And then somehow, we end up ... it's like ... 'Baby I'll never hit you again, I'm changed, I'm changed!' And then we did it!"
Irrational Games head and
BioShock 1 creative lead Ken Levine struggled through that explanation this past weekend, pausing often, sighing a lot, and doubling back to be extra clear. His sentiment was certainly definitive, though: even he wasn't a big fan of the game's final boss fight with Atlas. "I think the boss battle in
BioShock 1 -- the real boss battle -- is Andrew Ryan."
I had asked about how
BioShock Infinite, the studio's next game, would deal with boss fights, as the Atlas battle in the first
BioShock title was seen by many as the lowest point in an otherwise spectacular experience. "I think we need to stay in our wheelhouse," he explained. "We're not
Shadow of the Colossus. Those guys have a genius for that. We don't have that particular genius." Without getting into anything specific, and recognizing that it would be a "missed opportunity" not to do something with Songbird (
Infinite's airborne antagonist), Levine said gamers should expect something more akin to the Andrew Ryan resolution in
BioShock 1.