Very quickly - your opinion of Bioshock please

JohnCoffey · **Posted:** Wed Feb 11, 2009 15:11

Has anyone played Bioshock and what's it like?

Thanking you.

BTW, please be as descriptive and long winded as you like, I'm one of these people who needs pushing into things.

TA

Doctor Glyndwr · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 32624

JohnCoffey wrote:

Has anyone played Bioshock and what's it like?

Yes, excellent. Not especially innovative in a game machanism sense -- it's a shooter with extra powers, a bit like System Shock or Jedi Knight -- but lovely, lovely atmosphere and an amazing setting. Also contains one of the best twist moments in gaming, ever (my personal second best such twist moment, the best being KotOR).

Grim... · **Posted:** Wed Feb 11, 2009 15:13

Also, it's beautiful.

The Rev Owen · **Posted:** Wed Feb 11, 2009 15:13

Lovely game. Last hour or two a bit rubbish, but great all the way up until that point.

JohnCoffey · **Posted:** Wed Feb 11, 2009 15:19

I thought Jedi Knight was fanny tastic.. Loved it, wish I'd played the second one but never did get it

OK sounds good then.. basically I bought it about 6 months ago but Crysis, Warhead, FO3 and loads of other games all took priority.

After I complete that alaska thing for FO3 I'll make it top priority

IIRC I did play the opening part where youre sort of in the sea and sort of go in some lighthouse, but I am tired today and I don't know for sure if that was Bioshock.

Doctor Glyndwr · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 32624

JohnCoffey wrote:

IIRC I did play the opening part where youre sort of in the sea and sort of go in some lighthouse, but I am tired today and I don't know for sure if that was Bioshock.

Yes, that's Bioshock. It's definitely worth playing if you haven't done so and already own it. Avoid spoilers though.

Blucey · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 1981

A dull FPS with awful combat, a series of boring fetch tasks and a bunch of plasmid powers that you'll never use. Nice graphics, except that for most of the game you are stuck in damp corridors or darkened rooms. Good music.

MrD · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 2139

Could you please edit the thread title?

Zardoz · **Posted:** Wed Feb 11, 2009 16:34

Starts off awesome, looks and sounds lovely throughout, last hour or so the enjoyment drops fast topped off with the weakest end boss I have ever encountered.

Doctor Glyndwr · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 32624

MrD wrote:

Could you please edit the thread title?

Yes, good idea. I've edited it for clarity.

RuySan · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 3542

Excellent graphics and setting. Also lots of wonderful and unique moments, BUT! the game, like most FPS nowadays is cursed with console-like floaty controls, and that's usually a deal-breaker for me (i could tolerate in this case because the rest is wonderful). If you're playing it on a PC and are used to more accurate FPS keep that in mind

The Count of Six · **Joined:** 23rd Jan, 2009 **Posts:** 145

I got it for Xmas, starting playing and then paused. I'm a big fan of the whole Looking Glass stable and its derivatives, but more of a Deus Ex than a System Shock dude. Not particularly keen on survival horror, I do like time to draw breath and interact with NPCs in a game. It looked absolutely amazing, though. Combat was awkward crap, admittedly. Must get back to it soon.

Dr Lave · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 5979

I played it for 2 or 3 hours then shelved it for about 4 months as I found it quit tedious and dull, despite being beautiful.

Then I picked it up again (I think on the strength of Grim...'s recommendation) and it was like playing a different game and I loved every second of it.

myp · **Posted:** Wed Feb 11, 2009 18:14

Bluce_Ree wrote:

A dull FPS with awful combat, a series of boring fetch tasks and a bunch of plasmid powers that you'll never use. Nice graphics, except that for most of the game you are stuck in damp corridors or darkened rooms. Good music.

:that:

If you've played the demo, you've played the best bit.

LewieP · **Joined:** 29th Apr, 2008 **Posts:** 7600

At the very least, it is definitely worth playing.

Malc74 · **Posted:** Wed Feb 11, 2009 22:30

It's actually pretty good, but nowhere near as mind-blowing as quite a lot of reviews made it out to be. As has been mentioned, it's overlong - as far as I'm concerned just about everything after the big plot twist could have been junked without doing the game any harm at all.

