By now it’s obvious to most that games have evolved from their basic states, back when game play was the developer’s primary concern. There were very few story-based adventures with rich plots that would make gamers feel like they were actually a part of the game. Nowadays, we see games with deep storylines that flourish as the player advances in the story. You could say that some games have grown into movies with game play.

I recently played through Bioshock and finished it for the first time, only to find myself completely infatuated with nearly every detail of the game. It’s accuracy to the 1950’s and 1960’s astonished me, not only that, but the amount of richness within rapture made me absolutely love this game. In my eyes, it was a perfect experience, combining science-fiction with a time-period I admired with the addition of amazing game play.

Games such as Bioshock and Metal Gear Solid put the player in the middle of the action; at the same time make the story feel familiar or welcome to the player. In Bioshock, details from every recording in Rapture will tell you a bit more about what happened on New Year’s Day, 1959. While, in Metal Gear Solid, the extra long cut scenes that players endure will inform them and flashback to any relating details that may be important to the overall plot.

In some cases a game’s story can be considered Poetic. The use of level design and a change in mood has made games such as Flower a poem more than a story. Many would consider the slight change in Flowers overall mood an annoyance or “too gamey” but if you play the game and enjoy the experience you may see that this is only poetic nature. Even Shakespeare had short comic scenes inside his tragedies to let the audience "breathe". Maybe this was the point in Flower. Maybe it was a change in mood to allow the player to become more alert after a few relaxing levels, possibly even warning the player that this IS still a game. You may not understand that, but that only means the game isn’t for you; although, if you haven’t played it I recommend you download it and try it out.

Overall, games have become more emotional and full without the need of fancy graphics or physics. Maybe one day, we’ll look upon the games we use to play and dislike them for their story, like a movie, rather than the game play.

(I know the comments are going to be spammed with an embarassing picture of me... Soo, have at it Takeshi)