The Rapture of Bioshock
Media / 4/7/2008 11:36:50 AM
And now the moment all you've all been waiting for...Jude Mire reveling in his latest gaming obsession! If you're not a gamer, don't worry, even perusing this game's website is worth the look. Bee-you-tee-ful! And bloody. It got me hooked and I had not played a video game in my entire life (if you don't count Frogger.)
Since the very beginning of video games there has been the idea that, someday, they may be capable of telling a story on the same level as books or movies. When those first Atari designers came up with ways to move the blocky pixels around, there were writers creating explanations for them. No, that's not a dot going through a maze being chased by a squiggly line, it's a handsome knave navigating an ancient labyrinth while being hunted by a fearsome dragon. It was these stories that made the games enjoyable, but nobody was kidding themselves; they weren't bestsellers.
Years pass and storytelling in video games is generally an unpalatable pill. It seemed that, despite all the potential, video game writing would never 'click'.
But now there is BioShock.
The game involves a plane crash survivor discovering a bathysphere and taking
it down to an underwater city; Rapture. Unfortunately, something has gone
terribly wrong and it has been shattered by betrayal and civil war.
Through the game you make choices that affect the ending and reveal the events
that led to Rapture's doom. The twists, revelations, and scenes in
BioShock are as involved and well constructed as any bestselling book or
blockbuster movie.
The graphics are top notch, literally captivating. The game art design is dripping with art deco style and the place looks something from the 30's, only it's leaky and dark and littered with shattered glass and corpses. Old music echoes in the halls, announcements warble on the intercom, and advertisements hang crooked on the walls. There are a variety of fun weapons and abilities to use throughout (skin bursting bugs is a particular favorite).
Ken Levine, the driving force behind BioShock, cites Ayn Rand as one of the
primary influences (going so far as to name one of the main characters after her
novel "Atlas Shrugged"). Now, if you don't know who Ayn Rand is, she's an
author/philosopher from the early part of the century who is commonly credited
with popularizing Objectivism. Why is this important in a video game
review? Well, because the setting of the game, Rapture, is the physical
manifestation of Objectivism. It is a place where government and religion
are kept out and art and capitalism are free to rule without morality or law.
Of course, the perfect utopia has become an underwater bloodbath. The idea
that Rapture was built with a purpose and has become something else entirely
is echoed in the main character.
There are two layers to uncover; the first, the tale of your survival through the nightmare utopia (the action part of the game), and second, the stories of the city inhabitants, now dead, who left diary recordings that you find as you go along (the thinking part of the game). By the end, the two mesh perfectly. If you want gore, atmosphere, plot, violence, graphics, drama, and more, this game is for you!
They had to go to the bottom of the ocean to do it, but finally, a game that 'clicks'!
Jude Mire
Jill's p.s. Get your mandatory copy of "Bioshock" at our Killer-works Store . Don't forget to check out our new Flash Fiction piece by C.S.E. Cooney (not to be confused with "Clooney", my bad.)
p.p.s. Next week, Horror Film Contest Details!!!! Cross our hard hearts.
