Problems with Bioshock, The ‘Game of the Year’ Flaws Showing

[PacoDG]

I am copying and pasting a write up I just did in full so you don't even have to visit my site to read it, cause I want feedback, it is up on Digg if you digg stuff, digg it.



Woo, got my copy I pre-order from GameStop (a day or two after it came out, but its okay), put my toy on my wall, then booted up. I went through the game on hard, beat it, felt great, missed saving a little sister somewhere on the way so I suck cause I didn’t get that achievement, whatever.

Now I am going through the game a second time on easy just to get all the photography achievements, its cool because now I am really appreciating the different characters and character types. Harvesting a little sister *quick spoiler ahead* is cool with the heart pulling out and all. I am having fun choosing different abilities and combos (for the most part I have just been using plasmid powers and having the camera out as my weapon at all times).

Here comes my qualms, after all that praise, when it is said and done, this game was pretty short. I don’t consider myself a tough *** player, so when I beat the game on hard within a week, I didn’t think much of it then, but usually I don’t beat games on hard. Now on the second play through, I can see this being “Crackdown” where I might not have many reasons to ever pick up the game again after you beat it once. I would pay good money to see a multiplayer. I know how the developers feelings on a multiplayer was, but think of a game like “The Darkness,” it seems almost like the multiplayer was tacked on, but it ends up being really fun (when you get a non-lag game, but hey, they are fixing that ). Think of a FPS multiplayer with the plasmids flying around, and a playable Big Daddy (that of course is tuned to be a fair fight against a human/splicer)

This game needs some new downloadable content, maybe not just right away, but multiplayer would be at the top of my list of course, however i’d settle for some extra missions maybe, just not crappy extra different new weapons/plasmids thrown in the game as the DLC. No matter what I have said, if you haven’t bought this title yet, go rent it now .

(These thoughts inspired by the game itself of course, as well as The Digital Gamer really laying into Bioshock, or at least the critics that overpraised this game)

[Mozgus]

I just upgraded my cpu and card to play this and a few other games maxed out, and I can't say I have any issues with the game so far. I'm only 90 minutes in so far though. But I'm loving the visuals, setting, acting, audio, combat, everything. I dont fucking want multiplayer features in EVERY game that comes out. It shouldn't be a requirement for a videogame to be good.

[Intangir]

Twenty hours is more than enough length for an FPS for me, and more than the typical FPS in my experience. It ended just as it was beginning to drag, good for it. I don't care about MP either, so I can't relate to that either although a "hunt the big daddy" mode does sound like potential fun.

The issues I had with BioShock are, surprisingly covered rather well in the ZeroPunctuation Review although it left out the whole SecuROM thing which gave me a few hassles throughout. I didn't feel the same sense of dread throughout BioShock as I did in System Shock 2 though. In SS2 you constantly feel like the entire ship is hunting you and hearing noises around the corner makes you feel an anxious dread, but in BioShock you mostly feel anticipation for action--which is fine, just different.

Truth be told, I enjoyed BioShock quite much and it's probably the best game I've played that came out this year (I've only played two 2007 titles so far; the other one being Overlord). But what can I say? I'm just getting a bit wary for the future of such games if, say, Arx Fatalis (d)evolves into Dark Messiah and System Shock 2 (d)evolves into BioShock.

[Mozgus]

Twenty hours is more than enough length for an FPS for me, and more than the typical FPS in my experience. It ended just as it was beginning to drag, good for it. I don't care about MP either, so I can't relate to that either although a "hunt the big daddy" mode does sound like potential fun.

The issues I had with BioShock are, surprisingly covered rather well in the ZeroPunctuation Review although it left out the whole SecuROM thing which gave me a few hassles throughout. I didn't feel the same sense of dread throughout BioShock as I did in System Shock 2 though. In SS2 you constantly feel like the entire ship is hunting you and hearing noises around the corner makes you feel an anxious dread, but in BioShock you mostly feel anticipation for action--which is fine, just different.

Truth be told, I enjoyed BioShock quite much and it's probably the best game I've played that came out this year (I've only played two 2007 titles so far; the other one being Overlord). But what can I say? I'm just getting a bit wary for the future of such games if, say, Arx Fatalis (d)evolves into Dark Messiah and System Shock 2 (d)evolves into BioShock.

Dark Messiah was AMAZING, I don't care what people say. I beat it thrice. Amazing use of the source engine. No real flaws with the game. Never even tried multiplayer.

And if you have issues with the copy protection, help teach developers a lesson and pirate it until they do away with it. The more copy protection a game has, the more reason I have to just pirate it. Bioshock comes pirated pre-cracked with no securom shit. You just install and play. I even have an issue with PC games that require discs to play, simply due to the fact that the game is not streaming any assets from the disc, or benefiting from it in any way.

[JJJ]

I started out really liking Bioshock.. But its repetitive - most areas are pretty similar in content (even if they look different). Furthermore there are some disappointments:

-the final boss sequence is terrible - seems lifted from a cheaper game.
-ending is short and weak
-you can't swim, in a game whose atmosphere is entirely dependent on water!

The worst disappointment is the balance of the game. Its broken. I won't say exactly how, but its possible to play through the entire game killing virtually everyone with your wrench. This with no plasmid purchases either. Thats just terrible playtesting for a game this big.

I'd rate it a solid 8.0. Fun, cool ideas and atmosphere but very flawed.

