Game Review: Bioshock (Xbox360)

Decisions, Decisions...

Outline

You play as an unnamed individual (possibly named Jack) who is flying to an, er, unknown location for an unknown reason. However, something goes wrong and the plane crashes into the ocean off the shore of a large building. As the only survivor you find yourself in an underwater city named RAPTURE; a so-called safe haven for great (boarder-line insane) individuals who can better themselves without the restrictions of morality, humanity and all that other silly stuff.
Enter genetic modification and ultra-cool weaponry... but ignore the homicidal maniacs (once genius') whom roam and live throughout eerie RAPTURE.

However, there is trouble afoot - as, seemingly, one of the few sane individuals left around, you believe that you are the one to save everyone and, with the help of Atlas - your ally and narrator, put a stop to the madness and such like.

Story

Don't let it's glossy visuals and frightening setting fool you. This is a story driven game. It covers somewhat philosophical issues in a very surreal setting; our choices, fate, control, power, truth, the greater good... all of these issues are posed to the gamer and actively seek to allow them to make choices which pose yet more questions.
To begin with there is the choice of either saving or harvesting the numerous Little Sisters whom walk RAPTURE seeking dead bodies to which they can extract ADAM (where harvesting them gives you more ADAM and saving them...less); a substance required to survive - or at least feed a strange sort of addiction. ADAM is also used by you, the gamer, to improve your character; adding PLASMIDS and other nuggets of variables which will make you stronger and more powerful. It soon comes apparent that you must close your eyes to your own morality to essentially destroy it - just one of the many fantastic issues this game poses you with. Having completed the game, looking back over it and reading articles discussing it's conclusion, it comes apparent that this game is a fantastic story FIRST AND FOREMOST and a brilliant action/RPG second. In fact, even though the action itself was brilliant, it still filled in the gaps between each 'story-point' - as opposed to it being the other way round.

Gameplay

Gameplay just falls short of the Story aspect of the game, mainly because there wasn't as much emphasis on having a choice that actively changed or influenced the game. You're given 2 endings depending on what actions you took during the game (I won't say how you get one or the other..) but other than that it was very much more about how you decided to deal with situations that opposed you. Although it perhaps should have, at no point during the game did I feel that it had become repetitive even due to the amount of 'clone' enemies; this is perhaps due to each 'clone' having a different personality - they all seemed to be doing something different, having conversations (which, also, never seemed to repeat) with each other...For instance, at one point a grenade Splicer (he throws explosives at things, people..) attacked me and ran away. I tried to take him down with some range weapons but his grenades were slowing me down (throwing them over his shoulder with great precision); I then decided to use my Telekineses plasmid to catch his grenades and throw them back, but he was too agile. Eventually I followed him into a room I had already been in, with various dead splicers scattered around the floor. The room was empty apart from the dead bodies; he was nowhere to be found... I walked forward and the lights started to flicker, the door behind me shut closed and I heard laughing. I turned around to see a spider splicer on the celling and then the room went black and I was attacked, the lights came on and I made for the door but to my surprise the 'dead' splicers rose up and began attacking me..
After this encounter, and after I had died, I thought to myself; what an amazing sequence of events, scripted or not, it was truly amazing to participate in: being led into a trap, evidently, which lent itself to a very cinematic perspective.
These sorts of situations happen many times during the course of the game and all-but-add to the already impressive enemy A.I; Houdini Splicers whom attack you, disappear and reappear behind you. Spider Splicers, who will jump to the ceiling and drop down right in front of you for an up-close-and-personal attack. The diversity of combat and the options available to the player make this initially generic shooter an ideal playground for fans of playing devils advocate.

