Gamespotting 030 - Andrew Ryan or John Galt????

The main thing that I have been doing over the summer (apart from going down to the pub for a few too many drinks and playing games) is reading. I love to read and I have had a lot of reading material to do over the summer.

At the moment; I am reading Friends Like These by Danny Wallace which is a great book about revisiting your past, but also for my Dissertation but not an official reference piece that is is Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. Now this book is huge; it has as many pages as the bible and twice the amount of words (Thanks Wikipedia)and I am enjoying it at the moment, but while reading it; it does bring me back to my Xbox for one reason, Bioshock.

Now; Bioshock is obviously inspired by this book. The utopian image of the future that Ayn Rand puts forward are clearly seen within the game; but also this draws more attention to the games main "Antagonist" Andrew Ryan. Now within Atlas Shrugged; the antagonist put forward to the reader at the beginning of the book is John Galt. This mysterious figure that can be heard everywhere; but not seen until half way through the book, when the pages get into triple figures and towards the end of the book is finally shown to be the hero of the book helping the world into a better future.

Now when comparing to Bioshock; Andrew Ryan is portrayed within the same image. He is considered the bad guy sending splicers, security droids and big daddys but in my opinion; he is the same character as John Galt. In his opinion when building Rapture he wanted to escape the crippling power of authority and rules from the rest of the world and where is the only place where they cant reach you; under the sea god knows how many levels under sea level. But he is portrayed as the bad guy in the same way as the book and the only thing he is trying to do is escape and be free.

I love it when I can compare a game to another form of media on such a deep level like this and Atlas Shrugged; but I think that when Bioshock two comes out; Andrew Ryan will be avenged and the purpose of Rapture will finally come true rather than becoming a huge battlefield for your plasma powered hand and the splicers