Fragmatica

With the number of user comments praising BioWare, I thought it would be prudent to write up a segment spotlighting the esteemed developer’s historic games and exploits. The company’s history is littered with successful, quality games that have lead to a large number of passionate followers. By the time BioWare was acquired by Electronic Arts Inc. in 2008, the company had over 3.8 million registered users at www.bioware.com and it’s safe to say their fanbase continues to grow. With recent releases such as Dragon Age: Origins and Mass Effect 2 thrilling game reviewers and the general gaming populace, I think the three doctors who began it all can look back with pride at what they’ve created.

The story of BioWare begins with three young doctors playing Dungeons & Dragons in their spare time in medical school. Drs. Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuk, and Augustine Yip were all fans of role-playing games and graduated from medical school together at the University of Alberta in Canada. In 1995, the three decided to leave the medical profession and turn their passion to creating story-driven games. Thus BioWare was born, and the bounty of games began to flow.

“BioWare’s vision is to deliver the best story-driven games in the world.” – Dr. Ray Muzyka – CEO and General Manager, BioWare & Vice President, Electronic Arts

BioWare began developing games for personal computers before progressing to consoles. The period of development they experienced from the release of their first game in 1996 to the turn of the millienium set the stage for the games we are experiencing today. These games provided simple action gameplay and grew in their ability to tell stories and allow the player to make choices in the game that would alter the experience and ending.

Their first title, Shattered Steel, put players in the seat of a mechanized combat suit, and was notably the first mech game to incorporate terrain deforming effects. Many users wet there pants not from being nuked in multiplayer, but rather the massive crater the nuke left behind. Another impressive feature was the player’s ability to target specific areas of enemy structures and units. Missions ranged from scouting and defending convoys to assault and infiltration operations. It wasn’t the prettiest game around in 1996, but Shattered Steel served as that all-important foot-in-the-door to the industry and proved BioWare could produce. The game received critical acclaim and awards at its release and to-date has sold over 200,000 copies.

After Shattered Steel, the company set to work building an engine for making a 2D role-playing experience on computers. The Infinity Engine was produced to aid in the rendering of environments for their next project: the wildly successful Baldur’s Gate series.  Baldur’s Gate puts players in a story where they control a player character. This character grows and develops as the user makes moral decisions and performs combat. Through dialogue and battles, the player gains levels and sees the repurcussions of their choices ripple through the game, rewarding the player based on their decisions (WARNING: game trend under construction). The game closely follows the rules set down for tabletop Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, and was well-received among the RPG community for its seamless transfer.

Baldur’s Gate, Diablo, and Fallout were all released within a few years of each other, and it is widely recognized that they helped revive the computer role-playing game industry. Financially, the game was a smashing success, selling over 2 million units worldwide. So great was the success of Baldur’s Gate that BioWare released an expansion pack, a sequel, then a separate spin-off series, spreading its overall lifespan well into the new millenium. Currently, the original Baldur’s Gate maintains a metacritic score of 91. Needless to say, BioWare rode that success for the rest of the decade.

The year 2000 began with the launch of MDK 2, a third-person shooter action game with puzzles to titillate the mind. The Original MDK was developed by Shiny Entertainment, but BioWare decided to take the reins for the sequel and begin their crossover into console gaming territory. Choosing to play as either Kurt Hectic, Max, or Dr. Fluke Hawkins the player embarks on a journey to save the earth from Emperor Zizzy Ballooba of the planet Swizzle Firma who is hellbent on destroying the planet for his amusement.

MDK 2 was developed for the PC and Dreamcast system and was fairly well received, leading to another crossover to the Playstation 2 console titled MDK 2: Armageddon. The game’s quirky but engaging storyline and puzzles drew in players and the fast-paced shooter gameplay kept them challenged and amused. All three iterations of the game maintain a generally high metacritic score above 80 and obtained many accolades, including GameSpy’s Gold Medal Gaming Excellence award.

The next few years brought more D&D-style gaming successes such as Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn and the introduction of the Neverwinter Nights series. Following suit from the original Baldur’s Gate games, these acquired even more accolades and prestige for BioWare. With all these awards and kudos BioWare was getting, the new millenium wasn’t about to slow down for them. The period between 2000 and 2007 (before they EA acquired them) would give a one-two-three punch that released games still near and dear to gamer’s hearts.

The release of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic in 2003, Jade Empire in 2005, and Mass Effect in 2007, all met unbridled universal acclaim. These games have been given numerous awards, with Star Wars: KOTOR itself netting nearly 50 game of the year awards, 30 RPG of the year awards, and countless accolades for accomplishments in storytelling, technology, gameplay, sound, etc. It almost seems a sin, but in the interest of time I won’t go very in-depth with these releases. They are recent enough for the general population of gamers to know of their gravity and magnificence.

It will suffice to say, however, that in all of these games BioWare has continued to polish and perfect the craft of narrativistic storytelling in video games. Each tale is spun in a way that immerses the player and allows them choices that help infuse their mind with that of the character. Whether we’re talking about the lightsaber-swinging escapade of KOTOR 4,000 years before the Star Wars movies or the in-depth space politics and story arc of Mass Effect, each of these games provided enough positive reception to warrant sequels (Jade Empire 2 remains in development at this time).

Looking back, BioWare really has taken their keen ability for storytelling and used it to produce some amazing games. The two doctors (Dr. Augustine Yip left the team to return to medicine) surely are impressed by the accomplishments of BioWare, but continue making strides forward. Their best games have faults somewhere, but as time progresses their seamless mix of gameplay and storytelling only improves (a la Dragon Age: Origins and Mass Effect 2). Currently the BioWare Austin team has announced an MMO game in the works, though details beyond its existence are not available. It would be interesting to see how they incorporate their storytelling abilities into a MassEffect/JadeEmpire/DragonAge/StarWars MMO, but BioWare has given us plenty to fill our plates for now. After writing this article, I may go back and dive into some of their treasured gems of the past, because the demos and games for most are available via BioWare’s website.

Keep supporting this great developer, and we’re bound to continue reaping the harvest of fantastic video game experiences they deliver.

-Summer Elk

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