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BioShock Receives Record-Breaking 12 AIAS Nominations
dampeal writes "The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences today announced the nominees for the 11th annual Interactive Achievement Awards. The nominations for the peer-based awards have been dominated by two blockbuster first-person shooter games, BioShock (2K Games) and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision) by receiving an astounding 10+ nominations from industry leaders and members of the interactive entertainment software business. In addition, finalists in close lead with top nominations include: The Orange Box (Electronic Arts and Valve Software), Rock Band (MTV Games) and Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo of America), all up for the Overall Game of the Year Award."
I wasn't that impressed with Mass Effect, or it's heavily promoted conversation system. Conversations could sound natural if you select options fast enough, but more often than not they ended up still sounding as stilted as ever. In addition, even the longest lines were unskippable, and one of the alien races spoke with an annoying e x t r e m e l y s l o w voice mod that made me want to pull my hair out. (It even used the cliche "reverse the audio, add an echo, reverse it again" effect, ugh.)
As for the game itself, it's pretty much standard Bioware. And like every Bioware game, there's one point in the game where, once you reach it, it's impossible to go back and complete previous quests. That really peeves me off, they could at least warn you that "hey when you land on planet X, the game's on a path to finishing and you won't be able to freely roam anymore!"
The controls were clunky and unintuitive, especially the lunar rover. (It has two weapons, one bound to right trigger, one bound to right shoulder, making it impossible to fire both at once! Meanwhile, the left trigger does virtually nothing.) Equipping mods to weapons and armor was always a pain, and I went through the game confused about when to use X to go back and when to use B to go back. (Getting into the galaxy map, then mistakenly hitting B instead of X wastes a whole lot of loading time! I did that probably a half-dozen times.)
However, it does get kudos for actually allowing my character (with a high personality stat) to talk the villain into killing himself. That's something I've never seen before. 7/10
Comment of the year
...but CLEARLY Portal was the better game - more innovations and a much better ending. I enjoyed Bioshock very much but I cannot remember being this enthralled with a video game as I was when playing Portal. It felt like it was 1994 again and I was playing an FPS for the first time.
Groundbreaking in BioShock? I mean, a neat plot, simple gameplay where you got better/stronger/faster and all, but was it really that much better than anything else?
I've not played it, simply because it hasn't interested me enough. Most of the impressions I got from reviews was that it was good but kinda overhyped.
Me, I'll stick with TF2 a while longer.
I am one of those "twits" that loves Half-Life 2 but despises Halo. With a couple of rare exceptions, most of the people I have talked to that claim to not like Half-Life 2 have never played it...Just because a game is a shooter doesn't mean it can't be really engaging and pull you into the atmosphere. Also, playing Episode 1 and 2 make Half-Life 2 a much more complete experience (since by playing only HL2, you are only getting a portion of the story)
I don't know about you, but the first 15 minutes of Bioshock was EASILY one of the best openings to a video game ever.
Living With a Nerd
::shrug:: to each his own...personally, amongst shooters, I put Half-Life 2 and BioShock at the top of the list. Both of them created very believable worlds that felt alive. You didn't feel like just an observer, you felt like you were actually a part of those game universe's (Mass Effect is great at this as well)
Some folks view games as just a form of entertainment...and that's fine; there is nothing wrong with that. I personally view games as an experience; when I play a game, I consciously put myself in that game world. I'm no longer sitting on my couch, pressing buttons. I'm chasing after head crabs, shooting lightning out of my fingertips, or running for my life in an attempt to NOT see what is making that horrible screeching noise.
Many people will say I am lame and silly for being this way...I say I don't care. Know why I don't care? I may be lame and silly, but I will get WAY more out of my gaming time than people who simply view it as "entertainment" ever will.
Living With a Nerd
I got Half Life 2 as part of the Orange Box. Maybe Portal and Team Fortress 2 spoiled me (since I played those two first) but I found HL2 rather dull and uninspiring, not to mention cluttered with glitches (I was surprised how often I'd get stuck in geometry).
I played the demo, and I would've bought the game for PC if not for the activation system. But, really, it was a linear first person shooter with a cool art-deco style, and from what I hear a nice story line. I suppose if there are awards for art direction and best story, (which, I'm sure there are) then sure.
But "Outstanding Innovation in Gaming"? Not so much. (Portal takes it there, without a doubt).
Thing is, these are yearly awards.
So rephrase your question "was there anything significantly better than BioShock last year?"
I'd say "Portal" but Portal is rated together with the rest of the bundle, Orange Box, and while the rest is pretty cool, it isn't nearly as good and lowers Portal's score.
