BioShock™ Remastered

Whatever I have to say has been said before and in better ways, this game is an absolute masterpiece and a modern classic, revolutioned and standarized so many things we take for granted in modern FPS and games in general. The remastered version in my case worked fine and looked amazing, maybe not a big upgrade in comparison with the original but it looks great either way. Be sure to change your audio mode to 7.1 or ProLogic, stereo does not work correctly in many cases. Just get this game!

The premise of this game is great. The story is interesting. The climate is awesome. Mechanics are fun and rewarding. If only the game wasn't so buggy. The game crushes a lot. It seems you cannot play for more than an hour without one. Loading the map also can cause a crush, but this can happen basically at any time doing anything. To complete the game, you have to save every few minutes or risk loosing your progress for the current level. It really breaks the experience. Such a shame, becase it's one of the most climatic games I've ever played. One additional plus for a controller support. It works well and it's fun to use with this game. With all that plasmids and weapons at your disposal, it might just be easier to play with one. Especially since you don't really need that much precision, when shooting your enemies. If you can stomach crushes, buy this one on a discount. Otherwise don't bother with this title, at least until an unlikely fix.

I remember borrowing this game and beating it in a weekend, I barely had any idea what was really going on as you can just tear through the levels, shooting everything in sight, without really thinking about anything going on. It's full of lore, but it's so inconsequential, especially considering it's told through audio-tapes which I just let play as I murder waves of enemies. I just feel like the pacing doesn't match the gameplay at all, it's a fast paced shooter with hoards of enemies and a linear progression, but with an attempt at world building and lore more akin to an RPG. Ultimately you can beat the game by just blindly running from 1 objective to the next, and that's what I did. I never felt the urge to slow down and take things in, and audio tapes, I guess just to me, feel like a lazy way to tell a story. I just wanted to offer a somewhat negative opinion to a game that is otherwise universally praised. I guess I just don't really understand the hype. It's a fast paced shooter that you can beat very quickly, with a bunch of fluff that only matters if you care enough to pay attention.

My usual disclaimer: old crusty gamer that has played certain genres to saturation. Apparently, Bioshock borrows heavily from System Shock 1/2 but I never played those games so I was not comparing to those games when I first played Bioshock. The world building, character design and overall aesthetics of this game are top notch. The city of Rapture is brimming with Art Deco, horror and decay. As an FPS game Bioshock stands out because it tries to have a compelling story. In reality, you spend most of your time shooting junkies in the face while an audio log plays. Now granted, I think the story is great for an FPS, I just find it amusing that the game tries to be so deep but really if you don't find a lot of the audio logs it is a bit baffling at first. This leads to a complete disconnect when finally presented with an "end boss" fight that seemed out of place and stupidly underwhelming. I liked that as an FPS you were constantly forced to think up a good battle plan before fighting a Big Daddy and whether to spare or sacrifice the Little Sisters. (Always save them you savage!). Also, I enjoyed the camera gimmick and misplaced plumbing/hacking mini game because they broke up the shooting action. The game presents itself as having many options for combat but that is untrue. Bioshock is unbalanced quite early on by giving you the two Plasmids you really need for effective combat: Telekinesis and Shock. With these two Plasmids you can essential deal with any threat. Shock stun locks enemies so that you can just pick up a heavy object with Telekinesis and throw it at them. Repeat until dead, then as a bonus just pick up the dead body and throw it any of the still living enemies. Levels play out the same in the sense that you should try to save/sacrifice all Little Sisters in an are before moving on. Exploration is encouraged and beneficial to the player. Overall I give this game 4 stars. Replay value varies but it is worth going through at least twice.

I've played the original but core game looks to be the same. Graphic was great back then so it probably even better now. Problem is the gameplay, it's too repetive. Not too many enemies variants and only 1 unique boss??? I think I got most of weapons and plasmids half of the game. Second half of the game after the twist felt too similiar. There was nothing like Fort Frolic which was the best part of the game. Unfortunately story also took a nosedive. Sorry but the main bad guy was meh and there was nothing interesting after "Would You kindly". Maybe it's because Bioshock borrows heavily from System Shock gameplay didn't impress me that much. Good ending was a big let down. Final verdict 6,5-7/10.