BioShock Review

BioShock, the moody drama-driven FPS for the Xbox 360 and PC, was released last month to rave reviews from the major gaming news sites. Since then the internet has been ablaze with outcry about the game's high rating scores. It's hard to understand why. The work of Ken Levine and Irrational Games on the spiritual successor to System Shock 2 is sublime. It's incredibly atmospheric, the game's story is well written and compellingly told, and the first-person shooter gameplay is a respectable, tightly crafted experience. It's a really, really good game. I'll tell you now: it's a 5/5. So why all the angst? Why the backlash? Read on for my review of BioShock, and a few comments on the dangers of 'merely' being a good game.

• Title: BioShock
• Developer/Publisher: Irrational Games (2K Boston/2K Australia) / 2K
• System:360 (PC)
• Genre: RPG/ FPS Hybrid
• Score: 5/5 - This game is a classic title. It transcends genre, is certain to be a part of many serious gamers' collections, and is definitely worth purchasing.

If you've been reading game sites at all in the last six months, you likely already know the gist of BioShock's unique twist on the old 'trapped in a scary place' storyline. As an unnamed protagonist you descend into the undersea realm of Andrew Ryan, a proponent of a belief system quite similar to Ayn Rand's objectivism with the serial numbers filed off. Proposing that man create his own future with the 'sweat of his brow', Ryan funds the construction of the undersea city of Rapture. Of course, things go horribly wrong. A genetics-altering substance called ADAM twists Rapture and her citizens into a madman's vision of perfection. The city's architecture and music are frozen in time by the deterioration of Ryan's society, and the result is one of the most cohesive, frightening settings I've experienced in a game. As the victim of a plane crash in the middle of the ocean, you have no choice but to brave the terrors of Rapture in hopes of - somehow - making it back to civilization.

The setting is gripping, but it's also the least of the player's worries. It can frighten, but the remaining citizens of Rapture - they can kill. And they'll kill cheerfully, too, all the while singing songs and muttering enthusiastically to themselves. These people are lumped together under the generic term 'Splicer', implying their extreme genetic modification. From low-powered thugs in masks through to fire-tossing, teleporting madmen, their strength when wielding a pipe is far outweighed by the impact they can leave on your nerves. Far more threatening than this group of variously-powered miscreants are the iconic monsters of the title: the Big Daddies. Acting as patrons for their ADAM-hording Little Sister companions, these creatures are just as tough as you've been lead to believe. While much of a given level involves stalking from room to room dealing with the slicer infestation, the most memorable moments you'll have probably come from one-on-one combat with the diving-suit clad behemoths. And they are completely memorable. Even taken out of context the Big Daddy is one of the creepiest enemies ever to grace a videogame. Everything, from their low groans, to their thudding footsteps, to their cries of rage when they attack, gets across to you that when you face down a Daddy it's 'for real.' Game on. I particularly like how, as they become more and more damaged, steam escapes the Daddy's suit. The implication seems to be that there's something deeply wrong under that helmet.

You're driven through the narrative by the whims of your mostly-unseen benefactor Atlas, who plays the part of the down-to-earth everyman paired with Ryan's soulless venture capitalist. He provides a great deal of information about Rapture's background ... but hints all throughout the game indicate Atlas may be more than he appears. The subtext of 'shades of grey' is laid on throughout the game. Though Ryan is clearly a madman you're given hints of his original intentions, which seem quite benign. Likewise (as has been highly publicized), the ghoulish Little Sisters can be either slain or saved as you desire. Nothing is as it initially appears in Rapture. This moral ambiguity never seems forced, but probably isn't everything the BioShock team hoped it could be. It's very enjoyable to have options, but you're not even making as dramatic a choice as the good and evil options in Knights of the Old Republic. Whether you're a sinner or a saint, you're going to end up at roughly the same place in the end. The great writing and characterization throughout the game stands up much better than any moral overtones.

That's extremely similar to System Shock 2, of course. In keeping with the spirit of that game, your ability to customize your avatar is expansive. There are actually four tracks of powerups to choose from: plasmids, physical tonics, engineering tonics, and combat tonics. While it might sound like you will be engineering a carefully constructed 'build', I found during the course of play that a particular style just emerged based on what I found most useful. Engineering tonics were the upgrades that most appealed to me, and so I made an effort to gain slots in that area. There are far more tonics than slots available, so even as you bump up your character's potential you'll never find yourself wanting for powers. Making use of these powers in the 'emergent gameplay' style is also equally effortless. While it sounds like work from the outside, when you're playing through the game encounters happen so quickly that you rarely have time to realize that you're doing cool stuff before it happens. That was another reason I particularly enjoyed engineering; emergent gameplay can even happen when you're not around. I regularly returned to an encampment I'd made out of hacked turrets to find that they'd been clearing the stage without me. All I had to do at that point was loot the corpses.

From a graphical and audio perspective, BioShock is a work of art. Rendered by the Xbox 360, the world of Rapture is awe-inspiring to behold. Everything looks so good, it's hard to point out any one thing in specific that stands above the rest. After playing the game, the best thing to do is try to pull out moments that stick with you: water as it slides over bare rock, the endless wood paneling of nicer spaces, disturbing altars lit only by an open flame, the obvious fury of a Big Daddy wreathed in flames. The sound design is the same way, with a combination of eerie vocal performances blending into a background of music that could really have come from the 40s. Every movement, every gesture in BioShock has an associated sound. From the 'clunk' of entering the hacking menu to the squeal of radio static when activating the Security Bullseye Plasmid, the sound experience in BioShock is equal to the task of rendering a world from the rich images on the screen.

All of these elements probably seem very familiar to veteran gamers, and they very well should. You've probably played a handful of games that had many elements similar to BioShock before. What sets this game apart and above other offerings, though, is the way the title brings it all together. There's almost nothing out of place here. There's no "but the story could have been better" or "the weapons didn't feel right", or "the enemies got boring" to mar the experience of playing this through for the first time. Is it the best game that will be released this year? Possibly. It's certainly the best FPS to be released since Valve's Episode One hit last year.

So where has all the hate come from? Why are there so many posts and protestations on message boards, all claiming that BioShock 'isn't all it was promised to be'? Even Zero Punctuation's analysis of the game (which you should really seriously check out because it's hilarious) takes some cheap shots at the game's purported low difficulty level. It's all for laughs, of course, but it shows up in the review because it's a common complaint among players. The issue is that the restoration capsules scattered throughout the game, which allow you to respawn right after your death, apparently remove the 'challenge' from the game. Others have said in response, "just don't play it that way, that's why there is a quicksave option." That also seems like a strange argument, because it's essentially telling someone they're 'playing wrong'. I don't really think anyone can play a game incorrectly.

Instead, look at it from the designer's point of view. What happens when you die in an FPS, normally? You reload from your last save. Why bother? Why not just respawn and get right back into the fight, ala the spirit world of Prey? Commenters then complain that it's easy because injured enemies on the level still have reduced health. By the same token, any resources you have expended in the fight up to that point (medkits, ammunition) are also still gone. To my mind, the vita-chambers are only there to make your play experience as seamless as possible, not to make it 'easy'. Ultimately, BioShock can be as hard as you want it to be. The variable difficulty rating along with several save options and the vita-chambers means that you can play through the game in a multitude of ways, with several 'steps' between simply easy, medium, and hard. BioShock is not a brief game, either, clocking in probably around 20-25 hours for most players. Anything that ensures you will move through the game as quickly as possible would (I think) be appreciated.

