Board 8 > BioShock - new Between Life and Games review!

(+) Yeah! (+)

I beat BioShock a couple of months ago, and I know you've been anticipating the review. Apologies for the delay! It's done. Here's the intro:

BioShock was supposed to be one of the most thought-provoking games of the 21st century... It received glowing reviews by critics and, more importantly, gamers alike. Almost 10 years after it came out, I finally got around to playing it. And I was looking forward to it. Sadly, despite the great premise, in the end it was nowhere near the level the hype suggested. Absolutely nowhere did the game particularly shine - neither in the pure mechanics, which were quite standard for first-person shooters of late, much less in the story which was almost universally praised as one of the best stories gaming has ever known... I can only conclude the people saying that have never played any games with real depth like Xenogears/Xenosaga, or even considerably simpler things like Final Fantasy X. The fact that BioShock is so highly regarded only shows how shallow and lifeless gaming has become since the beginning of the PS3 era.

Feel free to comment!
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Funny because Andrew Ryan kind of sounds up your alley vlado
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While the idea of abandoning a corrupt world and trying to build something better is great, I'm not so big on economic libertarianism in particular. And then Ryan is responsible for the city getting into the state the player finds it in. His resolve was lacking.
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Your writing has improved a ton since your site launched.
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I can't help but think the game's complete skewering of Objectivist philosophy was a big reason you're down on it.
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Jakyl25 posted...

Your writing has improved a ton since your site launched.

You think so? Thanks. What do you think has improved? I like that reviews are shorter now, I couldn't get them under 2000 words before. People won't read them when they're too long... Not that that many people read them in general, but it's the principle. I don't spend as much time gaming as back then so now reviews are few and far between... But that's life.

trdl23 posted...

I can't help but think the game's complete skewering of Objectivist philosophy was a big reason you're down on it.

I think I gave pretty concrete reasons. And you can't really skewer anything when you fail to back up whatever points you may have wanted to make with a solid story.
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You're better at being concise about what your impressions are about the gameplay, the plot, and the presentation. Which yeah would make reviews shorter and better.

I have never played BioShock, but I can envision your experience with the game from your review. That's good.
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:)
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Up.
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I hated Bioshock when it came out.

Tried it again about a year ago. It was even worse.

That and Shadow of the Colossus are just games I do not get. Shit gameplay, bad story. So bad.

I liked your review.
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Disagree for the most part on your negatives of the plot, to say it has no depth just shows misunderstanding. Gameplay in FPS's has evolved quite a lot since its release however, but it still holds up as enjoyable unlike a lot of old school FPS's, it's just the whole magic plus guns things is less unique now, and the way enemies scale in almost RPG like manner was more an excuse to make the first boss and camera mechanic feel more meaningful but it doesn't work as well as just having different tankier threats.
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