Finished Bioshock

I finished Bioshock a few nighta ago. My last save was about 90 minutes from the end of the game. There really weren't any new developments in the story or characters relationships in that time. The bad guy got addicted to splicing after finally trying it. The german lady kept on her course of atoning for her sins. The little sisters got creepier.

The game probably should have ended in Ryans office. Then the sequel could have picked up immediately after. Everything after Ryans office felt forced to me, like the writers didn't really know what their story was about for sure so they kept adding things onto the end until they ran out of time.

Then they made a warm-fuzzy montage just to be sure. "Oh, all he wanted was a family, what a nice man." Ugg. The game had pretensions of depth but ultimately it was like a mountain range reflected on the surface of a mud puddle.

The "Would you kindly" thing was a very nice critique of the gaming convention of a non-present person directing you through a radio. Those people are rarely untrustworthy in games. Although it ultimately failed because the only choice the person playing has is to either play or not play. If you choose to play then you are following the linear path, if you choose not to play, well, the whole thing is moot then isn't it? Sure, it provided an explanation for the characters experience but it left the player out in the cold. And that gets to the core problem of FPSs and RPGs, the character is neither the character nor the player but an amalgam of both and focusing on one to the detriment of the other just lessens the whole experience.

A for effort. B+ for combat. A for graphics and art design. D for sound since I was plagued by bugs, anomalies and badness through the entire game. C+ for overall rating. There are definitely way worse games out there. Bioshock desperately wants to transcend its medium, and it gets a lot of points for trying to do that, but it ultimately fails in that goal.

On to Oblivion!

--Abe