Malc74 · **Posted:** Wed Feb 11, 2009 22:31

Oh, and I'm quite surprised we've had a dozen or so replies and no mention of those GAWDDAMN SPLOICERS!

myp · **Posted:** Wed Feb 11, 2009 22:34

We leave that for Meaty, and he's not been around lately...

tossrStu · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 1326

Malc74 wrote:

Oh, and I'm quite surprised we've had a dozen or so replies and no mention of those GAWDDAMN SPLOICERS!

LewieP · **Joined:** 29th Apr, 2008 **Posts:** 7600

The twist is pretty damn good to be honest, one of the better plot twists in a game I have played in a while.

That said, I wouldn't disagree that it is overlong, and the very end is pretty underwhelming.

Dr Lave · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 5979

LewieP wrote:

The twist is pretty damn good to be honest, one of the better plot twists in a game I have played in a while.

That said, I wouldn't disagree that it is overlong, and the very end is pretty underwhelming.

Twist Spoiler

ZOMG Spoiler! Click here to view!

As the spoiler is basically a huge attack on what games are (that they don't offer us any real freedom etc) I can only imagine the rushed out the door year in developement sequel is going to really undermine the twist because I can't see how they can address the flaws in what games are, that they themselves highlighted.

But yeah, fucking awesome twist.

MarzSyndrome · **Joined:** 1st Apr, 2008 **Posts:** 426

I assume everyone is recommending the 360 version, mainly due to the PC port being bogged down with SecuROM?

myp · **Posted:** Thu Feb 12, 2009 9:01

MarzSyndrome wrote:

I assume everyone is recommending the 360 version, mainly due to the PC port being bogged down with SecuROM?

Well indeed. People don't actually play games on a word processor in this modern age, do they?

KovacsC · **Posted:** Thu Feb 12, 2009 9:06

MarzSyndrome wrote:

I assume everyone is recommending the 360 version, mainly due to the PC port being bogged down with SecuROM?

Not if you get it of steam....

And yes we use our word processeors for games

As JC I think he may have bought a new one... Don't quote me on that as there is only 3 threads about it

The Count of Six · **Joined:** 23rd Jan, 2009 **Posts:** 145

Bioshock 2 trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-nInbioFaM

Doesn't look great or all that different from the first game (bar the obvious and fundamental difference...)

WTB · **Joined:** 27th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 14497

I got massively bored about three hours in and stopped playing. I've tried and tried playing it again, but I can't bring myself to go any further. I just thought it was incredibly dull. I wanted to like it so much.

metalangel · **Posted:** Mon May 18, 2009 7:06

To avoid disappointment, just play the demo, you'll see pretty much the whole game there.

And then watch the fabled 'twist' on Youtube so you can 'fit in' when 'discussing' 'it' with the likes of 'Gillen'.

Tmuk · **Posted:** Mon May 18, 2009 7:36

jonarob wrote:

I got massively bored about three hours in and stopped playing. I've tried and tried playing it again, but I can't bring myself to go any further. I just thought it was incredibly dull. I wanted to like it so much.

Same. It's been ages since I fired it up, so I may be wrong but don't the baddies re-generate when you leave an area and then go back again? It's like playing bloody Alien Breed all over again at times.

metalangel · **Posted:** Mon May 18, 2009 7:43

Baddies just regenerate regardless. The devs would probably argue that it's just GAWD DAMN SPLOICERS emerging from the various houses and buildings you can't gain access to to go GAWD DAMN SPLOICING. Which is to say, they just respawn randomly.

And I don't care how spliced up you are, there's a limit to the strength of flesh, bone, and fashionable 1940s suits. You're not going to survive the sheer energy of 50 machinegun bullets to the face.

IFeelAsleep · **Joined:** 15th May, 2009 **Posts:** 368

Is it just me who has trouble following the story in FPS games. I didn't really understand Bioshock that well and as for Half Life 2 (which I have just finished) I had no idea what was going on or why throughout the entire game, and I finished Half Life.

Malabelm · **Posted:** Mon May 18, 2009 8:22

I really liked Bioshock. So much that I completed it twice in four days; it isn't a very long game at all, but I had great fun on both plays.

