Play the first-ever Big Daddy in BioShock 2
by Andrew Yoon 
{ Mar 13th 2009 at 9:00PM } 
Game Informer's BioShock 2 cover story is slowly making their way to subscribers, and the real details are far more exciting than the fantasy. Players take control of the very first Big Daddy, and will be able to use plasmids while still donning its iconic drill. Your quest will have you confronting other Big Daddies and a familiar moral dilemma: do you harvest the Little Sisters or do you adopt them?
[Thanks to Philip B. for the info! We'll be updating this post as new info comes in -- and we always welcome a tip.]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Kiros @ Mar 13th 2009 9:07PM
So the game will move slower than Exit?
baby sea tuna @ Mar 13th 2009 10:42PM
I thought it was funny. :(
gamepete64 @ Mar 13th 2009 9:08PM
Cool!!!
Cj @ Mar 13th 2009 9:09PM
Hmm so you play as the one kidnapping all the girls around the world?
Sam406 @ Mar 13th 2009 9:10PM
So... We can assume it's a precuel...?
Vegeta (DAT ASS!!!) @ Mar 13th 2009 10:01PM
Not to be a spelling nazi but...
It's prequel.
Sam406 @ Mar 13th 2009 10:08PM
Gah! I felt like I something was wrong when I wrote that! You have failed me Google spell check!
i.c. weiner @ Mar 13th 2009 11:05PM
it says "did you mean prequel"...
mezzanine @ Mar 14th 2009 2:29AM
Man, you've totally been humiliated and beaten.
Get revenge.
B @ Mar 13th 2009 9:11PM
Wait, what? I thought it was supposed to be 7 years after the first one?
LaughingTarget @ Mar 13th 2009 9:22PM
Those were just false message board rumors.
Kamizar @ Mar 13th 2009 9:38PM
http://somethinginthesea.com/ - Look at the dates.
It's still possible to play as the first big daddy ever and have events after '59, that just means that the first one didn't die in BioShock.
Jampirow @ Mar 13th 2009 10:09PM
The game is 10 years after the first one. It's written on the magazine.
sea @ Mar 13th 2009 9:12PM
BioShock is a game with an excellent presentation, art design, and exploration element, but is crippled by a lack of gameplay depth. Additionally, the story is concluded in the first game. It's done. Finished. Nothing more to say. Now, though, financial incentive has brought the title back from the dead and the developers are clearly straining to make it work by introducing some brand-new, innovative elements.
Playing as a Big Daddy in the original game sucked. It was probably the most boring part of it and removed whatever minor difficulty remained in it (even on hard the game is a complete walk in the park). Now, what the hell? Play as a Big Daddy, toting a Little Sister around? The escort mission in the first game is bad enough, so why does 2K have to design the sequel seemingly around this element? Co-op gameplay? BioShock is effective because of its strong story and immersive atmosphere - multiplayer of any sort utterly destroys that element of the game, because get two friends and two microphones together, and there's bound to be stupidity. Last... Big Sisters? Seriously. Okay, I know that they're desperately trying to add something new, but that's the best they could come up with? I can envision the discussion around the meeting table when they came up with this one... "well, the first game had Big Daddies and Little Sisters... what if we like, invert it? Now we have Little Sisters! oh man, is that clever or what?" Yeah, just weak.
I'm still looking forward to the game, but this early news is really starting to stink. It sounds like BioShock 2 has very little to do with BioShock and what makes it good in the first place, the natural result of a story and universe with nowhere to go. It's like Jaws 3 - man, just stop. It's over.
incubeezer @ Mar 13th 2009 9:40PM
Everyones a critic.
The Dark Wayne @ Mar 13th 2009 9:43PM
more like everyone's entitled to their opinion
sea @ Mar 13th 2009 9:44PM
Thanks for rating me down, guys. I'm glad to see that other people's opinions are appreciated on Joystiq.
Noxat @ Mar 13th 2009 9:45PM
Agreed; sounds like a soulless cash-in. May still be a fun game, but the love is gone.
The Dark Wayne @ Mar 13th 2009 9:47PM
the guy states his opinion, calmly, pleasantly and tactfully and you guys go and downvote him just because you looked the game and he didn't. Nice going assholes
Reader @ Mar 13th 2009 9:58PM
"Thanks for rating me down, guys. I'm glad to see that other people's opinions are appreciated on Joystiq."
People rate you depending on if they agree with you or not... It seems you're the one that can't respect others' opinions. I think I'll rate you down just for that statement.
Vegeta (DAT ASS!!!) @ Mar 13th 2009 10:04PM
"Playing as a Big Daddy in the original game sucked."
