I forgot to mention:
If BioShock were music, it would basically be Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon: a dense, meticulously crafted work that stands as a breakout hit for a creator who’s been an underground favorite for years. While it generally obeys the rules and structures of a specific genre, its occasional divergences into other forms and new concepts are alternately its best and worst moments.
And if you pay attention to all the embedded sounds hidden throughout the work as added texture, a very interesting story begins to take shape.
If only all end-of-year lists had some kind of unifying framing device, or indeed anything other than ‘we’re out buying Christmas presents and we don’t feel like working much, so here’s the conclusions of our office arguments for the year’.
So is it true if you speed run through Bioshock, it syncs up perfectly with the Wizard of Oz?
Yes, and I hear it’s great for making love to as well.
Any reason the comments section is asking me if I’d like to edit or delete comments? You didn’t change any of the options, did you?
So does this mean System Shock is Syd Barrett-era Floyd, which a big contingent of geeks swears up and down is “totally better than that dumbed-down sellout crap”?
To be fair to Bioshock, System Shock 2 doesn’t have anything like the Big Daddies, and it has a somewhat frustrating system where guns will jam after too much use, becoming dead weight.
I can definitely see what you’re saying about Dark Side of the Moon. Like with Bioshock, my interest always wanes about two thirds of the way through :).