Bioshock GOTY and Why

"The more one is absorbed in fighting evil, the less one is tempted to place the good in question." -Jean-Paul Satre So, I was one of the lucky few to get Bioshock early and I can say with great passion, "best game so far." There is nothing else to say that has yet to be mention by the countless reviews, Bioshock does the little things right. The details to the art deco style, to the background music, AI chatter and overarching modern story are executed well.The art deco surroundings to the propaganda posters are influence by art in the 1940s and 50s. The statues, the slogans written on banners and walls creates the illusion of an era trapped in time. The art Images similiar from the Spanish Civil War propaganda posters brings an authencity to the enviroment where other developers fail to execute (Resistance: Fall of Man and Gears of War come to my mind).The intro of the game has you traveling through a submarine transport into the sea level City of Rapture. Through the descent, the buildings of Rapture are the first examples of art deco used through out the game. The first building is a lighthouse, illuminating in the fog. The imagery is fascinating, the viewer is used to seeing the skyskappers blocked by clouds, with airplanes and helicopters navigating in the skyline. Now we are allowed to see the art deco buildings through translucent water with whales and octopuses manuerving through the ocean. Another aspect of Bioshock, executed very well, is the music. A quick list of songs, La Mer- Django Reinhardt,Papa Loves Mambo: Perry Como, The Best things in Life are Free: The inkspots (as well as if i didn't care), How much is that doggie in the window: Pattie Page, The Party's Over: Noel Cowardand Bei Mir Bist Du Schon- The Andrews Sisters. The orchestra score,is also avaiable for free from 2k Games. The music in Bioshock, surpasses any game out there in the market, the orchestra and the pop music adds to the game that goes beyond cheesy gaming music and rivals premeire Hollywood Movies.The AI chatter is brilliant when compared to the awfulness of Gears of War (Cole train anyone). With AI chatter ranging from Spanish to French and Russian accents. The voice chatter mechanic adds to story. How? By listening to the diaries from characters of diverse backgrounds, Rapture becomes a character in itself. In Rapture, people were not turned away by the color of their skin or by the language of their native tongue. It is subtle, but minorities are featured Bioshock, which rarely happens for Triple A games. Bioshock uses, the meduim of what games are limited too, to expand its story tenfold with adding smart AI chatter and 50's era music. The era of the 50s, sandwiched between World War Two and the Vietnam, is a pot of boiling water waiting to spill over. The 50s, coined the Golden Years, by some the Greatest Generation, know for its bubbly music, stars and starlettes, and the family boom. Bioshock argues, with all of those who believe in the 50's being the greatest years, that there was a underbelly ready to be ripped apart by social, economical, technological and military issues. Socially and economically, there was a big rift brewing between, the church and state, as well as, Socialism and Capitalism. Our Military in the US was ramping up, the Atom Bomb, the arms race, and the space race being pushed by technology and the hawks in DC.

The fall of Rapture begins on January, 1, 1959 where splicers waged an attack at New Year's Party. These stories are told via diaries that are spread around Rapture. The discovery of ADAM, used for genetic modifications, in Rapture causes a power struggle challenging the rule of Andrew Ryan.