BioShock Series

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Talk about BioShock, BioShock 2, and the upcoming BioShock: Infinite over here.

From what I can tell most people say that the System Shock games are superior, and I'm sure that they are, but since I've only played BioShock I can only talk about these games.

At any rate the first game is a really fantastic atmospheric game. Mechanically its a pretty average FPS with some interesting concepts that just feel a tad bit underdeveloped, but this is one of those rare cases in which I do feel that the great story and atmosphere go a long way towards making the game stand out in the genre. I literally just picked up BioShock 2 for $10 today, so I'll continually update how I feel about this game as I play through it.

As for BioShock: Infinite, it looks like it takes everything that was good about the previous games and improves on the stuff that was lacking. It has great atmosphere and great looking gameplay, and is easily my most anticipated game of next year, so far (sorry, until I try out Mass Effect 2 I can't say I care much for that series).

[Lord Dalek]

So tell me friend? Are you a KGB Wolf or a CIA dog?!?

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Andrew Ryan was easily my favorite character of the 1st game. I have a feeling that the 2nd game will lose a lot of the first game's charm without him in it. Virtually all of his lines are extremely quotable.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Well, he's technically still in it plot-wise, but no he's not like an obstacle or anything.

As far as the two games go, the first game is the better experience, but the second one is the better game on a technical level.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

So, I've finally gotten into playing BioShock 2, and I'm at a decent length through the story by this point in time (I'd assume that I'm about half-way through the game, currently having just arrived at Dionysus Park).

The first thing that I took notice to was that the game looks exactly like the first game on a visual level, which I suppose makes sense since its not like the first game's graphics and art design left too much room for improvement, but this did get me to look at the game without the bias of the "wow-factor" goggles that I had when I played the first game (being that it was a brand new and unique experience for me back then, whereas over here it feels like familiar territory). In a way that's probably actually a good thing since I can judge the game more fairly, if anything. As for the gameplay, it basically plays it safe and makes only very subtle changes for the most part, with the only major game changer (literally) being the ability to use both guns (or your melee drill) and plasmids at the same time. To the game's credit this does add a whole new layer of depth to the strategy elements that you incorporate in this game, though much like the first game you are rarely ever required to strategize, though this game does at least give you more opportunities to set up strategies (such as with the side-missions in which you have to defend little sisters as they gather Adam for you) in advance and overall it seems to reward you more for playing that way, as well.

Other minor changes are there but most of them may go by unnoticed, though stuff such as the much quicker and less annoying hacking mini-game are very welcome changes from the original.

One thing that bugged me about the game was that it felt like the beginning was slower than in the first game. If anything I would have expected things to move along faster, but for whatever reason the developers took their time with things and it honestly took me a lot longer to even get the basic abilities in the game as opposed to the 1st game in which you learned almost all of the basic stuff within the first 30 minutes of the game. I also forgot how tough BioShock is during the beginning of the game, when you have low health, eve, and ammo. Its also tough more in a frustrating way than in a good and challenging way, mostly because you feel the need to strategize in this part of the game (among the only times in the game in which strategy feels like its truly crucial to your survival) but you really just have to wing it through a lot of tough parts because you haven't been given the proper equipment to set up traps or come up with plans before entering into a big encounter with lots of enemies. Its for this reason that I initially hated the missions with defending the Little Sisters when they extracted Adam from dead bodies since I got damaged so easily.

Thankfully the game picks up once you get enough upgrades to start really experimenting around with the different weapons and abilities that you have at your disposal.

One thing that I sincerely wish that BS2 would improve from the first game was the boss fights. Unfortunately, they are just as lackluster and annoying as ever. The bosses are basically just tougher versions of the regular enemies that move around a bit faster and do more damage to you (and also take more damage before going down). I also kind of feel like its a missed opportunity, narrative speaking, to not have a choice as to whether to fight some people or not. It'd be nice in a game like this if some of the important characters who become bosses in the game were more 3-dimensional and according to certain actions you performed in the game you could either choose if you wanted to kill them or persuade them to be on your side. So far only one character in the game gave you any such choice (and she wasn't even a boss, anyways).

