Looking Back on BioShock

[socrates420]

Last year's critical darling BioShock reminded us of an important fact: the words in a video game do not come from nowhere. They have to be thought up and written down by a shy, reclusive creature known commonly as a "writer," and good writers can make all of the difference in the world. In BioShock's case, that writer was (mostly) Ken Levine, who

Comments

[the_buzzard]

Man, Bloodlines did take off. I mean, yeah, it was buggy as hell, but the gameplay really got fun.

[the_buzzard]

And yes, I do agree, Bioshock is overrated. The writing is top-notch, and that's in general, not just compared to writing in other video games. Too bad te gameplay itself is shallow.

[ungoreatstefan]

I really did not enjoy the gameplay myself. I thought the FPS parts were extremely poor - and the melee combat was unspired. Especially the sewer - that was absolutely terrible.

[ungoreatstefan]

Speaking about Bloodlines here, not Bioshock.

[ungoreatstefan]

I really hope gamers are ready to take video games seriously. I remember that article that Rikc posted on the forums about Portal. That was such a disaster. I still don't know if gamers are ready to discuss games intelligently.

I think something more than Bioshock will be needed - a game that just really stands out on all fronts to really get gamers talking about games intelligently.

[the_buzzard]

Bioshock proved that libertarianism will never work because without government controls people will get addicted to genetic material and kill each other.

[monster_manual]

What was, imo, the biggest contributor to the critical joy over Bioshock wasn't just that it was extremely well written, a feat that, as you noted, many other games of 2007 managed. What made Bioshock able to be taken seriously more so than the other games (it is a feat that it was even reviewed by the New York Times, whose video game coverage is slim to none) was that it was ostensibly 'about' something deeper than saving the galaxy and fighting bad dudes. It was the most blatantly philosophical game since probably 1999, when both Planescape: Torment and Alpha Centauri (imo, probably the smartest game of all time) were released. Bioshock, at least peripherally (because, as smart as it is, it is still a game mostly about throwing fireballs at mutants) is a critique of a philosophical system, imagining a world where such elements were encouraged to flourish in the tradition of so much hard science fiction before it. Mass Effect, which was my favorite game of 2007, won wide acclaim because of its breathtaking cinematic action and

[the_buzzard]

I dunno if I would say that Torment and Alpha hahve been the only "deep" games released since 1999. Deus Ex and Silent Hill 2 both managed to create plots that worked on more then one level.

[monster_manual]

I forgot about Deus Ex, a game I love. I never played Silent Hill or any of that nonsense. Deus Ex only came out in 2000 anyway, so get off my balls, slowpoke.

[the_buzzard]

I remember when I first started playing Deus Ex, I was only about 10 or so. I really felt as if it helped me learn more about the world and classic literature in general, because I realized how much stuff was referenced in the game and then I went and looked it up. I'd love to go back and play it again with the knowledge I have now.

[the_buzzard]

Also, regarding stories, one of the games I really want to play is Pathologic.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/?tag=butchering-pathologic

I don't really care that apparently as a game it sucks, I really want to experience it's unique story and writing for myself.