System Shock 2 and Deus Ex are so much better its not even worth a detailed comparison...

[aaron]

Twenty hours is more than enough length for an FPS for me, and more than the typical FPS in my experience. It ended just as it was beginning to drag, good for it. I don't care about MP either, so I can't relate to that either although a "hunt the big daddy" mode does sound like potential fun.

The issues I had with BioShock are, surprisingly covered rather well in the ZeroPunctuation Review although it left out the whole SecuROM thing which gave me a few hassles throughout. I didn't feel the same sense of dread throughout BioShock as I did in System Shock 2 though. In SS2 you constantly feel like the entire ship is hunting you and hearing noises around the corner makes you feel an anxious dread, but in BioShock you mostly feel anticipation for action--which is fine, just different.

Truth be told, I enjoyed BioShock quite much and it's probably the best game I've played that came out this year (I've only played two 2007 titles so far; the other one being Overlord). But what can I say? I'm just getting a bit wary for the future of such games if, say, Arx Fatalis (d)evolves into Dark Messiah and System Shock 2 (d)evolves into BioShock.

Dark Messiah was AMAZING, I don't care what people say. I beat it thrice. Amazing use of the source engine. No real flaws with the game. Never even tried multiplayer.

And if you have issues with the copy protection, help teach developers a lesson and pirate it until they do away with it. The more copy protection a game has, the more reason I have to just pirate it. Bioshock comes pirated pre-cracked with no securom shit. You just install and play. I even have an issue with PC games that require discs to play, simply due to the fact that the game is not streaming any assets from the disc, or benefiting from it in any way.

not everyone would do the honest thing and actually BUY the game after they spent a long time enjoying it. at least probably not brand new, which is all that matters to the developer. thus, annoying copy protection lives to fight another day.

[NebachadnezzaR]

Arx Fatalis (d)evolves into Dark Messiah

? Those games have almost nothing in common. Arx Fatalis is a RPG and Dark Messiah an action game with just little RPG elements.

About the copy protection, don't come with all that bull about being a necessary evil and such. Talking about somewhat recent games, I think both Company of Heroes and Oblivion came with no protection system whatsoever and they were still best-sellers. Why? Because they're great, and as stupid as most gamers are, they still recognise that and feel that such a good game really deserves to be bought.

Now, about Bioshock, only played the demo yet, waiting to get enough money to buy the collector's edition, but I have to admit, at first I didn't really cared for it, but after spending 10 or 15 minutes with the demo I changed my mind completely.

[Mozgus]

About the copy protection, don't come with all that bull about being a necessary evil and such. Talking about somewhat recent games, I think both Company of Heroes and Oblivion came with no protection system whatsoever and they were still best-sellers. Why? Because they're great, and as stupid as most gamers are, they still recognise that and feel that such a good game really deserves to be bought.

Oblivion has protection. Company of Heroes does not, which really surprised me. Relic deserves props for this, and I would have bought the game if I liked the RTS genre.

[Intangir]

? Those games have almost nothing in common. Arx Fatalis is a RPG and Dark Messiah an action game with just little RPG elements.

My point exactly. The thing that connects them is that they were both made by Arkane Studios. When a new Arkane game was being announced, I and many other people at more PC-centric fora like TTLG et al became excited for a Source version of Arx Fatalis 2. Unfortunately it wasn't to be, and this new game shipped hardly anything at all like Arkane's previous title.

Of course I'm not saying Dark Messiah is bad (although you can probably understand my disappointment), the thing is I'm worried that this whole "multi-platforming" crap is negatively impacting more complex PC titles that I'm fond of--yet another degradation brought about by the $ystem. It could just be a temporary shift to action for all I know, however, but I'm just becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the current trend (did I mention Thief: Deadly Shadows?).

As for the DRM thing, I'm happy I bought BioShock to throw support to Irrational Games. It just sucks that they (whoever they is; the publisher?) put such a copy-protection scheme on the game. Granted I haven't had any issues with activation or the like... The only problems I've had with it is that it wouldn't launch when I had FileMon open (troubleshooting a possible software incompatibility) and made me reboot my entire machine before it'd let me even think about launching the executable again.

That said, I don't play games with StarForce. Period. I don't buy them, don't even pirate them.

Company of Heroes does not, which really surprised me. Relic deserves props for this, and I would have bought the game if I liked the RTS genre.

Agreed. Although I don't dislike the RTS genre, I'm just woefully inept at it. The only other thing that's kept me from picking up Company of Heroes is that I've been sick and tired of WW2 games for quite some time now. Nevertheless, I'll buy the game when I see it in a 48-Madness sale for a price I can't refuse because I still thought the demo was fun, incredible-looking, and also to back up their copy protection decision.

[Faffel]

The worst disappointment is the balance of the game. Its broken. I won't say exactly how, but its possible to play through the entire game killing virtually everyone with your wrench. This with no plasmid purchases either. Thats just terrible playtesting for a game this big.

System Shock 2 was the exact same, but from what I hear Bioshock isn't as scarce for ammo as SS2 is. Personally, I think being able to play through wrenching everything to death is fun. I love brutal melee kills.

As for Thief: DS, I thought it was a great upgrade to the Thief series and idea, but merely lacked some of the things that made it great as well. It was a give and take game, and what we got was only painful because we will likely never see a glorious refinement of Thief in next-gen graphics with the old-school gameplay.