I think I'd have enjoyed the twist more if people hadn't kept blathering on about there being one, and it being great. I knew there was a twist, so my mind guessed it and I was massively underwhelmed. Good job I don't play games for their stories, really.

metalangel · **Posted:** Mon May 18, 2009 8:41

ifeelasleep wrote:

Is it just me who has trouble following the story in FPS games. I didn't really understand Bioshock that well and as for Half Life 2 (which I have just finished) I had no idea what was going on or why throughout the entire game, and I finished Half Life.

The whole point of Half-Life 2 was that you were meant to be disoriented by what you saw, and that everyone else didn't really tell you as they'd lived through it all and didn't think it out of the ordinary.

Half-Life 2:

ZOMG Spoiler! Click here to view!

As a result of your actions in Half-Life, a 'portal storm' occured with those portals (as seen in the original game) opening all over the Earth, depositing aliens. The satellite you launched enabled the alien race behind the invasion - The Universal Union or 'Combine', who travel time and space enslaving - to arrive. They crushed the Earth's militaries effortlessly. The fabled administrator of Black Mesa, Dr Breen, negotiated a truce to save humanity from total destruction. Under the pretence of helping humanity advance, the Combine are plundering the Earth's resources and experimenting on the surviving inhabitants. Humanity has little choice but to agree, as their own forces are destroyed and the countryside is infested with alien creatures deposited by the portal storms.

15-20 years after all this, you, Gordon Freeman, are released from suspended animation by the mysterious Gman and returned to the carcass of the Earth. Your mission is to help your friends stop the evil collaborationist Dr Breen and free Earth from Combine rule.

Bioshock (only read if you've finished it!):

ZOMG Spoiler! Click here to view!

Industrial magnate Andrew Ryan has built a huge undersea city, Rapture, intended to allow the intellectual, scientific and industrial elite to carry out their work free from the interference of morality or law. Of the many achievements from this hidden enclave, the greatest was ADAM - a form of stem cells extracted from sea slugs. Fuelled by a counterpart substance EVE, ADAM allows self genetic engineering. Users could reverse aging, alter their appearance... or gain super powers. Ryan also banned religion and other materials which he considered to be 'beneath' (if you'll pardon the pun) the needs of his intellectuals. He underestimated people's longing for such comforts - especially the blue collar workers who were needed to keep his undersea empire running - and so smugglers arose to meet these needs. Eventually, one smuggler, Frank Fontaine, grew so powerful he challenged Ryan himself, and war was inevitable. Fontaine, under the guise of a great philanthropist, organised an army. Ryan, meanwhile, used pheromones in the air to control the ADAM-addicted residents of Rapture as his own army. On New Year's Eve 1959, the war finally broke out and society in Rapture quickly crumbled into anarchy.

You are Andrew Ryan's illegitimate son, Jack. You have been genetically engineered to reach maturity in only a few years, and were safely removed from Rapture prior to the civil war. Unbeknownst to you, you've also been brainwashed by Fontaine to return to Rapture and kill your father, enabling Fontaine's own forces to take control of the city.

IFeelAsleep · **Joined:** 15th May, 2009 **Posts:** 368

I did kind of get that from Bioshock but the story of Half Lifef 2 to me went:

(Spoilers) You are on a train. Run around for a bit. Find potential love interest. Something about a teleporter. Drive a boat. Drive a car. Shoot some shit. Don't touch the sand. Shoot more shit. Meet potential love interest again. Something else about a teleporter. Blow that up. Game over.

Maybe it is because I have some weird mentality of, if it doesn't happen in a cutscene it is just incidental, that I have trouble with this. I followed Deus Ex alright.

Grim... · **Posted:** Mon May 18, 2009 9:36

I loved Bioshock. I had no idea what was going on in HL2 either.

myp · **Posted:** Mon May 18, 2009 9:38

You had to actively search out the info in HL2 from newspaper cuttings and from stuff the insignificant NPCs told you. It was all quite passive rather than being SHOVED IN YOUR FACE like you're some kind of idiot.

I liked it.

metalangel · **Posted:** Mon May 18, 2009 9:43

I wrote this once already but had a dreaded 'page could not be found' error and lost it all. And IE, as we all know, empties out fields when you go back to them with the Back button. So here we go again:

Valve's 'revoluationary' storytelling method means that unless you make a point of playing along with each 'interactive cutscene', you'll miss out on their amazing story.

