Why does BioShock feature first aid kits?
In practical terms they don’t serve a purpose, health itself doesn’t really serve a purpose. Because of the Vita-Chambers death is not permanent. Purchasing, or searching for, first aid kids is money and time gone to waste. The health meter in BioShock seems as redundant as the Power-Meter in Super Mario Galaxy, when death holds no noticeable penalty the concept of health is redundant.
The only exception to this is during the last level of BioShock. During this final confrontation the Vita-Chambers are unavailable and for the first time in the game the health bar is important. One of the core mechanics of the game is abandoned in order to present a boss battle that already feels at odds with the rest of the game. Furthermore, throughout Rapture there are first aid stations that can be used by both Splicers and the player. Such a means of repairing damage makes more sense within the narrative context of Rapture than it does in most games. But from a gameplay perspective, monitoring your health unnecessary so the entire existence of first aid stations is called into question (Of course allowing Splicers to heal, feeds back into the apparent difficulty of the game itself; removing it could potentially make them easier to kill, but this could in turn be countered by a form of regenerating health).
It all makes me wonder if the entire notion of a health bar (and of a concluding boss battle) was included simply because it is a standard feature of the genre.
If a resources is functionally unimportant it shouldn’t become the basis for a specific interface element or gameplay mechanic; serious consideration should be given to whether it should exist at all, is it there for a purpose or simply to serve verisimilitude?
Tags: BioShock, Super Mario Galaxy
