After playing BioShock...

Snacks_2 on 26/8/2007 at 23:29

What's with you people? Can't you enjoy games for what they are, rather than denying a game's quality simply because it doesn't live up to System Shock 2? BioShock is "just another FPS?" Some of you people haven't played enough games to know the difference between games like BioShock, and games that are "just another FPS." It's also a matter of what's enjoyable. As interesting as SS2 is, I prefer to play a game where I'm not beating people with a wrench half the time, and where a point-blank headshot from a shotgun does more than 1/3 of a lowly zombie's health.

pnK on 26/8/2007 at 23:40

Since BioShock seems to claim the title as System Shocks intellectual predecessor it has to deal with people comparing the two games.

Also, it wasn't standard in games to have different kind of hitzones like you mentioned when System Shock 2 came out, so that doesn't really count :)

I have yet to play BioShock before i make my judgement over the game. I only played the demo version so far and it wasn't bad but like i also mentioned before, i like the setting of System Shock more.
The fifties setting fits better to Fallout :P

I haven't played the full version yet but i have read alot of stuff about BioShock and it seems they have taken alot of the stuff they already used in System Shock 2 over to this game. I don't really know if that's a good thing since these days they could've surely done something "new". I hope they didn't made the game the way it is only to keep the fans satisfied.

The graphic of BioShock does create a good atmosphere, let's hope the rest of the game can keep up to that. I think i'm gonna install the game now :P

EvilKodiak on 27/8/2007 at 06:52

Bioshock is a great game in its own right... but it's hard to trump Shodan and her machine minions.

I guess it's also a matter of preference of setting, and depth of gameplay.
Bioshock feels like a leaner System Shock 2 with all the fat and trimmings cut off, and reseasoned a bit.

It's actually less of a meal, but it's still pretty damn good; just that some people like the extra bits or prefer the old seasoning. ;)

Yakoob on 28/8/2007 at 00:49

Quote Posted by Peanuckle

Despite how they say it's optional to run and gun, sneak or do whatever,

Wait, it is? Never heard / observed that before...

Quote Posted by Snacks_2

What's with you people? Can't you enjoy games for what they are, rather than denying a game's quality simply because it doesn't live up to System Shock 2?

It's not that we compare every single game to SS2. It's just that when the game is basically marketed on the whole "SS2 SPIRITUAL SUCCESSOR" flagship throught its whole development, it's kind of hard not to think of it that way.

Mercurius on 28/8/2007 at 01:53

I loved Bioshock, but SS2 will always be better in my eyes.

Bioshock was too streamlined I thought, I missed SS2's comforting clunkiness. Also BS doesn't make you really choose a path to take with the plasmids...you can have it all in the same game.
Same with the weapon upgrade machines. And despite plasmids being so highly touted, the guns are just so much more effective. After the first few levels, sharp-eyed taffers will never want for ammunition again.
Also a lack of enemy diversity, though Splicers ARE a lot more interesting to fight than hybrids. And Big Daddies are love.
Storyline disappointed me too, in that your moral decisions are quite limited. I thought this game was going to be ALL about your decisions but with two endings and most of the important stuff happening in non-interactive cutscenes, yeah right.

DON'T GET ME WRONG, BIOSHOCK IS SUPERB, HELLUVA GAME! PLAY IT NOW!!!

Yakoob on 28/8/2007 at 05:45

Quote Posted by Mercurius

Also BS doesn't make you really choose a path to take with the plasmids...

True. You can pretty much explore all paths in a single playthrough (save the two endings which, besides two ending cutscenes, do not really differe too much in the game).

SubZero2040 on 28/8/2007 at 23:20

Quote Posted by Peanuckle

I played Bioshock for a little while and decided that I didn't like it as much as its "spiritual predecessors." Despite how they say it's optional to run and gun, sneak or do whatever, I'll spend my time setting up traps and the like, when all the sudden a splicer spawns in around the corner and mucks everything up.

It just feels like a first person shooter to me.

I thought that at first to, I just finished it and I think it's a GREAT game with lots of replayability. I think my disappointment came from thinking it WAS SSII but it ain't, it's different game and one you don't wanna miss.

I played it on hard and didn't harvest the adam, took me 35 hours.

cosmicnut on 29/8/2007 at 10:13

To be honest I was a little dissapointed.
It was over way too quickly and didn't have enough variety of gameplay.

Don't get me wrong, I still love the game but I don't think it lived up to its hype.

The big daddy, little sister stuff was great but the splicers just rushed you, the same way enemies have for years. It was great to see them check bodies for Adam, use medical stations when injured. I even noticed one dive into water to put themselves out after I set them on fire!
But apart from some cool moments, they just run at you headlong and you're too busy pumping lead into them to really notice.

It would have been nicer if the splicers left you alone until you did something they didn't like or had been directly sent to kill you.

The hacking mini-game was nice although got really annoying. Having to un-hide the tiles as well as move the tubes... by the time I had found the first tube I needed the hack had gone wrong.

The real annoyance was the sound made by the vending machines! I'm trying to listed to a radio message and all I can hear is "Welcome to the circus of value!"

All this plasmid stuff though, hmmm

The choice to rescue or havest seems to just effect the story and not the player. I thought, being a nice guy would stop you from getting some of the more powerfull plasmids, but with the "Gifts" you get, it kind of evens the score.
Another problem is the control system. The simple "One, two punch" is annoying. By the time you've hit the splicer with electricity or ice, then switched to a weapon (then realoded it..), they're normally free!

Comparing to the SS series, there's wayyy to much ammo around. Might have just been the normal difficulty. Half the time I only used plasmids when I had too many enemies to wait for a re-load. By the time the enemies get really tough, you've evened the score with the research camera and wepon mods. Add to that the iron skin and electric defence tonics that use no eve and your a little over powered.

I think that its a good step forward. I would like to see that engine with the kind of tactical AI from F.E.A.R. mixed in. That way the enemies would work together a little better

kfir on 9/9/2007 at 08:39

BioShock basically is "System Shock 3". Though the plot & setting of BioShock bear no relation to that of the System Shock games, they essentially follow the same lineage in terms of game elements. Hell, they're even by the same developers (be it under the title TTLG, Irrational, or 2K).

D'Arcy on 9/9/2007 at 13:31

TTLG != Looking Glass Studios. We are TTLG. LGS are the ones who made the games.