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**El Fangel** · 03-20-2012, 06:04 PM

Bioshock - 88
Story 18/20
Setting 20/20
Gameplay 15/20
Originality 20/20
Replayability 15/20

Just finished playing this last night and I can only agree with what the critics have said about it. It is an exceptionally solid game start to finish. The twists are wonderful and well done. I never once felt truly safe traversing Rapture, as the security systems, splicers and Big Daddies have a way of tearing you to shreds no matter how prepared you are.

That is another thing I quite liked, the lack of ammo. They seemed to strike that perfect balance between Resident Evil where ammo conservation is important and Call of Duty where you seem to be a walking bullet hose at times. It found a nice niche right in the middle that even despite having some ammo, very very rarely was I not able to pick more up due to having capacity. The dreary setting they made and the musical score went together like peas and carrots. The setting I think is what made this game so good, based on Ayn Rand and her beliefs in Objectivism which I had previously been quite interested in before this game. It gave a look how a society driven on morals and the advancement of mankind without limitations or hindrances can still fall apart despite the efforts against it.

What I found interesting and in the very least ironic, is the rejection of religion Ayn Rand and in turn Andrew Ryan (which I think was a clever way of referencing her) and there still being bibles found all over Rapture. Hell, even the name of the place itself is dripping with irony. And the first person you see I believe in Neptunes Fortune is a smuggler who is crucified...

Anyways, the game has an incredible story which you can make as deep as you want by listening to the audio tapes (must have spent hours doing this myself) and drawing the conclusions from those with what you think happened that the games story doesn't tell you.

Now, I gave it some perfect marks on a couple areas, so I will just elaborate on the ones I didn't.

Story - Its far too black and white. The game is based on your choices and the consequences are just way too black and white.

Contains end game spoilers

SPOILER: show

Gameplay - A crossbow having a higher damage output then a grenade launcher sort of irritated me since the crossbow bolts are ridiculously cheap in comparison and made the game after that far too easy for me as I play CoD a lot and have been using a sniper rifle to shoot people charging at me quite a bit. I don't think this would apply to a normal person who doesn't play shooters but I had to say it.

Two other things, one was that sometimes hacking there wasn't a possible way to win. It happened only a handful of times and incidentally only when hacking safes but it was frustrating as you lose quite a bit of health or get security drones on you.

Lastly, Every time you revived in a Vita-Chamber, the monsters didn't regain health. You only recovered a little bit yourself but through perseverance you could whittle away an enemies health and that I think was the biggest flaw in the game.

During several fights, I saw splicers run to healing stations to get health back but NOT after you die. I suppose this would have made the game abnormally difficult at some points but it would have made sense if they had run to a healing station after they killed you and not just limped away.

Replayability - Only reason I dropped it down was because after you know the twists, I don't think the experience would truly be the same.

In conclusion, one of the most engulfing and well developed games I have ever had the pleasure to play.

Games I finished in 2011 and 2012 (Long List)

