Bioshock

[CalibronXXX]

Right-O!

[Count Arioch the 28th]

Eh, making fun of Crissa is so out of style now.

[MrWaeseL]

Did anyone play up to the twist yet? I did not see (most of) that coming.

Spoilers which are pretty huge

I didn't think Atlas would be the bad guy, I did guess you were ryan's son, and I most certainly did not guess the mind control thing.That was awesome

[Daiba]

1196772140[/unixtime]]Did anyone play up to the twist yet? I did not see (most of) that coming.

Spoilers which are pretty huge

I didn't think Atlas would be the bad guy, I did guess you were ryan's son, and I most certainly did not guess the mind control thing.That was awesome

The story in Bioshock is pretty good, but the gameplay is really disappointing. I made it past the "twist", but never finished the game because I started to feel like I was just slogging through it just to see the ending. Much like what I feel whenever I try to play a Final Fantasy game.

[RandomCasualty]

I liked playing bioshock. I don't think it was groundbreaking or innovative, but it was a pretty good game. Gameplay wise, it was rather typical FPS with a money system. Basically Resident Evil 4 style, with a similar nonsensical means of purchasing stuff. Though I suppose vending machines selling ammo and medkits were still more believable than that random guy in RE4 who happened to have set up a weapons shop in a town full of alien infested zombies.

The gameplay is fairly nonremarkable. It's a typical FPS set up. Not too many special features. Though you do get the opportunity to hack turrets and security cameras to get them to attack enemies which is fairly nice. Shocking the water while enemies are standing in it will shock everyone, which is kind of nice. You can catch explosive grenades and toss them back at people via a telekinesis effect, similar to the HL2 Grav gun, though the TK in Bioshock has better control and makes it much easier to catch things. You also get to summon insect swarms or light people on fire. Nice graphical effect, but it's basically just DoT effects that look cool.

Some of the weapons are pretty nice, like the electric trap crossbow bolts, and the usual proximity mines. Besides that, you've got your typical FPS set up. Yeah, there are different types of ammo that work better on armored targets or fleshy targets, but it's fairly typical. But mostly the weapons are pretty generic and what you'd expect out of any standard FPS game.

Mostly what I liked about the game was the atmosphere and the general dark nature to it. The addition of the information tapes you found along the way was cool because it gave you some background story as you played, and most of it was dark as hell. That's really the #1 thing that made me like it I think. If it lacked those background tapes it would probably have been fairly boring.

The one thing this game needed was some more non-linearity. I mean, if I had one thing bad to say against it, it would be that that there was usually only one path you could take to get in anywhere and the game was just plain too easy. Most of the enemies were easy to beat. The final boss was a joke. The big daddies were about the only real difficult foe and beating them was mostly a matter of luring them into an ambush with electric trap bolts and prox mines, or using a rocket turret you hacked.

[Daiba]

I think this Slashdot post pretty well sums up my perspective. Warning, spoilers:
http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=381675&cid=21599557

Edit: Adding post sans spoilers below...figured that would be smart.

The only reason we are supposed to hate it, I think, is because it was presented as "the spiritual successor to System Shock 2" and it isn't. Instead it is just another mindless shooter where you have far too much firepower and not enough enemies.

SS2 had a rather intelligent RPG-like system for skills and upgrades. Depending on how you approach it, the game changes pretty dramatically. Bioshock? Sure, you have some (far more limited) ways of upgrading, but the game doesn't change if you choose a different path - especially because you can change your choice of upgrades at any time.

SS2 has equipment and a limit on how much you can carry, requiring the occasional bit of careful thought on how to proceed. Bioshock has no such thing.

SS2 made you look around carefully, searching the environment for clues and equipment. Some of it was genuinely hard to reach. Bioshock has a bloody big arrow floating over your head at all times, and whatever equipment you might need is always found nearby.

SS2 has some of the most brilliant level design I've ever seen. Places were really *places*, some were scary, some were dangerous, some were safe, some had resources you needed. Bioshock has a lot of scenery, but its all just a backdrop to continuous, unrelenting combat. At some point, despite its magnificence, it just blurs out. And is this supposed to a city or a single long corridor?

SS2 has an engaging story. Bioshock - well, opinions will differ. I was not really all that impressed, with its presentation at least, as it seemed rather confusingly put together.

But of course you can look at it from another side as well: it is not a bad shooter, it has some beautiful scenery, and I did enjoy making my way through. In that sense I'm happy with it. But "spiritual successor to SS2"? Give me a break, what an incredible disappointment...