The Pacing of Minerva's Den is Why It's So Good

Channel:

Dave's Videogame Journey

Subscribers:

710

Published on May 6, 2020 5:42:51 AM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iobQVl5iYI

Game:

BioShock 2 (2010)

Duration: 8:38

77 views

6

Minerva's Den is 4 hours long. I had heard of how lauded the game is, and while playing it I agreed with its positive reputation. This critique is examining why I think the short length of this piece of downloadable content for Bioshock 2 helps it succeed where the main game failed.

While Bioshock is about the successes and failures of objectivism, and Bioshock 2 is about the collective, Minerva's Den is a tale about people. It is wrapped in a grand idea (the creation of not only a computer, but the world's first AI program), but the motivation of its characters and the conflict between them is behind everything that has happened here. The player controls the Big Daddy Sigma, asked by Dr. Tenenbaum to head into Minerva's Den, and rescue the code of The Thinker so that she can escape along with its creator Charles Milton Porter to the surface. Reid Wahl, the other creator of Rapture's central computer wants to continue to use The Thinker's predictive capabilities for himself, and uses a splicer army to thwart the player at every turn. I think the length of Minerva's Den lends itself to its story because through the railroaded level design, increased combat encounters, and regular intervals of audiologs, the player's knowledge and interest in the tale never wanes because of too many repetitive combat encounters. A focus on story also allows for an impactful twist and finale that I did not see coming.

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Transcript - https://davegamethoughts.blogspot.com/2020/05/minervas-den-how-pacing-affects-quality.html

= Sources =
Six Years Later, Minerva's Den Remains The Best BioShock Thing - https://www.kotaku.com.au/2016/09/six-years-later-minervas-den-remains-the-best-bioshock-thing/

= Other gameplay footage =
PS3 Longplay The Last Of Us (part 1 of 5) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_c0forXrAk

= Music =
BioShock 2: Minerva's Den - OST - How She Sees the World - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHmJ1gBqT_Y
BioShock 2 OST - Pairbond ~ BioShock 2 Theme - https://youtu.be/XOWrS7iEXRY
BioShock 2 OST - Waking Up in 1959 - https://youtu.be/V-38Ggm6t8Y
BioShock 2 OST - Eleanor's Lullaby - https://youtu.be/Ti8zJyZYc98
BioShock 2 OST - Research - https://youtu.be/coNxSJCROBo
BioShock 2 OST - Send Him Howling Back to Hell - https://youtu.be/VMVVM1XWVz8
BioShock 2 OST - Out the Airlock - https://youtu.be/QzabQrYeeeY
BioShock 2 OST - Protecting His Charge - https://youtu.be/y4wdYFDGvyw
BioShock 2 OST - Under the Tracks (Unused) - https://youtu.be/OwkZhbjo_cs

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