|
I don't know why that added crap like that, otherwise it was fun. I did none of it and still enjoyed the game. It's a fun game with some twist and turns that keep it interesting through out. It had a few weird things like wanting you to drink and smoke for good health and also to kill a child to gain more points.
Done correctly, this game and storyline could be a great movie in the 'Blade Runner' tradition. I truly found myself thinking about some things even after I have stopped playing. For me to like an action game, atmosphere and visuals have to at least be 50% of the game. The city and environments are top rate and I feel completely immersed in them. Again, as a non-gamer I can sometimes get stuck for hours trying to beat a particular boss or foe. The concept of the art deco underwater utopia is as cool in idea as it is in looks.
For me it's more of an 'experience' rather than about finishing tasks, challenges, levels, etc. The effects of the water from what I have seen are the best 'liquid' visual of any game I have played. I do have a quad core and 6Gs of Ram with a 1G graphics card so it is humming along at the highest settings and looks georgeous (I think that's the first time I have said that about a game). While I have had to re-do a few areas a few times, it's been nothing that I got tedious or bored with. I'm not going to get into the plot of the game (as it's been in plenty of other reviews), but it was very strange starting off with a plane crash into the water after the recent crash of Air France 447 recently even though this game was created long before that accident.Visually the game is a feast of originality and eerie beauty. The enemies are that much more interesting because of the enviornment from which they are coming from around you.Playing on 'medium' difficulty, it has not been too hard.
What's nice is that when you revive the state of the game and the enemies are at the level where you left off, so if you are having trouble getting through one you don't start them off at full levels when you revive and this really keep it from getting frustrating like some games can be.Without reading anything before playing the use of the weapons and the plasmids (as well as the whole game and the story) is kind of a mystery starting out, but that's half of the fun of it all. Just an amazing game on so many levels and I can't wait to finish it. While you can imagine the beauty of what Rapture once was, you get to see it in an eerie, deteriorating state. There are pretty regular saves in the game. I'd be happy just walking through it visually with no action at all. While I enjoy playing games, I am not a 'gamer' per se; I don't drive through games at a quick pace and it does take me time to get through them (and I love being immersed in atmosphere and soaking it up slowly). There are a lot of little things in the game to help if you get stuck trying to figure something out but I have not had to use any yet. The only other game I have played that even begins to compare (for me) is the Half-Life series.
I think I may be about a quarter of the way through the game and if it ended right now I would feel it was worth every penny that was paid for it.To the technical aspects, I am playing off the actual disc and had no problems loading or running the game on my computer with a Vista(64) OS. The 'saving' and 'lives' feature it nice and I like how they incorporated it into the environment. You will even find some places that are beautiful to look at even with all the carnage around you (like the cemetary and Tea Garden.so far the coolest visual area to me). I'm not big on games with action over substance or over atmosphere and so I am pretty particular about which games to pick up and it's hard to tell if I will like them until I start playing them.
Finally, the other really intriguing issue is with some of the choices you have to make. There is a little directional arrow on the screen which can help you get to where you need to go, but just following it can keep you from finding a lot of cool things as well as the other things you will need like money along the way. Cycling through just plasmids or just 'regular' weapons is easy, but when you want to quickly go back and forth between plasmids and mechincal weapons, that is more difficult.As others have said, there seems to be a lot of different ways to do things. What I like is that when you die you are revived in a kind of hydro tube. Players looking just for a shooter/action game could be disappointed, but anyone who loves amazing enviornments and getting immersed in original imagery concepts should just love this game.
Otherwise the action itself would feel pretty normal.
Just the whole idea of Rapture as utopia and a vision is very, very interesting.
Combining that with the very surreal and amazing background sounds and music makes for a very memorable game experience.All of the rooms and enviornments are in beautiful detail.
I have yet to see how they may or may not impact my character in the game, but I will be playing it again to see how it turns out differently.
Now onto 'Bioshock':I'm perhaps only a quarter of the way through this game and I am already compelled to write a review (it's that good).
The only thing I am finding a tad difficult is cycling through plasmids and weapons.
As far as the action is concerned, it is made all the more awesome, enjoyable and exciting by having this surreal enviornment around you.
