BioShock: A Defence

[GameBanshee News]

EuroGamer feels the need to act as the knight in shiny armor for BioShock, writing up an eloquent defence for the game. While one could seriously question the journalistic ethics that would make a gaming journalist feel like he has to "defend" the product he covers, they do address some issues GameBanshee amongst others raised in our review.

"THE CHOICE DOESN'T REALLY MATTER."

The game was built up as posing challenging moral decisions and showing the consequences. Now, Levine's backed off on some stuff - he's said that the multiple endings wasn't his idea, and they weren't too pleased with how they turned out... but that's irrelevant to what the game actually does. What does the resultant game say?

Some have noted the game's incredibly judgmental - that the ends are you being the Best Dad In The World or some guy who's going to go nuke-crazy.

Hmm. Let's put it in a sentence:

Is it acceptable to kill defenceless girls to stay alive, just because someone tells you do?

BioShock says no. The answer's just "No". It's not something with grey areas - if you do so, you're someone who prioritises your own existence over someone else's or an easily lead dupe. There's no moral excuse. You're an ethical monster, and are made of the same stuff of Fontaine. Or, alternatively, you're someone who treats it just as a videogame. You're not thinking about it at all, just the lovely Adam. In which case, yes, BioShock - a game that's furious that it's a videogame - doesn't think much of you either.

This isn't a problem with BioShock. This is the absolute message. Perversely, for all its claims of edginess, it's the most old-fashioned decent videogame of the year. Where others have teased the idea of good and evil options, pandering to your tastes, BioShock just glares at you. You killed some kids? What Kind Of Person Are You?

Oh wow, congratulations, EuroGamer, you just managed to Completely Not Get It. That kind of obtuseness has to be rare (at least, I hope it is).

[DesR85]

I really think this author must be over-interpreting Bioshock and defending it with over-the-top viewpoints. Surprising that he noticed that people complained how repetitive it becomes after a while. Most complaints I've heard from reviewers are either stupidly easy, not possible to die, weak weapons, etc.

Originally Posted by Eurogamer's Bioshock, a defense

The second part's a little more complicated: I think some designers believe that players like to do interesting things in-game. BioShock is based around that - in that you're given a wide toolset, with lots of weapons and approaches and ways to improve your character and an environment to beat the baddies up with. Go have fun, says BioShock. But players aren't all - in fact, I suspect most aren't - wired to have fun in a world just because the tools are neat. They need to be pushed into doing neat things. Even if you haven't an excess of ammunition, there's simpler methods to taking people out rather than the more amusing ones. So they do them, and the game's repetitive.

What do you expect when people find a much more efficient way of disposing enemies? Why should I choose some long method of killing a sizeable number of enemies when a much quicker, more efficient method yield the same result? For me, I find that hacking pretty much everything makes life easier so I stick to that instead of blowing them up to high heaven. It will be of no surprise if people adopt that same tactic.

I really put the blame more on the level design, the hacking mini-game in every machine and the fact that you have to kill every big daddy that inhabit the level. A lot of long corridors and pointless rooms, machines that uses the same hacking mini-game up till the point where you wonder whether it's even relevant at all and the fact that you are forced to kill every Big Daddy you see just to get Adam from Little Sisters are the main reasons that contribute to the repetitiveness of Bioshock, in my honest opinion.

Originally Posted by Eurogamer's Bioshock, a defense

This isn't a problem with BioShock. This is the absolute message. Perversely, for all its claims of edginess, it's the most old-fashioned decent videogame of the year. Where others have teased the idea of good and evil options, pandering to your tastes, BioShock just glares at you. You killed some kids? What Kind Of Person Are You?

It's still the same good/evil choice. Plain and simple. Is there any need for further interpretation?

[Loki[D.d.G]]

Originally Posted by DesR85

It's still the same good/evil choice. Plain and simple. Is there any need for further interpretation?

The consequences from your actions are also not emphasised enough in the game, I think.