The real problem, I think, is that hype has made game players disappointed with games as they're actually delivered. When a game is unexpectedly good, we all marvel over the 'sleeper hit.' There comes a point in a game's marketing, though, when more hype is just too much. The result is that when the game is finally delivered, there's almost no way for the real product to match up with player expectations. After Halo 3 launches later this month, odds are there will be a lot of people in forums nitpicking the slightest flaw or perceived imperfection. The lesson, I think, is that as gamers we need to learn to manage our expectations. I'm really looking forward to Mass Effect, for example, but I don't think it's going to change my life. Really, what can we expect out of a game other than a few hours of enjoyment we might not otherwise have had? Just getting that much out of a game, I think, is a big win for the publisher, the developer, and (of course) the player.

I'd only recommend the 360 version

My brother has the PC version and it's very buggy. Just saving and loading your game is a gamble for a BSOD. It's a shame since it's such a great game. I was hoping they would release a patch, but so far nothing.

Re:I'd only recommend the 360 version

I played through the game twice on the PC version, and I've not had one crash of any sort, let alone a BSOD.

And to this point, I'd recommend that if you DO play the 360 version, DO NOT LOOK AT THE ACHIEVEMENT LIST. There are tons of plot spoilers, all the "secret" ones are like, "Shock a guy while he's in water".

Re:I'd only recommend the 360 version

Gahh, I so wish wish wish I could just TURN OFF achievements. Know that GamerZone I'm in? It says "casual"! Shouldn't that mean "I don't care about stupid score stats that really just track how many games I buy"? Nothing takes me out of a game quite like those stupid little achievement popups. Worst feature ever.

Re:I'd only recommend the 360 version

> I was hoping they would release a patch, but so far nothing.

"Who is Bill Gates?"
- Microsoft Shrugged

Re:I'd only recommend the 360 version

I have finished the game on my PC without a single crash of any kind. The only bug I experienced is that the game dis not restore the color settings when it exits, so I had to go into the NVidia control panel and fix them (or reboot) I did get rid of SecuROM and the unskippable crap when the game starts, but that's it.

I liked the game, but I was definitely underwhelmed by the graphics (16x12, all settings on maximum) The models look a bit too simple, and while some twitching bodies add a lot to the mood, sometimes the physics engine makes a foot or hand wave for much too long after the enemy has died.

I consider the money well spent... I think System Shock I had a better atmosphere, Far Cry better graphics, and Deus Ex a better story, but I am sure that some people will disagree. It's very subjective. I truly enjoyed the ending movie. I felt quite sad for the Big Daddies, the little sisters' parents, and Rapture itself. Hell, the more I think about it, the more I realize that I really liked the game.

Was it easy? Yes. Too easy? Maybe, but I am about to replay it without using any Adam unless it is required for to progress (I do not think it is, but I may be wrong)

The only things I really hated about the game is SecuROM, and after AVG raised Hell about it, it took less that 15mn to get rid of the damn piece of shit.

Why no mention?

Why no mention of the copy protection or the limited number of times it can be installed?

Re:Why no mention?

Probably because it has no bearing on the quality of the actual gameplay. If it's a factor in whether or not you enjoy the actual game, that's what I like to call "a you problem".

Re:Why no mention?

If the game is as good as CS for instance 25 installs is nothing. I have been installing that game on and off for 8 years now.

Why does a game need to limit the amount of installs I can do?

Re:Why no mention?

The install limitations will be removed in a few months. They're just temporary to protect early sales. Again, so long as you uninstall the game, you get an install slot back. As for why they need this limit, they need it to stop you from distributing your copy of the game to thousands of people.

Re:Why no mention?

A better question would be, why are you re-installing so often?

8 years, 3 machines+, 10+ operating systems install (at least, remember this game started back in the days of windows 98, reinstalling that once a month was not unheard of) and removing steam to clear up space for other games.

Re:Why no mention?

A better question would be, why are you re-installing so often?

No.. I really do think the question is why I should ever have to worry about a product I bought suddenly deciding I cannot install it. For any reason other than a technical one.

Accepting this type of digital restrictions on anything is a bad idea.

In Bioshock's case I unfortunately did not learn of it until unlock day. It just didn't occur to me that a Steam title would have anything like that. Had I picked up on it earlier I would've voted with my cash and canceled my preorder. I don't buy protected titles as a rule. And vice versa, I buy some unprotected titles just to show support.

Thankfully, there's always a crack. But I'm really fed up with the pirates consistently getting the better product than the legit customers.

Re:CRACKS != PIRACY

I do not find it inconvenient to have to put the CD in the drive to play the game of my choice. That makes your opinion unimportant in the grander scheme of things.

Don't have anything to add to this, just thought you might be interested in seeing just how much of a self-righteous jackass you are.

It is inconvenient to have to pay for airline tickets just to travel to another part of the country.

Nobody's complaining that it's inconvenient to have to pay for a game in order to legally own it. A better analogy would be that it's inconvenient to be strip-searched every time you want to travel to another part of the country. After all, some number of people smuggle drugs by jamming them up their arse, and drugs are bad, so it's quite reasonable to strip-search everybody and stick your gloved hand up their arse just in case they happen to be trying to smuggle drugs. Every single time they travel on a plane.

Now Joe, he enjoys being anally violated, so it's not an inconvenience for him. You don't like it? Well, tough, because Joe's okay with it, and your opinion is unimportant in the grander scheme of things. Of course, if this happened, then people would stop smuggling drugs on airplanes, so they'd have to incorporate not just an automatic breath tester in your car, but also an automatic invasive drug search, just in case you're trying to smuggle some drugs to your friends place. Then people would stop driving if they're smuggling drugs, so they'd have to add it to your bicycle as well. Then have cops to search you when you're walking down the street, just in case.

Is it that hard to understand that there's different people in the world who are okay with different levels of inconvenience? Having to enter a serial number when I install a game doesn't bother me too much -- I don't like it, and I think it's a pointless inconvenience, but I'm okay with it. Having to enter the serial number every single time I start the game would bother me, and I'd try to find a crack for it, or failing that, not bother with it. For some, having to have a CD in the drive to play the game is too much inconvenience, so they find a workaround.

Having to have the CD in your drive isn't an inconvenience to you. Fine. Will it be inconvenient to have to be connected to the internet every single time you want to play the game, because it verifies you're authorised to play the game each time you run it? Will it be inconvenient that you have to wait for it to download 2 gigs of data every time you play the game, because it removes itself from your drive after you've finished playing it? Will it be inconvenient when their auth servers are down so you can't play the game when you want, or will you be fine with that because it "helps stop piracy"? Will you still think it's fine and dandy when you're only able to play the game on overpriced "certified" PCs which are tightly controlled and prevent you from running any software not signed by one of the manufactures which has purchased, or will you be happy because consoles are already like that?

Just because you're happy with the current measures doesn't mean that anyone who isn't happy doesn't matter. People need to voice their opinions on these things, or else the manufacturers will have no idea when they've gone too far. Every anti-piracy measure is going to piss off some number of legitimate customers, and they need to be able to weigh that against the benefit it provides to them in terms of increased sales. Furthermore, the fact that people who legitimately buy games do feel inconvenienced enough by the copy protection mechanisms that they go out looking for cracks should be a concern to publishers. These people may have otherwise never considered pirating a game, but since they have to go looking for cracks for it anyway, they might end up discovering that it's actually easier to pirate it in the first place rather than go to the store and buy it.

