corridor in front of you with 3 statues on each side of it, all looking like they are either going to attack you, or like they want to dance a jig. You walk past them.. and even attack one or two to make sure they aren't going to attack you, which they obviously aren't. At the end of the hallway, there is a woman sitting in a chair against a wall, but it's OK because she's another statue. You look to your left and in the other part of the room, there is a safe at the end of it (in the dark) with some goodies on top of it. You crack the safe, and then pick up the goodies on the safe. You hear a noise, turn around, and the lights go dark. The lights come back on... and BOOM, there is a statue right behind you with a very mean face. You look at it, and think for a second (oh, I don't remember that statue being there...) and then it lunges at you and attacks you. After you swallow your heart and kill the statue, you notice that there is no one sitting in the chair against the wall, which means you just killed the statue that was sitting right there. You turn right and realize that all 6 statues in the first corridor are missing. FUUUUUUUUUUUU NOW THAT WAS CREEPY... major Kudos to the Bioshock team for that one.. my number one creepiest moment in this game.
If you've played BIOSHOCK and feel that I left any of the creepiest moments out.. please feel free to comment below. There is a good chance that I blocked some of the creepy parts from my short-term memory.
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