BioShock.

The Game Room
#1

I know it’s been done before, as I found many threads on BioShock when I searched. Thing is, I don’t want to accidentally run across open spoilers.

So I picked it up on Steam for $4.99 as kind of an impulse buy. I wasn’t really looking for a game, but had a few minutes to kill before bed so I thought I’d just see what was happening on Steam.

I saw that BioShock was cheap as hell, and recall seeing but not reading anything about it. I checked out the ratings a couple places and figured what the hell.

While it was downloading I read enough about it to figure out the setting, the philosophy of the guy who created the place, and some other tidbits. I actually didn’t realize it was a horror game until I peeked at a couple threads here.

I got it loaded up last night, and just poked around long enouch to run around after the bathysphere sequence for a few minutes. I really like the atmosphere so far. I’ll admit that I wasted a good amount of time at the very beginning playing with the refraction of the fire in the water droplets :smiley: I’m happy to say that even on my couple year-old computer all of the graphics options are turned ‘on’ and it’s running smoothly.

So. Without giving anything up, let’s talk about it. What do I have to look forward to? What am I going to absolutely love? Feel free to drop maddening hints, but as stated please no spoilers.

#2

I loved the game to death but it scared the ever-lovin’ piss out of me. I could only play it for like half an hour at a time.

It’s a pity the company only does horror. I would give my left leg for an RPG set in Rapture.

Lots of jump scares and I clearly remember turning around, seeing a monster right behind me, and yelling “YOU SHITHEAD!” and blasting him away with my shotgun.

#3

:smiley: That’s one of the posts that I ran across before I chickened out (you relating that story) and made my own thread. Got a good laugh out of that! I wonder if every time something sneaks up behind me, I’ll hear ‘SHITHEAD’ and it’ll completely ruin the moment…:eek:

#4

Sicks Ate, would you kindly let us know when you finish the game? I’d like to hear your thoughts; I was quite a fan myself.

#5

:wink:

The atmosphere of Bioshock is more tragic than horror, IMHO, something like Amnesia Dark Descent is more of a true horror game.

Still, there’s a few really good jumps and scares, and the other characters do exude a certain terror sometimes.

What you can look forward to is discovering the extremely rich, detailed world of rapture, which by the end, will truly feel like a fully fleshed out character in and of itself. The game rewards you as you gain knowledge about Rapture and it’s inhabitants by providing plenty of back story and constantly keeping you on your toes, while at the same time making you feel like your investment in exploring is worthwhile due mostly to the organic way in which knowledge about how the world interacts with you and everything else translates directly into ways in which you can exploit and control that world, eventually turning Rapture into a sort of ally.

You can also expect a really nice twist in terms of story line, which totally took me by surprise in ways that most other game storyline twists never do.

Definitely stay away from spoilers!

I recently re-installed it in a fit of nostalgia, and I’ll probably try and play through it soon.

The game uses the older unreal engine so it doesn’t support Anti-aliasing out of the gate. If you have a modern PC GPU, I’d suggest you turn on AA on your control panel, this is a game that where the detail fo the world is so important to the atmosphere, that removing jaggies really helps in the immersion.

If you don’t have a powerful GPU, I’d recommend the various post processing AA filters available from the Nvidia (FXAA) and AMD (MLAA) vs the traditional forced MSAA.

#6

I just played it about a month ago and, well, I liked it.

I didn’t love it, though. I expected quite a bit better, though I’d be hard pressed to explain what I expected. It was a lot of fun, though. I wasn’t a big fan of a couple of the fetch quest sections where you have to go get ingredients, but the main game was pretty fun.

I didn’t find it all that scary at all, though. I just thought of it as a FPS.

#7

The story and atmosphere were kind of neat, but the gameplay was just okay. Every time I got access to a new type of plasmid I’d get jazzed up, but then I’d usually be disappointed with how mediocre they were.

#8

I thought it was amazing. Great game play and one of the best stories in a game…I will say no more until spoilers are okay.

