BioShock is the best anti objectivist essay I have ever played through.
Ultimately, that’s not a good one sentence review.
Let me try again.
“BioShock is one of the few games in my collection that has compelled me to its completion.”
In fact, I’m playing through it again, and that should tell you something else. I’m doing it for two reasons. One, to watch the plot develop again, knowing what I know now about the game’s protagonist and the twist that occurs roughly two thirds into the game. Two, I’d like to see how the 360 version stacks up to the PC experience I had on my first run through.
There are hints even in the game’s opening cinematic (itself remarkable because it happens entirely in the first person point of view) that I have discovered on the second playthrough. This second playthrough is a different affair, with the comfy chair, big screen, wireless controller and 5.1 surround.
The control is taking me a little while to get adjusted to, there’s a bit of autoaim, hacking is quite different from the PC to the 360 version, but overall the flow of the game is the same. I’m trying a different “route” this time, just to see how it plays through, but that’s only in terms of plasmid (power) development. I’m still rescuing the gatherers, which is the “good” choice.
I just can’t bring myself to go the other route.