Bioshock Review Xbox 360
Bioshock is a first person shooter set in 1960. You are on a plane flying over the Atlantic and all of a sudden things take a turn for the worst and the plane ends up crashing in the middle of the ocean. You are an only lone survivor of this crash and you stumble across an underwater city by the name of Rapture. Rapture is a city that was built and run by a man called Andrew Ryan who created the city so that great minds and workers can work without anything holding them back, people taking there work from them and so they are able to work to there full potential without any censorship from petty mortality.
You arrive in the city to find that it is deserted and a complete wreck with drugged up criminals running amok rioting and killing each other for a substance called ADAM which is the main source of power that rapture runs on. ADAM is a power source that makes people stronger and everybody wants it, everybody needs it.
There was also a war between two major powers in the city Frank Fontaine and Andrew Ryan and people chose what side they wanted to be on. This tore the city apart as they both wanted total control of Rapture leading to the downfall of the city causing it to all go wrong.
Throughout the game you can also pick up audio diaries whilst searching areas that you come across that give you a back story from other peoples perspectives to what happened. This gives a detailed background but also builds a lot of depth to the plot of the story which I like. But this is also sort of irritating having to find audio diaries and listen to them all the time during game play in order to get more of the story and pass codes for doors and safes. This reminds me of Doom 3 having to do this all the time to receive pass codes and get back story. But this can also be relevant and interesting. Also your main character who is very shrouded in mystery throughout most the game is kept in the dark a lot so you don't really know who he is. So plot development is a crucial part in this game to find out who you are. Which is good because you gradually learn that little bit more about yourself but you never get everything which I find good because you never actually see yourself.
But I will say that Bioshock definitely has one of the best storylines and plot twists I've seen in a game and is definatly a reason to get this game. I don't want to spoil it for you either but play the game and I'm sure you will agree.
Bad point is the game play. If I must say a bit of a let down in many aspects which I will discuss throughout the review. I just thought that it could have been so much better and the amount of hype this game got to. I just felt a bit cheated when it came down to the whole game play aspect. If they changed or took some of the gameplay aspects out and tweaked it up it could have definitely been a perfect game in my view. Its still an ok game but it got so hyped up and when I bought it I just didn't feel like all that hype should have really been there.
Weapons I thought where a tad disappointing. First of all there isn't really much variety of weapons there is probably about 8 maximum and there isn't much difference between these weapons and even with some of the bigger more powerful weapons they can sometimes do the same amount of damage to a more inferior weapon depending on what enemies you come across and how the weapons effect the kinds of enemies. But you can upgrade these weapons if you find a "Power To The People Station". Here you can upgrade your weapon to hold more ammunition, faster shooting rate, reload rate or perhaps do more damage so that you can kill bigger enemies faster. This is good as enemies become more resistant to you toward the end but also very irritating as they all have there own strengths and weaknesses and sometimes your weapons are still just as bad before you upgraded them. You find these stations throughout the game and can only use one station once for each upgrade.
This brings me onto the research camera. I find this feature kind of irritating. Because you have to constantly take pictures of your enemy to gain more research so that you can make them more venerable throughout the game. You are constantly having to take pictures. Its just annoying having to swap weapons to get your camera out to take pictures of your enemy as they attack you so you can gain more research points so that you can do more damage to them. I just don't really see any point in this, I only ever really did the research side of things to get the achievements apart from that I don't really see any point in research and its just irritating and is a aspect of the game just to make it drag out a little bit more.
I hate the fact there is so many kinds of ammunition. This annoys the hell out of me as most the ammo you choose actually barely is any different from the other types of ammo you collect except for explosive rounds and the shock rounds. which I see as a pretty pointless thing to have if they all pretty much do the same thing.
