After three games and two expansions, I thought Bioshock and by extension Irrational Games had run out of ways to surprise me. I thought I knew all their tricks, the sort of experience I was in for, and how to overcome the obstacles they threw at me. I thought I was prepared for the second half of Burial at Sea, Irrational's final piece of work before its disassembly, but, well, you can probably guess from this introduction just how accurate all that hypothesizing actually was.
Read MoreThe first half of Burial Sea is that rare bit of DLC that manages to add to an experience without feeling like it was stripped out of the original game; expanding upon threads left over from Bioshock: Infinite and providing closure to a few loose ends it didn't have time to wrap up.
Read MoreThe scope and ambition of Bioshock: Infinite is in itself difficult to fully take in, but it’s in seeing this ambition conceptualized in such astounding fashion that causes it to become almost exhausting to try to appreciate the vast amount of layers laid in such an intricate pattern required to make it what it is.
Read MoreBioshock 2 was set up almost from the onset to be a colossal failure. It was to follow one of the most critically acclaimed games of all time, by a different developer, with the inclusion of a seemingly tacked on multiplayer mode to a series that had absolutely no need for one. It had every possibility to be a disaster, which makes it almost shocking that it arrived in a state that was not only comparable to the original game, but improved and expanded on it as well in ways that would be hard to go back from. It’s the sequel I never expected; maybe nobody did.
Read MoreDespite all the years since its release, very few games have managed to match the scope and creativity of Bioshock's world and mechanics (even its own two sequels). It's an astounding achievement in every area of its design, and the sort of game that would be fair to consider something of a requirement to play.
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