BioShock

[Tullaryx]

With all the excitement over the release of Persona 3 and other rpgs coming out on the many different systems I was surprised to realize that there's not been much talk about Irrational Games' (recently changed to Take-Two subsidiary, 2K Boston) follow-up to their classic PC title, System Shock. The game is set for a North American release on both the Xbox 360 and the PC on August 21, 2007. Europe and the Aus/NZ regions will see the game come out a few days late ron August 24 with Asia getting it a month later.

I've downloaded the demo (a whopping 1.35 gig in size) from Xbox Live this weekend and have been playing it off and on. I really didn't need the demo to tell me just how awesomo-power this game is going to be. It's been delayed several times since it was announced for the 360 and the PC. From what I could see with the video clips and the demo off of XBLive the wait has been well worth the wait.

BioShock plays using the FPS system similar to shooters like Half-Life 2 and hybrid FPS-rpgs like Oblivion. The game looks to have both the typical FPS hand guns, submachineguns and rifles but with a new additional weapon type which is biologically-based. The game takes the magic concept of rpgs and turns them into weapons called plasmids. These are abilities a player gains by injecting himself with different types of substances called ADAM which mutates the player's hands to emit different types of abilities. These abilities could be the ability to telekinetically lift objects and throw them at targets to shotting lightning, fire, ice and other elemental-based materials.

BioShock on Wiki

The game has a very distinct 50's retro look to it. I would even say BioShock has a very steampunk-quality to its art design. The game is also suppose to be heavily influenced by the work of Ayn Rand. This game will mark the beginning of the many great titles coming out for the 360 for the rest of the year. From what I have seen in terms of review of the game it also has a great chance to being Game of the Year for many groups and sites.

Is anyone else other than myself going to be getting this game for either the 360 or the PC?
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[jjrrs]

I almost thought it was more like condemned rather than an action FPS since it looks pretty scary while the weapons from all the ads looks pretty weird and I don't recall seeing any super powerful guns. I hope the best for the 360 even though I want PS3 to catch up soon, if super hyped up titles like this are major hits it will help out microsoft big time and they'd totally deserve it if that was the case, but I can't help but feel it may be another over hyped FPS like Prey or something.
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SAVE A.D. - S.O.B.s
www.saveourbluths.org Note:website does not work
Narrator: Please tell your friends about this show.

[Tullaryx]

Well, from the demo I played it's a hybrid. It's a lot closer to Oblivion in terms of combat than Condemned. The plasmids act like magic. Except for a wrench and a few blunt objects that can be picked up as melee weapons the combat is mostly ranged combat using either guns, plasmids or a combination of both.
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[Yvl]

I've heard that Jack Thompson is bored enough that he's actually attacking this game.
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[Tullaryx]

I'm surprised he took this long to start up on it. One of the things a player has to decide is whether to save or kill the npcs called "Little Sisters" for the ADAM substance they carry on them. ADAM is the substance which keeps the plasmid abilities powered up. Saving the Little Sisters get you ADAM but only a small amount while killing them gets you a ton-load of ADAM.

The Little Sisters and Big Daddies in the game form the main moral quandary the player has to make constant decisions on. By rule neither character will attack the player unless provoked, but in order to get more ADAM the player will have to attack or interact with the Little Sisters which sets off the Big Daddies. Leaving them alone will cause the player to have little or no use for the plasmid abilities he or she may gain.
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[Lord Rengo]

Honestly, until a couple days ago, I didn't even know about this game. I was reading around a few sites and read that this game got 10s from almost everywhere. I looked up a couple trailers and/or gameplay videos. I got hooked. Basically I'm pretty sure I'll be buying this game before heading back to college. Since I don't have an XBox 360 nor do I plan on getting one, I will have to get the PC version. I only hope that my computer can handle it although I'm pretty confident it can since it can handle Oblivion and F.E.A.R. perfectly fine. I haven't really looked up requirements online yet... perhaps I should before I pick it up so I don't waste my money.
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[Tullaryx]

The game doesn't have an online multiplayer since it's not considered a traditional FPS. Irrational Games made a conscious effort to keep multiplayer out of the equation to make people play through the story. Which is why this game is more akin to Oblivion than Half-Life 2.
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[Sniper_Zegai]

[Tullaryx]

Well, whether people here are looking forward to the game or not, Metacritic has compiled the early reviews of the full game and at the moment its universally hailed as the best game of the year, so far (still a few more titles that may steal this game's thunder) and how it has made a leap forward in meshing together gameplay and narrative for the FPS that's a great change of pace from the usual FPS/FPA titles.

