You're polishing bone!

I recently played through God of War 3 and absolutely loved it. As usual it was totally epic from start to finish. In fact it started off with such a big bang that I’m not sure it ever quite topped it, but the rest is still plenty good. Funny thing though, aside from some minor tweaks to combat, the game hasn’t changed. The move set for Kratos’ main weapons is exactly the same. The puzzles are as clever, yet simple as ever. Even the anger is the same, actually, the anger might be even more over the top. Kratos kills every single person he encounters with the exception of three. The only three he doesn’t kill he has sex with during the also expected sex mini game.

Has this repetition affected my appreciation of the game at all? Hell no, the first sentence of this article says I absolutely loved it. The fact that the main move set hasn’t changed allowed me to play like a pro right from the start. The outrageous story is as awesome as ever and the new HD graphics and set pieces are jaw dropping. God of War 3 really shows you what the PS3 is capable of.

Yet, when I sent GoW3 back to GameFly and received Bioshock 2 in return I was faced with a similar situation, but am having an opposite reaction. Bioshock 2 looks almost identical to the first game, aside from a few combat modifications it controls the same, and so far the story even seems to be unfolding the same way. It’s pretty much a more polished and updated version of the first game. So why is it that God of War 3 feels like a polished and refined version of its predecessors while Bioshock 2 feels stale?

At first I thought it was because the story seemed to be built on a much shakier foundation than the first. I immediately had questions like why do the Vitachambers work with the new player character and what is the reasoning for Lamb and co. staying in Rapture for 10 years after it all went to shit? That isn’t it though; I’m willing to overlook these flaws for a couple of reasons. For one, I’m only a third of the way into the game, really though, most of my plot problems are minor. Another thought was due to some dissonance stemming from playing as a Big Daddy, but feeling as agile and vulnerable as the human I played in the first game. This can’t be the issue either (though it does constantly get on my nerves), I’ve played through countless games with god awful stories full of player/character dissonance and it’s never been an issue as long as the gameplay is interesting and fun enough. I can’t wait to play Bayonetta after I’m finished with Bioshock 2 and I haven’t stopped playing Borderlands since January, neither of which can even really be said to have stories. I mean they are there, but who cares? The developers certainly didn’t.

I guess that must mean I don’t find Bioshock’s gameplay compelling enough to engross me for an entire new game. Thinking back on the first one this makes sense. My favorite parts were not the plasmids and elaborate traps you could set up for Big Daddies. It was the setting and characters. Rapture was so fully realized and the characters were so well written that just being in the game was enough. That allure must have worn off either during the first game or sometime over the last two years though because I’m struggling to finish this one.

Anyway, I think I had some greater point I was trying to make about fun gameplay, but I can’t remember what it was and Slevin just texted me to play some more Borderlands.

You know what, upon further reflection I may have already made this point with my Mass Effect 2 post so just go read that instead.

Jebus out!