REVIEW: Bioshock

Is Bioshock the best game ever? Its very very close!

BUY BIOSHOCK. You won't regret it. It's available on Steam or retail stores. I finished it last night. Does it measure up to Half Life 2 (my choice for the best game I've ever played)? It is so very very close, the story is excellent as is the way it is revealed to the player. Who would have thought you could structure a fps around the implementation of an objectivist philosophy! The visuals are superb and is ran beautifully with all the trimmings @1600x1200 (my pc specs are here). The combat system and enemy ai was great fun with a whole lot of variety and choice. The flame and water effects where the best I've seen.

Criticisms? The only ones I had were very minor in comparison to the game's greatness. The physics interaction with the objects was a little disappointing. For example, if you walked over a piece of rubble, it would fly off at a random angle and disproportional speed. There was no feeling of real interaction with the objects in the environment. On the other hand, the player's interaction with environmental factors (water, fire, electricity, chemical spills etc) was great and added hugely to the game play.

The level design also made some use of invisible walls (i.e. you can stand on the edge of this ledge but you can't walk off it). Some invisible walls are unavoidable in this sort of game, but I think they could have done a better job disguising them.

As a player I felt a little railroaded at times. Again some railroading is unavoidable in story-based shooters and the plot encompassed the player's lack of choice brilliantly (the main plot twist absolutely floored me). However, there was effectively only one choice in the entire game that changed the player's circumstance (that choice was a doozy though).

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Finally, although the atmosphere of Rapture, an decaying underwater city, was wonderfully creepy, the decay of the city (collapsing tunnels, sudden leaks) was never threatening. Right at the start of the game, you are meant to be running to keep ahead of a flood but if you take your time and admire the rushing water and disintergrating superstructure, there are no consequences. You can stand around as long as you like. Would it have been so bad to let the player die if he doesn't outrun the flood?

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Overall though, Bioshock is a superb game and comes with the highest recommendation from me. It doesn't quite displace Half Life 2 as the best of the best but it is so very close.

Saturday, September 29, 2007 in gaming  | Permalink |  Comments (0)