I have had no issues with the DMR as of yet so I have no comment except that it has had no impact on me thus far.
This paradox of the crumbling utopia within the visuals alone is worth the game if all you did was walk through it.
You start gaining all these cool magical powers that are awesome. - the game told me to do that. (up until that time I was a shot gun grunt) So I finish the game and am about to open up the submarine into the sunlight and it yells at me ". and the programmers noticed it and threw in those suggestios - so the audience, who inherently wants to be GOOD, weren't experiencing the awesome / magical part of the game. You basically get this choice to RESCUE or HARVEST. The visuals were great. At the right times it was spooky and knowing who to trust was an (exciting) issue. But then the game starts telling you as you level up that you haven't harvested enough energy.
And it was clear why. And I see why and can see why the comments /suggestions were probably added late - every one probably wanted to be a good guy and they weren't harvesting little girls and they weren't getting magical powers. you nasty cruel harvester. Well - you can't program in to 'suggest' that the only way to get the game done is to do BAD things and then not allow the end to be positive ----- fundamental flaw in the design. I felt completely betrayed. This is going to make your next level really hard. And practical ARMMEGEDON ensues because you harvested the little girls. However, here is where it went south.
and we got the leadership we were to expect from you. So eventually I started doing the (somewhat revolting) harvesting of the little girls. Make sense to rescue right. Are you sure you want to continue.
But they are all dark and dull-looking which nullifies all the variety. One of the twists I found particularly touching and that is who you become toward the end. There are some twists in the story and surprises. Then there's that aweful music from the 30s or so.
You'll mostly walk through hallways or corridors as opposed to large expanses, which is what one would expect of a recent game. And I didn't find that the overall look was all that impressive. Gameplay itself and graphics don't make it very immersive.I rate it high in personality and audio but poor in graphics, entertainment value, and replayability.Then there's of course all the annoying "security features" that companies make us pay for and that limits what we can do with the game for which we paid. The voice acting is absolutely superb. Then there are the tasks of upgrading weapons and yourself.
As a shooter this game is just horrible. The fire on the water looks very nice. There are also too many goals to accomplish: there's the main goal of the story, the minor goals of each "mission", and two additional overall goals of collecting souls and blood, so to speak. Perhaps this is a joke on the part of the programers but the way I was able to fix it in-game is to actually turn sound off, turn fullscreen off.You start by surviving a plane crash. The story is overall good.
Here's a game for which I had high expectations. But I really disliked the style of this game. But it's really the gameplay that is disappointing. Now you're taken to the underwater city of Rapture where a character convinces you to fight against the ruler of the city. Some people like that sort of thing, I didn't: the art deco retro style. Neither is constantly picking up stuff and listening to long monologues.
But overall, the experience was rather underwhelming.There are some known problems with this game in Vista: no sound and no full-screen. But shooting at them is not at all fun. I'll grant that the movement of the enemies is neat; they jump and flip and crawl on the ceiling. I also dislike the darkness of the settings. The cartoonish aspects are kind neat and in that regard the game has a lot of personality. This game is somewhat long.I was not all that impressed with the graphics.
I didn't like most of the scenes: wharf, rotten garden, which does become nice once you save it; theaters, lots of rooms, hospital rooms, etc.- quite a bit of variety.
The mechanical weapons are boring, the biological ones more interesting.
I'm surprised they didn't leave the second part for a sequel.
There's only so much fun in pressing the "E" button every other second.
Then you swim to a lighthouse and take an elevator down.
Ever since Doom I all action games have emphasized darkness and it's tiring.
Sure, there's some neat water effects but it's overdone.
I found that there are too many characters though.
And that splits this game really into two as your character changes dramatically (and graphically for the worst).
It runs great. Although there is an obvious plan to the plot, you can explore so many areas, customize your abilities, make moral decisions, etc.
I've waited a few years to be able to play it as my previous PC couldn't handle the newer games. It could be different each time you play.
I'm a big first person single-player shooter fan, and this is the most original, visually stunning game I've ever played. It's like being on the haunted Titanic, and not the crappy movie version.
It was definitely worth the wait. It was easy to load with Vista 64 on a new state of the art PC.
The game is so cool in every way.
|