#9

I think its a great game, and I also want to mention that Steam kicks ass. Just picked up Arkham City for freaking ten bucks! And even though the game is a little older now, it looks amazing on my PC, mostly thanks to my newer Radeon card and my HD monitor.

But SicksAte, prepare to be immersed. Its a very interactive world. And I always found it to be quite creepy. Not to “horror” levels, but there are certain scenes/situations you are in where you an on the edge of your seat.

#10

The BioShock games are two of my favorite games of all time. Very unique setting, backstory, fun gameplay.

#11

Yeah…see, that’s a ‘thing’, isn’t it…

I really can’t wait to get in to it…due to a fluke of scheduling, I don’t have an s/o or kiddo around for a week!

I wondered about the lack of anti-aliasing! I will definitely try to tweak that, I think my card should handle it ok.

Awesome! Highly anticipating the immersion aspect.

#12

I see what you did there.

There’s a definite creepiness to it, but it’s a subtle flavor of creepy: a pervasive air of tragedy. The game conveys a sense of walking through an abandoned asylum, or the home of a family who all died in a terrible accident. There are shattered pieces of lives scattered all around.

#13

It’s incredibly atmospheric. I have a fairly large TV at home, and surround sound speakers, so…it made it even more scary for me. But awesome. The first couple of chapters are by far the best, but I don’t think the rest of the game was terrible or anything.

But yes, my SO would hear me yelp from the other room, then BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

You need to go home and play it now. :slight_smile: Be sure to come back and post and tell us about it.

#14

Well, 3 out of their 8 games can be considered scary, and that’s including the one that’s not out yet. I know what you mean though, scary games can be hard to play and to motivate yourself to continue. I will also take this moment to pimp *System Shock 2[i/] (if I don’t, someone else will). It’s scary, and Bioshock’s Big Daddy, but better. Things I don’t like about Bioshock 1/2 is that they were billed as action RPG, but it’s more like ACTION rpg. Stats would be nice. Also the morality system is simplistic, either you save little girls or you rip out their innards, no middle ground. I suppose one limitation for that is that there are very few characters you can’t interact that aren’t through gun sights or through radio. Trailers lie, but it looks like Bioshock Infinite might have some (not initially) hostile guys. The story and setting are pretty good.

Oh, and they could make a pre-calamity hyper-capitalist economics game. Smuggle ADAM.

#15

I need a town! I would have LOVED to find a small enclave or survivors, perhaps taking just enough ADAM to get by, fighting off the baddies. But that is definitely an RPG element, not survival horror.

#16

I loved System Shock 2…but for some reason I never made it more than about 3/4 of the way through. :dubious: Something would get in the way, I’d put it down for a bit and never pick it back up. Then I’d start over instead, same story.

I actually tried to install it this springs to try one more time, but I guess it has troubles running on my machine (64-bit? Multi-core? Win7? Don’t remember the exact issue).

So, to learn that BioShock is a successor to SS…well, now I’m even more stoked.

I couldn’t agree more

#17

Tell your boss I said so!

#18

Amnesia is really something special … the first game I’ve played (and one of very, very few) that ever made me feel moral horror at the player character’s actions.

Paint the man … cut the lines … paint the man … cut the lines …

#19

I’m assuming I want to play in the dark. Headphones? Or are there low-frequency sounds that will be better with a sub…

#20

This game disappointed me more than pretty much any other game ever has. It’s not a bad game in its own right, but it was nothing like what I was expecting. This is evidenced by the fact that I actually *enjoyed *Bioshock 2, because I knew what to expect.

So, as long as you like linear corridor horror shooters, a la Doom 3 or Quake 4, you won’t be disappointed. It has an arguably better/more interesting atmosphere and storyline than those games, and it has more flexibility with how you can use your character, but at it’s essence that’s what kind of game it is. It has a pathetic attempt at a “morality” system which was pretty much useless and tact on, I felt.

I don’t want to spoil the ending for you but it was hugely trite and disappointing to me, like the whole point of the game was just to insult you. But others RAVED about how wonderful the ending was, so, who knows.