Re:Why no mention?

The problem is you are horribly wrong. Two days after release due to complaints they increased it up to 5 installs and rearranged the rules somewhat. A proper uninstall should return an install slot to you, but if it doesn't there will be a utility coming soon that does the same thing if they can't fix it through the server.

However I don't know about the 5 installs per 5 machines part, last I heard it was 5 flat installs active at any time. He may be wrong on that, I do not know if it has changed.

Re:Why no mention?

How do I put this delicately? Being treated as a "guest in Bubba's palace" by the invasive DRM is NOT a "you problem" if it spoils the gameplay. It's just as much a part of the game as the action, and a major reason why over the years, I've gone to games less and less for entertainment and fun.

No bearing?

When the installation will not even complete because it has to download a patch, that it refuses to install correctly thus making you go through the entire installation multiple times - then it has bearing. I was not able to play the first day I bought it because I spent the entire time debugging the installation issue and downloading DLL's (which it turned out in the end I did not need - the true problem was that doing a custom install where you choose you own section in the start menu to place the game).

And of course general bugginess means the several crashes I've encountered lost an hour or two of play. That too has bearing.

Gaming on Windows? Never again. This was the first time I had tried to return to that realm in years, and found I was not welcome there by the very software I bought for my own use.

I loved the game, but it was only just marginally worthwhile to use it on Windows. I would not advise people to buy it unless it's on a console they already own.

Re:Why no mention?

Game publishers that are in touch with reality understand that every type of copy protection can (and will) be cracked. Some will crack for the fun of it, some because they hate DRM, and some for profit motives - to sell bootlegs.

There is always someone out there with the skill and determination to crack a game. The goal of a reasonable publisher is not to prevent but to DELAY the crack. The theory is that the longer it takes the first cracked copy to reach BT/Usenet/P2P, the fewer sales will be lost to casual downloaders. This is especially important during the first few post-release weeks, which is when many games have the bulk of their total sales.

If you've got time, ability and determination, you will crack the game. I hope you're cracking a copy that you've purchased.

If you're determined to get a free copy of the game, you will wait until a crack is available, and no amount of cajoling, marketing, or DRM will make you buy a copy.

However, what about Joe Gamer, the guy who really wants to play the game and doesn't have the ability or desire to crack it himself? The longer he has to wait for a crack, the more likely he is to just pony up the money and buy a legit copy. This describes the large majority of gamers, and this is the group that copy protection is ultimately aimed at.

I'm not a big fan of DRM - it's a pain to work with, both as a user and as a developer, and it almost always puts burdensome, often anti-fair-use restrictions on what I can do with media that I have purchased/licensed/whatever. But these guys seem to be taking a moderately enlightened approach; lock down copying and number of installs at first, then relax the restrictions when the peak sales period is over. If this approach improves the commercial success of good games and lets developers keep making more, then I can live with it.

(And since the parent put this on record, I am also a computer scientist and a former professional game developer.)

Re:Why no mention?

If it's a factor in whether or not you enjoy the actual game, that's what I like to call "a you problem".

A review should cover the entire experience, and that includes the DRM. To make up a tortured example, if a movie's distributor is so terrified of people making copies that theaters have to agree to strip search everyone who sees the movie, yeah, that should be noted in any good review in addition to the quality of the film itself. Or to be less contrived, it's fair game for a theater review to note that, say, the theater is in a very dangerous neighborhood, or that you'll end up spending as much on parking or cab fare as on the tickets themselves. Similarly, if a game's installer fails on a large number of systems, rendering the game effectively unplayable, that should be mentioned in a review as well. The publishers included the DRM in the box and as part of the game, so it should get reviewed along with the game.

Re:Why no mention?

A review should cover the entire experience

A review is a subjective thing that covers the REVIEWER'S experience. In this case, he played it on the XBox 360, where there are no DRM issues. And if he had installed it on a PC, and did not have any installation or DRM issues, then how can that factor in his experience with the game, either?

Re:Why no mention?

For those interested in this information, here is a link to the relevant section [wikipedia.org] of the Wikipedia article on Bioshock.

Bugs

PC version is horribly unstable even after installing the NVidia drivers that where Hot Fixed for the game.

The issues with Bio-Shock

I believe the issues folks are having with Bio-Shock has nothing to do with the gameplay or it's
environment at all. Rather, the SecuRom DRM, the online activation and restrictive number of times
it can be loaded on a PC.

The console variants do not suffer from any of this, thus those folks would not have been exposed to it.

I've long been of the mindset that if the console folks would wake up and give me a keyboard and / or a
mouse / trackball interface, I would switch to consoles for all my gaming needs tomorrow.

Just absolutely hate the controllers the consoles come with today :)

Re:Bull. Controllers are good enough.

Whatever you do, don't ever play Metroid Prime 3...

Because after having played a refined Wii/Nunchuck system, you'll NEVER want to go back. I was so incredibly skeptical of the control scheme before I played, that I actually started writing out my own control setup, in hopes to send it out to developers. After having played MP3, though, I've completely abandoned it. It's litterally better than a keyboard/mouse... I didn't think I'd ever say that. I'm really reluctant to buy any FPSs for systems other than the Wii, now.

It's OK

I have it on the 360. Not a bad game but they should really have called it "System Shock 3: Underwater Metropolis". There's a terrible sense of "been there, done that" with this game. Yeah, it's a successor to SS2 but there's no shortage of ammo, things are easy to hack, it's not creepy like SS2 was... In short, I'll be replaying SS2 before replaying Bioshock.

Re:It's OK

SS2 was great and I would love to play it again, but this game is an order of magnitude creepier. I still haven't finished it because after a while I have to stop playing and reacquaint myself with reality.

Re:It's OK

If the worst thing that can be said about a game is that it is too much like System Shock 2, then that means it is an excellent game. Complaining about that seems to be like saying, "Man, I wish this candy weren't so delicious."

Editing for the win...

Probably means "It's NOT hard to understand why. "

Yes, its a great game

It takes some getting used to (and i've been an FPS'er since the very first one)
 
Items can be hard to find sometimes... Set the difficulty to medium... I would have no idea how it would be possible to beat it on expert... the big guys that protect the little girls would be impossible.
 
It is a bit overwhelming at first, as there is a lot at your command all at once, and there is a small lack of in game tutorial, which you will understand with experience playing, so no big loss there.

With that being said... its a game I might buy... But since quake wars just came out.... uhh dunno!

fun yes; groundbreaking no

Bioshock was definitely overhyped in my opinion. The atmosphere and art direction were good, no doubt. But gameplay was nothing new from other first person shooters. In fact, I'd say it was even more limited than System Shock 2 or Thief. Stealth as an option? Not really. You pretty much had to fight your way through the game. There were no conversations with decisions to make (ala Fallout). Just recorded conversations you could pick up through the game much like the goofy notes found in No One Lives Forever. There was very little interaction in the game other than combat. No vehicles. Not much in the way of object interaction, either.

Also a much hyped feature was the ability to create your own items like ammo. Well... not really. It was just a collect-the-crap thing that allowed you to sort of unlock extra ammo. It wasn't on the level of, say, the spellbuilder in the Elder Scrolls series.