Because there is absolutely no way the developers might have realized this and there's definitely no way they'll improve the game play mechanics for the Big Daddy in order to make it more fun. Nope they're just going to copy and paste the Big Daddy controls from the first game.
Also I absolutely love how apparently you can tell the future and know exactly what will suck and what won't. I wish I had that ability.
Markez @ Mar 13th 2009 10:07PM
A *minor spoiler* alert would've been nice, pal, a few of us haven't even played the 1st one yet. Yeah yeah, I'm getting to it, alright?
sea @ Mar 13th 2009 10:08PM
The down-voting is a problem because it gives people the option to denigrate a user without directly responding - essentially, "yeah, I disagree, and I hate you for it, but I'm not going to actually provide any relevant commentary". If Joystiq wants to present itself as a forum for "limited" discussion, then giving users an ability that effectively negates the need for discussion is not a good thing.
Whatever, I'm done posting on this site. I don't enjoy being attacked by a bunch of plebeian shitheads who can't even provide valid reasons for those attacks. Thanks Joystiq, for further confirming my belief that the world is hell and all of its inhabitants are assholes.
Vegeta (DAT ASS!!!) @ Mar 13th 2009 10:09PM
To be fair, if you hadn't played the game by now, you kinda your fault if the game gets spoiled.
brickwalker0 @ Mar 13th 2009 10:20PM
sea, i really think youre overreacting.
you set your expectations a bit high after writing about your opinion. people have every right to disagree with you, just as you have every right to state your opinion.
Colonel Radec (PSN: slycooper_rocker) @ Mar 13th 2009 10:20PM
@ sea
dude, don't cut yourself cause one of your comments was grayed out. it's just the interwebs. look at sprinkles (the current TheWatchmen09) for example. he gets grayed out and banned all the time, but he keeps coming back. stay calm lol. your comment was fine, its just that some people didn't agree and hit downvote. opinions are great if presented well, and you did that. lol
Levi @ Mar 13th 2009 10:26PM
I agree with you, sea. This place has a lot of assholes and idiots, and it's easy to have poop flung in your direction if you have an unpopular opinion, regardless of how you present it. I've found that it's just not worth posting anything largely intellectual here, because if it's unpopular, you won't get an intellectual response. So why bother, right?
There are a few of us, though. JohnnyNumber5 is a good dude, I'm pretty nice and rational, unless there's a ridiculous comment posted that I can't pass up.
meth0dical @ Mar 13th 2009 10:37PM
tl;dr
HitNRun @ Mar 13th 2009 10:46PM
I loved Bioshock, and I upvoted Sea. Because pretty much everything he says is irrefutable. Most elements of Bioshock were wonderfully done. It had great production values. The nuts and bolts of the gameplay was lackluster (I thought this was a positive because it didn't draw players too far into stupid min/maxing).
And most of all, the story is done. Recessionary hymn, wild applause, car-meet-sunset done. The new story is pretty obviously an attempt to construct a tale from the plot points of the first game that won't get the game thrown in the trash at game media outlets before it has a chance to sell a billion copies.
More info on the coming megafranchise:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioshock#Sequels
libertine07 @ Mar 13th 2009 10:47PM
sea, I voted you up just because you called everyone "plebian shitheads" and it brightened my day.
thank you.
Markez @ Mar 13th 2009 10:53PM
We're all grown-ups here right? Well mostly, anyway. Don't whine and boo-hoo about getting voted down and lament about what an awful place this is to discuss something.
If you're that thin-skinned and sensitive then maybe the internet isn't for you. Have you been to the internet before? You're expecting a videogame blog to be the eden of rational, civil discussion? Grow up, man. You should be able to handle people disagreeing with you and shake it off. Granted, the ratio of decent responses was pretty awful, the fact is you put up a good, critical, well thought-out post. Vegeta responded, and you didn't bother responding to his post and instead you carried on with blah blah woe is me.
I would've paid more attention and responded but as I haven't played the first I didn't want to nit-pick on something I wasn't wholly in know on.
And calling someone, anyone a plebian shithead? Well that's just beyond asnine and pompous regardless of the forum you do it in.
Please stick around, I think you'll find you can like it here, just don't take anything to heart or too terribly seriously.
Markez @ Mar 13th 2009 10:55PM
And yeah, Vegeta, I know, thanks. It's probably comparable to having someone tell you that Darth Vader is Luke's father if you hadn't seen Star Wars yet.
I'm weak tamale sauce, I know.
