Bioshock

BioShock is a first-person shooter game developed by Irrational Games and designed by Ken Levine. Set in an alternate history 1960, the game places the player in the role of a plane crash survivor named Jack, who must explore the underwater city of Rapture, and survive attacks by the mutated beings and mechanical drones that populate it. The game incorporates elements found in role-playing and survival games, and is described by the developers and Levine as a "spiritual successor" to their previous titles in the System Shock series. The game received overwhelmingly positive reviews, which praised its "morality-based" storyline, immersive environment and Ayn Rand-inspired dystopian back-story.

BioShock has received praise for its artistic style and compelling storytelling. In their book, Digital Culture: Understanding New Media, Glen Creeber and Royston Martin perform a case study of BioShock as a critical analysis of video games as an artistic medium. They praised the game for its visuals, sound, and ability to engage the player into the story. They viewed BioShock as a sign of the "coming of age" of video games as an artistic medium.

In February 2011 the Smithsonian Institution announced it will be holding an exhibit dedicated to the art of video games. Several games were chosen initially and the public can vote for which games they feel deserve to be displayed via a poll on the exhibit's website . BioShock is considered a front runner to be displayed because of its status as a game that demonstrated how artistic the medium can be.

The following screenshots are linked from a thoughtful post on Bioshock, which can be read here >>>.