SPOILER: show

Currently Playing: Mass Effect

03-20-2012, 06:04 PM	#773
El Fangel ELF ANGEL Posts: 39,476	Bioshock - 88 Story 18/20 Setting 20/20 Gameplay 15/20 Originality 20/20 Replayability 15/20 Just finished playing this last night and I can only agree with what the critics have said about it. It is an exceptionally solid game start to finish. The twists are wonderful and well done. I never once felt truly safe traversing Rapture, as the security systems, splicers and Big Daddies have a way of tearing you to shreds no matter how prepared you are. That is another thing I quite liked, the lack of ammo. They seemed to strike that perfect balance between Resident Evil where ammo conservation is important and Call of Duty where you seem to be a walking bullet hose at times. It found a nice niche right in the middle that even despite having some ammo, very very rarely was I not able to pick more up due to having capacity. The dreary setting they made and the musical score went together like peas and carrots. The setting I think is what made this game so good, based on Ayn Rand and her beliefs in Objectivism which I had previously been quite interested in before this game. It gave a look how a society driven on morals and the advancement of mankind without limitations or hindrances can still fall apart despite the efforts against it. What I found interesting and in the very least ironic, is the rejection of religion Ayn Rand and in turn Andrew Ryan (which I think was a clever way of referencing her) and there still being bibles found all over Rapture. Hell, even the name of the place itself is dripping with irony. And the first person you see I believe in Neptunes Fortune is a smuggler who is crucified... Anyways, the game has an incredible story which you can make as deep as you want by listening to the audio tapes (must have spent hours doing this myself) and drawing the conclusions from those with what you think happened that the games story doesn't tell you. Now, I gave it some perfect marks on a couple areas, so I will just elaborate on the ones I didn't. Story - Its far too black and white. The game is based on your choices and the consequences are just way too black and white. Contains end game spoilers SPOILER: show The first time I saw a Big Daddy I must have accidentally hit it with something because it came charging right at me. Then for a short bit I was thinking I was just lucky to get the drop on them first despite Tenenbaums request to save the Little Sisters. I thought she meant let the vile little thing go completely. As I found out shortly after perhaps my 4th or 5th harvested Little Sister is that they nor the big daddies are hostile towards to you. So I took the morally wrong choice of harvesting the Little Sister because I thought that was the right thing to do given their aggresive nature towards me. Well, harvesting even ONE gives you a different ending to the game. My qualm is that if you harvest even one, even if you rescue all the others the game will give you the bad ending. Lastly, the rewards for saving them shouldn't be present. The message would be much more powerful if there wasn't any reward for doing so. It would have the choice between power and conscience and nothing else. Anywho, if I had not accidentally attacked a Big Daddy and thought them hostile, then I likely would have gotten the good ending as we seem fine tuned to make the moral choices in games leaving towards being the good guy. Very much enjoyed the games story though. Gameplay - A crossbow having a higher damage output then a grenade launcher sort of irritated me since the crossbow bolts are ridiculously cheap in comparison and made the game after that far too easy for me as I play CoD a lot and have been using a sniper rifle to shoot people charging at me quite a bit. I don't think this would apply to a normal person who doesn't play shooters but I had to say it. Two other things, one was that sometimes hacking there wasn't a possible way to win. It happened only a handful of times and incidentally only when hacking safes but it was frustrating as you lose quite a bit of health or get security drones on you. Lastly, Every time you revived in a Vita-Chamber, the monsters didn't regain health. You only recovered a little bit yourself but through perseverance you could whittle away an enemies health and that I think was the biggest flaw in the game. During several fights, I saw splicers run to healing stations to get health back but NOT after you die. I suppose this would have made the game abnormally difficult at some points but it would have made sense if they had run to a healing station after they killed you and not just limped away. Replayability - Only reason I dropped it down was because after you know the twists, I don't think the experience would truly be the same. In conclusion, one of the most engulfing and well developed games I have ever had the pleasure to play. Games I finished in 2011 and 2012 (Long List) SPOILER: show Games Finished in 2011 Red Dead Redemption - 93 Story 20/20 Setting 20/20 Gameplay 18/20 Originality 17/20 Replayability 18/20 Crackdown - 81 Story 10 /20 Setting 18 /20 Gameplay 20 /20 Originality 18 /20 Replayability 15/20 Grand Theft Auto IV - 80 Story 15/20 Setting 20/20 Gameplay 15/20 Originality 15/20 Replayability 15/20 Resident Evil 5: 47 Story 12/20 Setting 18/20 Gameplay 5/20 Originality 12/20 Replayability 0/20 Games finished in 2012 The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - 84 Story 15/20 Setting 20/20 Gameplay 15 20 Originality 18/20 Replayability 16/20 Devil May Cry 4 - 58 Story 7/20 Setting 10/20 Gameplay 18/20 Originality 15/20 Replayability 8/20 Bioshock - 88 Story 18/20 Setting 20/20 Gameplay 15/20 Originality 20/20 Replayability 15/20 Currently Playing: Mass Effect