Graphics

This isn't as much a selling point as the other aspects of a game are to me, but nevertheless this is a beautiful game. However, I don't think it matches GoW (Gears of War) when it comes to the aesthetic presentation; it's not quite to that standard. But it's the next best thing...
This is perhaps the first game (certainly the first FPS) that I've literally 'walked-thru', when running is perhaps the most obvious choice. Of course, that's not counting the times I've ran away from something or towards someone, but generally when I was exploring I was just walking, listening to my footsteps and anyone elses and just taking it all it; the environment, the shadows, and so on - as what this has over GoW is atmosphere boat loads and buckets full of atmosphere. So although the graphics on a scale of 1 to 10 aren't matching GoW standards, they are used more effectively - the setting and level design is brilliant, open and enclosed at the same time; I, on more than one occasion, would find a corner of a room just so I knew that nothing was coming up behind me. Not, really, because I was scared or such, but because I was hanging on to my life by a thread, or because I only had one more anti-personal bullet left.
Since we're underwater it was only right that the design team at 2kgames got the water right, and they sure did. Whether it be cracking glass, dripping from rusted pipes or exploding through hatches it was truly beautiful. It was also a huge aspect of gameplay too; several enemies sludging through knee deep in water? Zap them with the electric plasmid. Or, if you've set a Splicer on fire he'll more than likely actively seek out some puddles to jump in to extinguish himself; hilarity ensured.

Conclusion

The best game I've played on the 360... period. It's perhaps not as large as Oblivion or as pretty as GoW. But what this doesn't have in quantity and gloss it makes up for in Gameplay and immersion. It's only downfall is that once you've completed it you'll not be itching to play again, I will be trading it in for money off (PES 2008, Mass Effect, Assassin's Creed - one of them) as it doesn't have the replayability of some other titles. However, this is not a negative aspect. In fact it's a refreshing and, perhaps, more classy alternative. Like a good movie, perhaps you don't want to play it again straight away, but you'll be damned you if you don't remember it 5-10-15 years down the line, and when you see it for £5 a pop you'll be grabbing it with both hands and taking it on again, hoping that you don't remember the twists and turns of this fabulous game.

Quickie: Grab Your Calenders!

...and a pen if you've 'one handy! Because the Mass Effect release date has been confirmed: November 20!

Unlike a few other game (development companies) I would expect this date to stick like a fridge magnet to a... erm, fridge.

This game will rock, mark my words...

E3 - Games I'm looking forward to seeing, but not as much as the other ones

There are 2 games that just missed out of my very exlusive list, they are as follows:

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GTA IV

On this outing you will play as Niko Bellic who has come to the good old US of A to start a-new. Hailing from an undisclosed Eastern European country, Niko has come to Liberty City (based on New York - which was met with a sea of New-yorkers screaming "It isn't that bad over here!") to hook up with his cousin, Roman. Who has previously been telling Niko of his high flying life style, needless to say he was lieing and now Niko seems like he's going to have to sort Roman out himself, while trying to turn his back on his past crimes...

Niko arives at Liberty City, with hopes of going straight. Ha!

Tell me more, tell me more!
Details are still a bit sketchy, but here's a few confirmed things that may (or may not) interest any gamers out there:

• Set in the year 2007 (aka nowadays)
• Much more control over what you do and how you do it, and allow, and I quote 'The player to create their own destiny'
• No planes due to there only being one city...
• ...but helicopters are still in!
• Stealing cars is made more realistic with more animations (breaking glass to get into locked cars etc.)
• Mobile phones and the Internet become essential tools, allowing you to talk to friends, increasing relationships (for reasons still unknow...) as well as some internet/phone based missions (e-mailing a CV to gain an interview - ringing a 'hits' phone to see where he is in a crowd)
• Old favourites: Ammu-Nation and Pay 'n Spray are gone. With the player having to call arms dealers to make specified deliveries or meeting locations and times.
• You can use taxi's as, well, a taxi... Jump into a cab, select somewhere on the map, sit back and relax. Or skip the traveling and arive there instantly.
• Release Date: October 19th (for Europe) 16th (Noth America)

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Fallout 3
Fallout 3 is the 3rd in the series of Fallout games (currently under development by Bethesda Softworks), which also spawned 2 spinoff games (Brotherhood of Steel and Fallout: Tactics). This is the first Fallout game, however, to use a first-person perspective; allowing players to view from their characters eyes, third person or a the original isometric perspective, as with the original games.
The game starts off with an interest idea (see below for a run down on the games opening). You begin as many of us do in real life; with your own birth. At this point your (character's) mother dies during labour, and so it is up to your father to bring you up.
When you turn 19 years old, one morning, you realise your father has disapeared, leaving The Vault (an underground area that keeps you and your community safe from the fallout which has occured above). Venturing out into the world above, you go in search of your father. From here, you'll be presented with a world much smaller than that of Oblivion, but much richer and more compressed; giving you more quality of Oblivions quantity.