Freyyr @ Mar 14th 2009 1:46AM
Agreed. The best part of the first game was the failed Objectivist setting - BioShock drew heavily from Ayn Rand's work, specifically in Atlas Shrugged. Andrew Ryan shadows the role of John Galt, the man who "stopped the motor of the world," except Ryan has one fatal flaw - he could not sit idly and trust his ideology when trouble struck. This flaw eventually led to events spiraling so far out of control they destroyed everything he had sought to create. Rand's minarchist message is clear - regulation only to protect people from one another, and no more.
The problem is that plotline is cut and dry - remove the political elements and art-deco culture and you're left with a par for the course shooter.
Powaqqatsi @ Mar 14th 2009 3:36AM
So some folks down-voted you. Take it like a man. Don't get all offended and obnoxious. Tighten up your panties and defend yourself. But complaining about people being intolerant of your opinions and then dismissing them as "plebeian shitheads" for expressing their reactions is contradictory, petty and pretty fucking condescending. On second thought maybe it's a good idea that you don't post on here again.
RobLink (Alex Kidd incarnate) @ Mar 14th 2009 5:46AM
@ sea; if you want intelligent discussion on video games, try joining the JPAG. There'll be a link in the podcast show notes. No real anonymity there, so we're all pretty decent to each other.
The Doctor @ Mar 15th 2009 12:11AM
You think people "hate" you if they downvote you? You expressed your original view quite well. I disagreed. I downvoted you. Only after reading your later extremely immature comments do I have any reason to not like you.
Don't let the fact that other people are going to have different opinions get you in such a tizzy. It's idiotic.
Kiros @ Mar 13th 2009 9:13PM
Oh wait you get to kidnap little girls? People are gonna love this.
Sir Buzz Killington( The Artist formerly known as Jakka) @ Mar 13th 2009 9:20PM
"Players take control of the very first Big Daddy, and will be able to use plasmids while still donning its iconic drill. Your quest will have you confronting other Big Daddies and a familiar moral dilemma: do you harvest the Little Sisters or do you adopt them?"
Here's a little challenge - rather than ranting about it, I'll leave it up to you guys. Knowing what a canon and story whore I am, point out three things about that statement that prove we'll be dealing with a Theme Park version of Raputure this year.
Sokkratez @ Mar 13th 2009 9:33PM
Big Daddies don't use plasmids - but since BDs are humans, the original BD may have been a Splicer.
Big Daddies don't fight other Big Daddies - in the first game. We don't know if they did "back in the day".
Big Daddies exist to help Little Sisters - again, in the first game. Do we know what their initial function was? I don't remember if that was explained.
Sir Buzz Killington( The Artist formerly known as Jakka) @ Mar 13th 2009 9:50PM
Plasmids, fair nuff'. Fighting other Big Daddies...can do.
Third one doesn't make any sense though. They're created and bred specifically to protect them and giving one a moral choice to harvest them simply sounds like bad writing.
KeenCommander @ Mar 13th 2009 10:03PM
It could be a rogue big daddy, hence the having a choice in the matter - which would make sense with being the first, since I highly doubt they got everything just right the first time.
fred @ Mar 14th 2009 10:48AM
All good points. You guys give canon/story nerds a good name
cloud858rk @ Mar 14th 2009 3:43PM
@Sokkratez
Big Daddies were made to specifically protect Little Sisters, so I'm pretty sure they didn't do anything else.
Orex @ Mar 13th 2009 9:23PM
I was gonna post this in but couldnt be bothered
Big daddy vs Little sister = domestic violence rofl
Big daddy kidnaps little sister = just plain wrong man lol
Longhorn4Life (PSN MariusElijah) @ Mar 13th 2009 9:41PM
So there is finally a game that allows you to be a pedophile? No thanks
F1 Gamertag: Cadablog @ Mar 13th 2009 9:47PM
"...while still donning its iconic drill."
SOLD!!
Kattleox @ Mar 13th 2009 9:49PM
Just saying: APRIL ISSUE. Everyone remember the DOAX nudity cheat? Yeah? We'll thats about what I'm expecting here.
Nael M. @ Mar 14th 2009 2:35AM
Except that the DOAX nude cheat (and ountless other game magazine April Fools jokes) were never the FRONT PAGE STORY.
N @ Mar 13th 2009 9:52PM
Shark = jumped imo. Very disappointed by this news. I'm still holding out on the possibility that this is the most elaborate April Fools joke from a gaming related magazine. I just can't get excited by the concepts of the gameplay or basic plot. I'm completely willing to eat my words when this comes out, if it turns out to be awesome, but right now I'm bummed about these details.
- A BioShock fanboy.
N @ Mar 13th 2009 9:55PM
http://allgamesbeta.net/2009/03/13/bioshock-2/
Here's the full details, plus some scans (it's been awhile since I've posted here and I can't remember if these are allowed, if they aren't, sorry, feel free to remove them).