A Thread About Bioshock

[Narcolepsy]

Well, this forum won't go away, so I guess I'll make some use of it.

Today I had a sudden craving for a dim-the-lights-and-lose-yourself type of game. So I closed the blinds and reinstalled Bioshock. I don't know about you guys, but it seems that Bioshock has gotten a lot of backlash since all of those slobbering reviews, so I had it kind of built up in my head as disappointing. So I was surprised how much fun I still had with it.

I'd played the beginning of the game about 3 times before today. There's a guy in one of the first rooms yelling "OPEN UP! OPEN UP!" In each of those three times, I had never managed to find the guy - caught up in the moment, I guess. This time I took some time to look around, and there was an area I'd never seen before - when I thought I had memorized the entire game. There was an audio diary there capturing the beginning of the New Years revolt. There was a creepy kitchen, and an unexpected ambush. Suddenly, the game went from been-there-done-that to thrilling again, if only for a few minutes.

Make no mistake, in hindsight, Bioshock may have lost some of its luster in our minds, but when you see it through the eyes of someone who's never seen it before, it's still a towering masterpiece of a game. I just wish I could recapture the feeling the first time I played it.



Another note - if you have a 360 controller, a wireless adapter for your PC, an LCD TV, and a VGA/DVI-HDMI cable, you can essentially transform Bioshock PC into Bioshock 360 - the menus change, and everything. Some people might find this blasphemy, but the sad truth is that Bioshock is an Xbox game - it never did feel quite right with a mouse and a keyboard. I've got to say, I'm enjoying it a lot more with the controller.

 

[knut]

I just wish I could recapture the feeling the first time I played it.

Bang on. This is exactly how I feel about Bioshock the most because during the month of release and two months after I played through the game about 8 or 9 times. I started playing again recently but all those cool things you're just picking up on, I've seen many times before. Don't get me wrong, I love them and really enjoyed soaking up (ho ho!) the games atmosphere to the brim (ho ho!) but at the moment I'm going to give it another year before I re-play anymore of it.

Second favourite game of the year for me.

 

[KagePrototype]

Some people might find this blasphemy, but the sad truth is that Bioshock is an Xbox game - it never did feel quite right with a mouse and a keyboard. I've got to say, I'm enjoying it a lot more with the controller.

This is what I've always thought; I've found that people who played it on the 360 were more impressed than people who played it on PC.

 

[Acepilotf14]

tl;drmoiesotip

 

[Adabiviak]

I replayed it recently, and the Big Daddies are a fun challenge if you keep your weapons weak... a few tripwires, prox grenades makes too short work of them though.

 

[Cavalry]

I started to replay it, got up to Arcadia.
Realized that actually taking my time, and playing in the dark, this Bioshock is helluva lot scarier then any game out there. I shat 2 bricks when I walked up to the tiki-style mask, turned around to see a Houdini Splicer standing about an inch away from me.

 

[Saturos]

I rented Bioshock today for the 360. Two words. Awesome game.

Despite a little simplistic on the action side, the atmosphere and story more than makes up for it. Plus, being a sci-fi geek, I'm a sucker for games with futuristic/retro-futuristic settings.

Good thing too I never played System Shock I've been hearing so much praise about around here and how it's gameplay is so much better than Bioshock's, or otherwise I'd be biased too.

Just like I was with Deus-Ex's gameplay being superior to Deus-Ex:IW's.

 

[Narcolepsy]

Speaking of which, unlike most people, I played System Shock 2 after Bioshock. I did appreciate SS's depth and RPG elements, but I'm really not sure it added that much to the core of the game. All of the time spent fretting over stats and looking through menus almost took away from the building suspense, for me. In Bioshock, there's almost nothing between you and Rapture, which makes the whole thing a lot more intense.

To me, at least.

 

[DEATHMASTER]

I started to replay it, got up to Arcadia.
Realized that actually taking my time, and playing in the dark, this Bioshock is helluva lot scarier then any game out there. I shat 2 bricks when I walked up to the tiki-style mask, turned around to see a Houdini Splicer standing about an inch away from me.

Play STALKER.

 

[Kadayi]

Bought this through Steam during the half price weekend and I have to say I'm enjoying it immensely. Like Sea I'm an incredibly thorough game player, I never leave a location until it's been completely searched and explored so I doubt I'll be replaying it in the short term, but so far it's certainly living up to the hype. I don't necessarily think it's doing anything completely innovative in terms of game play, but the setting/visual style is fantastic, and I'm liking the whole Plasmid/weapon scene as well.

 

[Wanted Bob]

Despite being relatively linear (compared to most games I play), Bioshock still gives me plenty of entertainment. Doing it on hard with no vita chambers adds a new sense of real danger and challenge. It also makes Big Daddy fights very rewarding.

 

[Lucid]

Has the game had any more content patches at all?

 

[Kadayi]

It's version 1.1 on my Steam one if that answers your question. AFAIK there haven't been any content patches though.

 

[ríomhaire]

Sea is right about everything.