Bioshock - What was the big deal?

This has been discussed and I'm sure there are several Bioshock threads around.

But I felt the same way. I never even finished the game, but have it on my list to go back to. The environment is what made the game interesting, IMO.

My biggest complaint was the health system. Since enemies maintained their damage, dying meant absolutely nothing, since there was no motivation to not just run in guns blazing. I never tried, but I assume you could literally melee a Big Daddy to death if you wanted to. Sure you might die 50 times or more, but I'd bet it's possible. Maybe I'll load up my game and try it.

To each his own, as they say. Just like I think all GTA games are over-hyped. I liked Bioshock, didn't buy it, but enjoyed the experience.

I only played the demo, but I agree that the shooting mechanics were awkward and a bit sloppy. The game's strong points are known to be its story and atmosphere, not combat. I think you have to play the game with a much different mindset than when playing a standard FPS like COD4 or Killzone 2.

I liked playing it more strategically and less like a shooter. The shooting controls are definitely sloppy, but I enjoyed using bolts and certain plasmids to set up traps and the like. One major thing I enjoyed about it was that you could play the game completely differently each time through. I played through it once normally, once stealthily (setting tornado traps, enraging groups to slaughter each other, hacking turrets, etc), and once with just the wrench and the electricty plasmid.

As for respawning, I thought that was very lame as well; but I liked that you could turn it off, and that was the first thing I did in the game. Makes it much more interesting.

I remember when the Bioshock demo was quietly put up on Xbox Live, and the almost immediate buzz that it created.
That demo made the game a day one purchase for a lot of people (myself included).

The game's atmosphere (especially for the time) was awesome, as was the gameplay.
I viewed it as a "step up" in video game storytelling, and I was glad to see it win GOTY awards.

I realize that not everybody feels the same way about the game, but this game won GOTY and sold very well for a reason.

I agree, the game play wasn't that great. I think it became popular because the environment seemed so messed up and freaky. I did finish the game and thought it was ok, I didn't think it was as good (great) as people said it was.

Tastes differ, obviously. I think it's a great game: top-notch writing, voice acting, art design, and music. I also thought the gameplay was a blast. You say the shooting was sloppy; do you mean that aiming was difficult? The machine gun is designed to start out with a lot of recoil, but you can upgrade it to make it more accurate. And as Martez notes, the game supports many different combat strategies. Isn't that what people mean when they say a game's combat system has a lot of depth?

You answered your own question.

Few games create such detailed and rich environments: architecture, cultural detritus, voice work, storyline, etc. I was disappointed in Bioshock as a game (ended too abruptly, funky control mechanics, over-simplified moral choices, and so on), but loved it as an experience.

I had Bioshock on the PC, so even with mouse controls and all the normal PC perks I was still greatly disappointed by the game for most of the reasons the OP stated. It's not as over rated last year as GTIV IMHO, but certainly nothing special aside from the visual design and script.

Yes, when you take away what makes it special, it's nothing special

It was a great game but I couldn't get into it. The atmophere, setting, is the best since Doom 3 (PC) The emotional ties and morality issues are very conviincing. I could never harvest a little sister out of guilt.

But I can wait for the movie if I just want to be wowed by visual design and a script. "Game"play must come first for me to like a game.

I'm curious: for those who were underwhelmed by Bioshock, can you talk about a game you really enjoyed, and what you liked about it? (Let's stick with shooters in single-player mode so that we're comparing similar things.)

Wow, to actually go to the trouble of creating a thread about it shows it really affected you.

I have been disappointed with many games but never felt the need to create threads about it.

I thought gta sucked, should I start a new thread?

Bioshock was really a mixed bag for me.

Having played the System Shock games, Bioshock didn't seem all that new or different. Pretty much every gameplay mechanic came from those earlier (and better) games. But for console gamers--used to goofy games like Halo and such--who never played those PC-only titles, Bioshock might have seemed pretty new. If nothing else, this generation has finally seen PC-FPS-quality storylines and concepts making their way onto console FPS's.

But the art design in Bioshock was absolutely brilliant. The story was pretty good, but it had many missteps along the way. Other than that, it wasn't much to write home about. It was enjoyable though, and definitely worth multiple play-throughs.

