This guide will walk you through “Medical Pavilion”, the second section of Bioshock. We will go through how to complete each area, as well as any optional items you can find along the way.
Map
Medical Pavilion
1 – Arrival
Ok, so by now our good Jack is probably wishing he had just died in the plane crash. It certainly would have been easier to accept than realizing he now has to fight his way through an underwater city crawling with genetically-enhanced mutants. The Medical Pavilion is one step closer to achieving victory, though, so let’s keep our protagonist moving before he has time to realize just how dire his situation really is.
2 – Vita-Chamber
When you reach this map’s first Vita-Chamber, Atlas will come across your shortwave radio and ask that you find your way to Emergency Access. Easier said than done.
3 – Circus of Values Vending Machine
Since this is the first (working) Circus of Values vending machine you’ve happened across, take a moment to acquaint yourself with it. Most of the ammunition you’ll need can be found scattered about Rapture, so try to use your money for more important items like First Aid Kits or EVE Hypos. This particular vending machine doesn’t even have an option to hack it, so let’s hold off on buying anything just yet.
4 – Audio Diary #3
Search the area around the Medical Services Cashier counter to find some cash, ammunition, and your third audio diary. Called “Released Today” and narrated by Diane McClintock, this diary begins painting a picture of a surgeon named Dr. Steinman.
5 – Disabled Security Bot
Pinned between these two doors is a disabled security bot, which provides you with your first opportunity to hack one of Rapture’s electronic devices. When you initially hack something, you’ll first be shown a gauge that indicates the device’s difficulty rating. The farther the needle slides to the right (toward the red), the harder the device is to hack. Luckily, hacking this bot will be about as easy as it will ever be in Rapture.
To successfully hack a device, you need to play a minigame of sorts. You’ll be shown a grid of hidden tiles and metallic liquid will begin to enter the area. You must overturn the tiles and arrange the pipes found underneath so that they guide the liquid to the grid’s exit point (indicated by a green arrow). Once you’ve formed an obstacle-free path to the exit, choose the “Increase Flow Speed” button to finish the hacking job. Of course, later devices will have much more complicated grids, but this same general idea is used until the end of the game.
Once the security bot is under your control, it will fire up and begin hovering in the air before you. This will cause the doors to open up, granting you access to the area to the east. It’s worth noting that hacked security bots (including this one) will fight alongside you as machine gun-toting companions, so try and keep a couple of them hanging around whenever you expect to be doing a lot of fighting.
When you pull the Emergency Access Control lever at the top of the stairs, an alarm will sound and you’ll be denied access to the bathysphere to the south. Atlas will come across your radio again and suggest that you get the Emergency Access Key from Dr. Steinman. Something tells me it’s not going to be a friendly encounter.
After Steinman has been slain, use his key to pull the lever without activating the security alarm. You’re now free to head to the bathysphere at area #50.
8 – Machine Gun and Electrical Override Switch
This small room on the second floor contains your third weapon, the Machine Gun, and an Electrical Override Switch. Pull the switch to open the previously closed gate to the west. This will unleash more Thuggish and Leadhead Splicers, so be careful as you backtrack to take advantage of the area beyond the gate.
Next to your first Health Station is another audio diary lying atop a trunk. This one is labeled “Love For Science” and is narrated by a new character – a German doctor named Tenenbaum.
Buried in the ice on this lower level is yet another audio diary. This one is labeled “Freezing Pipes” and is narrated by a new character named McDonagh.
Later, after you’ve picked up the Incinerate! plasmid from area #21, you can melt the ice and gain access to the area beyond the hallway.
15 – Automatic Hack Tool
Use Electro Bolt to get through the malfunctioning door, then grab your first Automatic Hack Tool from the desk inside this room. These tools guarantee instant success when hacking any device.
16 – Vita-Chamber
Another one of Rapture’s resuscitative wonders.
17 – Nitro Splicer
This crazed Nitro Splicer will toss a Molotov Cocktail as he runs off to the north, collapsing the sign above and blocking your way to the Dr. Steinman’s Surgery area. Atlas will come across your radio and recommend that you get your hands on the Telekinesisplasmid, which means you’ll be backtracking once again.
