Reading Too Much Into It?: BioShock

The depth of the narrative, characters, and overall storyline in Irrational Games’ BioShock is the subject of a new editorial on The Married Gamers.  It’s too bad that BioShock 2 will never be as memorable: 

Bioshock never tried to be an open world game, but we all go into a game thinking we are full participants in what’s going on. Bioshock is here to remind us that free will is an illusion. Jack’s journey through dystopian Rapture is a mirror to our own journey in gaming.

Before Jack sets foot in Rapture, his path was already determined. Even after he realizes this, his path is dictated by circumstance. Similarly, before we even pop the disc in the tray, we happily ignore the fact that our interaction with the game is preset to the vision of the game’s writer and the levels designed by the programmers. However, even when Bioshock brings that paradigm to the fore, we still follow the linear path to the end.

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Can games elicit a level of thought deeper than graphics and and sound design? Yes. Can games offer us something that other forms of media cannot? If any game is proof positive of this, it’s Bioshock.