I don't get why they cant take damage like other games instead of wasting round after round trying to kill different enemies and swapping ammo around just to focus on certain enemies weaknesses. I think this would be a lot better as your constantly having to waste ammo and buy lots as you go along the game. Keeping the damage on enemies more simple would be a lot better. Most the time you are having to accomplish headshots which don't always work and can become difficult with enemies jumping around and also when there are multiple enemies trying to attack you at once.
But I do like the whole health metre feature for enemies so you know how much damage you have done to them and how much left until you kill them, I found this very helpful when having to come up against Big Daddies.
I will also say that enemy AI is rubbish! Which is just so annoying and not challenging in the slightest but can also be very frustrating. Like in most games enemies usually take cover and shoot from cover, hide and there is some what a brain in there head. Bioshock the enemies just seem to come flying at you with no thought in there head and just make a B line straight for you and you just respond by shooting them in the face. There is nothing challenging about that, there is not really much strategy needed to kill enemies as there easy to pick off unlike other FPS games I have played. But this feature can also piss you off to no ends when facing big daddies. These are the most powerful enemy in the game. They just come straight for you thundering towards you and take off ridiculous amounts of damage and just shoot the hell out of you before you can even do anything. Its just annoying as the minute you hit them you have to usually be very prepared or your pretty much screwed.
You face probably a variety of 5 types of enemy throughout the game them being.
Splicers (They just hit you really)
Leadhead Splicer ( They shoot you)
Houdini Splicer (Disappear and shoot fire at you)
Spider Splicer (Crawls on ceiling and throws knives at you and attacks you)
Nitro Splicers (Throws grenades at you)
Big Daddy's And Rosies (Protect the Little Sisters and are most strongest)
There isn't really much difference with these enemies except for the attacks they do to you and what types of damage they inflict but apart from that there all just as easy to kill apart from the Big Daddies.
Scrolling through weapons sometimes it can become very frustrating having to scroll through all the weapons just to find the one you want. If you run out of ammo for your weapons then having to find another one that you want you may have to flick through a variety of weapons and ammo just to find the one you need with a decent amount of ammo. I think that a weapon system such as Halo Or Call Of Duty 4 would be a lot easier so that you can change between weapons fast and effectively but also pick new weapons up for your preferences. Or even an easy to use inventory screen would have been better. I think that if there where a better variety of weapons, weapon damage was changed, easier to go through weapons and the fact that you don't have to research your enemies every corner you get around I think the weapon system would be considerably better.
Another kind of weapon you have in the game are your Plasmids. I really like these because they all are different and have different effects on enemies but also you can use these weapons effectively on the environment to help you throughout the game. You can have such powers as Electrobolt, Incinerate, Telekinesis, Winter Blast and many more. You can use these powers to burn, freeze and stun your enemies. Or you can use them on the environment making water electrical so that enemies die if they are in the vicinity, setting fire to oil slicks and melting ice to go through sealed doors and also throwing objects around you at enemies to kill them.
You can also upgrade these special powers by accumulating a substance called Adam which can be used as currency to make these powers stronger or buy new ones from vending machines called Gatherers Garden. You have to get Adam from the Little Sisters, these are little girls who are possessed who are guarded by the Big Daddies who protect them at all times who go around collecting Adam from the dead bodies of Rapture. To get to them you must kill the Big Daddy and then you can choose to either save the Little Sister or you can choose to harvest the slug in them which kills the girl. If you harvest them you get the full amount of Adam, but If you choose to save them you only get a partial amount of the Adam to what you could have. But if you choose not to harvest them you also get a bonus every 3-4 little sisters you save that helps you throughout the game. This can also change the ending of the game to be either good or bad depending on what you decide to do.
You collect various tonics throughout the game that can boost up your physical, combat and engineering abilities. Physical tonics help you throughout the game giving you abilities to move faster, damage reduction, invisibility and help your physical state. Combat tonics help you when fighting enemies giving you increased wrench damage, ability to shock people when your hit (Static discharge) and engineering tonics help you whilst your hacking making sure that you get les alarm tiles or the flow speed is slower making hacking easier. There is over about 80 tonics in the game and there are various abilities and upgraded abilities to help you throughout the game. You can constantly change what tonics you want to have equipped using the Gene Bank station.
