And here's where we get to the nasty shit you can do to your enemies, where Bioshock really comes together. The fisheries, a dark, dank corner of Rapture where its citizens once farmed the fruit of the sea, is now a distinctly dangerous place filled with Splicers and a Little Sister harvesting under the protection of the Big Daddy. We saw how the same room was played in three different ways, with three entirely different results, sampling a variety from (but not all of) Bioshock's massive, mouth-watering menu of aggression. It's about player choice, player expression where low-fi mechanical weapons mix with superpowers in a grounded, working world.
The first run-through was what can only be described as "total chaos." Charging through the door, the hall is filled with bullets flying from every direction; combat was quick, messy and ultimately inefficient. Clearing the room of Splicers and automatic gun-turrets becomes a mammoth task of speed and lightning reactions and that's without taking on the super-powerful Big Daddy. With the battle turning against us, we teleported and returned to a pre-defined marker outside of the room. Retreat or die.
The second time, we stealth into the room, dropping left off a platform underneath where the Little Sister is harvesting Adam. We use the Security Beacon plasmid to take control of a gun turret and reposition it so it automatically trains on any Splicers that moves into its path. Moving around the turret we then spot more Splicers ahead. Setting the oil they're standing in on fire by using "Incineration," they run to put themselves out in the pool of water leaking into the fishery. And here's where it gets clever. By using our Electric-Bolt, the Splicers trying to extinguish the flames are electrocuted, taking them down. We then use telekinesis to reposition a bolt-trap over a door, waiting for reinforcements to come in.
When they do, the first is destroyed, while the wave behind are thwarted by the Security Beacon plasmid, which lets loose helicopter-style drones. After assisting with a few well-tossed grenades, the Splicers are dispatched, using a combination of stealth, the environment, plasmid powers and some neat trap setting, isolating the Big Daddy. But with full health, taking him on is an unenviable proposition. Time to regroup and reconfigure.