Consider the first time you meet with Alyx, Barney and Dr Kleiner in the secret lab. People talk and gesture at the spot where you SHOULD be standing to make it all work. People turn and walk off along their scripted path, pushing you out of the way as if you're a stage actor who's forgotten the scene. Heck, you could be halfway up a ladder or fiddling with buttons on the other side of the room while the great super secrets of the universe are being revealed behind you.

It makes new games journalists spunk in their shorts, but it leaves me a bit cold.

End of an Era · **Joined:** 25th Nov, 2008 **Posts:** 1041

I've recently replayed Bioshock a year or so after first completing it. Thoroughly recommend it.

About my only complaints are:

The combat is a bit awkward - your character is a bit of a lumberer and not too agile.
The Daddies are way too tough early on in the game.
The second level is crap.

Other than those, it's awesome and something to be experienced. One final point is that (to my mind at least) it gives the player a number of ways to play the game. For example I spent the whole of my last run-through hacking every hackable thing in the game. It added a whole new dimension to some of the fights, because there's nothing more amusing than

ZOMG Spoiler! Click here to view!

having a bunch of loyal turrets that you lure splicers to and see them ripped to shreds or leading an army of those helicopter gun things into the fray or, best yet, wounding a splicer just enough to have him run off to one of your hacked medical stations and receive a nasty dose of "fuck you" in the form of poison that kills him. Particularly enjoyed doing this on Dr. Steinman.

myp · **Posted:** Mon May 18, 2009 10:41

Is the best thing to avoid the big daddies and come back to them later then? I gave up on the game when the first one kept massacring me.

IFeelAsleep · **Joined:** 15th May, 2009 **Posts:** 368

I would say yes do that at least until you get the camera.

metalangel · **Posted:** Mon May 18, 2009 11:12

Oh christ, I keep meaning to replay Bioshock but now you've reminded me of the camera, I'm put off. And I was already put off big time by remembering all the fucking Pipe Dream you had to play to hack everything. I swear I spent more time rearranging pipes like I was surreptitiously playing Pipe Dream on a Mac Plus at school than I did giving GAWD DAMN SPLOICERS the ol one-two punch (which remains possibly the best tactic for the entire game).

But yes, it is nice having everything on a level hacked. Especially as you're minding your own business and a GAWD DAMN SPLOICER respawns somewhere and you hear gunfire off in the distance as he or she gets cut to shreds without any intervention on your behalf.

End of an Era · **Joined:** 25th Nov, 2008 **Posts:** 1041

myp wrote:

Is the best thing to avoid the big daddies and come back to them later then? I gave up on the game when the first one kept massacring me.

The first one is worth taking down for the extra Adam (Electro bolt and Electric Buck are a good combination to use against him). The others you can leave for a bit... however, the way I last played it (rescuing the Little Sisters) it was pretty important to take down the next two Daddies fairly quickly in order to afford the health and eve upgrades.

metalangel · **Posted:** Mon May 18, 2009 12:02

The Bouncers are a LOT harder to kill than the Rosies. This is because of their 'shockwave' move. I found most fights with bouncers went along the lines of I shoot bouncer, puncturing his tank. He turns in rage and does the shockwave. I stagger around in a blur. Bouncer instantly accelerates to 300mph from a standing start and collides with me. I am now down to 10% health.

You can just keep leaping out of the nearest Vita-Chamber and doing a suicide charge at them until you've worn it down enough to kill it.

Or, as I saw on Youtube, set up loads of those electrified tripwires in a long line. Get the Bouncer to charge at you down this line. In the video, it slides to a stop at the player's feet, dead.

IFeelAsleep · **Joined:** 15th May, 2009 **Posts:** 368

I never said what I thought of Bioshock. S'alright.

I got lucky with the big daddies on one level where I wandered straight into a fight between two of them. They were so evenly matched that one won with just a tiny sliver of health. So I killed him where he stood. Dunno if this was scripted but I never saw it happen again.

Tiq · **Joined:** 3rd Mar, 2009 **Posts:** 133

System Shock 2 with all the good bits ripped out.

