BioShock

[angel]

The tapes are great. Oh man, people are insane.

[gandhi]

The tapes are great. Oh man, people are insane.

What's great about them? The writing is atrocious in places and the crazed laughter on some of them was downright embarassing and then you've got stereotypical character accents, they just made me cringe. And the stories they told were bland, especially the ones which foretold someone's death (this goes for a few ghost scenes as well). They just felt really unimaginative.

[Timmo]

Ha, would you kindly tell me what makes them "great"? *Rests chin on fist in anticipation*

BioShock, then. Loved the first 3/4. Sander Cohen especially, that was ace. Everything up to the twist basically.

Then there was just... too much. Too much crap fighting, too many cameras, too much gaying about. Too little variety. Too many Big Daddies. At least give me a disabled Big Daddy to telekenisis (telekinii?) off a dam or something. Or a couple of black Little Sisters. They could have put in an achievement for saving the blacks but not the whites. A few gay splicers kissing and bumming to make it edgy. Basically, they should have forcefully and aggressively either questioned every moral I have (and I love it!) or wrapped it up after the twist. The sexy twist.

[LOL MODERTAOR LOL]

I completed it on hard and really, it's a nice shooter but a lot of the story that people are discussing I simply didn't 'get', like the family aspect. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted but I shan't be returning other than on easy to clear on the easier research achivements and the weapon upgrades that I somehow missed. I can't be bothered with all the tapes, I'm not a fan of achievements like that where you have to look at a walkthrough to even stand a chance of getting them all like the Cogs in Gears of War.

[gandhi]

Another thing, I felt the twist was really really rubbish, I'd had an inkling about it earlier and hoped it wasn't so but it was, just felt really unimaginative.

Mindcontrol, great... and "Luke, I'm Your Father" I didn't expect, unfortunately that was a bit crap too.

[angel]

What's great about them? The writing is atrocious in places and the crazed laughter on some of them was downright embarassing and then you've got stereotypical character accents, they just made me cringe. And the stories they told were bland, especially the ones which foretold someone's death (this goes for a few ghost scenes as well). They just felt really unimaginative.

The high acting quality. Sander Cohen. The Wild Rabbit. Ryan's perfect voice. I love the tapes

[Shindig]

How could they wrap it up after the twist, though?

"Damn and blast, I've been decieved. Oh well, see you next year."

Rather than a big set piece opening the final fight up, that's spread over radio dialogue.

[Steven]

Well, I finally finished this just an hour or so ago. Took me that amount of time because it started to become a chore and I didn't want to feel like I'd wasted my money, having finished it I feel I did.

The setting is great for the first level or two but then it starts to drag. Much like the plotline it felt cliched; a joker voice for the vending machine, not novel or creepy and "splicers" with rabbit masks, spare me. Also like the story it had holes and not just literally; the city looks massive and yet the biospheres only go to a limited number of locations that are small in comparison to the massive skyscrapers you see. And yet I felt the locations and the game in general was far too large, there is quite simply too much of everything: too many rooms to painstakingly search; too many tapes to pick up that can be a real drag to listen to, cliched to the point of making me cringe and at times far far too many enemies, clear a room and walk back into it a minute later... oh look they've respawned!

The combat is the biggest failure though, so you can set traps etc. but once I'd done it once I didn't really find it funny the 2nd or one thousandth time. That's the problem though, every encounter is the same as the last one, there is little intelligence in the AI, they run at you and you shoot them or they hop about and you shoot them, the big daddies are a different creature because they have more health and that's it (ie. they're not actually a greater danger because of intelligence). Much has been made of the gene tonics but quickly they become just another weapon, I ended up simply using whatever I had the most of as there was little joy in using different weapons or tonics.

The plot holes have more or less already been picked apart but I found it strikingly odd that

in that awful escort segment the little sisters are not invincible, why were they when I was the one harvesting them, then?

I have to also mention the technical problems, there is definately a game crashing bug when picking up new tonics.

I don't know what score I'd give this, the demo led me to believe it was an 8 or a 9 but having played through it I feel a 7 is too generous and a 6 far too unfair.

Get out of my body/mind. Uncanny.

[gandhi]

The high acting quality. Sander Cohen. The Wild Rabbit. Ryan's perfect voice. I love the tapes

I didn't think the acting was very good, it seemed way over the top.

Sander Cohen, a mental artist, another cliche, although his level had some pretty good moments.

[LOL MODERTAOR LOL]

Another thing, I felt the twist was really really rubbish, I'd had an inkling about it earlier and hoped it wasn't so but it was, just felt really unimaginative.

Mindcontrol, great... and "Luke, I'm Your Father" I didn't expect, unfortunately that was a bit crap too.

I didn't even get that part. Was it explicit?

One really good thing about the game, is that the 'collect-em-up' parts that are usually really boring in games, weren't that bad at all and coupled with photography (Sander Cohen), was fairly interesting, until the last quarter of the game I guess.

[gandhi]

I didn't even get that part. Was it explicit?

Not to get you down, but yeah it was pretty much spelled out.

[gandhi]

I didn't even get that part. Was it explicit?

