Anyone else think Bioshock is over-rated?

[Onyxmeth]

Smash_Brother said:

Onyxmeth said:
I'm probably the last person that would ever love an FPS, but Bioshock delivered big time. It's narrative was just so engrossing. It's by far one of the greatest stories ever told in gaming history. I can't complain about the gameplay, it was better than most first person shooters i've ever played.

Wow...if you actually believe that, you need to get out there and play some more story-driven games.

Don't get me wrong, Bioshock started decently, with Andrew Ryan and his vision of evading the governments of the world, but it basically went downhill from there until the story was nothing more than a typical Hollywood-like convoluted mess of "OH NOES! YOU WERE ROOTING FOR THE WRONG SIDE!!!"

If anyone wants to argue this, start with answering the following question: why was Bioshock's story so great? You have a city under the ocean where all hell broke loose because genetic mutation became commonplace. That's nice.

Deus Ex had a storyline which involved switching sides to join a "terrorist" organization to stop a corrupt UN from spreading a deadly plague across the world, during which you had to decide whether or not you wanted to do a number of things, including kill a fellow agent to save the "terrorist" leader save any number of your friends from death. In the end, you had to choose one of three ways to conclude the story: 1. slay the madman trying to merge with an AI which will in essence make him a god, 2. merge with the AI yourself and become a god, 3. Destroy not only the madman and the AI, but the entire information network of the globe, sending the earth back into the dark ages.

Seriously, if people think Bioshock's story was "one of the best ever", then there is no greater example of how far our standards have fallen.

You tell me I'm crazy and then name one game that has a better story, which I actually agree with you. So what's your point? Do you have others also or is Deus Ex the only one? I did say "one of the best", not "the best".

Secondly, videogame stories are horrific judging directly to other mediums like literature and films. I'm not actually sitting here thinking Bioshock is better than The Squid and the Whale, just that it's better than the crap most other games consider a narrative. Bioshock has a heavy advantage over many story driven games from the past, because the extra power of today's 360 and PCs allowed it to tell it's story better. The voice acting was terrific, the confrontations with adversaries were realistic and intimidating, and the themes, while being good for only VG standards were among the best.