The fact that some of the reviewers giving this game perfect scores have been coming from places like EuroGamer (which traditionally loathes to give perfect scores on any game no matter how great) bodes well for BioShock. Tuesday cannot come any sooner.
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[Gil-galad]

I almost never really enjoy FPS games-- but I've actually been looking forward to this game quite a bit. If it really is that much of a change of pace from the usual FPS games, I really think I may enjoy this game. It seems wonderful. I never had the chance to play the new Oblivion-- but I really regret not having played it. Now this game coming out gives me the chance to experience something similar, but even better, it seems.
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[Sniper_Zegai]

[Jorge Prima]

I actually played the demo just the other day. The graphics were absolutely gorgeous. I actually thought the first seconds of game play were a cute scene, so I stood in the water for quite sometime like a dumbass. My friend buys every 360 game so I’ll just borrow it from him, and if I like the online crap I’ll probably get it.
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J et J

[jjrrs]

The early review scores from gamespot and ign are really high, I'm not very surprised since most games that are closely followed even after a few delays before release are better than average, too bad I'm not that big of a FPS fan and I can't even play horror games so I won't be getting it.

I hope that Two Worlds game also coming out this week will be good but I highly doubt it, since it's gotten exactly the opposite media treatment than bioshock where there's very little hype and no body's really talking about it despite looking kind of interesting.
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SAVE A.D. - S.O.B.s
www.saveourbluths.org Note:website does not work
Narrator: Please tell your friends about this show.

[Himuro]

I like Bioshock but I don't find it nearly as engaging or as addicting as Persona 3. I can't stop playing that game even in the midst of the next gen hustle and bustle. What's wrong with me?

As for Bioshock, the art direction, atmosphere, and all that is great but there are a few gameplay quirks, some that were present in System Shock 2. It's disappointing they didn't fix them. The game has a lot going for it so far, but it's not nearly as fun as I was hoping. Hacking is still annoying.

Still, so far it's a next gen game that actually feels like next gen. That's probably a first, since this gen has mostly sucked balls so far. I can give Bioshock credit for that, but alas, I'm still early in. It may get more fun soon.

Every time I see a Big Daddy now I'm like,"Oh man, not another Big Daddy." because of the amount of ammo and time it takes to take one down.
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She knows stuff.

[Tullaryx]

I've played only a couple hours of the game but I must say that the hype placed on it was well-deserved. Jirrs, like yourself, I'm not a very big FPS player. I'm never good with the controls and at times the first-person perspective will actually screw with my equilibrium to the point I get sick. But like Oblivion this game made me forget it was an FPS shooter.

The art design on this game is a huge selling point and with the way the game suddenly makes you run into one of the Splicers coming around the corner it's hard to notice the great design work. I haven't gotten very far in the game because every time I've cleared an area of Splicers I would just walk around and look at the room. This is not ust to admire the work of the designers of the game but to also check every drawer, trash can, register, table and anything that can hold something for some loose dollars, health kids, snacks, EVE hypos and ammo.

The combat is quite intuitive. Everything is done with the trigger buttons for using the chosen weapon and plasmid abilities. The bumpers are used to cycle through whatever weapons and plasmids one might have in their inventory. So far, the plasmids I've picked up are just the ElectroBolt (shoots lightning from one's hand) and the Incinerate (Shoot fireballs at targets). The ElectroBolt has been very useful. It doesn't kill anyone outright unless you aim on the puddle of water the Splicers are standing on. That pretty much electrocutes them. What it does when there's no water around is to stun the Splicers long enough for the player to walk up to them and kill them with a strike from the wrench or a shot from the pistol or tommy gun. I've even combo'd the ElectroBolt and Incinerate to kill a group of Splicers. I blasted one Splicer with the Incinerate who properly turned into a living torch. He then ran around until he reached a water fountain display that had overflowed two rooms away where it had three other SPlicers waiting for someone to kill. As soon as the on-fire Splicer jumped into the water I hit the water with an ElectroBolt and toook out all four. It was one of those "Oh crap that was cool" moments that made me want to find other ways I could fight the Splicers and play through this game.

I'll probably see more of the game's story with more playing time put into it. Right now the first level or so seems to be like a tutorial stage to give the player an idea how to navigate Rapture and make use of the weapons and abilities. But despite that the developers made sure to make this stage as part of the storyline and keep the player from being taken out of the narrative like some tutorial stages in other games.