Remember, someone always has to clean up your mess!

Tell me more, tell me more!
We're still a long ways off getting this game, it's penciled in for the final quatre of next year (2008) so I wouldn't hold your breath. Suprisingly enough, we did get a walkthrough of the game which is explained below:

• Main character creation is implemented by specifying the character's childhood. The character's mother dies in labor in a Vault hospital, after which the player chooses the character's Traits and general appearance during the father's DNA analysis. Afterwards, the father removes his surgeon's mask to reveal a face much like the one chosen by the player for the character.
• As a child in the Vault, the character receives a book titled "You're Special", whereupon you'll set the character's 7 primary aptitudes. The character receives training weapons and a PIP-boy during childhood, and the player's performance in various tests determines the rest of the attributes. Additionally, there will be quests inside the Vault that influence the pc's relationship with his or her father.
• Skills and Perks are similar to those in previous games: the player chooses 3 Tag Skills out of 14 to be the character's specialties, and the character will gain a Perk every other level.
• Max level will be 20.
• There will be a definite end to the game, with many possible endings based on good/evil/neutral events you trigger.
• The Vault-tec Assisted Targeting System, or V.A.T.S. will be implemented. Various actions cost action points, and both the player and enemies can target specific body areas for attacks, inflicting specific injuries. While using V.A.T.S., real-time combat is paused creating a combat system that the Bethesda developers have described as a hybrid between turn-based and real-time combat.
• The game will maintain the same level of gore. All gory deaths in the game will be shown in slow motion. One of the featured screenshots is of a super-mutant's head exploding in great detail.
• The game will feature a new health and radiation system. The player can measure an object's radioactivity and gauge the effect it will have on the character.
• Karma titles, similar to those from previous games, will grant Xbox Live Achievements on that platform.
• The number '101' can be seen on the back of several characters' Vault suits. This signifies the characters home of origin, Vault 101 in Washington, D.C.
• Characters will be able to create small blasts by targeting nuclear generators and using nuclear catapults.

E3 - Games I'm looking forward to seeing

#2

Overview.

Set in the not-so-distant future, Mass Effect (an action/RPG) see's players taking on the aged old saving the galaxy quest from utter distruction yet again. This time however, it's a whole lotta' different. You play as Shepard; gender, appearence and back story customizable, commander of the SS Nomandy and the first human to be allowed entry into the Spectre's - an elite policing force used to bring law and order to the galaxy. As the first human spectre, your actions (or inaction) will have a diverse effect on how the other alien races, populating the universe, percieve both you and humanity. Described as Jack Bauer in space, you will be faced with many moral discisions which could see you choosing to allow many thousands to perish for the greater good. This is your story...

What's so good?
Where to begin? Graphically, well, I have not seen a game rival these kinds of graphics. When I first got my 360 and popped in Gears of War I thought, how can anything be any better? The fact Gears of War came out relatively early in the 360's life, boded well for future titles, and now we have evidence to support that; Mass Effect.

Bioware.

Bioware is also a reason why it's looking so good. In an age where many publishers are dumbing down their franchises to be accessed by the masses (see Splinter Cell: Conviction) you can better your bottom dollar that Bioware know what they are doing. Primarily this is an RPG. You fight, you gain experience, you use that experience to increase a skill or skills and continue on your merry way. We've had little or no gameplay footage of RPG and experience pooling, and that may be a worry for hardcore-RPG'ers but I would not worry. They will be there and they will be sound. You only have to look at Biowares previous titles for evidence of this; Baldur's gate, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Jade Empire, Neverwinter Nights - all tremendous RPG titles. Mass Effect will be packing with RPG features, have no doubt about that..

Action.

What's even more impressive is the action elements of this game. As a fan of the tactical shooters (GRAW 2, Rainbow 6: Vegas and so on - although, granted, these newer versions are a dumbed down version of the original classics...) the promise of controling your party members, ordering them to take cover, use specific skills etc, is almost as exciting as the game itself.

