Nerve
08-27-2007, 02:07 PM
The game opens in 1960. The player assumes the role of Jack, a passenger on an aircraft that crashes into the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. The player swims for the only structure he sees, a lighthouse that serves as the above-surface entry point into Rapture, a grand metropolis under the water. Descending into the city using a bathysphere, he learns of the original prosperous history of Rapture through a pre-recorded film, narrated by the founder of Rapture, Andrew Ryan, but, upon arrival, the main character discovers that the once-prosperous city has decayed into a shadow of its former self. A man awaits Jack's exit from the bathysphere, but he is killed by a grotesque figure that is apparently insane. A man calling himself Atlas comes in over a short-com radio inside the bathysphere, asking Jack to take it with him with the words, "Would you kindly pick up that short-com radio?" Atlas also informs Jack that he wants to keep him alive. After leaving the bathysphere and moving to safety, Atlas reveals that he has been cut off from his family by splicers, mutated citizens of Rapture that have either gone insane or answer to Andrew Ryan. Atlas believes that Jack is his only hope in reuniting with his wife and child. Jack explores Rapture with the guidance of Atlas until he discovers a vending machine containing hypodermic needles. When he injects one, Atlas tells Jack that his genetic code has been rewritten, and in a spasm of pain, the player faints. After awakening, Jack continues on through the city, learning about the various traps, enemies, and resources, until he is discovered by Andrew Ryan, who communicates with the player over a television. Ryan believes that Jack is either an agent of the KGB or CIA, but he claims to be invulnerable to the government influence of the U.S.S.R and United States and decides to destroy Jack.
Jack escapes Ryan's henchmen and continues to learn about Rapture and its people. Throughout the game, the player can pick up audio diary recordings that reveal small pieces of the plot by themselves but clear up significant mysteries when considered in full. Throughout his journey through Rapture, Jack encounters various sorts of splicers. Jack also experiences brief moments of psychic hallucinations in which he can see ghost figures walking about, talking, and interacting with each other. According to advertisements throughout the city, these hallucinations are the result of splicing oneself. Through various recordings and hallucinations, the player learns about Doctor Suchong, a character whose true role comes later in the story, Dr. Steinman, a plastic surgeon who unlocked many of the Adam's body-altering tricks, and Diane McClintock, one of Steinman's patients. It is revealed that McClintock became accustomed to Steinman's service, utilizing his talents to change herself more and more until she was driven to madness. Steinman likewise loses his sense of reality in his pursuit of Adam's darkest secrets, and Atlas informs Jack that Steinman must be killed.
When Steinman is dead, Jack delves into another corner of Rapture and learns more about the treasured Little Sisters and the dreaded Big Daddies. He stumbles upon Doctor Bridgette Tenenbaum, a victim of the Holocaust who survived because she helped the Nazis in their condemned medical experiments. Tenenbaum tells Jack that she was heavily involved with the design of the Little Sisters and Big Daddies. She informs him that the Little Sisters possess Adam, and that if he kills them, he will receive all of the resources that they have, whereas if he rescues them from their symbiotic relationship with the stem cell-secreting slugs, he will receive half their Adam as well as a gift down the road in return for sparing their lives. These gifts often include plasmid upgrades and other useful items comparable to what the player could buy with the additional Adam received from harvesting the Little Sisters.
With Tenebaum's information in hand, Jack continues on and learns about the city's treacherous and ruthless businessman-turned-mobster, Frank Fontaine, and some of his underlings. It is revealed that upon the discovery of Adam, Fontaine immediately began hoarding the precious resource until his fortune and power comprised a monopoly large enough to challenge even Andrew Ryan. Initially, Ryan sympathized with Fontaine because he had forged Rapture for the very purpose of allowing its citizens to pursue their dreams unchecked by "parasites," or others who try to steal or destroy one's work because they are either unable or too lazy to come up with their own. However, as Fontaine's influence grew stronger and stronger, he became involved with smuggling and other illegal activities, and Ryan eventually realized the only choice was to rid Rapture of Fontaine and his ilk. Jack learns about some of Fontaine's officers, among them Peach Wilkins. Through audio recordings, Wilkins confesses a disloyalty to both Ryan and Fontaine, complaining that he will be killed by one if he stays loyal to the other, and vice-versa. Jack finds Wilkins and conducts research on his behalf in order to progress through Rapture, but upon meeting Wilkins with the research in hand, he is ambushed and defeats Wilkins in combat.
