BioshockA Review by manfromtherock
This is what we hope to be the first of reviews of games that we've played, we're not trying to compete with the likes of TIMJ or any other site, just trying to give you our own opinions of certain games.
Let me start by being completely honest about this, firstly this is the first 'serious' review I've ever done on a game so bare with me if it doesn't quite fit what you expect. Secondly I didn't go out and purchase Bioshock, in fact I had hardly heard anything about it.
It came with the new PS3 Slim bundle that I got just after Christmas, the other two games AC2 & Operation Flashpoint were the reasons I got that particular bundle. I then decided with my own brand of logic to try Bioshock first and was pleasantly surprised.
The game is a first person shooter/adventure which is set in the 1950's in Rapture, an underwater city built by the disillusioned to escape the governments above water. It all starts with the plane you are travelling in ditching into the sea, you see an island and swim over to it, but that is just the doorway to the underground city and the start of your troubles. You are set linear tasks but have some freedom in roaming around, and as all these types of games can develop and improve your skills and weapons as you progress.
There are machines dotted around that help with this and you can if you wish, or must in other places, hack these. To start with this wasn't a problem but I soon found that I was getting rather bored with the process which is the same for any machine, safe, lock or security bot. I would have preferred a different puzzle for each one, hell I would have preferred to hit myself over the head with a hammer rather than do them near the end. This was only one small flaw in the game really and one that I managed to get over, but it was close.
As you delve deeper into the city and its various parts you discover that there things aren't ideal in this paradise, but you can find that all out for yourselves if you choose to play the game. You do however have the choice of normal weapons with normal or enhanced ammunition or special powers that you get via a drug, which also can be improved. The certain number of slots are there, so you have to choose with powers you have at any time, but I found that it didn't make much difference as I used the normal weapons most of the time and found that I could get through most things with this.
The graphics are decent, very 50's in look, but hardly in the UC2 region, but how many games are. The sound track was very atmospheric but I did find that sometimes as I was trying to listen to one of the many tapes you pick up that some other sounds would stop me hearing it & I would have to try it again when things became quiet. The gameplay was fine too, ignoring the hacking duplication of course, and if you weren't overwhelmed with things to do you at least could enjoy the story building and could get use to the buttons without having a new one added every five minutes.
The ending wasn't the most mind blowing I've ever seen, but it was far from the worst too. That about sums up the game for me, it wasn't bad, it did what it had to in a quiet demeanour, but wasn't very close to being a 'wow' game either. I will put it like this, would I have gone out and brought the game full price, well if I did I might have felt a little hard done by. Am I glad I played and completed it, yes, yes indeed I am, it wasn't the longest game I ever played but I did enjoy the time I spend on it. It was the QPR of games, hardly anyone will love it, but very very few will loath it too.
Okay what about some scores then:
Graphics – 7/10 – Nothing ground breaking but fitted the game nicely
Audio – 7/10 – Could get annoying when you had to listen to a message a couple of times because background noises meant you missed something. The music was nice & 50's in style
Game play – 7/10 – Hacking was a pain, but everything else was fine
Durability – 5/10 – Sadly like a lot of adventure type games, once the surprises are revealed you do lose something and nothing is that compelling to draw you back for another play through
Overall – 7/10 – Middle of the road, well worth a rental or picking up cheap or pre-owned.
Comments (6)
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written by manfromtherock, January 25, 2010
written by manfromtherock, January 25, 2010
Thanks for that Rav, I wasn't putting the game down, just that it didn't do anything new for me.
I'm glad you enjoyed it, I did really, but I got it free in a bundle which helped. The graphics were nice, but not striking, the water (a thing the PS3 does really well) was good, but some of the other bits weren't quite so outstanding.
Maybe if I had another go with the plasmids it might grab me more, but sadly now I know the ending and with a pile of games to be played that could be some time off.
I added scores because it tells people exactly where I found it, now as this was my first review people are going to judge it by their own scores but as people read more of my reviews they will be able to see what scores mean to me. But I do take your point, some will like it others not I guess.
But thanks again for taking the trouble to read it & reply
I'm glad you enjoyed it, I did really, but I got it free in a bundle which helped. The graphics were nice, but not striking, the water (a thing the PS3 does really well) was good, but some of the other bits weren't quite so outstanding.
Maybe if I had another go with the plasmids it might grab me more, but sadly now I know the ending and with a pile of games to be played that could be some time off.
I added scores because it tells people exactly where I found it, now as this was my first review people are going to judge it by their own scores but as people read more of my reviews they will be able to see what scores mean to me. But I do take your point, some will like it others not I guess.
But thanks again for taking the trouble to read it & reply
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written by blacksalmon, January 25, 2010
written by blacksalmon, January 25, 2010
Great review Rock, and similarly great counter arguement Rav.
Not for me, I played this on a mates xbox and thought it was ok.
Maybe Rav could do the next review on his game of choice?
p.s. Your English is suberb Rav, well done mate
Not for me, I played this on a mates xbox and thought it was ok.
Maybe Rav could do the next review on his game of choice?
p.s. Your English is suberb Rav, well done mate
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written by This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , January 25, 2010
written by This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , January 25, 2010
Nice job Rocky. I think the scores are accurate to what you have said. No point in giving big points if it didn't deserve it in your opinion. Do another - people will soon grasp whether they agree or disagree and take the reviews as a good guide or not.
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written by fungusking, January 25, 2010
written by fungusking, January 25, 2010
Great review rocky, been thinking about picking it up for a while. May still do so if I can find it cheap enough.
Nice to see some counter comments from Rav too, we need more of that on these articles. And as salmon said, for someone who's first language isn't English, your use of it is fantastic. Really puts most of us to shame.
Nice to see some counter comments from Rav too, we need more of that on these articles. And as salmon said, for someone who's first language isn't English, your use of it is fantastic. Really puts most of us to shame.
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BioShock rocks and it's my best FPS ever played and I have played quite the lot of em. I completely disagree with the graphics part. It has amazing graphics, because graphics is more than just tech capability. It's also art style and BioShock is fantastic in this regard. Besides that, BioShock is also known for it's best use of water effects.
It's also a shame to see you stuck with the guns most of the time, considering they are the weaker part of the game. The plasmids and their reaction to the environment, the enemies and other plasmids is great.
All in all to me BioShock is way more than rental material. It's a must buy for anyone who enjoys FPS.
As for your review in general:
It was enjoyable to read unlike some other walls of text people tend to make for reviews. I do wonder though if you should stick with that old mechanic of giving scores, because giving scores usually never quite puts it right. Usually a 7 is regarded quite low and when you look at the average score now it's around 6.5 which is really low for a game and not even regarded as rental material.
Just the summary of pro's and cons at the end gives people who don't want to read much a good idea of the game.