Author Topic: Bioshock (Read 50713 times)

wandering · « **on:** September 20, 2006, 08:30:27 PM »

Q: What is Bioshock?

A:

Quote
Originally posted by: Sir_Stabbalot
Your character survives a crash landing in the middle of the Atlantic ocean and manages to swim to a lighthouse that is oddly sticking out in the middle of the sea. Inside is a small one-man bathysphere that takes you to Rapture. Rapture is a city made by an ex-Soviet citizen who created a super-capitolist city on the ocean flor encased in a huge glass dome. The city is spawling and filled with 50s-era sttyled buildings, but when you arrive it's in ruins. One of the focal points of the game is a substance called "Adam". It's a mutagen made from a sea slug that secretes pure stem cells. The question is this: How much of your humanity will you give up for power?

Gameplay terms, it's a sci-fi horror FPS with many ways to achieve an objective.

Q: Sounds great! When can I get a copy?

A: In North America, it's coming out for both the Xbox 360 and PC on August 21.

Q: Will I be able to play it on the crappy PC I bought five years ago?

Probably not! Here are the system requirements:

Minimum:

Operating System: Windows XP with Service Pack 2 or Windows Vista
CPU: Pentium 4 2.4 GHz (single core)
System RAM: 1 GB
Video card: DirectX 9.0c compliant card with 128MB RAM (NVIDIA 6600/ATI X1300 or better, excluding ATI X1550)
Sound card: 100% DirectX 9.0c compliant card
Internet connection: Required for activation
Hard disc space: 8 GB of free space

Recommended:

Operating System: Windows XP with Service Pack 2 or Windows Vista
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo
System RAM: 2 GB
Video card: DirectX 9.0c compliant card with 512MB RAM (NVIDIA 7900GT or better) or DirectX 10 compliant card (NVIDIA 8600 or better)
Sound card: Sound Blaster X-Fi (Optimized for EAX ADVANCED HD 4.0/5.0 compatible cards)
Internet connection: Required for activation
Hard disc space: 8 GB of free space

Q: What does the game look like?

A: Like this:

Q: This game looks so good, I want to give its creators as much money as possible.

You should get the Collector's Edition, which comes in an embossed steel case, and includes a soundtrack cd, a making of dvd, and a 6 inch tall Big Daddy figurine.

Q: Where can I get more information?

Check out the offcial site, or the cult of rapture (another offcial site), or the game's wikipedia page.

---

(Originally, a different post occupied this space. In it, I pointed to this video, and fawned over it.)

Smoke39 · « **Reply #1 on:** September 20, 2006, 09:01:52 PM »

It's the spiritual successor to System Shock 2, which was similar to Deus Ex, which was like the best freaking game like ever. So I'm definitely interested.

edit: I'm refering to the original Deus Ex, not the vastly inferior sequal, Invisible War.

ShyGuy · « **Reply #2 on:** September 20, 2006, 09:23:14 PM »

Bioshock is one of the few titles that has my curiosity piqued on the 360. Of course it's coming to the PC as well, but I believe under DX10, which means Vista, which means spending money to buy Microsoft anyhow. Errrrrgh.

couchmonkey · « **Reply #3 on:** September 21, 2006, 05:52:24 AM »

Exploring is overrated! Down with the 45-minute Hyrule!

(Yes, this game looks tasty).

Ceric · « **Reply #4 on:** September 21, 2006, 06:41:25 AM »

Down with the 45 Minute Hyrule because I don't even like driving 45 minutes to get somewhere with really good food and for free.
Utopia goes wrong whats not to like?
Though from the screens I've seen and the things I read it might be a little to disturbing for my tastes.

Edit: I do have to say I have a hard time seriously believing this story. Not so much the story itself but there not being non-combatants.

couchmonkey · « **Reply #5 on:** September 21, 2006, 10:34:53 AM »

ADAM IS PEOPLE!

Watched the video, the game looks pretty nifty, but I found the guy was overselling a lot of it. Like he was really into the AI characters fighting each other, and it looks like the game does that aspect well, but at the same time, it's not like that's a brand-new addition to first person shooters (see Halo and Time Splitters 2, for example).

