The Beginning of the End

The second part and finale of the Bioshock backstory, which leads up to the actual game itself, is everything you expect and more. The death of Frank Fontaine and Andrew Ryan’s corporate takeover of his company becomes the catalyst for the beginning of the end for the Rapture dream. A newcomer named Atlas certainly doesn’t help. The fact that Ryan sent in Rapture’s police force to shut down Fontaine Futuristics doesn’t help the man’s claim of free enterprise Laissez Faire Capitalism.

While part one is more an ensemble piece, part two dives deep into Bill McDonagh’s character arc. Out of all the characters, he is the most normal in terms of his trajectory. He starts and ends the story the same man morally, but his attitude towards Rapture and Ryan has degraded like the city itself. It’s a shame his story is told primarily through audio logs found in the game, as in this adaptation of the book “Bioshock: Rapture,” Bill acts as the everyman for the listener. The actor certainly does a good job of getting that across.

Characters get Worse

Everyone else in Rapture either stays the same or becomes an even worse version of themselves at the beginning. For example, Dr. Suchong takes science too far and dies in a similar way to Frankenstein’s monster killing his creator. Tenenbaum has a transitive arc, going from former nazi scientist experimenting on children to genuinely caring for them and horrified at herself at how she could do something so horrible.

Part two is more of the same. There’s a genuine amount of service to the fans, especially during the end credits–which act to foreshadow the events of the first game in a unique and interesting, similar to post-credit scenes in super hero movies.

4.5/5 Stars