Bioshock

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Anyone else getting excited for this one? I've downloaded almost 2gb of high def trailers and the couple of reviews that have come out are nothing short of beaming. Some of the more exciting I'm looking forward to:

Plasmids - there are meant to be 70 or so to toy with and the combat integration of these looks to be better than the Vampire:Masquerade.

Atmosphere - appears to be incredibly eerie in an arc deco type of way.

There are reportedly 3 different types of ammo for each gun (including traps), the last game I've played with this level of ammo control was the original deus ex, which is enough to get me excited.

Graphics - this game looks pretty, very pretty. I've also heard that the engine is technically capable of handling any screen resolution that you can throw at it, time to book me a movie theater . I suppose the downside of the visuals is the fairly high system requirements, although dx10 is supported, but not required, I'll probably end up buying a new comp to play it.

Story, form the initial review it looks to be incredibly deep with profound moral consequences. I'm really looking forward to the experience.

 

I downloaded the demo for my 360 last night, played the first 20 minutes or so. All I can say is that i'm amazed. It's incredible.

Edit: Forgot to add, about 5 minutes after finishing the demo, I went to Amazon and made a preorder. It's THAT good.

 

I got it installed and ready to go to be played on launch day, Steam offer the game for a very reasonable price.

 

Been playing it on my 360, and it keeps finding new ways to make me nervous...I'm cautious at the best of times in FPS's but this game is gonna take me years to complete at this rate!

Graphics, Sound, Gameplay are all fantastic...just wish I'd put it on easy now

Great Game, its gonna be in my favourites and I'm determined to add it to the rather small completed pile!

 

After buying Bioshock two days ago, I've now just completed it. I'm thoroughly impressed with this game and how it continued to impress me the whole way through. I won't spoil it for anyone still playing, but the story stays great the whole way through (even some plot twists I didn't see coming).

Plasmids: The way these have been integrated is great, because you can dynamically switch between Weapon/Plasmid with the click of a button. The sheer number of Plasmids forces you to think about how they can all work together.

For example, I was earlier facing a whole group of Splicers, so I used the Cyclone plasmid to whip one of them into the air, shot him with an Exploding Buckshot (Shotgun) to set him on fire, then used Telekenesis to throw his flaming corpse into the other Splicers.
When the whole group was on fire they immediately ran for water to douse themselves, which I used Electrobolt on to turn the whole group into crispy fried bodies.

There are 10 Plasmids in total.

Gene Tonics: This is where customisation comes in. Gene Tonics are like Plasmids, except they do not need to be activated: they are passive. Gene Tonics are grouped into 3 types; Physical, Combat and Engineering. These vary a lot, some increase your health, some your speed, physical strength, hacking prowess; some slow down security systems around you, render you immunue to electricity, allow you to gain more nutrition from food, etc.

I'm not sure how many Gene Tonics there are. I discovered about 25 during my first run through the game. There are probably quite a few more.

Weapons: Not including the Wrench or the camera, there are 6 weapons all with three types of ammunition. One of these types has to be created by you at a U-Invent machine. Several ammunition types can be used as traps. Weapons can also be upgraded with certain parts to improve them.

One example is the crossbow. It has three ammo-types; Incendiary Bolt, Steel Bolt and Trap Bolt. If you find a pool of water anywhere (and there are lots) shoot a trap bolt into one side of the wall, and it will shoot out a trip-wire into the opposite wall. Any enemy walking through it will be electrocuted, doubly so if standing in a pool of water!

There are two Weapon upgrades for each weapon. For example, the Pistol can both increase it's damage and clip size, whereas the Chemical Thrower can reduce ammo consumption and increase range.

Power to the People Machines: These machines are scattered around the city of Rapture and are few and far between. Each one gives you a one-use Weapon Upgrade you can choose from a list. Choosing one weapon to upgrade is a difficult choice!

U-Invent: At these machines you can use materials you've found, such as screws, shotgun shells, chemical substances and so forth to create new items. You can create one type of ammunition for each weapon (which can't be bought), auto-hacking tools, first aid kits, EVE Hypodermic needles (EVE functions like Mana, it allows you to use Plasmids), etc. You can even invent new Gene Tonics if you have the resources!

Research Camera: You get this about a 1/4 through the game. The Research Camera allows you to take pictures of various creates and determine certain things about their genetic makeup. Eventually with enough research, you gain certain bonuses. Such as increased damage toward that enemy, information about what they are vulnerable to and even new Gene Tonics!

