SineSwiper wrote:
I completely disagree.
First, System Shock 2 was made by the same team, so if they are going to rip off some of the feel of the game from another game, one of their own is usually expected, especially of the game is going to be called BioSHOCK. ("No fair! SMB2 ripped off of SMB1!") I think the plot was a lot different from SS2, even though parts of the same formula was in there. If anything, id Software ripped off SS2 with Doom 3's use of recordings to tell a story.
Second, the whole thing about "your actions being defining moments" was probably some marketing guy gone off the deep end about the whole little sisters choices. Hell, Molynouexcrazyfuckingfrenchname said that you could plant a tree in Fable and it would grow with you, a statement which he had to retract because he was fucking crazy. Or the back of Path of Neo advertises that there's an alternate ending, even though it was explained IN THE GAME (by the brothers) that the reason for the ending was purely a matter of the video game format.
Third, like SS2, the recorder tapes make the plot. They are full of character development. You hear details of things that only full make sense after you progress through the game. A second playthrough of the game is recommended to flesh out the details of some of those tapes. I also like how you can discover how some people died from getting their recorder off their own body. It's creepy. (No spoilers; some people haven't finished it yet.) There's a good FAQ with all of the story put together, which helps out, too.
Fourth, the Ayn Rand dogma of Andrew Ryan really shine through, as he struggles to keep his utopia straight by sheer force of will, and his faith in capitalism (or The Great Chain, as he calls it). The end result is clearly visible from the first few minutes of the game, but you find out all of the details of other factors in play, and how exactly it ended up this bad.
Just because it was their own game doesn't make ripping off System Shock any less poor. So, instead of being unoriginal, they're just not very creative? Woo.
Doom 3 ripping off SS2 by use of recordings? Jesus, then I guess every Survival Horror game with collectable files has been ripping off Alone in the Dark for years (and yes, I know people claim that, and those people are idiots). A gameplay mechanic isn't copyright material. Sure, it may have been lifted or inspired by SS2, but that doesn't make it a rip off.
Thirdly, the recordings themselves, while interesting, don't REALLY give me the idea of a utopian society. They definitely add to the horror and whatnot, but none of them--not a single one--outside of, like, three with safe combinations or door codes--are actually relevant to YOU, the main character. Yeah, you learn about your origins and all that jazz, and that's kinda cool, but it's rather ambiguous and since a great number of important recordings are off the beaten path, and you'd have no idea they were there unless you actively went exploring--and, let me stress that, what with a need to conserve ammo instilled early on, and the total linearity of your route through Rapture making exploration utterly unneccessary and practically discouraged--those are likely just going to be ignored.
Finally, the game itself doesn't really offer as much as SS2 did. There's no real character growth. It's a first person shooter with a few Fallout-inspired cartoons, magical powers, and other nonsense. The RPG is an illusion, and the ending is UTTERLY contrived. You're either a lovable old hippie or an evil dick with nukes. They are tacked on, arbitrary, and unneccessary, as the means to obtaining those endings are extremely contrived. It all hinges on whether you kill or save Little Sisters--but, after the first three Little Sisters, there actually becomes no real incentive to actually kill them. Somebody did the math, and the gains (counting the bonuses you get for saving them) exceed the losses from saving them.
The game has tons of good ideas that just weren't properly realized. The story is fine, self-sufficient and nicely wrapped up in the end. I can't imagine what a sequel (Or prequel) could possibly offer--let alone SIX.