Once you’ve nabbed the Telekinesis plasmid from area #29, you can return here and use it to grab one of the explosives being tossed down by the Splicers up above. Turn toward the collapsed debris and fling the explosive ahead of you, therefore clearing the obstruction.
Your first encounter with a security camera. If the camera detects your presence for more than a few seconds, it will sound an alarm and being dispatching waves of security bots after you. Try to avoid its gaze and either hack it (therefore making it detect only the presence of enemies) or destroy it with a few well-placed bullets.
20 – Hacker’s Delight Tonic
Use the “furnace control” switch here to send the corpse lying on the slab inside to be cremated. When the furnace finishes the job, you’ll discover the Hacker’s Delightphysical tonic lying in the corpse’s ashes.
21 – Incinerate! Plasmid
Crouch through this ventilation shaft to find an overturned Gatherer’s Garden vending machine. Resting next to it is the Incinerate!plasmid. Good timing, too, because Andrew Ryan sends a couple of Splicers after you. See that oil slick that runs through the shaft and out into the main room? Ignite it with Incinerate! and watch them burn.
22 – Shotgun
Having used Incinerate! on the ice at area #14, you’ll discover the Shotgun lying next to this mutilated corpse. When you pick up the fine weapon, the lights will go out and you’ll be ambushed by a bunch of Splicers. Use the latest addition to your arsenal to bring them down quickly.
23 – RPG Turret
These wicked turrets are capable of firing rocket propelled grenades when you get within range. Dodge the first shot or two from this turret, then unleash and Electro Bolt and the device to briefly disable it. Hack or destroy, it’s up to you.
24 – Security Camera and Safe
Deal with the oscillating security camera hanging from the ceiling, then turn your attention to the safe embedded in the wall. The only way to gain access to the many safes you’ll come across in Rapture is to hack them at a fairly high difficulty level. Every safe contains valuable items, though, so it’s worth the effort. This particular safe houses three Armor-Piercing Pistol Rounds, ten 00 Buck, and fifty-five Machine Gun Rounds.
25 – Audio Diary #12
Lying on the floor here is another audio diary. This one is labeled “Enrage Trial” and is narrated by Dr. Suchong. Judging by the screaming on the recording device and the saw protruding from the nurse’s neck, the trial didn’t quite go as planned.
26 – Wrench Jockey Tonic
After crawling through the ventilation shaft to the northeast, you can grab the Wrench Jockeycombat tonic off of the cabinet in this room.
If you want to give your newly acquired plasmid a whirl, hit the “ball launcher switch” to activate the machine at the other end of the hall. It will start launching tennis balls at you, which you can then grab in mid-air and throw about as you please. Good stuff.
30 – Chompers Dental Entrance
The door to Chompers Dental may be locked, but the key to unlock it is hanging on a key return just inside the broken window. Use the Telekinesisplasmid from area #29 to pull it into your hands, then unlock the door and head inside. Be careful of the security camera just to the left as you walk in, though.
31 – Security Camera and Safe
Blast or hack the security camera along the south wall, then hack the safe to find eighty Machine Gun Rounds, four Armor-Piercing Pistol Rounds, and two First Aid Kits.
32 – Turret
Crawl through the broken window, deal with the turret, and then move into the dental room to the east.
Navigate the ventilation tunnel to the south to gain entrance to this room, where a Leadhead Splicer awaits. Kill her in any way you see fit, then grab the Automatic Hack Tool and snacks lying about the room before continuing on your way.
35 – Frozen Door
With the Incinerate! plasmid from area #21, you can melt away the ice that’s holding this door shut and continue into the Twilight Fields area to the south.
36 – Turret and Safe
Hack or destroy the machine gun turret in this alcove, then hack the safe to find seventeen Dollars, nine 00 Buck, and three Armor-Piercing Pistol Rounds.
