- Sep 4, 2007
- 27
- 0
- 18,530
Well, I finally finished Bioshock for the PC. And I must say, that game has got to be one of the most overrated video games in history. It's not a bad game. On the contrary I felt it was a pretty good gaming experience... but nowhere near as good as all the reviews are making it out to be. Reading the reviews, I got the impression that this was some sort of ground breaking, earth shattering, revolutionary game. It's not.
Strictly in terms of gameplay, there wasn't much depth to it. I thought the level design was fairly mediocre, as the game suffers from typical console-itis. Small, compartmentalized levels. Mostly linear. Hardly any open areas at all. A lot of backtracking to mask the small size of the levels.
And although the art design was pretty good, it was very repetitive. Honestly, 99% of the game had the exact same look. Once you've played the first level of Rapture, you've pretty much seen all the game has to offer --- in terms of graphics (and in terms of gameplay too). I could look at countless screen shots, and I'd have a hard time differentiating between levels. The only ones that stood out were the very beginning of the game (crash site to first bathysphere ride) and maybe the arboretum level. It's not at all like Half-Life 2 or Deux Ex or Thief, where each level felt unique.
The "shooter" aspect of this first-person shooter left a lot to be desired too. Weapons were mostly boring and underpowered. It's disheartening to see ordinary monsters withstand 2-3 direct hits from a fully upgraded shotgun at close range. Sometimes it takes me nearly an entire clip of machine gun or chemical thrower ammunition to take down two splicers. It didn't take me long to realize that my Wrench could dispatch my enemies far more efficiently than any other weapon. As for the enemies, I think there's always the same 5 or 6 enemies coming at you for the entire game. Not a lot of variety at all. I would've classified the "shooter" aspect of Bioshock as extremely poor, except the Plasmids managed to save the game from becoming too boring. These plasmids (ie special powers) at least manage to make the game more fun.
The game mechanics doesn't have a lot of depth to it either. Stealth is poorly done. Although there are many ways to kill your foes, but there's almost always only one way to finish the level. The "hacking" part of the game is really the exact same minigame played over and over and over from the beginning to the very end. There's hardly any variety to the gameplay. Half Life 2 was a great game. So was Deus Ex. So was Thief. The Last Express. Fallout. Planescape Torment. Grand Theft Auto. Those were games that transcended their respective genres. Bioshock, on the other hand, is a one-trick-pony. It's a mediocre shooter turned into a decent game by great presentation, thought-provoking storyline, and superb voice acting.
On a scale of 1-10, I'd rate this game an 8. Good game, but not nearly as good as people make it out to be.
Strictly in terms of gameplay, there wasn't much depth to it. I thought the level design was fairly mediocre, as the game suffers from typical console-itis. Small, compartmentalized levels. Mostly linear. Hardly any open areas at all. A lot of backtracking to mask the small size of the levels.
And although the art design was pretty good, it was very repetitive. Honestly, 99% of the game had the exact same look. Once you've played the first level of Rapture, you've pretty much seen all the game has to offer --- in terms of graphics (and in terms of gameplay too). I could look at countless screen shots, and I'd have a hard time differentiating between levels. The only ones that stood out were the very beginning of the game (crash site to first bathysphere ride) and maybe the arboretum level. It's not at all like Half-Life 2 or Deux Ex or Thief, where each level felt unique.
The "shooter" aspect of this first-person shooter left a lot to be desired too. Weapons were mostly boring and underpowered. It's disheartening to see ordinary monsters withstand 2-3 direct hits from a fully upgraded shotgun at close range. Sometimes it takes me nearly an entire clip of machine gun or chemical thrower ammunition to take down two splicers. It didn't take me long to realize that my Wrench could dispatch my enemies far more efficiently than any other weapon. As for the enemies, I think there's always the same 5 or 6 enemies coming at you for the entire game. Not a lot of variety at all. I would've classified the "shooter" aspect of Bioshock as extremely poor, except the Plasmids managed to save the game from becoming too boring. These plasmids (ie special powers) at least manage to make the game more fun.
The game mechanics doesn't have a lot of depth to it either. Stealth is poorly done. Although there are many ways to kill your foes, but there's almost always only one way to finish the level. The "hacking" part of the game is really the exact same minigame played over and over and over from the beginning to the very end. There's hardly any variety to the gameplay. Half Life 2 was a great game. So was Deus Ex. So was Thief. The Last Express. Fallout. Planescape Torment. Grand Theft Auto. Those were games that transcended their respective genres. Bioshock, on the other hand, is a one-trick-pony. It's a mediocre shooter turned into a decent game by great presentation, thought-provoking storyline, and superb voice acting.
On a scale of 1-10, I'd rate this game an 8. Good game, but not nearly as good as people make it out to be.
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