Bioforge

I didn't manage to play Bioforge in the 90's, I started playing it here on GoG, so I dare to say that my impressions are not influenced by nostalgia or bias. Except for the love I have for action-adventure games. BioForge is very hard and user-unfriendly - even something as simple as throwing a punch requires that you read the manual. With that said, the game is amazing. It's the first game to have textured characters, skeletal animation, motion capture, wounds showing on the character... But it's also very rich as a game. - It has a deep story and humanizes its enemies. They have a complex biography and you don't have to kill them. - There's also the weird atmosphere of the setting - both sinister and humorous. In this game you are a rugged cyborg... who can play a flute. An actual flute you can pick and carry. What does this mean? Were you a musician in your previous life? Was that flute yours? Or is this one of the sick jokes of the neurosurgeon that messed with your brain? Only an adventure game can afford to surprise you like this in its gameplay. - I also really like that there are animations that show character vulnerability, like the ones in the Tomb Raider Reboot (2013) - Lex can't run when he's wounded, if he tries, he trips and falls, if drops of water are dripping from the roof on his head, he tries to protect himself, he covers his face and tries to maintain stability, when seeing an explosion in front of him, etc. Bioforge is not for everyone. The combat is cumbersome. The puzzles are demanding. I played fair and felt so happy when I finally had an idea that worked. You have to read dozens of documents to truly understand the complex world. The game could have been more accessible and understandable - right now it's misleading, cubmersome, and hard. But I'm happy Bioforge reminded me of the beauty, dramatic premise and depth that a game can have. It's a real masterpiece and it now has a special place among the games that I deeply respect.

Bioforge... So awesome atmosphere here. Not really scary, but very dark and depressive. I remember this game, played it when I was 18 or so. Had a 486 IBM clone back in the day, all I heard about this game was it's science fiction. Still remember that creepy robotic female voice saying "Subject must stay in bunk. Recuperation is mandatory" When I heard this my first thought was- I can't stay in bunk, have an adventure to play through here! Yes it felt like I'm lying on a hospital bed as one of the victims of a mad scientist's perverted experiment. Got up, fought my cold robot nurse, it was so satisfying to see "her" explode. Escaped my cell, found that other person who lost his mind -and his arm because pf the torture he went through - poor guy. Can he and I be friends? Definetely not, this is not that type of game. If you decide to immerse into this nightmare, you will see the game sustains this cold depressing atmosphere all the way while you fight your way through the difficult but innovative puzzles, the difficult fights. You don't make any friends during your struggle to escape that hellish place. You can't. You are alone and isolated. Poor Dr Escher, I thought I'll be able to save her, but no, no romance, no relief here, just cold, depression and death. Maybe you can escape Mastaba's fortress, but what then? How do you move on with your life? Will you be able to pay Mastaba back all the suffering he's done to you and others? Maybe, maybe not. While playing through again recently I was thinking the developers of this game probably got betrayed by others, and decided to threw all of their bitterness and anger at the player. This game is an unique gem. It's just good as it is. If I remember correctly, I heard about a possibility of a sequel but it probably wouldn't have been a good idea- Better to leave this experience as it is. Thank God this is just a game and you can have normal people, loved ones around- but you need to pursue Dr Mastaba, right?

At times agonizingly difficult but usually only because I didn't think things through before proceeding. It's almost like a Schwarzenegger movie complete with campy one-liners. From beginning to end, entertaining. The part that is sometimes agonizing is the combat, but having written that, once you're good at it, you can overwhelm anything that moves. If you don't want to be inflicting your enemies with a volley of missed punches and kicks, the important factor in combat is, always make sure you're facing your foe. Be warned, as good as the game is, there is a LOT of reading. If you don't take the time to read every data-pad entry and other information you come across, stuff will make no sense and you'll find yourself lost, with seemingly no way to continue. You'll think you missed something that you did out of order and have to start over, or you'll think there's a glitch in the game and be tempted to deliver it to the scythe-carrier of computer game death, the uninstall command. But no, DON'T. You just didn't read. You missed something. It's that real. You don't have to look for something hidden in the dark. It's not a pixel-hunt. If you look around carefully, you will see that the guys at Origin put a lot of time into this game. There is an explanation for everything you've done and everything you need to do. The setting casts you as an unknown test subject in a wicked secret research project. You've been made into a quintessential killing machine, but stripped of your memories. Your goal; escape and find out who you are. Yes, I know. You're thinking, same old. But this is not same old in any sense of the term. Once you escape your cell and beat another cellmate to deatrh with a severed arm, you'll realize quite early, this game is anything but same old. So if you are interested in an action/adventure game that does a lot, and succeeds in nearly every aspect, play Bioforge. It can get ridiculously difficult, and combat can be frenzied, but never disappointing.

Just finished the game for the first time and all I can say is WOW! I discovered Bioforge a long time ago, started it more than once and never got out of the cell #3, the main reasons for that being the atrocious control scheme and fixed camera (which I loathe). This time I tried harder to acclimatise and suddenly found myself glued to the screen for hours and hours. If you try to look past the initial put-offs you'll soon notice that there's a lot to enjoy: good graphics (yes, they're very dated, but the artwork is stellar - some locations are mind-blowingly beautiful), interesting puzzles that are quite difficult, but never really get on your nerves, like in many adventure games of the age; a somehow very likeable protagonist, with whom I associated straight away, and, above all, a truly brilliant story. Sure, this game would have benefitted from some polishing, but it is the way it is and I must say that I love it.

I loved this game when it first came out - a clever action title with an engaging story, and a technical beast (which surprisingly still looks pretty good in places even today). However playing it now does reveal a few things. 1) the combat is a bit naff - be it shooting or hand to hand combat it has a sluggishness that isn't surprising given its age. They deserve praise for trying this kind of thing years ago, but the technology wasn't there to make it last the test of time. 2) it's frustrating in places with some instant death scenario's and / or bits you can get stuck in - even on medium difficulty there are fights which are tediously hard, so saving often is a necessity 3) Its actually quite short, and in retrospect the story (while competently told) isn't particularly interesting 4)Its puzzles are still great, and it's a shame that most modern games don't do this kind of thing as well as they did FIFTEEN years ago! I enjoyed this on a recent playthrough but you've got to take the good with the bad. Makes me wonder whether Fade To Black has aged any better, as I remember that being slicker than Bioforge.