BioShock 2 Multiplayer Interview

Worthplaying interviews Allen Goode, system designer responsible for putting BioShock 2 into a multiplayer form. Since the first game had no multiplayer, it’s an interesting read for fans to see what they’re planning.

WP: Given that the original game was so focused on single-player, and even with the second game, single-player is the primary core, how much of a challenge was it to try and integrate multiplayer gameplay into that? Were you trying to strive for full integration with the theme, or was there talk of a standalone multiplayer that doesn’t tie in at all?

AG: It didn’t really make sense to make a standalone multiplayer simply because the biggest character in BioShock is Rapture. The biggest challenge would have been to figure out the best timeframe in order for our multiplayer to take place. We knew what they were doing at 2K Marin, and we saw what they did with the first BioShock game. Taking all of this kind of story that they’ve told over the 10-year gap, we looked to see if there was anything we could really use to have a multiplayer that would make sense. What we discovered was that the perfect place for multiplayer would have been within the Rapture Civil War, which happened previous to the experience of BioShock 1. It made sense from that perspective. Sure, the first BioShock didn’t have multiplayer, but there was so much potential with the way they used their weapons, plasmids and tonics. With the combinations, it just made sense to us.

Then there’s this bit.

WP: Is multiplayer specific to only the console?

AG: No, there is multiplayer on the PC version. I don’t know what I can say because I don’t want to get in trouble, but I will say that the PC version is in 3-D. If you have the glasses and all the tech, you can put it on and see it in 3-D. That would be the only difference between all three platforms.