Finally, there were a lot of plot discrepancies and things that pulled me out of the storyline. Like if I were a plane crash survivor, discovering this underwater city, why would I just inject myself with a syringe I found on a table? There are a lot of things like that which caused the game to simply fall back into the vanilla FPS genre. I find it comparable to Heretic / Hexen, with modern graphics.

The work they did was definitely polished but it's disappointing because there is SO MUCH MORE they could've done with the storyline and gameplay.

Re:fun yes; groundbreaking no

Stealth as an option? Not really. You pretty much had to fight your way through the game.

If you mean stealth as in sneaking through levels without killing anything, then yes, that's not really an option. If however you meant being able to sneak around a take people out without being seen, then that is most definitely an option, and the way I've found myself playing. Ever since I got the camo tonic and a couple of the wrench power ups, I use stealth kills and the wrench almost exclusively. Nothing quite like sneaking up on a splicer and one shotting them with a wrench, or even better, sneaking up on a security camera and hacking it.

As for the ammo creation, yeah, that was kind of lame, but all in all, kind of understandable. If this had been an MMO, then conceivably they could have allowed you to randomly toss components together and see if it makes something useful (destroying the components in the process), but being a FPS with a somewhat limited playtime and therefore component count, it would have been just wasteful and frustrating to players to take that route. Players would just take the easy way ultimately and download a crafting guide telling them exactly what combinations made what which would potentially unbalance the game by allowing the crafting of very powerful items early in the game.

What I think they did a brilliant job of was setting up the atmosphere and providing enough interesting interactions between items to allow players different styles of play. I was quite surprised recently to discover for instance that the trap bolts can be used to take out security bots. A friend of mine also shared his approach to taking down big daddies (apparently tossing a barrel at them can take about half their health in one shot), which was something I hadn't even thought of.

There is a lot of depth to this game, but you need to know where to look. Enjoy it for what they did good on, and not necessarily what the hype lead you to believe it was going to deliver. Having not read any of the hype (well, I read some of what PA said about it) before I bought it, I'm thoroughly enjoying the game. I've also found the PC version to be fairly stable, even though I have had it lock up on me once (no blue screen, it just froze, think it may be a overall stability problem though as I had a problem in another game as well).

I have it for the 360

It is a good game, not sure it's a 5 out of 5 though. AI is pretty stupid. An upgraded shot gun + wrench = easy victory in most cases. Even when they where like 5 or 6 enemies at once they never did anything that surprised me.

In a way I wish you were at Rapture right when things went wrong so you could talk to other people, build the story more in-depth [as in be more a part of itvs. just listening to tapes), etc.

The one thing that I did like is when they had the chimes before a commercial/announcement over the PA systems, I thought that was an awesome environment effect. At lowes the other day and the same sound came on before a store wide annoucment and I instantly thought it was going to be about Rapture.

The real problem...

"The real problem, I think, is that hype has made game players disappointed with games as they're actually delivered. When a game is unexpectedly good, we all marvel over the 'sleeper hit.'"

Hence the outstanding success and praise of games like Gears of War. Granted, GoW had its own following of hype before the release, but nothing like how Mass Effect and Halo 3 are at the moment.

With GoW, gamers all around expected it to be a good game, but never quite had that "OMG! I'LL DIE IF I DON'T GET THIS!" feeling until after it was released and everyone realized how well made it was.

Yet, with Halo 3, we have the popularity of the series plus the teaser of a multiplayer beta pumping steroids into every fanboy's wet dreams. You made a great point in predicting how critical people will be with the game, but that's to be expected. We're human, we live in our minds and hope for the absolute best.

BioShock is an amazing game, even if it is considered easy to most gamers.
Making the low difficulty level is purposely done to help entice new FPS users. Also, so you don't end up with a controller lodged in your television.

Hyped too far?

Your point about the hype is well made. This game was hyped to all hell with hyperbole like "revolutionise the genre" and such being bandied around. I suspect that rather a lot of slashdotters (myself included) tend to immediately raise the review bar when something is hyped as hard as BioShock was.

In terms of answering your question of why some folks have complained about overly superlative reviews:

There are invisible walls everywhere, many of them extremely obvious.

There are a a multitude of doors that are locked but mysteriously unlock at precisely the moment that the current radio-message-from-an-NPC that you're listening to actually finishes.

Regards much vaunted "moral choice" aspect - do I harvest or rescue the little sisters? I have to say that after being locked into a windowed box and forced to watch an exposition of exactly how extremely tough the "big daddies" are, right at the start of the game, then being told by some random radio voice whom I have no reason to trust that "you need to kill big daddy and this small child he's protecting in order to take her "Adam", (which appears to mean basically drinking her blood) my response was to just avoid them completely. This produces, just before you try to exit a level, a preposterous peice of fourth-wall-exploding nonsense - a dialog box pops up and tells you "you haven't either rescued or harvested any little sisters on this level - you should go back and do this otherwise the game will be very difficult later on". I mean - seriously - this is what counts for great writing these days? You give me a situation where I appear to have a free choice on how I react to the events you put infront of me and then when I come to what appears to me to be the completely reasonable conclusion that screwing with "big daddy" is a lot of trouble for no recognizable value you tell me "no, you're not playing it right!". Give me a break!

Now, I'm not saying there aren't some worthy things about BioShock. Graphics are obviously fairly awesome, there's a good variety of equipment and environmental toys to play with, but on the whole I don't think it lives up to the hype.

Re:Hyped too far?

in order to take her "Adam", (which appears to mean basically drinking her blood)

If you Harvest them, sure, it might mean that; we honestly don't know since they black out the screen for the sake of civility. But if you Rescue them, you essentially "lay hands on them" (not that way, you pervert) and release them from their hypnotic state.

You give me a situation where I appear to have a free choice on how I react to the events you put infront of me and then when I come to what appears to me to be the completely reasonable conclusion that screwing with "big daddy" is a lot of trouble for no recognizable value you tell me "no, you're not playing it right!". Give me a break!

I also like playing RPGs keeping all of my characters at experience level 1 and equipped with tattered rags and a wooden sword. Experience points have no recognizable value.

Come on -- while it's true that the "you haven't rescued/harvested all the Little Sisters" dialog box is fourth-wall shattering and could've been done better, the game is essentially trying to remind you "hey, there's more XP to be earned on this level that you might have missed" (since the Big Daddy/Little Sister encounters are more or less random save for those first few). Now perhaps they could've done it with a radio announcement from Atlas, and perhaps they could've given you an option to shut off reminders, but I saw the popup as a helpful reminder when I hadn't hit START to check if I'd rescued all the Little Sisters.

If things that niggling jar you out of suspension of disbelief, I'd imagine you'd rather keep track of your remaining health in your head, or have to physically open your weapon to examine how much ammo is remaining, because having meters up there on the screen "break the fourth wall" too much.

I really wanted to like bioshock...

...but after one playthrough I shelved it and I really doubt I'll every try it again.

As much as there are a few neat gimmicks (plasmids etc.) and one interesting plot twist, the experience was in my opinion ruined by a complete sense of claustrophobia in terms of player choices: I haven't played in so long a game where you are so railroaded in doing a, then b, then c with absolutely NO flexibility whatsoever (invisible walls and locked doors abound). That and the crappy AI of your opponents (honestly, the mobs were as intelligent as the ones in doom in my experience) makes for a very, very, very boring experience.

I started playing on normal difficulty, but about 1/3rd of the way through I switched to easy so I could just get over with it, since it was boring me to tears to have yet another errand to do (listen to this, do that, go there, etc.) before being allowed to go to the next level. I really wish I could have my $49 back.

