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.
I personally refuse to purchase this game because of the SecuROM feature. I don't feel that I should be limited to only 5 installs. That is complete BS in my opinion. I have heard the storyline is great and so are the graphics, but nothing else.
it was an amazing game and i was all hyped up about it and i finished it 3 times in a week and then - forgot all about it... it was sort of boring when i think of it now
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.
I completely agree though I would give it an 8 if it had a multiplayer...even if it was just tacked on. I give it a 7 at best. But it was a good story.
The game engine is too fast, its based on the UT engine...it should have a more CoD feel...it just plays too quickly I feel.
I disagree...Halo was not nearly as overrated, but rather over marketed. The game hit almost exactly where I though it would. I planned on giving it a personal 9 or so, but it hit more around an 8 - an 8.5. I am looking forward to new maps on the 11th.
im guessing you either never heard of, or play it, or never read anything, but what about hellgate london?? I had fun with bioshock, but damn hellgate demo was so frakin boring. PC gamer gave a like 90% while everyone else 75-80%..
The mini game hacking was so-so, you could freeze the turret or whatever and it would go slower, etc.
Message edited by Stemnin on 12-03-2007 at 01:31:16 PM
Well, I see people grading this game on a hundred or out of 10 and so on.
Basically, Bioshock is like a great one night stand. You play it for all its worth... but when you wake up the next morning you know its the last time you'll ever play this game again. You say your goodbyes and do it all over again with someone else (Crysis).
It was fun at the time but we've moved on months ago.
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Windows XP MCE & Vista 64-bit (dual boot)
XFX NFORCE 680I LT SLI w/ OCZ Platinum 4 Gigs Dual DDR2 @ 800MHz
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 2.4GHz w/ ChillTec Thermo Electric CPU Cooler
MSI NX8800 GTX & X-Fi XtremeGamer Soundblaster
I think I'll ask this because it's been on my mind for months, since the game's release.
In the TV commercials for advertising BioShock, they played a song in the background. I believe the chorus went something like this, "And we'll go sailllling." Or something like that. Does anyone know the name of the song?
Somewhere beyond the sea
Somewhere waitin' for me
My lover stands on golden sand
And watches the ships that go sailin'
Somewhere beyond the sea
She's there watchin' for me
If I could fly like birds on high
Then straight to her arms I'd go sailin'
It's far beyond the star It's near beyond the moon
I know beyond a doubt
My heart will lead me there soon
We'll meet beyond the shore
We'll kiss just as before
Happy we'll be, beyond the sea
And never again I'll go sailin'
***INSTRUMENTAL BREAK***
I know beyond a doubt, My heart will lead me there soon
We'll meet, I know we'll meet
Beyond the shore
We'll kiss just as before
Happy we'll be, beyond the sea
And never again I'll go sailin'
(No more sailin')
(So long sailin')
(Byebye sailin')
Yes Bioshock was overhyped, but I still thought it was pretty good. One of the more immersive stories for a while. And I think one of the best PC games to come along in quite a while. Crysis was the big let down for me, but that's another story...
I thought bioshock was going to be a sophisticated game, like deus-ex or system shock 2.
Instead it was a stupid little charming shooter where everyone went psycho. It was kinda neat, but after playing it for awhile I just wanted to go play a REAL game, one that didn't feel so childish and inconsequential.
So I think I was really letdown by bioshock. Because it had the highest reviews for a game I had ever seen, I was expecting a game with more meat on its bones. It wasn't that bad, but it was completely undeserving of the revolutionary praise it recieved from video game reviewers.
Somewhere beyond the sea
Somewhere waitin' for me
My lover stands on golden sand
And watches the ships that go sailin'
Somewhere beyond the sea
She's there watchin' for me
If I could fly like birds on high
Then straight to her arms I'd go sailin'
It's far beyond the star It's near beyond the moon
I know beyond a doubt
My heart will lead me there soon
We'll meet beyond the shore
We'll kiss just as before
Happy we'll be, beyond the sea
And never again I'll go sailin'
***INSTRUMENTAL BREAK***
I know beyond a doubt, My heart will lead me there soon
We'll meet, I know we'll meet
Beyond the shore
We'll kiss just as before
Happy we'll be, beyond the sea
And never again I'll go sailin'
(No more sailin')
(So long sailin')
(Byebye sailin')
Nice song. If I ever find a woman that will make my heart stop roaming the sea, I'll know that she must be one heck of a woman. In the meantime, as much as I can, I keep sailing.
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Evil lurks in the databanks as it lurked in the streets of yesteryear. But it was never the streets that were evil.
