The RumblerRosies and Bouncers still traverse the halls of BioShock 2, but they are not the only Big Daddies roaming Rapture. The Rumbler has joined the ranks and has taken up the job of protecting both Little Sisters and the city. Kent Hudson, Senior Designer at 2K Marin, talks about how the Rumbler came to be, and what you should expect out of him. The Rumbler has a bit of a backstory in the BioShock universe. What’s his origin, and how did you come upon deciding to work with him for BioShock 2? The Rumbler was actually one of the original Big Daddies in BioShock 1, but he was cut before the game shipped. His original development name was SloProFUM, which stood for “Slow Projectile, Fu- ... err, Messed Up Melee.” The original idea was to have a Big Daddy with a powerful rocket who also had this wicked hook on his other hand that would be dangerous at close range, but he didn’t make it into the first game. When it came time to work on BioShock 2 we knew we wanted to add a Big Daddy, and we looked back at ol’ SloProFUM and liked the idea of a Big Daddy with dangerous long-range attack, but we weren’t quite as keen on his melee attack because the Bouncer’s already got the melee market cornered. So we brainstormed ways to replace his hook with something else and came up with the idea of Mini-Turrets. Is there a story for him within the Rapture universe? Was the Rumbler created specifically for the purpose of guarding Little Sisters? The Rumbler was developed by one of Lamb’s followers after the events of BioShock 1 as a response to the increasing danger around every corner in Rapture. Splicers kept growing stronger and eventually learned how to take down the original Big Daddies, usually by taking advantage of overwhelming numbers, so the Rumbler was designed in response to those tactics. His rocket does splash damage and is generally good at thinning out crowds, while his Mini-Turrets can take out individual Splicers and split the attention of multiple attackers. Given that the Rumbler is more powerful than the original Big Daddies and poses a more difficult tactical challenge, he’s been very successful in protecting the new generation of Little Sisters. How does the Rumbler differ from a Rosie or a Bouncer Big Daddy? At a high level, the Bouncer is our melee Big Daddy, the Rosie is our mid-range Big Daddy and the Rumbler is our defensive Big Daddy. When you’re fighting a Bouncer, it’s all about finding ways to keep him off of you long enough to take him down, since he’s relentless about getting into close range and pummeling you. With Rosie it’s more of a traditional tactical gunfight, since he’s pretty mobile and can snipe you with his Rivet Gun. The Rumbler has a totally different feel because of his Mini-Turrets, which complement his rockets; the player can’t just worry about dodging slow-moving projectiles because the Rumbler’s Mini-Turrets apply constant pressure and keep the battlefield dynamic. Can you talk more specifically about his weapons and attacks? The Rumbler’s primary attack is a powerful shoulder-mounted rocket launcher, which speaks for itself. The projectile is similar to the one launched by Rapture’s rocket Turrets, so players will instantly be familiar with it and try to catch it with Telekinesis and throw it back if they’re quick enough. The blast radius on the Rumbler’s rocket means that you can’t just dodge it; you need to be aware of your surroundings if you don’t want to take splash damage. Probably my favorite element of the Rumbler, though, is his ability to lay down Mini-Turrets during a fight. The idea is that these Turrets let him take over territory and attack from multiple directions, which is pretty unique; the ability to take advantage of security and conquer territory in BioShock has traditionally been reserved for the player. So the Rumbler sort of turns the tables on traditional BioShock encounters and brings more of an environmental focus to the fights, since in addition to dodging his rockets you also need to keep track of his Mini-Turrets and either steer clear of or destroy them. This is BioShock 2, though, so you’ve got a few other options as well; the Rumbler’s Mini-Turrets interact in cool ways with the player’s newly expanded security-related powers. For example, you can hack a Rumbler’s Mini-Turrets with our new Hack Tool, which makes them turn on the Rumbler and any other enemies in the area. You can also tag the Rumbler with the new-and-improved Security Command Plasmid, which causes security elements like Mini-Turrets to attack him. So like with any good BioShock 2 enemy, fighting a Rumbler takes both action game savvy and the use of diverse player tools; players of all different styles will have a good time dealing with his various abilities in improvisational ways. |
|
|