Also, the story in this game, while certainly still above average by FPS standards, feels rather weaker than the first game's strong narrative. The first game had an element of unpredictability to it, and I also felt that there was much more characterization in it as well. There were fewer characters, especially with the audio recorded diaries, so even though you mostly only listened to those diaries you still got a real sense and feel for what those character's were like, despite never getting to actually see most of them in person. The 2nd game on the other hand just feels like it has those recordings their for the sake of it. I mean, they do expand on the story and the BioShock Universe, but at the same time there are way too many characters that have these diary recordings (except for the main characters in the game, I rarely ever get 2 recordings by the same person, or at least it feels that way) and very few of them feel like they get any characterization, so overall I just end up picking up the recordings if I happen to walk by one since I'm not interested enough to go out of my way to search for all of them. Even when I do find them I usually don't bother paying much attention to what's being said in them, anymore.

Overall, though, I do think the game is still a ton of fun to play and is really addicting despite using the same exact gameplay formula. I also have to praise the game for how open and expansive its levels are. The first game had this, but this game is just packed to the brim with big levels just begging to have every inch of them explored. I honestly end up spending at least 2 hours on each level just trying to find every little secret that it has to hide, and in some cases I've ended up spending 3+ hours on a level just trying to collect everything in it (except for the audio recordings, which I don't usually care enough about, but I have a feeling that I end up getting most of them anyways, since I end up searching the whole level before moving on to the next one). This really helps the game feel a lot less linear, and it also reminds me of old-school shooters with how the levels had to be explored for certain items that you needed to get before you could move on, except in this game's case it also actually has a great atmosphere to go along with its exploration.

So, yeah, I think this game is a lot of fun. Its not really a great FPS mechanically-speaking (though in that sense, neither was the first game), but its still a very damn good one, and still feels pretty memorable for the most part, even if its not nearly as big of an experience as the first game was when I first played it.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I just beat the game. Overall the game was kind of dull from a narrative standpoint, at least compared to the first game. In terms of the gameplay, though, it was a slight but noticeable improvement in terms of the mechanics, and it was certainly fun to play through, so its still a good game at its core.

I have to admit, though, through the first half of the game the sections in which you had to defend the little sisters while they harvested Adam from dead bodies for you felt more like a chore than a fun challenge. The whole idea behind them is that you're supposed to have a chance to form strategies by utilizing your different equipment (not just guns), like being able to set up traps, hack security to work for you, and generally do other stuff to get through each harvest in one piece without just relying on boring "run-and-gun" gameplay. When you actually have most of this equipment at your disposal (and a sufficient amount of it, at that), then these sections can be really interesting to experiment with what you have at your disposal and really strategize to even out the odds when you have to defend the little sister. The problem is earlier on in the game, though, in which you're forced to go through these sections but really only have your guns and a few plasmids to rely on. Without much to experiment with it just becomes a tedious mission of defending a target, which I usually hate.

That's really my only major gripe with the gameplay, though. Everything else about it felt solid, and while the shooting mechanics and AI and all of the technical stuff are probably average by FPS standards, the game still stands out in how it combines it with a great atmosphere and a ton of room for exploration in each level.

At any rate, having only paid $10 for the game I can safely say that I'm very satisfied with it, and its certainly worth more than what I paid for it (though I don't think that I would have bought it at full price if I had the choice, back when it came out). Though, must like the first game, it doesn't have much incentive for me to replay it, which is why I'm glad that even a single run through the game still lasted me a good 20+ hours or so. The multiplayer doesn't really seem that interesting (or even balanced, for that matter), so I'll just be skipping out on that feature (I doubt anyone even plays this game online anymore, anyways).

Now I suppose I'll just be anticipating Bioshock Infinite until it comes out. The atmosphere and narrative seem to be just as strong as the first game, especially since its in a totally new type of environment altogether, so it feels fresh just like how the first game did back when it was released. I just hope that the mechanics are further refined and improved with new additions to the combat, so that it also becomes really above average from a gameplay standpoint as well as its story.