Why BioShock Isn’t a Perfect Game
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As an FPS, I think it falls short of Half-Life 2, which would be the ribbon to break. But it's close, and in terms of level design, that's a massive achievement. As a post-Looking Glass game, it doesn't come close to offering what Deus Ex provided (and I don't mean in terms of not being an RPG - I mean in terms of delivering on its narrative). And yes, you could create a list like the above for Deus Ex until the internet ran out of room, but I think you could create a pro-list that equally out-weighs. The only emotional moment for me was arriving in the room filled with the saved Little Sisters, thanking me and gossiping about how I would save them. I could only ever save them, because of who I am, and the game rewarded that with kindness. That was splendid. But it was one moment. So while huge amounts were enjoyable (most especially Cohen's photography sequence), I never felt like I could betray, or trust, or manipulate. I was the puppet, and the game laughed at me for that, but then it just carried on laughing at me while it wandered to a rather vague conclusion.