After dealing with Wilkins, Atlas informs Jack that he is very close to the bathysphere where Ryan is keeping Atlas's family hostage. The player eventually comes upon a glass walkway overlooking the bathysphere, and Atlas appears down below. He attempts to open the bathysphere, but the walkway suddenly goes dark and objects fall down, obstructing the player's view of the outside. Ryan's voice comes over the radio and taunts Jack, telling him that Atlas will be killed while the player helplessly remains in the walkway. Atlas actually manages to escape, but the bathysphere containing his family explodes, evidently killing his wife and child. Atlas is incensed at Ryan's sadistic decision to destroy the bathysphere only when they had come so close to rescuing his family, and he declares that the only option now is to kill Ryan.
Jack fails to meet Atlas at this point, but he continues to Arcadia, an underwater forest with grass and trees--Rapture's counterpart to New York City's Central Park. He learns a significant bit of Atlas's past. It turns out that Atlas was actually a fairly aggressive political activist in the past who gained many followers in his opposition to Ryan's increasingly totalitarian government. Atlas admits that what Jack learns about him won't all be good. Jack also learns of Professor Julie Langford, the scientist who helped Ryan construct Arcadia, and as he fights through the area, Ryan unleashes a poison on the forest. Atlas and Langford, who is still alive, are both dismayed, for without Arcadia's trees, Rapture will have no source of oxygen. With Langford's guidance, Jack manages to locate chemicals and machines that reverse Ryan's efforts to destroy Arcadia; however, as punishment, Ryan uses his power over Rapture's security system to lock Langford in her office and kill her with poisonous gas.
Atlas informs Jack that there is only one place left in the path towards Ryan. Jack travels to an underwater apartment complex controlled by one of Ryan's most mysterious, creepiest, and, according to Atlas, craziest security officials, Sander Cohen. In fact, Cohen is more an artist than anything. Jack finds ice sculptures of human beings that actually turn out to be frozen people Cohen ordered into certain positions as works of art. Cohen even has an entire underwater walkway encapsulated in ice as one of his projects. Eventually, after fighting through more of Ryan's goons, Jack finds Cohen, who asks the player to help him complete his "masterpiece." After killing and photographing the bodies a few splicers Jack confronts Cohen himself. After dealing with Cohen the player sets off to Hephaestus, the closest portion of Rapture to the underwater volcanoes the city draws its power and heat from.
At Hephaestus, Jack battles through Ryan's toughest splicer armies yet and encounters the entrance to Ryan's home, which is sealed shut by a magnetic defense mechanism that can be stopped only with an Electromagnetic Pulse device. Before Jack eventually builds and utilizes an EMP against the magnetic doors and advances on Ryan himself, Ryan activates a self-destruct bomb that causes great panic in Atlas. Surprisingly, Ryan also stops taunting the player and admits that he no longer has the capacity to challenge Jack or Atlas, but he also says that he will not let anyone take control of his city. The story undergoes an enormous twist at this point. One of the audio diaries in the area reveals a recording of a conversation between Suchong, the scientist heard about earlier, and a young boy. Suchong notes that the boy has a very cute dog, and then, apparently working on some kind of psychological test, he asks the boy if he would kindly break the dog's neck. The boy resists the order at first and cries, but at Suchong's insistence, kills his dog against his own will.
Jack escapes Ryan's henchmen and continues to learn about Rapture and its people. Throughout the game, the player can pick up audio diary recordings that reveal small pieces of the plot by themselves but clear up significant mysteries when considered in full. Throughout his journey through Rapture, Jack encounters various sorts of splicers. Jack also experiences brief moments of psychic hallucinations in which he can see ghost figures walking about, talking, and interacting with each other. According to advertisements throughout the city, these hallucinations are the result of splicing oneself. Through various recordings and hallucinations, the player learns about Doctor Suchong, a character whose true role comes later in the story, Dr. Steinman, a plastic surgeon who unlocked many of the Adam's body-altering tricks, and Diane McClintock, one of Steinman's patients. It is revealed that McClintock became accustomed to Steinman's service, utilizing his talents to change herself more and more until she was driven to madness. Steinman likewise loses his sense of reality in his pursuit of Adam's darkest secrets, and Atlas informs Jack that Steinman must be killed.
When Steinman is dead, Jack delves into another corner of Rapture and learns more about the treasured Little Sisters and the dreaded Big Daddies. He stumbles upon Doctor Bridgette Tenenbaum, a victim of the Holocaust who survived because she helped the Nazis in their condemned medical experiments. Tenenbaum tells Jack that she was heavily involved with the design of the Little Sisters and Big Daddies. She informs him that the Little Sisters possess Adam, and that if he kills them, he will receive all of the resources that they have, whereas if he rescues them from their symbiotic relationship with the stem cell-secreting slugs, he will receive half their Adam as well as a gift down the road in return for sparing their lives. These gifts often include plasmid upgrades and other useful items comparable to what the player could buy with the additional Adam received from harvesting the Little Sisters.
