Hi guys

I've always wondered why people loved Bioshock so much I assumed the term Spiritual successor was meaning it was going to be good. In now was is Bioshock a bad FPS.

Yet the problem is it's meant to be a successor to system shock. I was disappointed when I played it for the first time recently. I had played a fair amount of SS2 already. So as I assumed it would be as complex.

Wow Just wow, I love Doom and Deus Ex, but this game is it's so DUMBED DOWN. No inventory, no powers menus unless upgrading and no wepon degrading. Ammo grows on trees,etc.
It's like they said nah console audience can't handle this sort of depth.
I just really have to take it at face value.
It's a fun game, but it doesn't deserve to be called or related to SS unless the franchise decides to head toawrds a more Deus EX RPG style of FPS/TPS

The only merits I can give it is that it's got good atmosphere and artistic design and is good for a Regular FPS, but in no way do I feel it really lives up SS.

I know this is all a rant, but I just felt disappointed.
I can merit it for what it is. Yet saying it's like SS is a overstatement.

IMO they copied all the superficial elements (vending machines, cameras and hacking, audio logs, etc.), but they failed to copy the deep stuff, like the subtle horror, the ominous atmosphere, and character building choices. Bioshock is a game for the masses, sort of "System Shock Light".

Bioshock wasn't made to please nostalgic PC gamers, it's a console game. Certainly there is creativity and passion behind it, the team that made it are not hacks looking for easy money. You can tell they were excited to craft the lore and looks of the game universe. It is however a console game, in a negative sense. Mainstream, really. Like so many modern games, it falls under the "Every player must be able to finish it" design ethos that has been ruining games for the past five or six years. Big title games today are no longer being made to be loved and remembered, they are only made to be consumed as the gamers move on to the next big title the moment they "finish" their current game. That, or skinner box online shooters that makes you think you are making progress by showing bars filling up with catchy sound ques, keeping you hooked for months just to see numbers go up.

Bioshock didn't upset me much. It's a forgettable mainstream title but it had brains and heart, or at least you could tell the developers had some. The game that really pisses me off is Fallout 3 and it frustrates me to near physical agitation when I see people say it is one of their favourite games (or THE favourite game). To me it is nothing but a tumor. It is pure garbage that can not hold a light to the older games but for some reason it really resonates with the masses. What is it about this idiotic and lazily thought up game world, incredibly poor writing and voice acting and bland game mechanics that people find so great? I'm sure most of those players would not like System Shock or the original Fallout games precisely because they need to think before they act, and even more so, figure out what to do next.

I like it when games give me something to do and leave me to deal with the consequences of my strategies and tactics. I don't like it when games come with a compass to point out the disguised corridor leveldesign, tying my shoes for me and occasionally take the controls away from me so that my character can do and say stuff on his own and expect me to find it cool and engaging. Compare Deus Ex 1's many permanent choices and consequences thereof with Deus Ex 2's "shower you with upgrades you can switch out any time you want because hey, no one should tell you how to play the game! Don't worry, you can just shoot your way to the end credits anyways. Btw you can choose your ending in the last five minutes, no need to think too much about what you are doing all those hours leading up to it!".

System Shock is a great game that demands the player's attention and cunning, while Bioshock is a "Here is a bunch of cool stuff for you to watch while you think about what game to buy next (I hope it is our next game!)" kind of game.

Gotta love the trendy Bioshock bashing from SS fans, still going on to this day I guess. Seriously people, you're not comparing fine wines, they're video games. Lighten up, you either enjoyed it or you didn't.

Fallout 3 resonated so well because most players never experienced the originals or couldn't get past their old-school asthetics.