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I wasn't aware that there were people out there who liked shooters at all but didn't like Half-Life 2. So, who, exactly, has been calling you a twit?
...but is it art?
System Shock and Deus Ex were groundbreaking. The only thing Bioshock did differently was to be on a console so that the unwashed masses could experience it. And, like Deus Ex 2, it suffered for its console-oriented developement.
For great justice.
The AC that posted above my OP :-)
Living With a Nerd
Bioshock and CoD4 definitely deserve some attention for storyline.
Bioshock doesn't need any more explanation than it's received already, but I think the quality of the storyline in Call of Duty 4 has been largely ignored. The incident in the Middle East with the Nuke (and the helicopter scene following) made me feel more disturbed than anything I saw in Bioshock.
In an effort to conform with internet communication standards, please note that the above comment is 100% biased opinion
I think that your comment really hits the nail on the head. Bioshock is creepysauce. I remember one part i'm looking down at a desk, collecting a tape recorder I think. Lightning momentarily lights up the room and throws a shadow on the wall directly in front of me. I look at the shadow for the moment that it is there, but something about my shadow looks a little... off. At that point I turn around and there is someone standing like a foot behind me. I almost browned my pants.
Bioshock was one of those rare games that can really creep you out. If you did not play this game in HD with a good sound system, you completely missed out on this game. Hearing screams, but not seeing things...
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But "Outstanding Innovation in Gaming"? Not so much. (Portal takes it there, without a doubt).
Well, and this might be shocking to you, you might try actually playing BioShock before making a judgement on it... have you thought of that?
Also, Portal's only innovation is that you could shoot the portals out of a gun. Other games have had portals (Prey most recently, Serious Sam is another example I remember), so that's not particularly impressive. Considering that the core concept has been done before, albeit in a less flexible manner, and considering that the "game" was more of a tech demo than an actual fleshed out game, I gotta say I'm not so sure.
That all said, I'm sure the award will go to Portal anyway.
Comment of the year
Continue your old career in a new game, and check out those side quests.
It keeps your level, skills, and equipment, resets your renegade/paragon meters.
Why no love for Assassin's Creed?
I'll stick with the Bioshock and Portal comparison for sake of this discussion, but I think that Portal wins the award for Outstanding Innovation hands down.
When I hear the word innovating, I imagine something that has never (or rarely) been well executed before. Note that this is different from something ever being done before in any fashion whatsoever. As you correctly stated, the concept of portals has been done before. What makes Portal innovating is its execution.
For example, if you take anyone with experience in FPS games and drop them in the later levels of Bioshock, they will be able to function fine without having played the earlier portions of the game. However, take that same person and drop them in the later levels of Portal. I would imagine there would be a lot of confusion trying to figure out what to do and, more importantly, how to do it. To me, this is a signal that it is "innovating". It is new and different.
I definitely agree that Bioshock's art style, gameplay, and story were exceptional and original, but I'm not sure I would go so far as to call them innovating.
On the flips side, most of the people I have talked to that claim to not like Halo, have never played it. ; P
I loved System Shock 2, so it's no surprise I liked Bioshock. Nearly every element of Bioshock was the direct descendant of an aspect of System Shock.
Like I said, I liked Bioshock, but it's hardly innovative.
My point wasn't that Bioshock was the most innovative game in history, just that it's really stupid to judge a game's value based on a demo without even playing it. That's like watching a movie trailer and then instantly judging how good the movie is.
Comment of the year
### Just because a game is a shooter doesn't mean it can't be really engaging and pull you into the atmosphere.
That worked for the first 10-20 mins in Half Life 2, after that it turned into yet another shooter.
My flatmates remember that scene too. They came running to figure out why I suddenly screamed quite loudly out of the blue :) Yes I felt embarrassed afterwards.
You're right, you need to play bioshock at full to get the maximum experience. Theres usually a lot of bashing of the people who spend $600-700 on a graphics card but god it really makes a difference to the immersion, the little details like the shadow not being quite right being too hard to notice on crap resolutions.
That said, bioshock started to bore me a bit when it losses the creepiness halfway through the game when you suddenly realise that the biggest and baddest thing walking through the Rapture is yourself. It then turns from really good creepy shooter into a run of the mill shooter feast albeit one with great visual design and a good story.
..also the fact the you (as a player) do not cast shadows. Everyone else does, but not you. So seeing a shadow would always indicated an NPC.
Is this a rhetorical question?
I had that happen in the dentist's office. I almost had a heart attack. I went back and replayed that scene, but he didn't appear behind me. Freaky as hell.