User blog:Willbachbakal/Singleplayer Enemies: Big Brother



Finally done with the singleplayer enemies! Introducing the Big Brother, an enemy that's designed to be just as fearsome as a Big Sister, with an entirely different fighting style and personality: whereas the Big Sister's a feral, superpowered witch, the Big Brother is what you'd get if you gave superstrength and superweapons to a boy with a permanent temper tantrum. So, without further ado, his complete profile:

Research Bonuses

 * Level 1: Can make Little Sisters gather from one extra corpse
 * Level 2: +Damage
 * Level 3: New Gene Tonic (will be added later)
 * Level 4: ++Damage
 * Level 5: Damage Research 2 Gene Tonic

Description
To clearly establish a difference between Big Brother and Big Sister, there'll first of all be a stark aesthetic contrast: although the Big Brother also has a diving suit, it's torn and ragged, with several bits on the arms and legs entirely missing, revealing small spines and blade-like growths on the Big Brother's flesh. The helmet is also completely different: on top of the head, there are several overlapping metal plates with sharp edges designed to resemble hair. The general shape is more oval than a Big Sister's helmet, and instead of a porthole there are two eye slits, one horizontal and one vertical running through the middle, joining in a glowing red diagonal square.

Now, enough with the looks. The Big Brother is meant to be another boss enemy along with the Big Sister. As with the latter, dealing with a Little Sister incurs a risk of attracting the ire of a Big Brother, although Brothers and Sisters don't appear in the same levels. While the Big Sister's combat style revolves primarily around Plasmids (in my version, at least), the Big Brother would rely almost completely on weapons. In addition, he's also meant to both scare and disturb the player: like the Big Sister, he'll be able to perform acrobatics, but he'll also be able to walk and shoot on walls and ceilings. He also has a cloaking ability similar to that of a Houdini, except entirely silent and much less visible (there's no gas cloud, he simply fades from view). He'll tend to make loud shrieks from various different locations while invisible before reappearing at one of the player's blind spots, namely behind you.

Onto the weapons: the Big Brother's arsenal is supposed to be both the most powerful in the game, and look as it were made from a bunch of toys. The guy's spear will have a teddy bear and several other small toys attached to it, his pistols look like popguns, etc. At first, the Big Brother will start out with three weapons, which he'll use according to the situation:

Spear: The Big Brother's melee weapon. A self-made harpoon, he'll use this mainly to intimidate and knock the player around. Running away will cause him to throw this at you, pinning you to a wall or to the floor before he proceeds to rip the weapon out of your body. He's very attached to his spear, though, and if you catch and throw it away with Telekinesis he'll run straight to it.
 * Uses: Stealth attacks, intimidation, area denial.
 * Strengths: Fast, hard to dodge, momentarily confuses the player.
 * Weaknesses: Short-ranged, can be caught with Telekinesis, can be used to control the Big Brother temporarily.

Dual Revolvers: You know the revolvers on the logo of an El Ammo Bandito machine? That's what he'll use, albeit with a pop cap dangling from each gun. They're exceedingly large, with a caliber that could break a man's arm if used. When using these, he'll dodge the player much more frequently, use cover, and can even shoot two enemies at once. Since they're revolvers, though, he's going to have to spend a long time reloading all twelve shots, leaving him momentarily defenseless.
 * Uses: Areas with cover, flanking, attacking multiple enemies.
 * Strengths: Accurate, high mobility, can shoot multiple enemies.
 * Weaknesses: Long reload time.

Minigun: Think of a cross between the Gatling Gun in BioShock 2, and a music box. In fact, it'll actually produce a dainty and otherwise cute little tune while the Big Brother spins it to riddle you with bullets at 800rpm. He'll play more defensively with this weapon, which is just as well because getting hit with the Minigun will slow you down.
 * Uses: Defense, areas with little cover, laying down heavy fire.
 * Strengths: Powerful, intimidating, slows down the target.
 * Weaknesses: Slows down the Big Brother, prevents him from performing acrobatics while using this weapon.

Evolution
As you progress through the game, you'll unlock more weapons, and so will the Big Brother. He'll still be using his old arsenal pretty frequently, so you'll just have to adjust to the new ones:

Shotgun: Made out of a lever-action Red Ryder BB Gun, it's been refitted to shoot out exploding pellets. Even if you manage to dodge the Big Brother's shots, you can still take splash damage if you're too close to a wall. Not only that, but a direct hit will propel you backwards with great force, causing you to take damage if you hit anything along the way. On the plus side, he still has to crank the gun's lever after every shot.
 * Uses: Offense, close combat, pushing enemies around.
 * Strengths: Hard to avoid, can hit multiple enemies at once, knocks all targets back.
 * Weaknesses: Short-ranged, slow rate of fire, can deal self-damage.

Slingshot: The Big Brother equivalent of a sniper rifle, looks just like a normal Y-shaped slingshot except that it fires metal balls the size of a clenched fist. It can pass through multiple enemies at a time and, in certain cases, light cover such as pillars, barricades and windows. He does take some time to pull back each shot before firing, and while doing so he moves fairly slowly. In addition, since this weapon fires projectile you could be able to catch and throw back his shots with Telekinesis (that is, if you have good reflexes).
 * Uses: Sniping, piercing cover, lining up several targets at once.
 * Strengths: Extremely powerful, impossible to hide from, very long-ranged.
 * Weaknesses: Slow the Big Brother down, can be caught with Telekinesis, can be dodged.

Catapult: What would seem like an innocuous toy catapult is in fact a launcher that fires miniature nuclear bombs. Once they hit something, they'll produce a large explosion, complete with a miniature mushroom cloud. If you happen to be looking directly at the blast or simply too close, you'll also get momentarily blinded. After the initial explosion, the area still remains irradiated, and will damage anything that gets in. To show this, it'll produce a sickly green glow. The Big Brother'll use this mainly if you're behind cover, or if you're in another room. This seemingly unstoppable weapon is a double-edged sword, however: not only can the Big Brother take damage from his own bombs, but if you catch the thing you'll be in possession of your own personal mini-nuke.
 * Uses: Breaching cover, clearing rooms, area denial.
 * Strengths: Highly damaging, very hard to escape from, can blind the target.
 * Weaknesses: Can be used against the Big Brother.

And there we go. Thanks for reading my articles so far! As, usual comments and crit