Technically the game has run great for me (without upgrading the nvidia drivers, I have a 7900gto), no crashes, no bugs, just perfect, but it was not even 10% as good as the original system shock, which in my opinion was a masterpiece, and much more so than the blah-ish system shock 2 and, even worse, bioshock: the 95%+ review scores are way out of line, this game is maybe an 80%, heck, I had more fun playing Prey than bioshock, and pray had way worse reviews.

Re:I really wanted to like bioshock...

where you have a rocket launcher and yet you can't open a flimsy wooden door

I agree. I believe the instant any stray shot hits a window, it should shatter, sending billions of gallons of water pouring in, crushing you, the enemies, and the entire city, instantly. Also, every game ever invented should implemented a complete physical model of the human body that allows you to perform every action you could in real life, and the game's environment should react with absolute perfect realism to every conceivable situation. Oh, and the designers should have designed and implemented a room for every single door in the game, instead of (get this) using unopenable doors to create the illusion of a larger world without being forced to create maps so large they push the game's release date back four years.

I mentioned all of these serious flaws to some game designers I know, and they informed me there's this "real life" thing that implements all these features, but I can't figure out where to download it.

Zero Punctuation Review

I found Zero Punctuation's review to be much funnier...

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/zeropunctuation/1394-Zero-Punctuation-BioShock [escapistmagazine.com]

Not quite 5/5

This game is good on the 360, but I would rate it closer to a 4/5. The highest overall rating I would give a game is Half Life 2 at 4.5 out of 5.

I don't get nearly as immersed in bioshock as I did with half life 2.

Not the "Perfect" Game

I'm annoyed with reviews, because so many are giving Bio Shock a 10/10, a 5/5, etc. That implies its a perfect game, that they could find nothing wrong with it. I thought it was a great game, but I could name lots of things about it that annoyed me.

1. No Multiplayer. I realize the plot doesn't allow for it, but give us some death match.
2. Constantly searching for items. The scenerey is amazing, but I find I'm always ignoring it, to find another health pack, ammo, etc.
3. Some Plasmids are mostly useless, or quickly obsolete.
4. Constantly have to listen to recordings for plot. It gets a little old.

You get the point. Most of these things aren't that big of a deal, but in any game, there's always room for improvement. Its a great game, and I completely recommend it, but I wouldn't give a perfect 10.

Simply doesn't live up

Frankly it wasn't over-hyped to me. I mean, yeah, there was a lot of hype, but for me the game was sold as soon as it was announced. I was a huge fan of System Shock when it was first released and while I had issues with System Shock 2 initially it was a really great game as well. Deus Ex just continued the winning streak for this loose group of games. Bioshock, though, is where they dropped the ball.

First off is the fact that it all feels dumbed down for a console audience looking for fast, simple gameplay with a few nods to complexity and story thrown in. There's no inventory so everything is just thrown up on your screen like any other shooter. No stats, because everything is handled through the plasmids. In fact, just about everything that would normally be mapped to a sub-screen is now handled in a very limited fashion by wall-mounted consoles (e.g. gun upgrades, plasmids, invention, etc.).

The game is far more linear and yes, the Vita-Chambers do make it too easy. From a console/FPS point of view getting back in the action might be desired, but this isn't a deathmatch here. Dying should feel like it has some consequence. SS and SS2 both had regen machines, but they never felt cheap or easy because there was only one per level and you had to go out and find it and activate it first. As a result dying was a concern. Until you activated the regen there was real tension and once you did, it meant that you weren't totally out of it and back to your last save, but you'd still have to trek across the entire level through hordes of enemies and with very little ammunition. Not just pop out of the chamber and go back to shooting the same enemy.

It's not a terrible game. The graphics are pretty (albeit, on a PC running at Maximum settings, not that much better than what we've gotten used to in recent years) and the setting and theme are novel and interesting even though the art direction seems to have stolen a page from Fallout more often than not. It's just that it was heavily hyped and arrived to glowing reviews when really it's more of a 7/10 sort of game. It's a low point for the series where they tried to transition into a simpler console audience and treated the PC version as the port rather than the other way around. I guess if this is the first game in the series you've ever played it might seem great, but if you've been along since the start then you'll know that it's just no match for it's deeper forebears.

Re:Simply doesn't live up

Pardon me, I didn't intend to slight the entire console audience. I, like many, many others, cut my teeth back on the NES. The thing is that each system tends to focus on and do certain things a bit better. Console tend to be great for simpler games, platformers, fighting games, action games, JRPGs, and a variety of other game types. PCs tend to do better with things that require a more complex controller, quick, precise aim, management of deep, complex menus and such. As a result strategy games, high-end simulations, RTS, FPS, and the like tend to work better on the PC.

When you adapt a game for each system you need to keep this in mind and aim at the proper platform, not just the one that will ship the most units. System Shock or System Shock 2 wouldn't work very well on a console. It requires a bunch of keys for activating upgrades, psi-powers, weapons, and the like. Navigating an inventory, searching around the environment to pick things up and the like would be unpleasant on a console because the controllers just aren't well adapted for it. As such it feels like Bioshock was adapted to play better on consoles. In the process a lot of the depth was shift out of it to make it work more easily not only with the controls available, but also to fit the predominant styles of playing. Instead of an inventory where you can pick and choose what kind of ammunition and supplies to carry you get fixed slots for ammunition. You likewise get fixed slots for health and EVE with no ability to choose to focus on one or the other. You hold supplies in a nebulous, uncheckable space until you get to a U-Invent-It machine rather than going into the inventory and combining items there. Stats are slightly abstracted out and you can't check your current tonics without visiting a gene bank (not change, that's a game design decision, check) because it would require yet another sub-screen.

Everything is adapted to work on a gamepad with a relatively small number of buttons and no good ability to precisely pick out and move objects around.

Finally, like it or not, but the modern Xbox 360 owner is far more likely to be a more casual gamer than the current PC gamer. I'm talking about the kind of guys who own a system and maybe a couple of games (Halo, Madden, etc.) to play on occasion. While this is definitely subjective, compared to the greater depth of the earlier games and the very linear nature of the gameplay (compare to, say, Deus Ex, which almost always offered multiple paths around obstacles that catered to the various specializations) it feels like things were made to be more palatable to this sort of gamer.

One final nit to pick. Not having to make permanent decisions really hampers the game and the ability for each player to make it their own. In past games you had to make real, final decisions. If you wanted to raise up your hacking skill you'd have to neglect something. You wouldn't be able to wield, let alone carry, all of the weapons and you'd probably have a meager, at best, collection of psi-powers. In Bioshock you start out being able to use every single weapon at a very high level of effectiveness. Yeah, you can get some tonics to improve things, but it's a world of difference between "I can't equip this" and "I get 10% extra damage with this". The same goes for plasmids and for being able to do more than barely hack the simpler vending machines. There is quite simply little reason other than time or boredom to not manually hack just about every hackable machine you come across. At most the penalty is usually just a mild shock that you can walk off after a trip through the Vita-Chamber rather than destruction of the machine or the raising of an alarm. Even when you do make decisions there's no need to commit to a pathway (or end up being merely adequate at a bunch of things) because you can always just run back to the Gene Bank and change your tonics and plasmids around to reinvent your character whenever you want. So, while you have some choice (mainly which plasmids and tonics to buy) you'r

Best game this year..

so far on the 360. I've played through twice. Once on medium and the other time on easy (got to score those achievements). I think I have 910/1000 achievements and I'll have the last few tape recorders the next time I fire it up. The technology behind the game and the art direction combine to create one of the most atmospheric and engrossing environments of any game I've played. Rapture is as real to me as Black Mesa and City 17 ever were. The gameplay is fantastic with great combat and several ingenious gimmicks such as hacking and tonic finding. I highly recommend this game...its a treat for the senses and is fun to play. Certainly lived up to the hype for myself.

