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Looking back at Fort Frolic
Andrew Ryan is in your sights. All you have to do is make your way across Fort Frolic to the Rapture metro station, hop in the bathosphere and take a ride to the hideout of Rapture’s patriarch. Things begin to go off script as you enter to fort, though. Your radio fizzles out and you lose contact with Atlas, your only ally up to this point. As you approach the Bathosphere, it suddenly locks in front of you and sinks into the water. Then, rising from the waves comes a gigantic splicer mask, and the voice of Atlas is replaced by the voice of the tortured artist Sander Cohen as he welcomes you to the greatest video game level ever made.
Fort Frolic is the eighth stage of Bioshock, the 2007 first person shooter by Irrational Games. It is the exact midway point in the 15 chapter story, and while this level technically does not contribute to the overall plot at all, it is a masterpiece in storytelling and game design.
After you are locked out of the bathosphere, Cohen begins to talk to you and explain to you where you have arrived. You are in his world now, and he wants you to join his twisted art project. You are welcomed to a theatre to watch a pianist perform. Everything feels…off, though. The pianist is crying, the theatre is empty and he is very clearly distressed. After making a mistake, Cohen punishes the pianist by blowing him up and killing him.
There are not many better character establishing scenes than this in media. You become instantly aware of Cohen’s psychotic love of the arts, and his desire for perfection mixed with outright sadism. It all feels unnerving and confusing to the player, as you are never truly sure what to make of what you are watching.
Cohen introduces himself to you and asks you to on a quest for him. Murder three of his estranged artists and take pictures of their dead bodies to be displayed in the main hall. He opens up the shopping mall for you to explore on your mission, and send you on your way.
The layout of the level is perfect, especially for someone like me who often manages to get lost in first person games. Just like a real life mall, there is a central hub, then individual stores surround you to explore as you go on your mission. You are allowed to track down the three artists in any order and each of them give you a different fight…
