#7. Bioshock
I’m Ayn Rand-ambivalent, but I love this game.
Bioshock is part of what I’m starting to consider the New Science Fiction: sci fi that’s not only worth telling in a gaming medium, but is ultimately better for it. This story needed to be a game.
I won’t say that Bioshock is at the true forefront of the revolution, but there’s something about facing down a Big Daddy that simply has to come across in play instead of words or visuals; something about the phrase “would you kindly” that only hits so hard because the actions and choices were yours, and because your only alternative to those action was to stop playing the game. (Those of you that haven’t played it, I promise that last bit makes sense). A shame that after the big reveal, you aren’t given any more or less freedom over your actions, just gentler, kinder reasons for doing so.
The increasing possibility of a Bioshock movie strikes me as not only strange, but a hell of a challenge. I can’t argue against adapting this story – most stories, really – to another medium and audience, but the original will be hard to top with celluloid. Take the Big Daddies, for instance. The first time I faced “Rosie” is one of only three* moments in games where I honestly thought, “Get me out of here, I don’t want to fight that” – the polar opposite of the usual, “bring it” response that most gaming combat inspires in me. Sure, we aim to inspire fear in games, but often hoping for the fight reflex, not for flight.
And yet, the promise of Bioshock, that ambiguous moral complexity we were primed for in the weeks before release…. That never really comes through for me. Yet again, I was rewarded for being a good person. Yet again, punches were pulled, perhaps to avoid accusations of shock value – you’re asked to not only kill little girls but to literally rip a slug-creature out of their living bellies, but all you see onscreen is a white flash and ta da! Just a slug. Not that I’m a fan of child-killing, but if you say you’re going to let players act truly depraved, you better make ‘em feel it.
There’s also no chance for redemption in Bioshock, which I’m not sure how I feel about. I don’t mind actions with permanent consequences, at least during one given playthrough; but I was bothered by the abruptness of the endings, regardless of which one I achieved.
I think the major issue I have with Bioshock is that it lives up to the hype, but not to its potential. The introduction and the first sections of gameplay are just fantastic, and everything up to Andrew Ryan fits within the same slow, tense build. Until Ryan, every cinematic moment is done in-game, while the player still has control, but the player is physically separated from the scene in some way, usually by glass. There’s a moment of real shock when, for the first time, another character crosses that barrier and stands in the same room with you; and the way that Ryan’s scene plays out…. It’s flawless in its execution, a moment I just can’t spoil for new players. But the game falters after that, and ends on a less-than-impressive note. I know game developers are worried that too many players aren’t finished their games, but Bioshock is quite definitely front-loaded.
Bioshock is also my first “Easy Game” – the first time I bit the bullet and played on easy mode, to my everlasting shame. Not God of War, which encourages it; not Metal Gear Solid 2, with the Snake/Raiden bait-and-switch; not Ikaruga; not even Ninja Gaiden Black did it. Bioshock broke me, and it did so because I have a full-time job that does not inspire patience – and because, for all my gaming experience, Ijust can’t play an FPS without a mouse and keyboard, and my beautiful computer has one of the few graphics cards that Bioshock isn’t happy with.
That last was a worthwhile experience for me. I do think there is a literacy to not only games but game genres, which can keep people who don’t consider themselves gamers at arms’ length, and out of some amazing fictional experiences. Playing Bioshock through with a dual-joystick control made me think about those hapless students of mine that are fascinated by games but don’t have the literacy level to play them – students that take three hours to find their way out of the first town in Ocarina of Time, or can’t manage to jump on that very first goomba in Super Mario Brothers. It takes time to learn games, not intellectually but physically; I have more sympathy for that than I used to.
For those of you looking for recommendations, I can’t recommend this game highly enough. Writers and academics, there’s a lot of meat here that needs looking at, flaws and all.
*I’ll cover the games in which I felt those other two moments soon – let’s say before I hit #20.
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