Man, people are so hype sensitive

A game can't have any combination of hype, good reviews, and positive buzz without the droves of internet hardcore gamers getting sand in their collective vaginas about it and going off about how it's "overhyped".

Overhyped, underhyped - it's the same game when you're playing it.

If a game like Bioshock - and its subsequent success - doesn't make you glad to be a gamer, then nothing will. Whether or not you even enjoy the game, it's easy to see how most would - and it's exactly the kind of original, thought-provoking game that doesn't get made these days.

my wife plays it

Wouldn't be a shocker if she was a gamer, but I'm the gamer. My wife's gaming activities are usually ones like the frog that spits colored balls.

She watched me play the demo and she wanted me to get it FOR HER! Unfortunately I have trouble getting her off the 360 when I want to play or watch TV. In fact she will probably beat it before I will at this rate.

Re:my wife plays it

Ha, awesome. I had a similar situation in my home. I played through the demo and was really impressed with the story, though I was a bit burned out on FPSes so I had no intentions of buying it. But I wanted to show the wife the graphics and story. So she watched me play through the demo one evening, then told me "You should buy this game, so I can watch you play it." Mmmm, could it be this easy? Seems like there must be yard-work hiding somewhere...

The story is my biggest gripe

There's no "but the story could have been better" or "the weapons didn't feel right", or "the enemies got boring" to mar the experience of playing this through for the first time.

Story? What story? The story is that I'm a random nameless plane crash victim thrust into a makes-no-sense cliche-ridden art-deco horror story, without much horror, to be honest. Science fiction? There's no science here, the protagonist has magical powers. If he had a flowing grey beard and pointy hat, it would be more immersive. Still cliche-ridden, but more immersive. I just can't get past the silly notion that gene therapy can make you shoot flames out of your hand. It's fun so far, but the story is just preposterous and unbelievable, and the setting is ridiculous. An underwater city with no architectural accomodations for being sited underwater? It looks like a flooded land-based city, not something purpose-built for the bottom of the sea. And is there a setting to turn off the wave distortion when you look out a window? You wouldn't see anything like that looking out the window of an actual underwater city unless there were severe temperature gradients flowing past the window. The view of the ocean outside should be steady, not wavy. It's very distracting.

And yeah, the enemies are already boring. I haven't finished the game, but fighting so far is mostly tedious. It's fun to kill a Slicer by throwing a body at him, or whatever is handy, but only for the first few times. Then it's a bore. The Big Daddies are just a slog fest. Maybe I haven't yet discovered the finishing blow you can use on them to end it right now. If there isn't one, I'll be annoyed.

And the Little Sisters? There was no dilemma. I get more ADAM, you say? Fuck 'em. They're harvested. The graphics are still on the canny side of Uncanny Valley so there wasn't any charge to seeing them cower. And the harvesting animation is getting tedious every time I do it. Come on.

And whose bright idea was it to stick a stupid puzzle game in the middle of a shooter? If I wanted that, I'd have bought Tetris 2007 or whatever. The hacking game is STUPID STUPID STUPID. Thankfully you can avoid it, which I do at every opportunity. So why put something in the game ever player but your Mom is gonna skip as soon as possible?

This game makes no sense on so many levels. The result for me, so far, is that the whole is less than the sum of its many inventive and also pointless and annoying parts. It would be improved if, like DOOM, there was no back story, no diaries, no Atlas, no Ryan. Just shoot the baddies and get on with it.

I was more frightened and involved by Prince of Persia.

They need a new review system

I never understood why my Dad always hated the movies I liked as a kid, well now that I'm his age I understand completely. It is becoming rarer and rarer that I see a movie that is truly original or revolutionary and sadly, entertaining to me.

I think gaming is finally starting to suffer from the same thing. To the typical new gamer Bioshock may seem like a wonderful, revolutionary game, but to be honest other than the graphics there is nothing in the game that I haven't in a dozen games over the last 15 years I've been playing then on the PC. It's not a bad game, but it's no 10 out of 10, at least not from where I'm sitting.

P

No to be a pain, but...

We've all seen a million reviews like this, and those of us that don't trust them, because of the buzz on the Internet and Usenet, some of which is nonsense, but most of which is based on facts about the game, are not going to suddenly trust yours, because you're Zonk.

Just what are you trying to add to the debate? A testimonial? Are you giving free testimonials for 2k now?

Because that's what your review really adds up to. You should ask for compensation from their advertising department.

--
Toro

Overhyped?

I really don't know what all the fuss was/is about. Having played this game on both PC and 360, I wasn't impressed in the slightest. Sorry!

If wishes were horses....

Things I'd Change:

Splicers:

In 'Easy' mode, no changes.

In 'Medium' mode, splicers that have a free loot slot of their "top three", can pick up loot from the game world.

In 'Hard' mode, splicers can also pick up and change out weapons, except for the Spider Splicers.

Vita Chambers:

In 'Easy' mode, leave them as-is.

In 'Medium' mode, you drop all your loot, except for your Adam, and all your plasmids go back into the Gene Bank.
Heath is 100%, Eve is 20%
You need to either get new stuff, or go back to your dead body and scavenge.

In 'Hard' mode, in addition to the above, require a 'lock on to only you' hack before they're usable.
Until then, all Splicers will get Vita Chambered.
(I mean, story wise, why don't all the splicers get Vita Chambered when you kill them?)
Also, consistent with 'Smart Splicers' behavior above, Splicers still on the level are free to grab your loot.

Quests:

No changes.

Little Sisters:

In 'Hard' mode only, Little Sisters can be killed easily while they are harvesting Adam from a corpse - makes surprise attacks on Big Daddies much harder if they are close to a Sister!

Opions: Artificial Intelligence

I'd like to here some people's opinions on this... i've played the game myself, and frankly, characters behave exactly as i would expect them to in the game.

i've heard opinions ranging from "dumbest/worst AI ever" to "by far the most challenging and complex AI system ever"

one opinion i will give for myself: the pathing system this game uses for quests (and seemingly, the AI using the same pathing) is freakin amazing.

My small beefs 4/5

I see the game as a 4/5 it is not perfect or particularly pushing any boundaries.

AI
Non existent the see you they chase you, you are behind them or over a certain distance they have no idea you are there.

Plasmids
At this time there is no reason to really ever use anything other then the electrical plasmid and sometimes the telekinesis plasmid. This system should have been genre changing see level and monster design for more info. The telekinesis plasmid should be as great and as effective as the physics gun in HL II but ends up being a poor imitation. If I pick up a table or a metal object why is it not an effective bullet shield?

Level Design
You would think that the level design would force and encourage the use of other plasmids some levels the ice or fire would be more effective, then just using the electrical one. This would have been a great way to encourage the use of other plasmids. Physics puzzles for bonuses anyone? HLII used physics puzzles effectively, and so far no one has done it. Bioshock has the mechanic to do it but strangely did not.

