Thursday 21 March 2013

Bioshock - It's Good to 'B' Back

Legend
Let's not beat around the bush, Bioshock is amazing. This is the first game on my list that I've really looked forward to. I only played it once and it was long enough ago that I don't remember much of the details, so this was more of a rediscovery than a return to an old friend. The one thing I do remember is that it was hard. I remember redoing several sections and regularly needing the vita-chambers and that was on normal and in my twitch FPS heyday. I have no idea how I'm going to cope on hard with my rusty old man APM.

Let's find out!

 The answer is 'pretty good so far'. The game still looks absolutely amazing, and has one of the best opening sequences of any game I've played, better than the half lives even. The sense of wonder slowly transforming into a sense of dread and imprisonment is masterful. It takes you about 2 minutes to get a complete picture of Ryan's vision, and then the rest of the game unravels it before you. And it unravels in ways which make total sense, and echo real world examples of a utopia slowly falling down under the weight of human nature.
Seems fine
Gameplay-wise I find myself absolutely frantic and panicky. It's desperate and terrifying in a way that completely suits the setting and my genuine reaction to my lack of ammo/health/adam. Every encounter so far has felt like it will be my last, and I steel myself for the inevitable disappointment that death in this blog brings. But so far, so good. I've scraped through.
Just.
One thing I will say is if the designers hadn't made it flash up 'press F for first aid' whenever I run low on health I'd have died almost immediately so bless them for that.
I'm currently in the medical area with one shot of either fire or lightning, ten health, no first aid and about six bullets.
I'll definitely get out of this
Expect the next update to be short.

3 comments:

  1. Bioshock is sitting there on my Steam list, glaring at me, daring me to reinstall it. I blame this post for waking it up.

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    Replies
    1. It's definitely worth it! I turned the lights off and made sure to savour all the little details. It's just a shame that my imminent death means I'll need to stop playing :D

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  2. I can imagine this game being many times more frightening when death is permanent. It's already scary enough!

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