37 – Tonic
As you approach this back room, you’ll notice the silhouette of a Splicer on the wall. Before you can get a glimpse of the shadow’s source, the lights go out and the Splicer disappears. Lucky for you, though, there’s a Security Expertengineering tonic sitting on a cabinet in his stead.
Of course, the Splicer resurfaces when you try to leave. He’s nothing an Electro Bolt at the water can’t take care of, though.
38 – Security Door
To get past this security door, you’ll need to enter the proper four-digit code. Check the note underneath the EVE Hypo to the north and you’ll discover the code scribbled on a piece of paper – 0451. Once open, you can grab another Automatic Hack Tool, an EVE Hypo, and some ammunition from the shelves inside the small room beyond.
Where there’s a safe, there’s usually a security camera. Once the coast is clear, hack the safe to uncover twenty-four Dollars, three Armor-Piercing Pistol Rounds, and two First Aid Kits.
44 – Dr. Steinman
Watch through the glass as the insane Dr. Steinman flies into a rage over the imperfections of his long-dead patients. When he notices you, he declares you as “hideous” before picking up his Machine Gun and firing at will.
As your first “boss” battle, Dr. Steinman really isn’t that difficult. His path leads him through the water-filled room below, which means a few well-placed Electro Bolts will bring him to his knees. Follow those up with some Shotgun blasts and he’ll be lying on the floor in no time. Just make sure he doesn’t get a chance to run to the nearby health station or he’ll end up at maximum health again.
When the crazed doctor falls, search his corpse for the Emergency Access Key and a nice pile of ammunition. You’re now ready to head back to this level’s entrance to proceed through the Emergency Access gate.
Before leaving the Surgery area, you’ll also want to hack the safe in the water-filled room below. This will net you three First Aid Kits.
47 – Moral Dilemma
Thanks to an explosion that rocks the core of Rapture after Dr. Steinman’s death, you’re forced to pass through this room to continue on to the Emergency Access gate. You’ll witness the death of a Big Daddy, which means the Little Sister he was protecting has just turned vulnerable. A Splicer moves in for the kill, but Tenenbaum shows up to kill him before he can touch the girl.
At this point, you have to make a choice. Atlas wants you to harvest the girls, but Tenenbaum wants you to rescue them with some sort of red tonic she tosses down to you. Choosing Atlas’ route means instant gratification in the form of greater amounts of Adam, but Tenenbaum promises to reward you – somehow – if you save the Little Sisters (which also nets you some Adam, just not as much). Your decision here (and everywhere else you encounter Little Sisters) leads to one of two endings at the game’s conclusion.
48 – Gatherer’s Garden and Audio Diary #19
Lucky for you, there just so happens to be a working Gatherer’s Garden vending machine behind this curtain. Now that you have at least some Adam (regardless of your choice at area #47), you might want to make a purchase or two.
On your way back through the lounge after taking down Dr. Steinman, you’ll come across your first real encounter with a Big Daddy and Little Sister. This particular Big Daddy is called a Bouncer, which means that it’s armed with a massive drill and is capable of smashing the ground to make you temporarily disoriented. Since you need the Adam being carried within the Little Sisters, though, you’re going to have to bring her protector down one way or another.
Big Daddies are tough, but certainly not invincible. The massive beasts are still susceptible to armor-piercing ammunition and virtually every plasmid you have at your disposal is highly effective against them. Keeping the Big Daddy burning with Incinerate! while cycling between Electro Bolt and a weapon is probably your best means to bring down this first one. Move backwards as you attack to avoid getting clobbered in melee range.
When “Mr. Bubbles” is down, make sure you take the time to harvest or rescue the Little Sister and then continue on toward the Emergency Access tunnel.
50 – Bathysphere
Once you’ve used Steinman’s key to activate the Emergency Access Control lever, you’ll be granted passage to this bathysphere. Use it to continue on to Neptune’s Bounty.
Share this article:
KainHighwind27
I'm a huge gamer who especially loves the Final Fantasy series. I will play just about any game, especially if it has anything resembling a Dragoon.