Nevertheless, interesting game. I might check it out sometime.

KnowsNothing · « **Reply #6 on:** September 21, 2006, 11:21:07 AM »

I was pretty interested in the game, but that demo was incredibly dull. Nothing really looked all that new either, certainly not "redefining the genre..."

IceCold · « **Reply #7 on:** September 21, 2006, 02:00:28 PM »

All these 360 shooters just blend into one unimaginative melting pot to me.. They might turn out great, but they're just so similar.. I wouldn't even be able to tell the difference between them.

Bill Aurion · « **Reply #8 on:** September 21, 2006, 03:21:15 PM »

The "sinking city" scenario is really enticing, so I hope this one turns out well...It definitely looks more interesting than a strong majority of FPSers on the market...

ShyGuy · « **Reply #9 on:** September 21, 2006, 03:48:54 PM »

Yeah, the concept and the setting are interesting, it's nice to see something besides WWII and Space Marines. The demo video at ign wasn't the best, but I will still try this out one way or the other. I disliked the fact that all the ceiling lady enemies looked the same. Return to Castle Wolfenstein had different faces on the enemy soldiers, why can't these "next-gen" games? That's a small quibble though. Let's hope it makes it to the Wii

KnowsNothing · « **Reply #10 on:** September 21, 2006, 04:14:25 PM »

Yeah, I like the scenario and idea, but the execution leaves a lot to be desired. That's pretty much how I feel about Spore too =o

Hopefully the demo just sucked and the game will get better. DX10 is a bitch though.

KnowsNothing · « **Reply #11 on:** September 21, 2006, 04:21:23 PM »

Pouble Dost.

wandering · « **Reply #12 on:** September 21, 2006, 05:10:34 PM »

Quote
Nothing really looked all that new either, certainly not "redefining the genre..."

I think the newish thing going on here (and I could be wrong, I'm not all that familiar with the genre) is how goal oriented the npcs are. If you followed a running scientist in goldeneye, he wouldn't really run anywhere in particular, and would eventually just dissapear. If you followed a Big Brother in BS, he'd walk around until he found a tank with a little sister. And then the two of them would walk around until they found a dead body - possibly one you created. And then the little sister would harvest the blood, etc. The npcs aren't just given the illusion of goals, they actually act in ways that make sense for creatures whose sole purpose in life is to get tasty ADAM. Little sisters harvest the ADAM. Big brothers protect the little sisters. Splicers take the ADAM.

Knowing their goals, you can then manipulate the npcs to your advantage. You can trick the big brothers into thinking you're a little sister, for example. You want to do this because your goal isn't to figure out how to kill everything in sight - it's to survive and get as much ADAM as other resources as you can.

I find this interesting.

Quote
the game looks pretty nifty, but I found the guy was overselling a lot of it.

Agreed. ('You can even go into the bathroom!')

Also, and perhaps this was intentional, he didn't focus on some of the more interesting things going on. Like the dead body stuck in automatic door, ha ha.

KnowsNothing · « **Reply #13 on:** September 21, 2006, 05:37:37 PM »

Well, most FPSs don't really have advanced AI like that, but other games (like Oblivion) do. Sure, they put it into FPS and you've got something new, but it's not going to be something revolutionary. Better AI is just the next step. These things, even if they are technically dynamic, feel scripted to me. I guess scripted isn't really the right word, it feels...unnatural, or something.

In Oblivion, I can put a curse on an enemy and make him attack another enemy, leaving me safe. Same in Bioshock. In fact, everything shown today was basically Oblivion in a cooler setting and with guns. It's FPS + RPG....which is exactly what System Shock 2 was, which was what Deus Ex was (from what I understand, I never played that one). It's cool that it's a successor to those, in fact that's pretty awesome, but I didn't really see anything too new here. I don't know. I guess I'm just peeved at how the guy tried to sell the thing

IceCold · « **Reply #14 on:** September 21, 2006, 05:38:47 PM »

Mass Effect is a 3rd person shooter RPG, right?

