Nothing is Perfect

The editors at GameAlmighty have written up a new two-page article that attempts to figure out why some recent games keep receiving perfect review scores from various websites and print magazines. First up is BioShock:

BioShock is a great-looking game that happens to have top-notch sound-effects and a decent story, but the gameplay is beyond fundamentally flawed. It comes across as cobbled together from a pile of disparate parts, an opinion that is backed up by the supplemental DVD that discusses the making of the game. One designer after another explains how the game shifted gears many times throughout its creation, abandoned some ideas and shoe-horned others. What you were left with was a sweet-looking adventure with broken gameplay, redundant tasks and pointless (customization) of weapons when all you have to do is run around with a wrench. Yet, despite a list of flaws, some of which are quite serious, BioShock was critic-proof, as if every single reviewer was scared to say the truth for fear of receiving a mountain of hate-email.

Who thought BioShock was perfect and incapable of improvement?

Eurogamer
Game Informer
1UP
Gamespy
Games Radar
GamePro
GameDaily
Yahoo! Games
Game Revolution
G4TV
GameTap

…and about 15 other sources, each of which generates revenue through advertising money that comes straight from the industry they are supposed to be critical of.