Monster Design
For the most part there are 5 monster types in the game that just gain more power or a few abilities to make them more difficult. This would have been the easiest way to make the plasmid system way more effective some monsters have different resists. Why are there only 2 variants of Big Daddies? There is no technique or skill needed to kill them they are just damage tanks, put enough damage into them and they die. Why do they not have different weaknesses on different levels? Why does level design not encourage anything more then a run and gun to kill them?

What was done right
Great looking game, with a great story arch. The game feels very non-linear (while it is.) Sound and VO is excellent. The over all art direction is unparalleled in FPS's. Oh and a blast to play! Which is the most important. Do not get me wrong Bioshock is a great game, but they set out to change the way FPS's are done with the plasmid system and just did not fully realize the implications of this feature set.

Seems ok, maybe too much like SS2 though...

I've been playing it for a couple of hours, and it seems ok, even though the linearity pissed me off at the beginning. Only gripe I have is that it seems very similar to SS2, from all the ghosts banging doors, vendor machines, self modifying, hacking and down to even the recordings left around by the denizens. It seems so SS2:ish, that I wouldn't even be surprised if the guy sending me messages and helping me along turns out to be Andrew Ryan (which was the plot in SS2)!

Sure, it's supposed to be the spiritual successor to SS2, but changing the formula even a little bit wouldn't hurt. This isn't EA Sports after all...

Should have waited for the bargain bin

This thing is WAY over-hyped. The best thing it has going for it is the scenery and overall atmosphere, which are simply awesome. Beyond that, it's just a first person slog-fest. Despite claims to the contrary, there is no choice in the game. There is a fixed path you have to follow, invisible walls, locked doors, the whole cliched bit. You can't even choose to not interact with the little sisters - you're FORCED to make a choice between letting them go and harvesting them. Creating your own ammo and gadgets from parts found in the game? - boring and only semi-useful. Hacking? - Let's just say I'll never do this again if I ever replay it. Way, way repetitive. Auto-hack tool FTW. Hell, you only need aiming skill until you get telekinesis - then you're pretty much set. You hardly even need ammo after this point - just toss bodies around (which is admittedly, fun to do.) There is little replay value, the big boss fight is laughably easy, the "ending" painful to watch, and everything from beginning to end so damn predictable and trivial to master it .... well, it's fucking pathetic, let's leave it at that.

What would you have changed?

Ok so we all know this is a great game, but for me it's 4/5 or 9/10, close but not perfect. I think my biggest disappointment was the Big Daddies and little sisters, I'm a nice guy, I like bunnies and hate mean things, the idea of being a hero and rescuing a bunch of kids seems ok to me, but how much cooler would it have been if each big daddy/little sister had been unique? They could have really gone to town on making the little sisters twisted by the Adam in all sorts of ways, with their big daddy guardians specially tailored for their particular mutation. A little sister who can survive underwater, one who can use stealth, one who can walk through fire, etc etc. Of course when you saved them they would go from being creepy to cute, perhaps they could even have told you a bit about how they lived before all the weird stuff happened, thus making them more like proper characters. As it stands the first couple of big daddies you fight are really exciting, but after getting a certain plasmid they become extremely easy. Also because the little sisters use the same character model you never really feel like your helping liberate a bunch of exploited kids more just a bunch of carbon-copy videogame characters, also not helped really by the terrible lip-sync.

System Shock 2

I'd like to see another quality System Shock game with this engine. System Shock series is good and not so linear. Plus, it was scary and being taunted by SHODAN is so cool. :)

Solid FPS...but that's all it is

It's a very solid FPS, but that's all it is. It's gorgeous, and the seamless storytelling is all excellent (like it was with Half-Life), but it's basically it's a zombie shooter. That, to me, is what is disappointing about it because the hype surrounding the game made it seem like it would be more.

For me, a game like Jade Empire does a better job of introducing something new. For example, there's a moment in that game where you have to pose as an actor and say certain lines in a certain order to get the palace guards to understand what's going on. It's different, funny, and just really entertaining in a way that BioShock never is. BioShock, for all of its underweater beauty and flawless execution, is a standard FPS.

PC upgrades ahoy

My Windows PC (which is only turned on for gaming) needed an upgrade from 1GB -> 2GB to run Bioshock smoothly. The box claims it'll run with 1GB but that is simply not true - it jerks and judders all over the place, and the lack or RAM will wreck it for you. Maybe I'm just behind the curve :)

my review...spoilers!

I played and beat bioshock in about...6-8 hours...nowhere near the 20-25 the reviewer mentioned....I only harvested a single girl and now im evil..you have 3 endings, girl killer, girl harvester or saviour..come on i saved about 95% of them...and the ending i get blamed and the world goes to shits...talk about canned endings with no variability.....i also felt the control scheme was a bit lacking...it felt like it was definitely designed for console, from the mouse movement to the menu layouts...it felt like i was playing oblivion.. Also, while the storyline was great, the extreme lack of interesting things to do in the game and the extreme lack of enemies was irritating..the enemies just ran away all the time and by the end of the game i just ran through and finished it to get the plot points instead of visiting all the extra areas..frankly this game is overhyped...no multiplayer? i say rent this game once, play it, beat it, be done with it

Same old FPS

Just in case I save anyone else from spending $50 on this, I can assure you that despite all the hype about the atmosphere, graphics, and storyline, this is the same old FPS game that you may be familiar with. The abilities should be familiar to anyone who has played any of the Star Wars FPS games -- here called plasmids. The power-ups are sold in vending machines which accept 'ADAM,' which is currency you obtain from beating particularly difficult enemies. In this reviewer's opinion, it is more of the same. Unless you finished the first-person game in Quake 4 with beated breath, hold off on this one.

Creepiness

Jesus loves me this I know
For the Bible tells me so.
Little ones to Him belong;
They are weak, but He is strong

*shudder*

The "tube" mini-games sucked ass.

Other than that, the game was perfect. (:-{)}

Peace,

Bill

Best since System Shock

I downloaded it through Steam (from Valve) and it rocks! I played the whole game through with little sleep in two days, and started again yesterday. It is well put together and you just get chills when you hear "I'll wrap you in a sheet..." or "... Mr. Bubbles..."

And no, that was not enough to be called a spoiler.

This game sucks you in to a sleepless festival of gaming goodness. For those with crashes and good video cards I would recommend updating your drivers before playing this game. You can also turn down the resolution for better movement, it does not detract from your enjoyment at all. You can do so many different things with your "abilities" and there are several ways to complete the goals necessary in the game.

Enjoy! I did!

Unnamed?

As an unnamed protagonist you descend into the undersea realm[...]

Unnamed? It's the very first thing in the entire game. The character's name is Jack, it's on the gift box you see in the opening cinematic on the plane and they even revisit it later when you discover the big twist of story. Says, "Dear Jack..."

I blame...

I blame the unreal 3 engine, the latest version of secure rom, and bad design decisions for most of the game problems in the last month or two. I've completed bioshock on PC, the install wasn't difficult for me, worked straight away but activating it took a day and a half. I'm using 2 x 8800GTX(756) in SLI, with a Intel Core 2 6600E cpu. It ran ok, but it did get some really bad fps dips occasionally.

Great game

If I only get to play it once all the way thru it's worth $50.00.

A freind and I discussed this the other day...

umount /dev/work
cd /home
kill -9 splicer
kill -HUP bigBrother
restore -F littleSister

My name is Andrew Ryan...