With Tenebaum's information in hand, Jack continues on and learns about the city's treacherous and ruthless businessman-turned-mobster, Frank Fontaine, and some of his underlings. It is revealed that upon the discovery of Adam, Fontaine immediately began hoarding the precious resource until his fortune and power comprised a monopoly large enough to challenge even Andrew Ryan. Initially, Ryan sympathized with Fontaine because he had forged Rapture for the very purpose of allowing its citizens to pursue their dreams unchecked by "parasites," or others who try to steal or destroy one's work because they are either unable or too lazy to come up with their own. However, as Fontaine's influence grew stronger and stronger, he became involved with smuggling and other illegal activities, and Ryan eventually realized the only choice was to rid Rapture of Fontaine and his ilk. Jack learns about some of Fontaine's officers, among them Peach Wilkins. Through audio recordings, Wilkins confesses a disloyalty to both Ryan and Fontaine, complaining that he will be killed by one if he stays loyal to the other, and vice-versa. Jack finds Wilkins and conducts research on his behalf in order to progress through Rapture, but upon meeting Wilkins with the research in hand, he is ambushed and defeats Wilkins in combat.
After dealing with Wilkins, Atlas informs Jack that he is very close to the bathysphere where Ryan is keeping Atlas's family hostage. The player eventually comes upon a glass walkway overlooking the bathysphere, and Atlas appears down below. He attempts to open the bathysphere, but the walkway suddenly goes dark and objects fall down, obstructing the player's view of the outside. Ryan's voice comes over the radio and taunts Jack, telling him that Atlas will be killed while the player helplessly remains in the walkway. Atlas actually manages to escape, but the bathysphere containing his family explodes, evidently killing his wife and child. Atlas is incensed at Ryan's sadistic decision to destroy the bathysphere only when they had come so close to rescuing his family, and he declares that the only option now is to kill Ryan.
Jack fails to meet Atlas at this point, but he continues to Arcadia, an underwater forest with grass and trees--Rapture's counterpart to New York City's Central Park. He learns a significant bit of Atlas's past. It turns out that Atlas was actually a fairly aggressive political activist in the past who gained many followers in his opposition to Ryan's increasingly totalitarian government. Atlas admits that what Jack learns about him won't all be good. Jack also learns of Professor Julie Langford, the scientist who helped Ryan construct Arcadia, and as he fights through the area, Ryan unleashes a poison on the forest. Atlas and Langford, who is still alive, are both dismayed, for without Arcadia's trees, Rapture will have no source of oxygen. With Langford's guidance, Jack manages to locate chemicals and machines that reverse Ryan's efforts to destroy Arcadia; however, as punishment, Ryan uses his power over Rapture's security system to lock Langford in her office and kill her with poisonous gas.
Atlas informs Jack that there is only one place left in the path towards Ryan. Jack travels to an underwater apartment complex controlled by one of Ryan's most mysterious, creepiest, and, according to Atlas, craziest security officials, Sander Cohen. In fact, Cohen is more an artist than anything. Jack finds ice sculptures of human beings that actually turn out to be frozen people Cohen ordered into certain positions as works of art. Cohen even has an entire underwater walkway encapsulated in ice as one of his projects. Eventually, after fighting through more of Ryan's goons, Jack finds Cohen, who asks the player to help him complete his "masterpiece." After killing and photographing the bodies a few splicers Jack confronts Cohen himself. After dealing with Cohen the player sets off to Hephaestus, the closest portion of Rapture to the underwater volcanoes the city draws its power and heat from.
At Hephaestus, Jack battles through Ryan's toughest splicer armies yet and encounters the entrance to Ryan's home, which is sealed shut by a magnetic defense mechanism that can be stopped only with an Electromagnetic Pulse device. Before Jack eventually builds and utilizes an EMP against the magnetic doors and advances on Ryan himself, Ryan activates a self-destruct bomb that causes great panic in Atlas. Surprisingly, Ryan also stops taunting the player and admits that he no longer has the capacity to challenge Jack or Atlas, but he also says that he will not let anyone take control of his city. The story undergoes an enormous twist at this point. One of the audio diaries in the area reveals a recording of a conversation between Suchong, the scientist heard about earlier, and a young boy. Suchong notes that the boy has a very cute dog, and then, apparently working on some kind of psychological test, he asks the boy if he would kindly break the dog's neck. The boy resists the order at first and cries, but at Suchong's insistence, kills his dog against his own will.