Comments on: A Question of Morals – BioShock Review http://kidconfidence.com/blogs/2007/08/21/a-question-of-morals-%e2%80%93-bioshock-review/ Video game reviews and news for parents and kids Fri, 05 Dec 2008 08:26:01 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.1 By: Richard Hammer http://kidconfidence.com/blogs/2007/08/21/a-question-of-morals-%e2%80%93-bioshock-review/#comment-1881 Richard Hammer Wed, 05 Sep 2007 17:24:29 +0000 http://kidconfidence.com/blogs/2007/08/21/a-question-of-morals-%e2%80%93-bioshock-review/#comment-1881 When my kid brought up that he heard about this game from his friends and wanted to buy it, I was uneasy. After all, he is only in 7th grade and I am still debating whether or not to let him play Manhunt 2 when it comes out. As a "try before you buy" measure, we rented the game and I sat down and played it with him and watched him play it. I like the fact that Bioshock forces you to make moral choices and that those decisions effect game play as you progress further into the game. One memorable moment was when my son gave me a lecture about how I should not kill all of the little girls in the game. I had already killed a couple of the bigger robot guys that were protecting the little girls and figured they may as well go down with the ship as well. My son informed me in a very stern voice that this was not acceptable. The artificial intelligence in this game is very good. We found out early on that when the bad guys are hurt, they also start looking for a place to hide and power-ups to get them back to full health. My son figured out that you could place a gas bomb that could be triggered whenever the bad guys went back to get more life. Instead of getting power-ups, they got a face full of poison and died. While I do not agree with some of the violence in this game, I like that the game can let the player come up with other ways to get around enemies instead of just shooting them in the face. This forces my son to think outside of the box if you will. While the kids seem to enjoy the game, I just liked sitting back and listening to the soundtrack, there are some great songs in that game and my son had a look of bewilderment when he found out that I knew the lyrics to a couple of them. I felt very old. Overall, this game may not be for all families but it is much more than your mindless running around and killing stuff game. It is also very good looking. It was my personal choice to let my kid buy Bioshock and while not everyone would do the same, I find myself playing the game almost as much as he does. When my kid brought up that he heard about this game from his friends and wanted to buy it, I was uneasy. After all, he is only in 7th grade and I am still debating whether or not to let him play Manhunt 2 when it comes out. As a “try before you buy” measure, we rented the game and I sat down and played it with him and watched him play it.

I like the fact that Bioshock forces you to make moral choices and that those decisions effect game play as you progress further into the game. One memorable moment was when my son gave me a lecture about how I should not kill all of the little girls in the game. I had already killed a couple of the bigger robot guys that were protecting the little girls and figured they may as well go down with the ship as well. My son informed me in a very stern voice that this was not acceptable.

The artificial intelligence in this game is very good. We found out early on that when the bad guys are hurt, they also start looking for a place to hide and power-ups to get them back to full health. My son figured out that you could place a gas bomb that could be triggered whenever the bad guys went back to get more life. Instead of getting power-ups, they got a face full of poison and died. While I do not agree with some of the violence in this game, I like that the game can let the player come up with other ways to get around enemies instead of just shooting them in the face. This forces my son to think outside of the box if you will.

While the kids seem to enjoy the game, I just liked sitting back and listening to the soundtrack, there are some great songs in that game and my son had a look of bewilderment when he found out that I knew the lyrics to a couple of them. I felt very old.

Overall, this game may not be for all families but it is much more than your mindless running around and killing stuff game. It is also very good looking. It was my personal choice to let my kid buy Bioshock and while not everyone would do the same, I find myself playing the game almost as much as he does.

]]> By: Andrey Efimov http://kidconfidence.com/blogs/2007/08/21/a-question-of-morals-%e2%80%93-bioshock-review/#comment-8563 Andrey Efimov Tue, 26 Feb 2008 16:05:07 +0000 http://kidconfidence.com/blogs/2007/08/21/a-question-of-morals-%e2%80%93-bioshock-review/#comment-8563 When I 1st heard of this game during the summer of 2007, and read the information of what it was going to be like, I really doubted about whether I should buy the game or not when it comes out. I had those doubts up until I stuck the CD into my computer and started playing... And that's when I found out that this game really is amazing. Only being 14 years old, this game actually gave me a lot to think about and even showed me certain philosophical views that I found interesting. However, it is not just the background that caught my interest. The freedom of the gameplay simply amazed me. The enemy AI gave me infinite opportunities to experiment with the environment and cause the enemy to do something so realistic, it is scary. Also, the very atmosphere of the game made it impressive even without the story and the gameplay. The view of this 1950's utopia really made me feel like I was there, but the developers' talent easily made this beautiful setting be destroyed by the grizzly actions of Rapture's citizens. Overall, I think that this really deserves to be the #1 game of 2007. When I 1st heard of this game during the summer of 2007, and read the information of what it was going to be like, I really doubted about whether I should buy the game or not when it comes out. I had those doubts up until I stuck the CD into my computer and started playing… And that’s when I found out that this game really is amazing. Only being 14 years old, this game actually gave me a lot to think about and even showed me certain philosophical views that I found interesting. However, it is not just the background that caught my interest. The freedom of the gameplay simply amazed me. The enemy AI gave me infinite opportunities to experiment with the environment and cause the enemy to do something so realistic, it is scary. Also, the very atmosphere of the game made it impressive even without the story and the gameplay. The view of this 1950’s utopia really made me feel like I was there, but the developers’ talent easily made this beautiful setting be destroyed by the grizzly actions of Rapture’s citizens. Overall, I think that this really deserves to be the #1 game of 2007.

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