Comments on: RPS Advent Game-o-Calendar: December 23rd

By: Rock, Paper, Shotgun: Celebrating The Birth Of Father Christmas » Blog Archive » The Complete RPS Advent 2007

Tue, 25 Dec 2007 14:02:31 +0000

[...] 20th December: World In Conflict 21st December: Crysis 22nd December: Peggle Deluxe 23rd December: Bioshock 24th December: [...]

By: Dracko

Dracko — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 01:35:45 +0000

Well, it does!

By: Alec Meer

Alec Meer — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 20:55:05 +0000

Certainly was – I think I hammered out about a dozen screenshots of that one when I found it…

And yeah, the Educational Facility was great for atmosphere and detail like that. I always mean to mention it as a diamond in the (relative) rough when I’m whining about the third act, but don’t always remember to, annoyingly.

By: AlexxKay

AlexxKay — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 20:30:12 +0000

“The Little Sister snack-or-death machine”

Ah, thank you for mentioning that one, Alec. That was one of mine. People keep talking about how the game loses steam in its last few levels, so it’s nice to hear that parts of those levels were successful.

Oh, and the screenshot right after that, of the body stuck full of Little Sister needles? I spent half a day arranging that one. Immediately afterwards, I wondered if it was really worth that much time and effort, but it garnered a lot of positive comment at the next level review. And you guys found it screenshot-worthy, so I guess it was time well spent :-)

By: John P (Katsumoto)

John P (Katsumoto) — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 16:56:46 +0000

I think Kieron is spot on there, and I think that argument applies even more so to Crysis, cf: the crysis advent entry comments section.

By: dhex

dhex — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 15:23:09 +0000

i do wish the entire game was as tight as fort frolic, because that was just…gold.

By: Mike

Mike — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 15:08:51 +0000

FAIRER. Fairer and fairer. Yes.

By: Mike

Mike — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 15:08:30 +0000

If only everyone had reacted in such a balanced way when it first came out… Still, the analysis gets further and further with each post on the issue.

By: Dracko

Dracko — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 14:21:31 +0000

Personally, I think Kieron is dead wrong in that statement. It certainly has some nice touches, but it doesn’t hold to scrutiny, and its visual elements aren’t used to best possible potential.

By: Thelps

Thelps — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 13:21:07 +0000

BioShock shows its narrative more than it tells. Exactly the same as Portal, in that respect. Just that, for my money, BioShock tries to ‘show’ a lot more than Portal does, and I really, personally, enjoy game narrative. Not in the sense of characters telling me a story, but more in respect to how a game can tell a story that a film or a book cannot, via implication and background detail. It’s up to the player how much they want to engage with BioShock’s narrative and how much they want to live in the game’s world.

Kieron put it perfectly: “With BioShock, the more you look, the more you see. The more you see, the more you have to think about. The more you think about, the more you understand the bloody thing”.

Ultimately though, it’s the player’s choice, and you have to respect both sides of the argument, as the player, by my own definition, defines their experience by their input.

By: Man Raised By Puffins

Man Raised By Puffins — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 13:09:14 +0000

I have to say I’ve come round a bit more to Bioshock following the disappointments of Assassin’s Creed (although I’m a lot more tolerant of its po-faced narrative than most people it seems) and Mass Effect.

There are still some niggles which rub the wrong way, but after all is said and done they’re just niggles. If it weren’t for the delights offered by The Orange Box, it’d hands down be my game of the year.

By: Thelps

Thelps — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 12:58:21 +0000

It’s blatantly Portal.

That said, BioShock had more ambition in any one zone than Portal had in the entire game, regardless of how it was realised or executed.

Ready: FIGHT!