I can think of several ways that Bioshock – or rather, a Bioshock game – could be effectively done on mobile. Lifting heavily from Doom RPG/Orcs & Elves would work (aside from the prettiness, Rapture isn’t exactly the most complex and multi-leveled game environment ever); or alternatively, isometric Big Daddy stalking. Hunt the Objectivist Wumpus?

There have now been a fair few mobile games that have taken on the mantle of big console/PC properties and acquitted themselves well, but sadly most of the ‘traditional’ games press still have preconceptions of the format based on Snake and the rubbish games built into their Blackberries.

As to the question of why, well, why not? If the concept and world is robust enough to carry one game, it’s worth trying to adapt it to sister mediums.

All that said, I’d be more confident of Bioshock mobile’s chances if a publisher with a better track record was handling it (IG Fun have a reputation of being little more than an IP clearing house, although I guess there’s a small chance they could farm out the development to someone decent).

*assuming

You’d still be left with antideluvian game design, but it’s a start.

You move west
>look
You see a big daddy
>punch big daddy
You are dead.
Now you aren’t
>go east
You move east
>look
You see a dystopian underwater world. The sea intrudes through warped doors and cascades down the stairs. Adverts boast the miraculous powers of plasmids while graffiti scrawled on the walls talks of tyranny and corporate corruption. Looking at this makes you feel trapped and question what went so wrong. Your wrench provides stark comfort with its wieght and solidness.
You are set on fire by a man in bunny ears and shot by a cabaret woman with a page boy haircut.
You are dead

I still don’t get who the hell thinks it’s a good idea to bring these kind of games to the mobile, or who’s buying them.

That being said, who would have thought that a horror game could be pulled off on a portable system before Dementium: The Ward.