Not sure, but I’d go with the speakers/sub. Underwater sounds tend to be full of bass.
Arguably? You’d have to make a very strong case for Id’s properties*. The morality in Bioshock 2 was a little more nuanced, as it also measured how vindictive you were. And I think it makes it more poignant when
Your actions don’t just make you a good or evil “person,” but your “daughter” will emulate your behavior, and either learn mercy or evil.
*I just learned that it was “Id,” as in “… ego, superego,” and not “eye-dee.” :smack:
Dang! I meant to ask about a comparison to Doom 3 but forgot.
I didn’t like Doom 3. I tried. Tried again. Tried reeealy hard.
Just got so tired of: walk in to room. something happens to make the lights go out…or they just do. something jumps out, maybe there are lights to see it by, maybe not. kill it. continue to next room. same thing.
I have The Boy tonight, but the rest of the week it’s game time. I still might mess around a bit after his bedtime, though it will have to be headphones if I do.
DOOM is also one of those games where it punishes you for picking things up. Like if you see an unattended medkit and you don’t desperately need it, then avoid it because it will make demons jump out. I think Bioshock has those moments, but they’re not terribly common IIRC. One example (minor non-plot spoilers):
There’s a flooded room with a bunch of statues and a lone item (gene tonic?). Of course once you get it, the statues come to life.
Ok. Started from the beginning again, here are my notes.
Obviously, pumped. Fantastic intro sequence, I am just past the point where I got to fight a couple splicers. Good tempo, honesttagod my heart rate is still up. When the splicer was attacking the bathysphere, I was literally twitching. Couple other times I physically reacted as well…yes, I got scared.
Changing the AA setting made such a beautiful difference…I pumped up settings in the NVIDIA control panel, started, then had to go back and slow my roll…still, it made all the difference and it looks beautiful. I turned on A-filtering, and I think it made a difference in how the banners looked, though I didn’t pay very close attention before I turned it on. Stepping out of the 'sphere…I looked out the windows for 2-3 minutes while that bitch was hissing at me, 'cuz it was so cool. The undulation of the water was neat.
Again to the graphics, I hung out in the burning water for a while, taking in the awesome reflections. Likewise, the reflections/light effects on the slick floors when I first got in to the tower. Now I know these aren’t exactly groundbreaking anymore, but I’m impressed.
The short dream sequence where the splicers/big daddy come along was awesome.
Hm. Heart rate is still up. This reminds me of Half Life the first.
To be honest, I didn’t really get sucked into Rapture. I didn’t find it believable. I thought the presences of vending machines everywhere with weapons and such was stupid in an underwater city that could easily be damaged by all of that. I also didn’t think it was cute or funny how they made the vending machines all cutesy, or the little movies that show you how to use your powers. It kept pulling me out of the game, reminding me that I was playing a video game.
When I was playing Quake 4 or F.E.A.R., I found the worlds much more believable and the atmosphere didn’t pull me out of it over and over again like Bioshock did.
Oh wow, another tape someone JUST HAPPENED TO LEAVE BEHIND recording some important details that JUST HAPPEN TO HELP ME RIGHT HERE. Dumb. Dumb dumb dumb. Like I said, too many things in the “world of Rapture” just didn’t make sense to me and kept pulling me out of the game.
Ok that’s my rant. Obviously you know where I stand on Bioshock
Oh yeah, forgot to mention that I was wearing headphones, which I really liked. I’ll be able to crank up the speakers tonight, though, and see which I prefer.
Not all things for all people, and all that. People rave about HL2 and build shrines to its honor but I got bored part way through and never finished it. I actually got around to uninstalling it during this Steam sale to make room.
What was so amazing about the way the story went was…
…how it took the very act of playing the game (following objectives as you play through levels) and incorporated it into the story of the game itself. It was just mind blowing to me at the time when it was revealed.
“Hop hop Mister B, angels don’t wait for slowpokes!”
The Bioshocks are some of my favorites of this gaming generation. I also loved 2 as well, the criticisms of it being “just a sequel” made little difference to me, since it was filled with wonderful artistic touches that added life and background to the “character” of Rapture. The additional “tower defense” mechanic of harvesting Adam while splicers swarm you was also a lot of fun.There are few gaming pleasures more satisfying than headshotting splicers with a rocket-speargun, or seeing them walk into a multiple cascade of traps
The additional DLC adventure of Bio 2, Minerva’s Den, was also excellent and far longer and more fun than I expected from typical DLC.
I buy, maybe, three full price games a year, this will be one of the
I played through Bioshock 2 again a third time. I’ve played Bioshock twice (both as a good guy and a bad guy)…there’s just something about the universe that resonates with me, although I’ll admit this last play through, it’s had me thinking questions I shouldn’t be. (“Who keeps refilling the machines?” “Wouldn’t this room have fully flooded by now?” “That fire’s been burning for YEARS.” “How on earth would you create such a large structure underwater? It doesn’t look structurally sound?”)
And that my friends is the trite, insulting ending that had me so jaded towards an already underwhelming game.
I would have rather them just said, “YOU ARE PLAYING A VIDEO GAME AND YOU JUST FOLLOWED THE OBJECTIVES SET UP FOR YOU IN THE VIDEO GAME, HAHAHAHA!” Well duh. That’s the goddamn point of a video game (or at least most of them).
I read someone (Henry Jenkins, probably) recently who said that games are the only art form that can make the audience feel guilt. That might be pushing it a bit–movies can occasionally make the viewer feel voyeuristic guilt, for example–but there’s some truth to that. Games like Bioshock came close to allowing for that feeling, and games like Planescape:Torment succeed at it.
