“The bots have them bottled up, sir. We’d go right in, if it weren’t for the hold-back order.” The second instalment of Groping The Map will be presented in multiple parts running over the next several weeks. Introduction. Annotated Walkthrough, 1: South Dock. Annotated Walkthrough, 2: Island exterior and UNATCO HQ. Annotated Walkthrough, 3: Island […]
“Nobody was s’posed to reside down here long term – but when you’re broke in this town, you’re not exactly swimmin’ in alternatives.” Conclusion: As the fourth level in BioShock 2 Pauper’s Drop is at once the start of the core of the game and the end of its tutorial; from here onward everything is […]
“Nobody’s supposed to live down here, city pissing on us.” Life Below The Tracks: When things go wrong for you in Rapture the only way is down, if you sink far enough you will eventually find yourself here, the home both for those without a place in Ryan’s objectivist utopia, and those who have lost […]
“‘Survival of the fittest’ that’s the rule in the Drop, the only rule.” Combat in The Drop: One of the themes at the heart of BioShock 2 is that of regaining your place in the world. You are Subject Delta, the first successfully pair bonded Big Daddy. You were once an important figure in the […]
“Ol’ Andy rambles on about the Great Chain… I got people shellin’ out to pull it for me!” Annotated Walkthrough, 3: The concept of a crumbling apartment building is hardly a new one, Max Payne, Condemned 2: Bloodshot and BioShock have all included representations of such locations. They are familiar places, safe places, made explicitly […]
“… a whole city tuggin’ at the same dollar bill.” Annotated Walkthrough, 2: Officially designated simply ‘Pumps’ the area known to all as Skid Row, has become the Market district of Pauper’s Drop where what little it’s denizens have is bartered and traded for something just a little better. In order to gain access to […]
“There ain’t a side of the tracks more wrong than under ’em.” Annotated Walkthrough, 1: Stepping onto the platform at the start of the level one thing is immediately clear, this place is dirty. Compared to the luxuriant excess of the Adonis, or the manufactured joviality of Ryan Amusements, Pauper’s Drop feels old, decrepit. Designed […]
“And now you come swanning into my neighbourhood looking for me? Wrong turn, tin daddy.” This first instalment of Groping The Map will be presented in multiple parts, running over the next several weeks: Introduction. Annotated Walkthrough, 1: Diner and Downtown. Annotated Walkthrough, 2: Market. Annotated Walkthrough, 3: Sinclair Deluxe. Combat in The Drop: Encounter […]
Next week witnesses the beginning of a new phase for this site. Starting Monday evening (GMT) Groping The Map is a series of in depth examinations of a single level. Each new instalment will see me take a detailed look at a game level from the past several years that has been personally memorable or […]
Categories
Isolation.
“The closed door is a curious object. Secures a world inside or ensures one stays out. Harbinger of fear and joy in equal measure. Barrier both physical and mental requiring an act of will to remove. It keeps the sad isolated and the joyous together. Humble custodian, both guardian and jailer. There is little more […]