Once or twice a year, a game's technology and craftsmanship raise the bar so high that, Pixar-like, it leaves everyone raving. This summer, that game is BioShock. Fighting through the ruined underwater city of Rapture means being constantly dazzled by the intricate Art Deco-inspired design, the jaw-dropping water effects, and gameplay that deftly mixes skin-crawling horror, comic-book superpowers, and exhilarating shootouts.
But the story is even more intriguing. As you explore the wreckage and listen to the audio diaries left behind by Rapture's (mostly) dead citizens, you'll reconstruct what happened to the city—and puzzle out how you're involved. It feels a lot like the guy from Memento trying to watch Citizen Kane. But just as with Memento, once the mystery's solved, the story fizzles out—specifically, about two-thirds of the way through, when all is revealed and BioShock switches to a conventional "kill the big boss" shooter. It never follows through on its own questions about player agency, and the only choice you ever make leads to one of two copout endings.