Bioshock Options

[Crushinator]

why did people have to take it negatively? i know im far from the biggest fps fan,but because of this i cant spot what all the hype is about just by watching a video. what makes it original?

The presentation of the game is aces, first of all. The style is an art-deco 1950's "world of tomorrow, TODAY" sensibility, from the architecture, to the posters/artwork, to the music, to the way people talk. The story is initially presented in a minimalist fashion, and comes to light through narratives and flashbacks that happen as you proceed through the game.

The real meat of the game is the customizability of your character. You can get over 70 genetic modifications which can affect things as simple as armor to different powers like pyrokinesis or shooting goddamn BEEZ out of your arms. Every weapon is customizable so you can adjust them to your play style, and there's multiple ammo types (think anti-personnel, explosive, freezing, etc) for each weapon. You can craft items/weapons from materials you gather from enemies and the environment. You can hack security mechanisms to fight for you, give you upgrades, etc.

The AI of the enemies is pretty impressive too, not only in a combat tactics way, but in a realistic behavior way. If you light them on fire, they'll run to water to extinguish themselves. They'll fight eachother over items, and use healing items from the environment just like you can. You can even use some of your powers to turn the enemies on eachother to your advantage. This, combined with the huge variety of skills/weapons you have at your disposal make it so every battle is different, and nobody ends up playing the game exactly the same way.

[Vitamin D]

OOOOOOHHHHHHH H-H-H!

[HC82]

For a FPS, the presentation is a seller. Meaning, despite all your doing is shooting shit in the same way you've always done it before, it feels far more awesome, but the same can be said for any old rpg (level up, gear up etc). So, the story and cinema all play a big role in the overall experience for any game that people are fans of.

When you take a game that has awesome movie and atomspheric elements, even the most rehashed gaming elements begins to work in favor of the game because even though it's rehash, it's still twitchy goodness. Now, once you've got that down, it's about changing around the generic and tweeking it so it's not so generic. Generic, seems less generic with excellent presentation, and now all the new twists and changes to an already tired combat genre then yield something that is actually a different experience. It's still fps, but it's adding to the gameplay system in new ways that haven't been done before. All the character mods and unique enemy AI's reflect this change. This isn't going to create a new genre, hence the disintrest from some people, but it's going to make a old genre somewhat unique. This is much like when like Half Life came out and you used the gravity gun for the first time. It's like "Holy shit awesome. Yea, it's still a rehash FPS engine, but its awesome!!"

Bioshock is made for it's intended fps demographic and does a good job of making a stale genre, fresh, well executed and unique. Much can be said in the same way for every other genre on the market, like rpgs, action games, and driving games.

[Crushinator]

Bioshock is made for it's intended fps demographic and does a good job of making a stale genre, fresh, well executed and unique. Much can be said in the same way for every other genre on the market, like rpgs, action games, and driving games.

Exactly, Bioshock is one of those very few games where you can just feel the passion and dedication the developers had for it. The same feeling I got when I played God of War, Shadow of the Colossus, or Beyond Good and Evil. More than the sum of its parts, the whole package comes together to make one of those rare gems that just oozes with quality.

[Scan_Man]

Two months ago when I started looking at videos and reading up on Bioshock, I knew it was going to be something worth playing. It became my most wanted game of the summer. I actually built my current rig a month back so I could play this game at maxed graphic settings and not break a sweat off your mom's tit. Well worth it. I'm going to actually take the time to play this one through, unless I get distracted by Metroid Prime 3. Game is fun as hell though. I like how rewarding the game is with the depth of customization. But yeah definately not your average FPS.

[donkeybeatz]

Just picked up the game today... PC games still cost $50! Recockulous...

[Crushinator]

Remember that if you need to reload your computer or anything to uninstall the game first. It has copy protection that limits it to being installed and activated 2 times. But each time you uninstall it, it "cancels" the previous install record, provided you're online when you uninstall.

[Knightsword]

Oh what a twist, this game has

[Crushinator]

HEL YEH. I just got to that part about an hour ago. This game just keeps on ing.

[Riel]

Finally got out of Neptune...man this game is hard at times,thank god that you never really die hehe...once you kill a few Big Daddy and make the "decision" with the Little Sisters,the "rewards" actually help a lot.But yeah this game is awesome,i was playing last evening,surround sound cranked up in a pitch black room and i have to say i haven't been immerse this much in a game in a long time.

[Knightsword]

And now its over, with all the little sisters saved and the good ending get.

[AC9breaker]

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/v...uation-BioShock

[Crushinator]

Love the Escapist, and Zeropunctuation always delivers. He has valid points on the game being too easy once you realize there's no penalty for dying. As far as the shallowness compared to System Shock 2, obviously if you're going into Bioshock expecting some fleshed out RPG you're going to be disappointed, it just not that type of game, and doesn't ever really present itself as such.

[Scan_Man]

He makes good points. Probably why I have not picked up the game since making it half way through.

Checking out his other reviews. He is totally right about Psychonauts. Excellent game there.

[DarkEpyon]

Just got the PC version the other day. It's a pretty fun game actually. I'm impressed at the level of detail that went into this thing. I'm up to the first Big Daddy, and can't seem to beat it. Need to hunt some splicers and get more AP bullets.