The last game I can remember with sort of praise in the text of the reviews was the original Half-Life -- nearly 10 years ago. ZOoT would be the only other I can think of to get this sort of praise.

Bioshock is on course to be one of the top 3 or 4 games on Gametrailers for all time ranking (not that the numbers mean much... the landslide of critical praise does).

I guess I can stop worrying about this not being a commercial success. The question now: How does Irrational follow this up?

IGN gave it a 9.7 just to be different :)IGN sucks at math?

oxm uk 10 / 10
pc gamer uk 95 / 100
pc zone 96 / 100
eurogamer 10 / 10
gamer.tv 5 / 5
game informer 10 / 10
ap magazine 5 / 5
computers & video games 9.5 / 10
gamepro 10 / 10
1up 10 / 10
xbox world 94 / 100
gamespy 5 / 5
console and gameworld 99 / 100

Score recap.

It's currently at 99% on gamerankings! If it keeps this up, it may outdo Z:OOT. It's already well on it's way to being the highest rated first person game ever. Crazy! Good luck to them.

IGN 9.7/10....

http://bioshockpwns.ytmnd.com/

Sorry, games like Halo, Oblivion, WW, etc while exceptional and had a lot of critical praise, also had their fair share of "detractors" with complaints about framerates, design, innovation, chunks of sluggish gameplay, annoyances, etc... Not that these make any of them bad games by any means, only that there were issues. Further, every single game you listed, while exceptional, was following the path of "bigger, better". Some even lacked any significant new innovations, let alone could be labeled something as staggering as, "emergent". There is a difference between a really polished, outstanding game worthy of a 9.5 score and saying something like this:I can think of very, very few games you can say something like this about. ZOoT comes to mind -- to this day the title shines. It is just amazing how Myiamoto translated Zelda into an epic 3D world so rich and rewarding on so many levels. It nailed gameplay, immersion, and sense of scale. It just did stuff other games, at that time, had only dreamed of doing, and did so with amazing clarity of purpose and detail. The original Half-Life, again, received similar praise for just destroying so many boundaries that were strangling FPS at the time. The game was smart, as was the AI. The design and sense of story and pacing were unbelievable.

ZOoT and Half-Life broke down barriers and engaged new eras of design. They brought us to new places that were before unknown, and did so with an amazing sense of clarity, determination, and polish.

As the reviewer said above, when a game nails 1 element design hurdles it is praise worthy. When they starting hitting every checkbox it becomes special.

Games like Oblivion, Metroid, and Halo, while all great, just don't really qualify. They received their due respect in both praise and "number rating" but I will totally disagree with anyone who thinks Oblivion was as significant, meaningful, or as transcendant as ZOoT was in its time.

And I barf on the idea that Metroid Prime, Halo 1/2, or even Half-Life 2, and what they achieved at their releases in terms of design, can be compared to how earth shattering Half-Life 1 was. I actually like HL2 better than HL1, but in terms of what it did when it did it, HL1 stands out as a major milestone in the industry in regards to game design... and that isn't even counting the "little" thing known as Counterstrike... or Team Fortress... or Day of Defeat...Based on what reviewers are saying (disregarding any irrelevant point system) I don't think any of the games you listed received the same level of praise, awe, and utter shock & joy from many various professional reviewers as we are hearing about Bioshock.

Not that it is a contest -- great games are great games -- but reading reviews of Oblivion or HL2 and hearing a lot about polish and incrimentally progressing the genre and industry in a positive direction is different from turning the industry on its head.

Which seems to be the consensus about Bioshock. It is challenging how games are perceived and designed. Very few games do that.

You may disagree, but I am reading things in many reviews I haven't heard about any game in many years. The praise about Bioshock is going beyond polish, excellent balance, and a couple wrinkles added to the fold.