Execution / Game

[Alardem]

Bioshock is a brilliant example of a game that really doesn't deserve the art label its developers purport it to have. It s a brilliant setting realized by great art direction and good voice acting, only to have all the themes and decent writing contained in it be utterly squandered by the constraints of being a violent shooter with no intellectual options. I don't accept the utter cop-out of the developers saying "Lol it's supposed to be on-rails". It's basically just an annoyingly pretentious shooter. Infinite is even worse, as the plot discards the themes raised by the setting in favor of another meta-physical copout.

Deus Ex does it better. At least that doesn't rail-road you into blowing heads up all the time.

Games definitely are a good art form - their interactivity allows for the fulfilling of needs that films, television, radio and books cannot. Simulations/management games (Sims/Civilization/Tycoon games) let you manage the lives of eople. First-person games allow you to literally see the perspective of a fictional character. Horror games can make you fear for the vulnerability of your protagonist. RPGs allow you to embody a new persona. let I think I just appreciate game stories when the writer essentially thinks they're hot shit by pointing out the limitations of their form, rather than genuinely innovating. I guess I have little patience for poorly done post-modernism. :p