Portal 2 similar to Bioshock

[tuccake]

I beat Portal 2 last week (a masterpiece by the way and my pick for GOTY) and I got a real Bioshock feel from the game.


I found quite a few similarities between the two games, mostly in their story telling techniques, I am not going to get into them all, but I found many similarities in the way that they convey their stories.


Also the Retro levels of Portal 2 had a very similar feel to Rapture (at least in my opinion), especially with Cave Johnson's voice coming over the loud speakers. Which brings me to another point, I found Cave Johnson to be strikingly similar to Andrew Ryan. I know that the designers said that they didn't have Ryan in mind while creating Johnson but I have to believe that they at least subconsciously drew inspiration from Ryan while creating the character. Of course Johnson was more lighthearted and humorous than Ryan (just because of the nature of the Portal series), but their roles and and what they did in their respective stories/universes seem too similar to be just a coincidence. I am not saying that Valve stole anything from Irrational and Cave Johnson is actually one of my favorite characters in all of gaming, I'm just saying that they seemed similar to me.


What do you guys think? Did you find Portal 2 to be similar to Bioshock at all? I know this topic has been covered on other forums but you guys seem to be the most hardcore Bioshock fans and I am interested in getting your opinion on the topic.

[isoph0451]

I feel the same way man. The twist, Cave's character, just the feel of the game in general. Portal 2 was such an awesome game to play, and I definitely felt a Bioshock vibe while playing through it, which is funny because Portal and Bioshock cam out around the same time in 2007

[edeslash]

When I fell into lower Aperture on my first playthrough, I clearly recognized the same feelings as when I descended into Rapture for the first time. 'Something's real messed up down here.'


The storytelling also bears similarities. There's little direct storytelling, instead the environment is the most important factor.

[IGlegacy_Felonious]

You could say what Happens with Wheatley is similar to the twist in Bioshock. The method Cave Johnson speaks through the player is similar to the way Andrew Ryan spoke to the player. I'd say it ends there.

[alpha101]

I feel exactly the same way! I originally discovered portal and fell in love with it then I found Bioshock and also loved it. I can be picky about the games I really like and it's funny that these two happen to be my favorite.


It may be because in both games there is a lot of emotion between player and main character. For me it was the 'little sisters' and 'GLaDOS' that did it. Perhaps because in one way or another they were dependent on me (the central character). Also I felt that both games had a deep back story that are perhaps similar in some ways. The 'what may have been' factor really played in!

[Spata]

Gotta say, I loved both games and played through em each many times - There wasn't a single thing in Portal 2 that ever made me think of BioShock. Not once. But maybe that's just me..


Oh, and comparing GlaDOS to Little Sisters... lol come on

[tuccake]

felonious said:You could say what Happens with Wheatley is similar to the twist in Bioshock. The method Cave Johnson speaks through the player is similar to the way Andrew Ryan spoke to the player. I'd say it ends there.

I think that another similarity might be that they both let you see how great the world that you are in once was and how it slowly deteriorated.

[tuccake]

spata said:Gotta say, I loved both games and played through em each many times - There wasn't a single thing in Portal 2 that ever made me think of BioShock. Not once. But maybe that's just me..

Oh, and comparing GlaDOS to Little Sisters... lol come on

Yeah I agree that is a bit of a stretch.

[bluejacket]

this reminds me of how people compared fallout 3 to bioshock because of the music....its the same time frame, i see nothing else.

[philosocaptcha]

There was a little bit of deja vu in the opening of Portal 2. Personally I thought the crumbling facility was very reminiscent of Rapture, but it was sort of an homage if anything, and the sensation passed quickly after that point.


The Wheatley Twist was a pretty standard turnaround for the plot, not really an Atlas moment at all. I think most games without a huge multiplayer base probably will rely on surprising bends in plot direction to keep players interested.


Not to mention, while Atlas's betrayal left me disgusted and a little incredulous, Wheatley's mania just left me feeling. . . sad.

[hunterdavidross]

bluejacket said:this reminds me of how people compared fallout 3 to bioshock because of the music....its the same time frame, i see nothing else.

I don't think Fallout and BioShock are in the same time frame at all. BioShock was in the 1940's - 1960's


Fallout is in the future, 2277 to be exact

[laforzadimente]

hunterdavidross said:

bluejacket said:this reminds me of how people compared fallout 3 to bioshock because of the music....its the same time frame, i see nothing else.

I don't think Fallout and BioShock are in the same time frame at all. BioShock was in the 1940's - 1960's

Fallout is in the future, 2277 to be exact

Which is probably why he referenced the music.

[crackgoblin]

spata said:Gotta say, I loved both games and played through em each many times - There wasn't a single thing in Portal 2 that ever made me think of BioShock. Not once. But maybe that's just me..

Oh, and comparing GlaDOS to Little Sisters... lol come on

yea, this. not at all...not even a little bit

[x360small29]

i am not surprised, but find it amazing that we can find so many games that seem to pull from bioshock. The game i think still is one of the best game for story and game play in modern gaming.

[Mr. Tiddlywinks]

edeslash said:

The storytelling also bears similarities. There's little direct storytelling, instead the environment is the most important factor.

I find this to be especially true in a lot of Valve's games, you have to be listening to what everyone around you is saying, and what is literally written on the walls.

I think the games both have a common root in the system shock game series. The system shocks utilized this narrative system the same way the original half life did, which is what put valve on the map. Valve has been using this format since then. Also, hey, rogue AI.

[StudiedApollo8]

I hadn't really gotten that thought from Portal until I read some of the comments here. I suppose there are some similarities between the Portal and Bioshock series. Now that I think about it Glados betraying Chell in Portal and Atlas betraying Jack in Bioshock has a similar feel not to mention both have a "final confrontation" in the end the only difference is Atlas/ Frank Fontain doesn't live in the end.

Valve and Irrational are my two favorite gaming companies right now. Irrational kiind of beats Valve though because Valve can't count to 3.

[Evans0305]

I get there's some related elements from BioShock, but nothing that was as littoral as thinking the old Aperture Lab looks like Rapture.

For one, Portal 2's narrative story was much more driven than from the first game, especially when the first came out roughly around the same time. In P2, we get a sense of how the lab and its founder had this history of aspiring to be a terrific example of something great, much like Andrew Ryan had intended for his city to be built to be ideal for those like himself to make for themselves. Its only by the circumstance that the disaster of failure that brought these places into turmoil, wether its Ryan's citizens rebelling against his tyrannical policies against "the Surface", or Johnson's being bankrupt by his unorthodox approach to science stuck in the untested phases. Its only by their different fates that the places that they originally aspired for would ultimately fall into the control of those that would doom the inhabitants inside.


The similarities of being betrayed in the games seemed similar, was also kinda different. Sure, there was betrayal of that thought-to-be ally, but it was pretty much under different circumstances. It wasn't like Wheatley was really a bad guy in disguise; he was just an idiot mad with power (although some could say that's also a good comparison to Fontaine).

[Vito_Lucente]

I thought Old Aperture felt a lot more like Fallout 3 than BioShock. But I guess the twist with Wheatley is like the one in BioShock. You're betrayed in both of them, but Wheatley just goes absolutely mad, he's not evil from the start like Fontaine is. But I never really saw any significant similarities between the two.

[deaddoucher]

Yeah I see a few similarities in the two games, Dead Space and Dead Space 2 reminded me more of Bioshock then Portal 2.