Conversations.

Now, my thoughts on the conversation system keep fluxuating. At times I think it looks beautiful, inovative and original. Other times I think it looks difficult, fiddly and poorly planned. However at this moment in time, I do thnk it will be a plus to the games never ending positives;

Instead of choosing from a list of responses and then watching your character reiterate them back at you, it will work a little more like this. Once engaged into a covnersation you will be presented with several emotional responses. So instead of a bunch of lines of conversation to read you'll have a more watered down, basic direction which you'll be able to choose from. Many of these options are one word choices, based on the current conversations direction. Another, even more innotive, feature in the ability to jump into a conversation while another character is speaking to impose yourself, cut them off, knock them out or any combination thereof.

E3 Update: Release date!!
Oh yes, we finally have one. During Mass Effects presentation at this years E3 we were finally given a release MONTH. Ahem, yes, well it's better than nothing. The month in quesiton is November and although many are enraged at it being so damned long away. At least we have something to look forward to. Bioware have been very careful not to release a date until they could be sure that they could deliver. I'm 99% certain that Mass Effect will be in stores sometime in November!

New E3 2007 Trailer

Stay Tuned for my number 1 game for E3 2007!

E3 - Games I'm looking forward to seeing

#4

Overview.
You play as a plane-crash survivor who stumbles across a once utopia but now forgotten community named Rapture. This ruined community is inhabited by things you once believed lived under your bed - but this isn't a kill or be killed society, at least not unless you want it to be. Many of the inhabitants such as the Big Daddy will not attack you unless you threaten it or its Little Sister - and if their names are creepy enough, Little Sister use syringes to extract a substance - known as Adam - from corpses. This substance, to which you are also partial to, is an addiction to those who consume it and allow of a variety of physical and mental enhancements - for instance, biotic implants or psychic abilities.

What's so great?
It's not a mindless first-person shooter (yes, I'm looking at you Halo 3). There is substance to this game that goes beyond it's shoot'em up roots. Primarily, this game is an Action/Adventure which focuses heavily on puzzle solving and player choices. These choices can seem rather daunting at first but it's more to do with flexibility than deciding which shoes go with which pants. For instance, if you've decided or have no choice in engaging an enemy you may wish to just shoot him to bits; set an object on fire and hurl it at him with your telekinesis powers; hack into a medical machine and make it hurt instead of heal your enemy; unleash a plague of insects on him; brainwash him or his bodyguard and make him your puppet - or any combination of those, to name but a few. Some of these abilities are powered by a diverse range of plasmids (used to enhance oneself in the world of BioShock). The following (obtained from the official BioShock website) is a list of the different types of plasmids available in the game:

• Electrobolt. This projectile can be used to stun both man and machine-like enemies as well as being, naturally, dangerous when combined with water!


• Telekinesis. Can be used to move and manipulate object if they are out of reach, too heavy or on fire! useful for creating shields, returning enemy grenades and creating obstacles.


• Incinerate. Sets objects and creatures on fire


• Winter Blast. Freeze your foes in place and then shatter them into a thousand pieces!


• Security Bullseye. Turns security devices and machines to your advantage as you tag enemies with this plasmid - causing security devices to act aggressively with your enemy.
  

What's not so great? (This section should be short.)
One of my main concerns is how far the supposed freedom will go with respect to the environments and exploration - and what this will mean for the story. Will the story get lost within all the exploration? Will the player lose his bearings while he's exploring the environment? Inside chatter hints toward optional objectives and little extras that don't need to be explored to complete the game. Although that sounds like great news, does that mean we'll be privy to yet another linear first-person shooter with some interesting RPG elements?
That said, I'm not worried. With my ear to the floor I have heard that not only is the story excellent, the way it is told is innovative too.

BioShock - Trailer (This is such an awesome trailer)

What to expect at E3?
I do not expect the information overload from this title as I do some of the others. With a release date already penciled in (August 21st and 24th for USA and Europe respectively) I think this E3 will be about generating as much buzz as possible. Maybe we'll get a date for a playable demo or such, other than that I predict some hands on playing and maybe some new features/enemies/interactions/plasmids or such like.