...and I'm here to ask you a question.

Is a man not deserving of enjoying a good PC game without being thought a shallow tool?

No, says the gaming industry. Only the crap sells.

No, says Roger Ebert, no game can be art.

No, says half the posters in this thread, you're a lackey of SecuROM.

I rejected these answers. Instead, I came up with something different. I chose... HAPPINESS.

HAPPINESS. A state where we enjoy good games when they come along, which is rare. Where the gamer is not bound by an understandable but crippling nostalgia for old LGS games. Where great design is not belittled to death.

And with the sweat of your brow, HAPPINESS can become your state as well.

So for those still seeking out the gaming utopia you seem so fondly to desire, would you kindly go jump in the ocean, or better yet, make a better game.

Pedestrian with good atmosphere

The atomosphere, storyline, city and graphics are all superb but as soon as you find yourself alternating between breaking open crates and popping off another enemy with exactly the same face, behaviour and voice as the previous 10 you feel in very familiar territory, i.e. every fps you've played in the last 10 years. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the game, Half-Life/2, Max Payne/2 and the others of this formula, I just wish it could have dared to do something a little different.

Every battle should be worth fighting, not just another identical body between you and the cutscenes.

[)amien

Superb... But

I bought a 360 for it, I loved it, one of the best game experiences I've ever played. But I was expecting more. Judge it as a FPS and it's astounding, but I was hoping for more more storyline and decision making that goes beyond "Harvest or Save" and "What weapon do I want". The first time I encountered a little sister I thought about what to do for a while (Harvested) but after that, well I harvested every time, and that was it. I never felt morally challenged and even when I made that decision I didn't have any attachment to any particular group. System Shock was a far better RPG with a better (or maybe just more emotive for me) storyline. None of these games comes close to Deus Ex in my eyes, because that challenged you morally all the way through it, Even Invisible War (Deus Ex 2) did this.

I am a little disappointed, but it's still 5/5 IMHO.

Loved it

Bioshock was amazing on PC, i was amazed at some of the early action sequences, like the one where your plane crashes through the underwater tunnel, i wish there was more stuff like that throughout the game. i was also amazed at my computers ability play it, i played it the whole way through with minimal slowdown with everything maxed. i only have a AMD XP 1.81, 1 gig of ram, and a Radeon x1300 with i cant remember how much memory... well actually now that i look at it..I'm not THAT far off the specs.

MEH

Bioshock is umm ok. For true gamers i reccomend Pretty Pony Island. Theres customized ponies and 4 colors to chose from. GO ponies!!!!!!1

My sentiments exactly

The real problem, I think, is that hype has made game players disappointed with games as they're actually delivered. When a game is unexpectedly good, we all marvel over the 'sleeper hit.' There comes a point in a game's marketing, though, when more hype is just too much. The result is that when the game is finally delivered, there's almost no way for the real product to match up with player expectations. After Halo 3 launches later this month, odds are there will be a lot of people in forums nitpicking the slightest flaw or perceived imperfection. The lesson, I think, is that as gamers we need to learn to manage our expectations.

EXACTLY! Part of the downside with the internet is that it has a tendency to grossly over-hype popular games, sometimes as early as preliminary development. I think in a lot of ways the gaming industry shoots itself in the foot when they start talking up their projects too soon. I can think of several games, such as Lionhead's The Movies, that were highly anticipated but fell swiftly due to overexcited fans not receiving the product they'd imagined with such fervor. I think we would all do well to manage our expectations.

Very promising first two levels (PC version)

Unfortunately trying to save or load at any point after the second level reliably crashes the fucking thing. Not to mention the painfully random stuttering and crashes. If you haven't bought it, don't bother until they release some sort of patch. It's doubly suck-filled to really be interested in the story and not be able to play through. I guess i'm foolish to have pre-ordered thinking Take Two had done it's due diligence in testing before they shipped it. I'd rather more delays (a la orange box) before release than have something I can't play.

Re:Great content, poor delivery

You're also focusing entirely on the PC delivery issues and glossing over the console version. There are no difficulties that I've found with running it on my 360. Reviews are content after all, and most of those bugs will be worked out I would imagine. Lots of great PC games have had buggy releases that get fixed with good patching.

Re:Great content, poor delivery

As I have mentioned above it appears that the "buggy" aspect is not a general problem but a specific hardware setup issue. Meaning that the game itself plays fine on a large range of machines without extra patching. It was not shipped "broken" so that no one could play it. In the realm of PC gaming, with it's multitudes of hardware configurations such problems things are not unheard of, but rarely do they effect everyone or the majority. I, among many, have had no problems installing and playing the game. I have had one crash, and could not replicate it in 15+ hours of play. I would not by any means call it "buggy".

Re:I'll bookmark this review

I too, will bookmark this review, until I purchase the game or am otherwise exposed to it. In the meantime, I will program in my spare time, and do odd fix-up jobs around the house.

Hey - anyone else want to share why they're not playing this game, and what they're doing in the meantime?

It's important to do something meaningful

with your life... that's why I manually masturbate caged animals. ( clerks )

Re:SecuRom nightmare

That was last week, now we're talking about the actual gameplay, get with the program.

Re:BioShock properly reviewed

Best. Review. Ever.

Oh, that's encouraging....

il they release a Mac version. In the meantime I have a 10GB abandonware archive that mostly runs fine under DosBox to amuse myself.

I'm sure that the developers are itching to port a modern FPS over to the Mac to pick up all those gamers who are satisfied by 10 year old abandonware.

I mean, good Lord, that's just a market that's itching for a modern FPS -- a market that demands rich graphics and is willing to pay to get it!

Re:I'll bookmark this review

Heh, it's funny you should say that. I find myself in a similar position- I never really was into PC games when I was a kid, just stuck with the NES and Genesis, and even then I was never much of a gamer. In my old age, I've taken a shine to gaming, and have sought out many of the old DOS classics, and I often wonder when I'll be getting to some of the cool new games for the various consoles. I've not finished the re-done Ur-quan Masters, let alone X-COM, Master of Orion, and a dozen or two other definitive 'best game ever's.

Re:My (many) problems with Bioshock's gameplay

5. Darker than doom 3 The only game darker than doom 3. 6. Overly used scripted sequences. Of course all fps games have scripted sequences but this just felt ridiculous. 7. Buggy? Crashed after the long ride (WHERE YOU COULD NOT SAVE!) in the beginning, but not the second time.

Re:My (many) problems with Bioshock's gameplay

"1. You can't lose
I'm all for having savepoints in a game, both automatic (when you finish a level, or complete a goal in a level), and user initiated. I hate however Bioshock's Vita Chambers. No matter how bad you play, if you get killed you get revived in one of those chambers with some health and Eve and, what really ruins gameplay, your enemy will have as much (or little) health as when it killed you. This means that you can play really badly, and still win by being resuscitated many times."

If this is a problem for you, just never buy anything that is System Shock related (like bioshock) as those games had something quite like it. In the first one you had to activate them otherwise you would die and have to reload. I don't remember how they worked in SS2.

Think about it for a moment. You are complaining that there is no final death, no way to lose. In that case do you ever re-load, even after you die in a game? How is that significantly different from the Vita-Chamber other then sent inventory/health of enemies?

Do you like games that make you sit through the same 10 min cut scene several times because there is no save after it and a hard battle that you have to reload after dying?

Re:Pipedream minigame

Get your research high enough and some hacks always work with no mini-game.