Fritz Lang's M vs 2K's Bioshock. SCIENTIFIC COMPARISON.
(Alternative title: Alexis will do anything to skive off rejigging cashflow projections.)
M and Bioshock, the last great flowerings of German expressionism. A predator stalks a twilight city, driven by unrelenting internal demons to hunt down children.
PERFORMANCE: M was produced in 1931 and will run on anything. Bioshock is a last-year's-game that will run well on an aging gaming rig. M WINS. M AHEAD.
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Bioshock is stunning: New York in sepulchral aquarium light. M is stunning, but only in black and white. BIOSHOCK WINS. NECK AND NECK.
AUDIO: M has a striking score and a memorable leitmotif. Bioshock likewise. M's soundtrack has the underwater quality of a last-but-three-generations production. Bioshock has like that Dolby thing. BIOSHOCK WINS. BIOSHOCK AHEAD.
INNOVATION: M was only the tail-end of a epoch. It rides on that epoch's coat-tails. So does Bioshock, not least in its enthusiastic reinvention of specific shots from Murnau's Nosferatu. Bioshock is, moreover, a skinned XBox port of System Shock II. M WINS. NECK AND NECK.
GAMEPLAY: The combat mechanics in M leave much to be desired. The resource management model is nonexistent. Bioshock is a giant box of toys, with upgradable plasmids and a myriad of combat tactics, but it gets repetitive. In M, when you die, you stay dead. In Bioshock, when you die, you resurrect painlessly. It lacks weight, my friend. M has more variety in gameplay than Bioshock's combat and hacking. Not compelling, though. BIOSHOCK WINS BY A HAIR. BIOSHOCK AHEAD.
GERMANS: Bioshock contains exactly one German, quasi-war-criminal Dr Tenenbaum. M has hundreds. Literally, hundreds! M WINS. NECK AND NECK.
CHEAP TITILLATION: M is entirely unerotic throughout. Bioshock, leaving firmly aside the deliberately queasy presexuality of the Little Sisters, has Dr Tenenbaum, who smokes languidly and looks sort of pretty in the radio mugshot. She's eerily lumpy in person but nevertheless represents a CLEAR WIN FOR BIOSHOCK. BIOSHOCK AHEAD.
SHARKS: M is set in Berlin, and features no sharks. Bioshock also has no sharks, but its underwater setting makes their lack evident. A minor demerit: M WINS. NECK AND NECK.
VALUE FOR MONEY: M has a running time of around 2 hours. Bioshock has over 20! BIOSHOCK IS THE CLEAR WINNER. BIOSHOCK AHEAD.
THEMATIC DEPTH: M is about a child murderer. Bioshock is about a child murderer and also Objectivism. BIOSHOCK WINS. BIOSHOCK AHEAD TWO.
FINAL SCORE: M 4, Bioshock 6. BIOSHOCK WINS: DECISIVELY. SCIENTIFICALLY.