"Mr. Bubbles. Angels don't wait for slow-pokes."

The game Bioshock might just be one of the greater titles I have played, period. I have a tendency to overtly anticipate the release of a book, movie or game at times, and when it does not live up to my high held anticipation, I tend to swing towards the opposite corner. Thinking that it sucks. But... Ladies and gentlemen, Bioshock did live up to my expectations!

It is right up there next to iconic games such as Silent Hill 2 (which I've written about in this blog here) and the post-apocalyptic satire of Fallout. What makes Bioshock so great then? I would say the amount of detail gone into the story and the intelligent and profound look on philosophy. Bioshock is clearly influenced by litterature of Ayn Rand. Making the free market ideology and social utopia of Rand into a dystopia.



"In the end. All that matter to me, is me. And all that matter to you, is you. That is the nature of things." - Andrew Ryan (founder of Rapture)

Bioshock's story takes place in a city built in the bottom of the ocean, as you may already have probably heard if you are into videogames. You come to this world unwilling as an outsider. Not only do you soon realize that Rapture has fallen from grace, but that your involvement is not of the typical action hero. Even though this still is a quite linear first person shooter, there is still both choices and shades of grey on top of the black and white saga of gaming.

It is obvious that the character you play are not the typical hero, but rather are being driven forward by exterior forces in the context of Rapture. This helps you to develop a kind of attachment to the protagonist that games such as Doom can only dream of.

In the end this is one of the games that take the genré to a whole new level. If you are even the most remotely interested in ideology, history or philosophy.You should give Bioshock a try, it is not only a good game, but a portrayal of the darker sides of man.