Belated Bioshock Babble

If you haven't played Bioshock by now, I'm truly sorry. Not only is it damn beautiful, it's wonderfully atmospheric. Even Yahtzee says so!



As I've said before, I'm a big fan of the culture of the 30s through 50s (and some into the 60s as well, though not on the rock and roll/hipster thing), and this game played a big part in rekindling that fascination (which was earlier begun in my childhood through the seeing of various classic musicals). It inspired me to the point of seeking to create a comedy radio show with a 50s theme, complete with website, at the local college at which I am currently enrolled. Unfortunately, the show never got off the ground on account of my request never being accepted, but I had quite a few great ideas.


In any case, Bioshock enthralled me for quite some time last year and continues to occupy a warm corner of my drafty heart. Since I'm not the only one who feels that way, it is obvious that there would be sequels, which I applaud. A great game should have more of the same. Unlike movies, I have a good deal of trust for a game sequel, as, unlike movie companies, video game companies have a reputation that they need to keep sparkling, or else they'll never be able to get decent sales, and no truly bad game sequels come to mind. Well, maybe a couple, but very few.



On the other hand, I've yet to see a movie based on a video game that I enjoy. While Resident Evil, Doom, Silent Hill, (though I can't fully comment on the latter, as I've never completed a Silent Hill game) and others were alright as movies, they never felt (or never were) "true" to the games, meaning that they diverged grossly from the source material. The very same thing annoys me about movies that are based on books, but totally go a different direction. Either stick to what the game/book is about as close as possible, or base the movie on the game/book's atmosphere, and not its plot. Don't try to tell the story in a different way--it always, always sucks. Why? Because it's riding success, and that pisses me off.



Where was I? Oh, yes. So, there will be a Bioshock movie. All I can say is that they'd better not screw this up. If you've played Bioshock, you know that the game itself plays much like an action movie; problem is that the game never breaks from the point of view of the protagonist. Of course, this means that, unless they're going to do a film fully in first-person PoV (don't count on it), they'll have to put a face to the "faceless" protagonist. It's for that same reason that one couldn't make a successful (read: popular with fans) Half-Life film (not that you'd have to--again, the game plays like a movie), even though we know what Gordon Freeman looks like. An actor in a movie would talk, and that's just against the rules for the game. It's just... wrong. Like giving Snoopy a voice. In Bioshock, we never see Jack's face, and only hear his voice in the intro. Wanna bet it won't be that way in the film? Aside from that, though, the plot is very movie-friendly, which is why I'm going to have high standards for it when it comes out. High standards and low expectations.