Thursday, May 14, 2009

Very Short Game Review - BIOSHOCK

Hey all, I'm instituting a new feature here at Mr. Boss' Design Lair - the VSGR - or very short game review. Hope you enjoy it!



GAME: Bioshock
Developer: 2K games
Publisher: 2K games
System played on: XBOX 360

BIOSHOCK is a FPS that has three great things going for it. 1) Great 1920's/30's art and sound design (which is odd 'cause the game is set in 1960), 2) Some cool upgradable weapons and power-ups (However, I really only used the Shotgun and the Electro Bolt) and 3) very high production values. Oh, and it has a pretty decent story, I guess. Though I don't know why anyone in their right mind would want to have tanky deep sea divers armed with Arnold Schwarzenegger's gun from "Eraser" walking the halls of your underwater city with GLASS WALLS! Ok, that's four things.

What I didn't like: The game made a bad first impression on me. Originally I didn't buy the "slow down the pipe dream" plasmid so those were impossible. Also, it always seemed like enemies were blind-siding me with attacks which is why they must have put in the "ow! Where did that shot come from?" HUD device. And I never read the story-enhancing audio tapes. After minding these things the second time around, I found it enhanced my play experience.

In General?: I liked it. Enough to finish? Not sure. But I think it's worthy of the respect the industry has shown to it and hope others will take it's lead - especially in the gestalt department. (which is next to the lingerie department)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think the reason it had the 1920s/30s styling despite taking place in 1960 is because some time had to go by in order for Rapture to descend into chaos. With the natural isolation that comes from being an underwater city I think it's rather understandable that their aesthetic tastes would not have evolved in the same fashion. I don't remember the game too well but didn't a whole generation get raised and grew up there also?


just a thought.

Unknown said...

Bioshock ran on my nerves near the ending. The game is no difficult at all. So I died 6 times. All my enemies are dead now. I zapped everything. Anyway, if you have time, take a visit at my Free Games website.