Hacking I find quite fun little aspect of the game. Although I don't think it should really be called hacking when really its just plumbing. This little aspect of the game is basically a Pipe Mania mini game. You have to get the fluid from one side to the other without it catching up to you or making a mistake so it goes wrong, or so that it doesn't hit any alarm tiles. This can be kind of easy and frustrating as you do it quite a lot. Also later in the game it gets a bit harder and I'm sure a few of you have come across this scenario. You are uncovering tiles at the beginning and you have 2 or more alarm tiles blocking your path or no tiles you need nearby so the minute the fluid comes out you fail almost instantly. Even with tonics equipped this can still happen and its so bloody annoying. You can hack such objects as security turrets, cameras, vending machines and security bots. If you hack security devices it puts them on your side and you can use them against your enemies.
Hacking vending machines makes items cheaper and with invent machines it just gives you less items to use when making items. You need to hack these a lot to get ammo as you waste most of it playing through the game and hacking machines is just a little advantage to help you get more ammo so you're never too short.
U-Invent machines are ok but pointless as its always the same inventions over and over. Its also not that fascinating either or individual and I don't really ever use them unless I need ammo for my grenade launcher or some trap bolts for my crossbow.
If you made something really beneficial that you pick all these parts up for such as a new weapon you could get by inventing things, Or making attachments for your weapons to customise them then maybe but its really not necessary.
Security cameras are placed throughout the game and if you are caught in its sight for to long security bots come after you for about a minute or so whilst the alarms go off. These are good to hack as you progress some enemies you might have missed or some that try sneaking up on you get immediately caught and are taken care for you so you don't have to. But if you don't hack them it's a bit annoying if you get caught out as you have to evade a few bots until the alarm stops. You can just shoot these but its more advisable to hack them as they do work well in your favour.
Security turrets are also another security device you can hack. These turrets automatically come online at the sight of an enemy and shoot whilst it is in range. These are also good to hack as they protect areas you have been through or have come to and attack any enemy near by making life a lot easier for you and you don't have to waste so much ammo. These can become annoying as you get caught out sometimes with these, again you can just destroy them but hacking is more advised. It is a advantage that can be used also. Finally you can hack security bots. These are robots that fly around and can shoot enemies for you when hacked. But really I don't hack these so often because most the time they just fly in the way of where you are shooting or they just get destroyed very easily so there isn't really much point having them there in the first place. Another thing I just want to point out quickly. This game is set in 1960. Why is there even these types of things in there I don't really think that security cameras, turrets that could tell friend from foe and little flying robots where around back then which is a point I thought id point out.
Two things I will come to now I think this game really could have been better off without. In my mind it makes the game so easy and not challenging and it just ruins the whole experience for me. If they took these two major things out I think the game would have been a lot better.
Firstly respawning. I cannot even tell you how many Vito-Chambers there are throughout this game where if you die you get spawned back to. This makes any sort of difficulty in the game almost virtually easy to finish the game with ease. You get transported to these things with all the items, ammo and weapons you had when you died intact and its so annoying! I honestly don't know who thought it would be a good idea but it really made this game so easy to finish and you can get killed as many times as you like and not have to worry about playing this game with any sort of strategy hiding behind walls and taking cover or being tactful because every time you die you just don't need to worry because these things jus pick you up where you left off. There is nothing good about this and its just makes everything to easy.
Secondly the quest arrow. This just points you exactly where you have to go. There is nothing so that the player figures it out for themselves or has to find where to go by themselves because the quest arrow just throws that straight in the bin and just shows you the way so you never actually get lost. Its just basically a yellow brick road for you to follow there is no way in this game you can get lost or find things yourself making it that little bit harder having to do it yourself because that just gives away everything. I mean you have a map you can use which would be a lot better looking at it logically but this arrow just also makes the difficulty of the game so easy.
