Review: BioShock (PS3)

Yes, you should play BioShock. Not finish, mind you, but play. You can get everything you need by reaching the big confrontation, putting the controller down, and pretending that was the final act.

BioShock gets one thing perfect: a beautiful and dark alternate history vision of a 1950s-era dystopia, Rapture, created on the ocean floor by an affluent Objectivist. Decor, apparel, and music blend together brilliantly within a majestic but cracked underwater complex. For hours I was satisfied to stroll through the world and soak up the rich atmosphere.

The grotesque genetic modifications common among the remaining Rapture survivors lured me deeper into the city and drove the basic combat and defense which served as my only interactions with most of those survivors. As I collected Adam and Eve, the two substances used in the genetic upgrades, I modified my own body and grew in both power and versatility.

That the game boils down to these simple combat interactions is its ultimate failing. There are only three persons in the world of Rapture with whom I could interact meaningfully. Andrew Ryan, the creator of Rapture, insulted me over my radio, sent his underlings to kill me, and ultimately proved me the lesser man. Atlas, resistance fighter and nemesis to Ryan, kindly asked me to join his side and fight to survive and escape from Rapture. And Sander Cohen, a demented and cruel artist who trapped me and enlisted me in the creation of a mixed media assembly.

The last of these, Sander Cohen, is the height of the game's vision. After carrying out the assassinations required for his art, Sander rewarded me with some resources, and turned his back to me. I had a clear choice. I could let him live or I could kill him, and my role within the game told me that killing him was not only the rational choice but the correct moral choice. So I shot him in the back, and ultimately destroyed him.

I actually felt good about that, and truly understood why BioShock is so highly regarded.

Later, when I finally dealt with Ryan, the game reached another climax -- but did not end. While that confrontation had clearly been a primary goal all along, my character's motivation beyond that point is weak to the point of irrelevance. The game finishes with a contrived scavenger hunt, a Sister's Keeper mission, and a boss battle that was as uninspired and simple as the rest of the game had seemed complex.

BioShock delivers an unforgettable experience. Ultimately my disappointment with it stems from its failure to live up to the promise of its premise.

(Image credit: This amazing thread of alternate cover art.)

Labels: bioshock, ps3, reviews

--jvm at 18:41

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Oh yeah! Bioshock PS3.

About flippin' time. Of all the exclusives on the Xbox 360, this one was the most frustrating to me. Now it looks like I'll get my chance to play later this year.

The other exclusives that bug me are Pac-Man: Championship Edition (which apparently has zero chance of ever making it to another platform) and Ace Combat 6. The latter I suspect will make the jump to the PS3 later this year too, perhaps as Ace Combat 7 (a la Ridge Racer 6 and 7).

Labels: bioshock, exclusives, microsoft, ps3, sony, xbox360

--jvm at 10:59

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Homer Simpson comments on Bioshock multiplayer

On the Next-Gen.biz podcast this week, Ken Levine of Irrational Games comments on how the multiplayer modes are neglected in most games, not by developers but by players:

[Bioshock] is our first game that hasn't had multipayer. [...] And I don't think anyone has ever spent any real time playing our multiplayer in our games. So System Shock 2, Freedom Force, they've all had multiplayer. And maybe SWAT, some people have spent some time playing SWAT multiplayer. But if you go and you look on Xbox Live, and you go look in GameSpy -- people are still paying SWAT on GameSpy -- it's really kind of interesting that the people who play Halo, who play Counterstrike, there are huge numbers of players playing those games. And then you think about all the work people have spent building multiplayer for these other games and then you go look on who's playing, say, Brothers in Arms, even when it just came out multiplayer, in the world, you're talking about in the world, playing on Xbox Live, I remember we looked right after the game came out, and there were six people playing it. And you think about the effort that went into that, and the effort that didn't go into single-player and you just want to cry like a little girl.

In response, Homer Simpson had this to say:

Kids, you tried your best, and you failed miserably. The lesson is, never try.

Of course, it really hasn't ever gotten any better than 2fort5 on QuakeWorld TF, so I don't really know why people keep trying.

Labels: bioshock, nextgen, xbox360, xboxlive

--jvm at 12:32

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