What is Bioshock about? That's the next question. I thought that this question might be a bit tricky. How could I possibly explain Bioshock and avoid spoilers whilst doing so? I thought. Well, as it turns out it's actually quite easy since Bioshock is not about it's setting in a city at the bottom of the sea, it's not necessarily about the characters you meet during the adventure there. It's not about the action and gameplay either. All of those things are merely the tools for telling the story. So what is it about then?
Bioshock is a story told through the medium of videogames and due to the story being told, it is a story that is more suited to the medium of videogames than any other format. The story itself could easily find itself among bookshelves or on the bestsellers list as a novelization but the point of the story is given more substance by being told via an interactive medium. There have been many calls for Bioshock to be given Hollywood treatment and made into a feature film. There have even been some attempts to do so but none successful and quite frankly I'm glad they were not. While I'm sure that an accurate depiction of Bioshock would look great on a cinema screen, the point of the story would be somewhat lost in the telling.
The story being told in Bioshock is about free will, choice and consequence. A theme of
objectivism runs throughout the game and is the founding principle that the city of rapture has been built on. "No Gods, No Kings, Only Man." Complete freedom has been given to all of the residents of the underwater city of Rapture. The greatest scientific and artistic minds of the world have been invited to the city, tempted by the assurance that they can practice their art/science with complete impunity. Free from the laws of society and morality, the artists and scientists in Rapture begin to push the boundaries of their fields and while they are free from laws they are not free from the consequences of their own actions.
The Bioshock story begins in the aftermath of those consequences. The freedom of choice is extended to the player throughout the game and along with that come the consequences of choices made. The game was criticized by some for the choices offered to the player being fundamentally black or white. Choices have to be made by the player in order to progress the game and story but the choices are quite clearly good or evil. Choose good and be rewarded with a sense of saintly benevolence, choose evil and be rewarded with immediate gratification in the form of power. If your choices throughout the game are consistently good the conclusion of the game will positively reinforce your good intentions. If however, your choices are consistently evil the ending of the game will match the dastardly nature displayed throughout the game.
In life, the consequences of choices we make are not immediately apparent and consequences are not always directly linked to choices made. Most of the time, outcomes are the result of a culmination of many different choices and courses of action. In Bioshock this has been filtered down in order to make the point and tell a deep, captivating story. It may seem like the message is, complete freedom of choice is a bad thing but that's not it. Freedom of choice is always a good thing and quite possibly the only real freedom that people within a structured functioning society actually have but just because you can do something does not mean that you should do it.
What is Bioshock about? That's the next question. I thought that this question might be a bit tricky. How could I possibly explain Bioshock and avoid spoilers whilst doing so? I thought. Well, as it turns out it's actually quite easy since Bioshock is not about it's setting in a city at the bottom of the sea, it's not necessarily about the characters you meet during the adventure there. It's not about the action and gameplay either. All of those things are merely the tools for telling the story. So what is it about then?
Bioshock is a story told through the medium of videogames and due to the story being told, it is a story that is more suited to the medium of videogames than any other format. The story itself could easily find itself among bookshelves or on the bestsellers list as a novelization but the point of the story is given more substance by being told via an interactive medium. There have been many calls for Bioshock to be given Hollywood treatment and made into a feature film. There have even been some attempts to do so but none successful and quite frankly I'm glad they were not. While I'm sure that an accurate depiction of Bioshock would look great on a cinema screen, the point of the story would be somewhat lost in the telling.
The story being told in Bioshock is about free will, choice and consequence. A theme of objectivism runs throughout the game and is the founding principle that the city of rapture has been built on. "No Gods, No Kings, Only Man." Complete freedom has been given to all of the residents of the underwater city of Rapture. The greatest scientific and artistic minds of the world have been invited to the city, tempted by the assurance that they can practice their art/science with complete impunity. Free from the laws of society and morality, the artists and scientists in Rapture begin to push the boundaries of their fields and while they are free from laws they are not free from the consequences of their own actions.
The Bioshock story begins in the aftermath of those consequences. The freedom of choice is extended to the player throughout the game and along with that come the consequences of choices made. The game was criticized by some for the choices offered to the player being fundamentally black or white. Choices have to be made by the player in order to progress the game and story but the choices are quite clearly good or evil. Choose good and be rewarded with a sense of saintly benevolence, choose evil and be rewarded with immediate gratification in the form of power. If your choices throughout the game are consistently good the conclusion of the game will positively reinforce your good intentions. If however, your choices are consistently evil the ending of the game will match the dastardly nature displayed throughout the game.
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