So, who else bought BioShock? I’m loving my first playthrough of this new first person shooter at the moment. Lots of action and a brilliant atmosphere. Also, the storytelling is told almost completely real time (like Half-Life 2).
The great thing about the PC version is that it supports both keyboard/mouse controls and use of a gamepad. If I’m the mood for precision, I can sit at my desk and aim with the mouse. If I want to relax, I can switch to my wireless Xbox 360 controller and the controls are just like playing Halo (including all in game menus, etc). It’s just like playing on console, but with a higher resolution. Unlike some other PC to console ports where the controls aren’t really suited to a controller, BioShock’s gameplay seems to be quite well suited to either control scheme. Microsoft’s “Games for Windows” definitely gets my vote in this respect.
The bad? 2K Games went over the top with the amount of DRM in the PC version. Not only do you need to have the disc in the tray, but you have to activate the game (like with Windows) and the game can then only be installed onto 5 different PCs. The activation software isn’t 100% reliable either, and left me locked out from playing the game for a few hours when I first got it. All a bit over the top if you ask me.
I only played the demo so far, and while it’s very beautiful and seems quite well crafted something was perhaps breaking the experience for me. I get the whole creepy atmosphere deal and I have no problem with it in theory, but… (and correct me if I’m wrong here from anyone else’s experience of the actual game) When there’s a lot of action, and the pyrotechnics heat up, it doesn’t seem to have much effect on the illumination of the arena. So all those glorious FX were mostly just further obscuring things that are already deliberately hard to see.
FPS’s have to be really particular for me anyway, so I’m very torn about picking it up…
Everyone seems to be hyping this game a bit too much…I mean is there some kind of paradigm shift?What’s so different from previous FPSs by the same team?
Securom has already been cracked; therefore, the DRM is useless for the PC version. I bet they didn’t expect it to be cracked that fast - teaches them right for installing a fucking rootkit along with the game.
Don’t have Bioshock yet, but System Shock 2 is an incredible game. Blows the heck out of Halo any day of the week. XD
Till you get to the last 2 levels, anyway. Boy, were those awful. And then when you kill Shodan, instead of giving you an ending, it boots you back to the title screen - talk about cutting corners. Overall, though, it was an excellent game.
I hear 2K Games is now working on System Shock 3 - let’s hope so!
It’s EA that has the System Shock rights currently, that’s the reason Bioshock became Bioshock instead of a proper sequel. Well, one of the reasons.
System Shock 2 did have an ending.
As for Bioshock, the hype does have me a bit troubled as other crap games like Oblivion and Deus Ex: Invisible War received similar responses initially, but it’s apparently a pretty damn good game according to fans of its spiritual prequels, even though it’s not as deep. Oh well, I won’t get to play it until I’m done with my army service as I need a new PC for it and I won’t bother buying anything during my days off, there’s no time for proper research not to mention I’m better off purchasing stuff later on, when DX10, Windows Vista and multi core CPUs have matured further.
[quote=“Al3xand3r”]It’s EA that has the System Shock rights currently, that’s the reason Bioshock became Bioshock instead of a proper sequel. Well, one of the reasons.
System Shock 2 did have an ending.[/quote]
Wow, I never got to see that ending. My pirated copy must be missing the end movie or something, because right when you beat Shodan, it boots you right back to the title screen. The movie is either missing or one of the system calls was removed. Nevertheless, System Shock 2 was a great game - it’s just too bad that the entire story was told through audio files and you never actually get to meet a crew member that is actually alive.
Thanks for the video link, btw. I always wondered what was the point when you get sealed off between Rebecca and Thomas while they are running away from the Rumbler…now I know why.
I never played System Shock 1 or 2, so I can’t compare. However, BioShock does seem (so far) to be a very polished game.
But I don’t know if it deserves quite the amount of hype that it’s getting. Some people have been calling it “game of the year” already, when we haven’t even had other FPSs like Halo 3 and Half-Life 2 Episode 2, let alone games like Mass Effect and Assassin’s Creed.
Good - I will crack my copy if I run into any more activation problems. I do find it unnecessary that it has to check both the DVD and an online server before you’re able to play the game. There is a definite advantage of using the Steam version in this respect.
That was the genius of it. Proper NPCs would have been terrible. There are a few in Bioshock and even with todays graphics they don’t really work.