ShyGuy · « **Reply #15 on:** September 21, 2006, 05:48:46 PM »

I thought it was a pseudo action RPG like KOTOR.

GoldenPhoenix · « **Reply #16 on:** September 21, 2006, 05:52:39 PM »

Bioshock does look interesting but I think I'll be getting the PC version.

SixthAngel · « **Reply #17 on:** September 21, 2006, 06:31:22 PM »

Quote
Originally posted by: KnowsNothing
I was pretty interested in the game, but that demo was incredibly dull. Nothing really looked all that new either, certainly not "redefining the genre..."

My thoughts exactly. It looks like a good FPS but thats it. I saw better AI but nothing amazing. He also talked about how you aren't stuck in simple corridors like in other FPS games and then preceded to walk from one to the next with the extra area you could explore being a bathroom. I was exploring bathrooms back in Duke Nukem 3d, give me a more open setting. I was hoping for an Elder Scrolls type openness when he mentioned it and was sorely disappointed. Since the game is underwater I don't think there is much hope for later in the game either. I think the game looks good but if you say "redifining the genre" I am going to need a lot more then this.

wandering · « **Reply #18 on:** September 21, 2006, 06:57:37 PM »

I assume the game will be more open than the demo would have you believe. Metroid Prime's demo level was pretty linear as well...

Smoke39 · « **Reply #19 on:** September 21, 2006, 07:07:00 PM »

Duke 3D's level design actually felt a lot more open and less linear than a lot of more recent FPSs. They looped in on themselves and stuff, and felt more like real, organic places designed with a real world purpose, rather than just running down hall A to room B, into hall C to room D, etc.

ShyGuy · « **Reply #20 on:** September 21, 2006, 10:07:36 PM »

Duke3D was incredible for it's level design and interactivity. The levels were very non-linear, and you could do all kinds of cool things, like play pool, get soda from machines and blow holes in walls. I don't think it was topped for level immersiveness until DeusEx came out. Furthermore, I don't anything has topped DeusEx yet in my opinion.

KDR_11k · « **Reply #21 on:** September 22, 2006, 01:40:27 AM »

Smoke: You may notice that that's a common trait among all early FPS games. Doom, Quake, Descent, all of them had level designs that had more exploration than today's fancy corridor level design.

GoldenPhoenix · « **Reply #22 on:** September 22, 2006, 01:44:43 AM »

Quote
Originally posted by: KDR_11k
Smoke: You may notice that that's a common trait among all early FPS games. Doom, Quake, Descent, all of them had level designs that had more exploration than today's fancy corridor level design.

How DARE you not mention Wolfenstein 3D that pretty much created the First Person Shooter genre

Smoke39 · « **Reply #23 on:** September 22, 2006, 03:24:04 AM »

Quote
Originally posted by: KDR_11k
Smoke: You may notice that that's a common trait among all early FPS games. Doom, Quake, Descent, all of them had level designs that had more exploration than today's fancy corridor level design.

Yeah, you're right. That's a large part of why recent FPSs have been disapointing me. Duke 3D was just one that was mentioned, and that I've personally had a lot of experience with. A lot of people seem to use the excuse that levels need to be structured really restrictively in order to be able to tell a linear story, but games like Deus Ex (and hopefully Bioshock!) beg to differ. I mean, games like Prey and HL2 don't even tell very much story, and yet they had some of the most straightforward and boring level design ever.

VGR: What about Blood? Shadow Warrior? Jedi Knight? An exhaustive list of past, influential shooters wasn't necessary for him to make his point.

GoldenPhoenix · « **Reply #24 on:** September 22, 2006, 06:08:40 AM »

Sorry, no excuse Smoke for not mentioning Wolfenstein 3D which singlehandedly started the 3D FPS craze. So I will no longer stand idely by as the game that really started the shooter genre gets ignored, because we all know every FPS after Wolfenstein 3D should have been labeled a Wolfensten clone

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Author Topic: Bioshock (Read 50713 times)