One really good thing about the game, is that the 'collect-em-up' parts that are usually really boring in games, weren't that bad at all and coupled with photography (Sander Cohen), was fairly interesting, until the last quarter of the game I guess.

The Sander Cohen photography bit was decent, it's just that all the other photography you had to do to resaearch creatures was too much as it took far too many photographs to fully research them. Just had to keep clicking whilst backpeddling before boom headshotting them.

[Majora]

I didn't even get that part. Was it explicit?

Were you even conscious while you played the game?

[angel]

Get out of my body/mind. Uncanny.

We've covered this several times. Rescued sisters aren't invulnerable, they have no Adam in them.

[angel]

I'd love it it anyone could explain the White Rabbit tape to me. Paging KG.

[Steven]

We've covered this several times. Rescued sisters aren't invulnerable, they have no Adam in them.

Uhh... I was just agreeing with everything Gandhi wrote, bar the crashes. His feelings/thoughts mirror mine to the letter. As for all the narrative debate - I'd care if the game had been better.

By the way, I didn't like it that much overall - not really up for arguing the toss - if you liked it, I'm happy for you. Let's leave it at that.

[Timmo]

I'd love it it anyone could explain the White Rabbit tape to me. Paging KG.

It's a Matrix reference.

[gandhi]

It's a Matrix reference.

I thought it was an Alice in Wonderland reference which was copied from The Matrix.

[sandman]

Well, I'm, about half way through and it isn't a 10/10 game now is it. I think Edges review is pretty much spot on - brilliant in places, desparately flawed in others. And it really does feel like Halo and Half Life 2 never happened. 8/10 seems a fair score to me.

Now that I have Blue Dragon I'm not even sure when I'll play this again.

[Guest]

i think i'll leave this until after halo3's died down a bit. i should be able to get if for £15 from somewhere then. seems that's about all it's worth with my opinion of the weak combat from the demo and some of the comments on here.

does that sound like a sensible thing to do, or should i really be playing it now?

[gandhi]

i think i'll leave this until after halo3's died down a bit. i should be able to get if for £15 from somewhere then. seems that's about all it's worth with my opinion of the weak combat from the demo and some of the comments on here.

does that sound like a sensible thing to do, or should i really be playing it now?

Think by the time it's worth £15 there will be far better buys. I bought it because there wasn't anything out I wanted until Halo 3 but I don't think I should have bothered.

[Shindig]

And yet, this game is growing on me. Definitely a mainstay in one of those "Play before you die!" lists.

[MalevolentPanda]

i think i'll leave this until after halo3's died down a bit. i should be able to get if for £15 from somewhere then. seems that's about all it's worth with my opinion of the weak combat from the demo and some of the comments on here.

does that sound like a sensible thing to do, or should i really be playing it now?

It's a single player offline game so it really doesn't matter when you play it. I love it but I suspect you wouldn't be so bothered and there's no real reason not to wait if you're happy to do so.

[Guest]

…there wasn't anything out I wanted until Halo 3 but I don't think I should have bothered.

this is what worries me. is it really any good? i know it looks good and the sound design is ace, but i was massively disappointed in the combat of the demo.

i'm already playing through a couple of games in the run up to halo 3, so i don't mind waiting. i suppose after h3, corruption and galaxy it'll be next summer befor i get round to it. i'll probably get it for a fiver then. bonus!

[Guest]

It's a single player offline game so it really doesn't matter when you play it. I love it but I suspect you wouldn't be so bothered and there's no real reason not to wait if you're happy to do so.

yeah, i was thinking that too. it's not like there's any community to keep up with, so it doesn't really matter when i play it.

why do you suspect i won't be bothered by it panda?

[Duckula]

Now this blew my mind. Armin Shimerman does the voice for Andrew Ryan.

Quark from DS9!

[Shindig]

"I'm watching you, Quark."

"OBEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEY!"

[MalevolentPanda]

yeah, i was thinking that too. it's not like there's any community to keep up with, so it doesn't really matter when i play it.

why do you suspect i won't be bothered by it panda?

Just that I know you like your shooters and will inevitably compare it to Halo, and the combat compared to Halo is pretty poor. It's a very good adventure game in an FPS mould, with incredible art direction, beautiful environments, and a strong but flawed story. But if anyone isn't taken by the art direction and the concept then they might be inclined to see rather more of the faults than the stuff that makes it special. It's not a game that I could recommend without qualification to anyone.

[Guest]

fair enough, don't get me wrong though i love the art direction and i genuinely think they're trying to do something that's a cut above the usual video game shit with the story. i'm all for that. but, like you say, becauce it is primarily an fps, i think i'll get hung up on it's shitty combat mechanic and that could ruin it for me.

so what is fighting the big daddies like then when you've got some of the better plasmids? i quite like the thought of tackling things any way you see fit rather than being forced to do something in a linear manner.

[MalevolentPanda]

so what is fighting the big daddies like then when you've got some of the better plasmids? i quite like the thought of tackling things any way you see fit rather than being forced to do something in a linear manner.

Far far far too easy, so you don't really have to bother with clever approaches. It's one of the game's biggest problems: after a while, the Big Daddies carry no menace. A problem that's compounded by there being nothing that requires you to kill them in one go.