Ok, so I spent about 4 hours playing Bioshock on the 360 yesterday... Here are some (surprisingly lengthy!) impressions.
First things first: MAN, this makes me appreciate the MP3 control scheme. Now, I've played dual analog shooters before, but, admittedly, it's never been my preferred method (I'm a mouse/keyboard guy, myself). By the second hour in, I was eliminating the frustrations and slowly beginning to be able to move around pretty normally. But aiming was still giving me problems. With Prime 3, I was able to come in on Veteran and after a very short (10 minutes?) acclimation period, have my only frustrations be that the game was
hard – ie, it was
my fault if I wasn't doing well. Here, when I'm in the heat of battle, surrounded by splicers on all sides, I'm just annoyed that I can't respond the way I want. I feel like, with the Wiimote/nunchuk control scheme, I wouldn't have died a quarter of the times I died in this game so far.
You know, it reminds me of the transition from keyboard-only FPS controls to mouse/keyboard controls. Many people (myself included) were very, very capable at keyboard-only controls, and were leary of adding the mouse to the mix. It was out of my comfort zone, and I didn't see it as necessary when I could still beat all of the keyboard/mouse players that I played against with just my keyboard setup (this was in the Doom2 days =D). However, once I spent the time to develop my mouse/keyboard skills, I found it was truly the superior of the two, and allowed a level of precision and speed that the keyboard alone just couldn't provide.
NOTE: While the MP3 control scheme blows the Bioshock control scheme out of the water, I want to make it clear that I'm not trying to do a MP3 VS. Bioshock comparison. They are VERY different games in terms of pacing and style and direction, so they don't warrant a direct comparison, contrary to what some large sites seem to think (ahem, IGN). I'm simply making a comparison between control schemes here.Anyways, back to the game. So, the NEXT thing (after the obsolete and clunky controls) that I notice about the game is that it has atmosphere. LOTS AND LOTS of eery, creepy, violent, surprising, moody and disturbing atmosphere. And this ties into the story as well, which really sucked me in. The way they slip you bits of information, and deliver the story in creative ways (
blood writing on the walls/floor, the deserted/messy/bloody new years party scene, brief flashbacks, and of course the audio journals and Atlas on the radio) is amazing, and I kept wanting to fight the crappy control scheme just to see what was next. It's almost a survival horror FPS, and it rivals all the survival horror greats in this respect. Things will jump out of the dark. Lights will suddenly go out. You will be surrounded by baddies on all sides on your last vial of Eve, and you will be forced to run away screaming or meet your untimely demise.
Atmosphere also ties into the presentation, which overall is top-notch. Everything from the voice-acting (NPCs and enemies alike) is spot-on, and graphics and menus are all humorous and authentic-looking in their retro themes. The scripted events are really engaging too.
The gameplay (control issues aside) is intriguing. I'm having lots of fun using the various abilities you get, like
lightning, fire and telekinesis (which is especially fun), though it seems like your gauge drains a bit too quickly for some of the abilities. I guess, though, that could be solved by
upping my storage amount at those plasmid machines. I also really liked the strategy that these abilities add to the game. It makes seemingly insurmountable odds infinitely easier if you use your head a bit before charging into battle.
The one thing about the gameplay that's distracting and frustrating is the way you have to cycle through your weapons/ammo and abilities. If you have time to prepare, the added varieties of ammo and weapons give you a degree of finesse with how you go about fighting certain enemies. However, most of the time this wasn't the case for me... Say you're in a heated battle, and you suddenly need your shotgun (with a certain type of ammo), but you're on the wrench. You've got to either hit the bumper multiple times and hope you don't overshoot your intended weapon, or hold it down to choose (which takes you completely out of the gameplay for a short while). If you've also decided to change ammo, you're going to need to select that, and then wait for the painstakingly slow loading to finish before you can start busting caps again. It's totally jarring, and I wish they could've found some better solution. It's just too complicated, too many options, and – most of the time – it detracts from the experience instead of enhancing it.
On the other hand, the save system is great. You basically never have to choose "Save!" from a menu to ensure you keep your data (though I guess you can if you really feel the need). There are transparent checkpoints all over, and (from what I gather) you restart from little pods that are scattered around the levels. Seems like a great system.
I also really like the idea of choosing whether to
save or harvest the little sisters, and that it affects you in a real way, from gameplay all the way down to different endings.
So... I'm not really that far into the game, but so far it's been really good. I'm pretty sure that for most of those few hours I played, my heart rate was going like I'd drunk coffee all day (a good thing). I'm impressed at the level of polish, and the mystery surrounding the story, the pretty-shiny graphics (yeah, I said it), and the various creative storytelling things they've done. There are just a few flaws that I can pick out (my major objection, the controls, could only be fixed by the game being made for Wii
), but they don't ruin the game's engrossing experience. If anybody has a 360, you owe it to yourself to check out this game in some form – rental, purchase, gift, whatever. Just find a way... the poor souls of Rapture need you! (
I think... haven't finished the game yet!)
Topic: Bioshock (Read 67932 times)