As for other, better single-player FPS games, the following are my personal favorites. All had stellar stories, level design, and gameplay mechanics:

Thief 1
Theif 2
Deus Ex
Half-Life 2
Max Payne 2 (third-person, but whatever. Also, I'm referring to the PC version, not the inferior console version)

I'm sure there are more, but those jump out at me right away.

I feel sorry for you.

it's not bad. but it would have been great if not for the constant need to hack the ammo/plasmid vending machines. that's easily the most annoying way to replenish an inventory that i have ever seen. i can say that i didn't like it enough to eagerly anticipate a sequel.

BioShock: 2nd best game this gen behind only MGS4.

You don't need to hack them; it doesn't save you that much money.

actually it is.. [IMG]http://www.*****************/trafficreport/img/3721/k09f0423lglc/b.gif[/IMG]

I agree.

I've played the Half-Life series, which I enjoyed about as much as Bioshock, and Deus Ex, which I liked but not quite as much.

HL2's gameplay mechanics were fairly straightforward, I thought; mostly simple shooting, not much opportunity to lay traps that I recall. On the plus side, it was very cool to drive a vehicle while fighting an attack helicopter. (And great voice acting by Robert Guillaume and Robert Culp.)

As for Deus Ex, I liked the RPG-lite aspect where you could choose which skills you wanted to develop, and that there were always multiple ways to complete any given objective. The storyline didn't make much impression on me -- I've never been a fan of illuminati-type mythology -- but it was certainly more involved than what most games have.

The strengths of HL2's gameplay was in its smooth integration of physics mechanics, both in puzzles and as combat tactics. That, and the incredibly engaging storyline. I've never before or since felt such a complete sense of history and conflict in a game.


That open-endedness alone is what made this game so incredible. It's had such a huge impact on game design, and few if any have been able to match that same sense of alternate solutions to an objective. Never felt contrived or over-simplified. Great game.

Half-Life 2: Ep.II (PC) is my favorite solo FPS this gen. An engaging story with nice (and varied) visuals as well as a great physics engine serves as the back bone, but the tense gameplay and generous variety of battle situations made every scene very fun to play through.

The two that stand out at the moment for me include the creepy bug nest sequence and the huge war in the woods. In fact, the HL entire series is as close to epic as you can get for FPS gaming.

I also loved Call of Duty and CoD4's solo adventures (PC). While the stories and characters aren't as well developed as HL2's, the action is top notch.... it can really feel like you're on the battlefield the way they put those titles together.

My problems with BioShock showed up very early. I hated the over-abundance of choices for offense. Magic, items, skills, weapons and multiple ammo types.... way too much for a FPS title IMHO. I spent the first few hours trying to set up my hot keys on my keyboard and 5-button mouse for easy access to everything as I played but could never get a comfortable configuration that didn't force me to shift my hand position.

The aiming was never smooth and the actual encounters felt empty. I didn't feel part of the world or believe the enemies were more than plastic mannequins come to life to attack me. They looked too shiny and had undeveloped animation, so I couldn't suspend belief very well. I grew bored and stopped playing.

I agree, the HL series had a terrific variety of settings over the various installments: urban streets, inland waterways, zombie town, the beach, the prison, the open road, mines and caverns, inside the enemy citadel. "Epic" is a good word for the series.

(Haven't tried Call of Duty; I prefer science fictional settings.)

It all depends on what you look for in an FPS. Ever since COD4, if an fps isn't like it then it apparently sucks. I'm playing through HL2 now and its a great game for me so far but if you want to get into shooting mechanics its the worst ever but there are other things that make it a great game like the puzzles and gravity gun, physics, setting and story.

I was also somewhat underwhelmed by Bioshock. After the very promising demo, the actual game quickly degenerated into a very generic FPS with almost every level involving some sort of "fetch and build" quest. While the atmosphere of the game was fantastic the underwater environment hardly ever factored into the gameplay and the endings were beyond lame. Even the plasmids were largely window dressing; other than shock, flame and telekenisis, the rest were mostly novelties that didn't factor at all into the gameplay at all. I sold the game back after finishing it as it had zero replay value. Hopefully, the sequel will be a little smarter and make better use of its environments.

Interesting; can you say more about why you dislike the shooting mechanics?

I liked using the Hypnotize Big Daddy and Enrage plasmids to get my enemies fighting each other, and Target Dummy to fool the turrets. I also liked Insect Swarm as a way of hurting splicers without engaging in direct combat.