Thursday, August 16, 2007

Bioshock News

For a brief time yesterday, unworthy heathens managed to breach the Bioshock street date at Toys R Us before this unworthy heathen could do so. Damn them.

I was looking forward to this game very much until I played the demo. Now, it's gone from "very much" to "fevered."

I'm not sure how that would work out grammatically, but you know what I mean.

I think the demo will sell an extra 500,000 copies of the game, at a minimum. It's that good.

One of my favorite reviewers at Eurogamer is Kristan Reed, who writes both with style and clarity, conveying truckloads of useful information on every page. His Bioshock review went online today, and here's an excerpt:
Bioshock doesn't just meet your expectations, but completely redefines them forever in ways you never even expected - in ways that games used to in the past, routinely. The hours spent playing this masterpiece were the perfect encapsulation of why videogaming is such a favourite waste of time for so many of us. Thrilling, terrifying, moving, confusing, amusing, compelling, and very very dark. BioShock isn't simply the sign of gaming realising its true cinematic potential, but one where a game straddles so many entertainment art forms so expertly that it's the best demonstration yet how flexible this medium can be. It's no longer just another shooter wrapped up in a pretty game engine, but a story that exists and unfolds inside the most convincing and elaborate and artistic game world ever conceived. It just so happens to require you to move the narrative along with your own carefully and personally defined actions. Active entertainment versus passive: I know which I prefer.

You can read the full review here (the game scored 10 out of 10), and Kristan is clearly describing a game that, for many of us, will be the finest console game of the year. I hope.

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