--

Overall, I loved this game. Combat was never repetitive due to the insane number of ways I could destroy stuff. Plasmids such as Telekenesis and Incinerate really open things up because almost anything in the environment can be manipulated.

AI is smart. It will recognise when it's being beaten, fall back, regroup, heal itself and attack again. Set people on fire and they will put themselves out in water, freeze them and they will warm themselves up.
An interesting thing to note is that enemy Splicers also have Plasmids/Gene Tonics, and sometimes a fair few of them.

The game forces you to make significant moral decisions throughout the game. Especially when it comes to the Little Sisters.
You can completely ignore the Big Daddies and merrily go on your way without fighting them - but you will quickly find that without the ADAM supply the Little Sisters possess you cannot gain new Plasmids or Tonics.

Kill the little girls by draining their blood, and you will gain a large amount of ADAM to spend on suiting up. Or save them by removing only a small (but nescessary) part of ADAM.

Killing them will certainly make the game easier, but is it the right thing to do? Ultimately, whatever choice you make will affect the game in the long run the end of the game will take every decision into account.

And the whole plot is absolutely brilliant. Very intriguing, deep and it really makes you stop and think. But saying anything else would be spoiling!

I really, really liked this game.

[ August 26, 2007, 19:54: Message edited by: Gopher ]

 

What system are you running it on? If a PC, what are your specs and how does it perform? Does it downshift well?

 

I'm playing with these specs:

2.2Ghz AMD Athlon 64 3500+
1024 RAM DDR2
7300 GT 256VRAM

I run at 1024x768 with medium-high settings. No lag at all during the entire game.

 

I've run the game on full settings with no slowdown whatsoever at any point:

2.4Ghz Dual-Core Intel
2GB RAM
GeForce 7900 GTX

Played at 1280x1024

 

Right then, I should be fine. I have more or less what Register has:

AMD 64 FX-55 2.4ghz
2gb DDR3
nVidia 7900GT 256mb

 

I'd check out the Bioware forums before purchase. It seems they have a finite number of installs (currently 5, up from original 2), so if you update your OS often, you will be SOL after legally purchasing this game. Also a grand debate whether or not the anti-piracy software places a rootkit in your registry. Facinating read, none the less.

 

@General Ghoul: You mean the Bioshock forums.

Actually the finite number of installs is a bit of a misdirection. You can have five installs on a system at any one time using one CD Key (which is authenticated online).

If you update your Operating system or whatever, simply uninstall the game first to 'get one credit back' so to speak.

[ August 28, 2007, 19:13: Message edited by: Gopher ]

 

DR, you should be fine, but I reccomend you getting the beta drivers made specifically for this game for maximum preformance. =)

 

Gopher: The uninstaller does currently *NOT* free the used activation. So after 5 times you have to call SecuROM support and send them pictures of your purchase and whatnot. An uninstallation utility will be released in the "future", which you have to use before uninstalling the game in order to free it.

 

@Erod: no kidding? I received different information when I bought the game. You seem to know your stuff though, so I stand corrected!

 

Yep, but you can install it on 5 different setups, and maximum installs on one setup is also 5. After this you either need to call SecuROM support, or use the revoke utility (when it is released) before uninstalling. It is all in the official 2K Games FAQ. A normal user probably will not be affected by it anyway. Nevertheless, 2K Games has received a lot of negative feedback about this (the limits were originally 2 and 3, btw). I for one, will not buy it before the protection is removed, which should be "sometime in the future" too.

 

From the 2kgames site:

I took this as meaning that if you take the time to do the proper uninstallation and deregistration, then you get the credit back, but if you simply delete the game, or format your game, then you need to eat into your 5 installs per machine thing. I think its still to be implemented though.

 

So, no posts in the last 10 days? Damn, the game must be hotter than a nuke explosion

 

maybe everyone's out playing it...well the people who don't need to upgrade their comp to do so. It's been getting pretty stellar reviews.

 

I have a question...I've been eyeing a Dell Vostro lappy which I'm thinking of picking up. I want to know if it can play BioShock...here's the config:

Intel Core 2 Duo 1.6 GHz
1 GB RAM
NVIDIA 8400 with 128 MB VRAM

Is that going to be good enough to play BioShock?