Sure this review is rather late as the game has been out since summer of last year, but i’d be remiss to NOT talk about Bioshock (published by 2k games). I know most reviews start with a recap, but you can read that shit anywhere. You’re here because I have better taste than you, and you want to know what I THINK.
The game is possibly the first console game to ever use objectivist philosophy as it’s backdrop. Ahhh objectivism… the philosophy of Ayn Rand. Most idiots out there think that objectivism makes greed ok. Or that it makes fleecing your fellow man ok. This is not the case, and those that believe this have poor reading comprehension. Objectivism is a system for living that says that you are only responsible for your own happiness and that productivity is your ultimate goal. to wit, ‘I swear, by my life and my love of it, that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine.’ That is the basis of objectivism, not the bastardization that leeches believe when they attempt to mold Rands philosophy to fit their own greed.
As for the game itself, the graphics are beautiful, and the gameplay is simple yet deep. Allowing the player to use any method they want to dispatch their enemy. Set an enemy on fire and they’ll run towards water, blast some lightning into the water and they’re dead. Or maybe set up trip wires before they get to the water. There are a lot of possibilities for the enterprising player, but ultimately the game boils down to whacking people with your wrench.
Why? Because there is no true penalty for death. This is a criticism of the game industry in general. Games lack teeth. Developers are so scared of turning off players by making their games *gasp* challenging, that they make them ridiculously easy and penalty free. I personally think this stems from Generation Y’s pathetic sense of entitlement. Yes, you know the ones. They whine when they don’t get their way, they cry when they suck (and they suck at a lot of shit because everyone made them think simple participation is all that’s required to succeed), and they bitch about difficulty. If it’s too hard for you, don’t play you fucking creampuff. Or play on easy like the rest of the pansy bitches out there.
I seem to have gotten sidetracked. Another big selling point for the game is moral choice. This boils down to saving or killing the little sisters. I didn’t realize morality was so black and white.
The kicker is, you don’t really get any benefit for killing the Little Sisters. So how much of a moral choice is there really? When you save 3 sisters you get more Adam than you would have if you had killed 3. (Since Tenenbaum gives you a little care package.) So ultimately the moral choice sort of fails if all you want to do is get the most Adam. They should have made it a LOT more Adam for killing them than saving them. Now THAT would cause some decision making.
So in conclusion. Beautiful game, beautifully atmospheric, too easy, and shallower than it should have been. That pretty much sums it up. However, despite what i’ve said here this is one of the best games of 2007.
Posted on March 4th, 2008 by phaedrus
Filed under: videogames
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