Amusing Look At Halo's Effect On Gaming

This short documentary style video (it actually is very similar to another - can you name it?) on the history and the future effect of Halo on gaming is pretty amusing (from LoadingReadyRun v4.0).

The Bioshocked video is somewhat amusing as well.

Bioshock - The End

I finished Bioshock. Or it finished me, I'm not sure yet.

I feel...scathed...not by the moral choices in the game itself, but by the game, mentally scarred by what I felt could have been a game that was on the cusp of greatness, but that let me down just as I was about to pass through the pearly gates. It's like I was about to sneeze but Bioshock wouldn't let me.

This hilarious video review by The Escapist sums it up nicely.

Or this YouTube video.

Some aspects discussed in this post on Save The Robot by Chris Dahlen.

The 'moral choice', and the almost fascinating exploration of control in video games are touched on in the game, and noted in the above commentaries. It's too bad that these could not have been extrapolated on, especially the control aspect. Or free markets, utopian creation, runaway genetic engineering. But it appears that the machinations of capitalism in the game industry held sway and the last third of the game feels rushed, like they just stopped in order to ship the game. Irony, or not?

So close, and yet, so far. Maybe next time?

Shock The Plasmid!

Bioshock Spoiler Alert*

Bioshock really is a beautiful game. If the semi insane imaginings of Levin's mind can be considered beautiful. But then, the game developer is Irrational, a perfectly suited name for the demented worlds they've created.
Cityscape.












Evolve!












The art direction is interesting. A mix of old school posters with high tech gone awry.
Plasmids for genetic engineering.














The game takes place in Rapture, an apparent social experiment gone completely to hell in a city under the ocean.
Waterfall.



















This world is falling completely apart and as you make your way through it there are various collapsing tunnels, imploding doors, and disintegration at all levels.
Medical experiment gone horribly wrong!



















The happy posters on the walls contrast with the gruesome details you keep encountering, the result of the deeply deranged minds of various powerful denizens of Rapture.
Dr. Steinman wants to help.



















The atmosphere is fantastic, spooky and frightening, much like System Shock 2, another Irrational game.
In-game map.









The game mechanics are also similar to other Irrational games. Various upgrades via plasmids and gene tonics for genetic engineering (aside: someone must have read a Scientific American and picked the term 'plasmid' for genetic engineering - it actually doesn't mean that) boost your various attributes. You can buy health and energy (called EVO for the genetic enhancements), and find various upgrades, money, health on corpses and in apparently every container (I am getting sick of searching ashtrays and storage crates though).
A warning to trespassers!



















So far this game is matching expectations, which is a nice change of pace these days. It's a little too much of a rail shooter, but then again, so was Half Life, and in both games the story and atmosphere more than make up for the lack of freedom.