Bobbyaro · **Joined:** 18th Apr, 2008 **Posts:** 11868

MetalAngel wrote:

The Bouncers are a LOT harder to kill than the Rosies.

Shows what I thought of it: I only just found out (from reading this) that there were two different sorts of Big Daddy.

It is an okay game, I found the combat wooly and aiming poor. The powers used too much chi, so you ended up having to use weapons when the powers were more fun. There seemed to be too much crammed in (which I suppose is true as it was SS2 FPS) it would have been better with a more focused combat and leveling up system. Or a more focusable level up system that like a RPG might have.

metalangel · **Posted:** Mon May 18, 2009 12:55

IFeelAsleep: The whole design of the game was based around an idea Levine had of creating three AIs: A Gatherer who harvests dead Aggressors, a Protector who protects the Gatherer from Aggressors, and an Aggressor who wants to kill Gatherers. And then just letting them play against each other.

It's entirely possible (and indeed a good tactic) to aggro Big Daddies against each other.

Yes, the game is just System Shock 2 with an Art Deco skin. The list of shared traits, features and events is huge.

IFeelAsleep · **Joined:** 15th May, 2009 **Posts:** 368

@MetalAngel: Ahh, so it wasn't scripted then I thought as much.

I have been thinking about why I don't get on that well with these "big name" FPS games. I have narrowed it down to the fact that both Bioshock and HL2 are set in sumptuous worlds but having a faceless mute character takes everything that is good about the world away from them, for me. I know we know what Gordan Freeman looks like, in fact I look worryingly like him minus the NHS special eyewear he is sporting, but not being able to see yourself in a mirror or say anything to anyone really makes me feel disconnected. It feels like you are a moveable but fragile gun turret. Hell, I felt more connection with Duke Nukem. At least he could look at himself in a mirror and growl “Come get some”.

It just completely undermines having a beautiful world full of NPC’s when the only way you can interact with it is silently twiddle knobs, press buttons and break shit. I don’t know maybe it is just me but just listening to people doesn't feel right. In Bioshock I suppose you are over a radio but there is an incredibly awkward scene where you step into a lift with Alyx in HL2, she fawns all over you and you say noooothing. It just feels wrong.

metalangel · **Posted:** Tue May 19, 2009 8:10

Yup. For whatever reason (technical or otherwise), you didn't say anything in the original Half-Life... again, new games journos will say that you were meant to project yourself into Freeman's persona and imagine the things he'd be saying when you hit the 'use' button to direct scientists and guards around. And, at the time, it didn't seem to matter. The game looked and sounded a bit crude even at the time (the voices in particular were really poor quality) so it didn't seem to matter.

But then you have the immaculately designed and sumptuous Half-Life 2... and you STILL can't talk. And yes, it's wrong. Fair enough, in Bioshock there's nobody to talk to, really (GAWD DAMN SPLOICERS don't like you very much anyway) so that's not really an issue.

It's for this reason Freeman's a bit of a rubbish hero - apart from in promotional stills and a few grainy in-game photos, you never see his face. You never hear his voice, he has no personality, you don't know what his motivations or thoughts on the whole mess are. Imagining what you *think* they are is not an adequate substitute.

IFeelAsleep · **Joined:** 15th May, 2009 **Posts:** 368

It really does make a massive difference to have just a little connection with your character. In Portal (which I haven't completed so can't be sure) you don't speak but being able to see youself through the portals just makes me feel less like a hovering gun. This fact alone is meaning I am enjoying Portal much more than HL2. It sounds like a tiny thing but for me, at least, it is massively important.

I think there is a place for this sort of storytelling style, myp seems to like it, but I find it difficult to follow and utterly impersonal. Some people might find it jarring to come out of first person in an FPS, but for the sake of a good story I will take it any day. To me cut scenes are like a little reward for getting through a tough challenge. Having the story play out while I am staring at a bleedin' wall doesn't do it for me.

metalangel · **Posted:** Tue May 19, 2009 10:08

You could play all of Fallout 3 from a first person perspective, and that still manages to let you talk to other people. Even if you were to cut all the other RPG stuff out!

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Very quickly - your opinion of Bioshock please

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