To me its these two features that annoy me the most its basically just setting out a route for you to follow and you can die as often as you like with no consequence. The only time your not allowed to die because you cant respawn is the last boss and to be fair its practically impossible to die on him also as he is so easy. Its just so easy and there is no challenging aspect to this game at all.
Something very good I do have to say about this game though is the graphics, they are defiantly an up point to this game. The environment, lighting, detail and colours and water graphics are just really good. I do love the fact that unlike most other first person shooters that whenever you get water over you or go through water you get splashed on the screen or water runs down the screen. I think that the graphics are a detail in this game it can definatly be praised for which was one of the first things that caught my eye through the rest of the game.
Controls are very easy to grasp for this game and are very basic and easy to learn like most other first person shooters. Only quarrel with these controls are no melle action which does prove frustrating at times, no button for grenades and I think if you could actually have an action to throw grenades id probably choose that over having to scroll through all my weapons to find the grenade launcher, id have a better system for weapons so its easier to swap between one and the other. Apart from that id say the control where easy enough to grasp and where good for the game.
There is no online play in Bioshock. This is one of the few games on the Xbox 360 that doesn't have online play and to be honest I'm kind of glad it doesn't. With how disappointing I found the game play during single player if they used this for multiplayer it would be terrible for match making and playing with your friends. Just for the pure fact I think that people would end up killing each other so easily or you'd have a hard time doing this because of the amount of health kits you can get. I just don't think this game feels right to be an online multiplayer experience as its got a lot of downfalls already and I think multiplayer would be something else to add to there list. Also the environments are quite samey and I don't think they could have a good variety of maps and ideas for people to play online it'd be quite boring and repetitive and its something you could get bored of quite easily.
But you can download new plasmids and powers on Xbox live. There isn't much but the sonic boom plasmid Is something I downloaded which I didn't think wasn't too bad but apart from that there isn't really anything else.
Finally something I wanted to come onto Bioshock 2 has been announced. 2K aren't making this game and it has been put in the hands of a different company which I think might turn out ok. I think that someone might see the games potential and I'm hoping that some of the gameplay issues from the first game will be resolved. Weapons and ammo, AI, no quest arrow, no respawning, some added control features, another good story, great graphics and some extra touches and possibly some multiplayer if maybe there are more environments and gameplay feels a bit better and I think it would make a perfect game and show the potential of what this game could have had. I honestly don't know how there going to make Bioshock 2 work unless its set before this game or after the game on the bad ending. Other than that I cannot see the storyline for the second instalment working. Unless they create a whole new plot line altogether which I think would ruin the whole story behind the game.
But on a final note I will say play this game at least once. It is a good game to an extent even though it has a few points it needs to brush up on though but even so it's a good game to play first time around just to get an experience. If you liked System Shock 2 as I did you will like this game. I dont know Bioshock just feels like a dissapointment compared sure its got a good story and graphics are better but System Shock even being released about 8 years or so ago was amazing for its time and still is a great game and has all the elements for a great game. This is probably a game better played on pc where as I played it on Xbox but if you like system shock you will like this but noticing the flaws I will say system shock is practically identical with a few changes to either game and different story. Definatly play if you haven't its just one of those games you have to find out if you like for yourself. This game definatly had a lot more potential game play wise than it did and hopefully Bioshock 2 brushes up these mistakes and makes them better for a brilliant experience when the second instalment comes out
Bioshock is a first person shooter set in 1960. You are on a plane flying over the Atlantic and all of a sudden things take a turn for the worst and the plane ends up crashing in the middle of the ocean. You are an only lone survivor of this crash and you stumble across an underwater city by the name of Rapture. Rapture is a city that was built and run by a man called Andrew Ryan who created the city so that great minds and workers can work without anything holding them back, people taking there work from them and so they are able to work to there full potential without any censorship from petty mortality.
You arrive in the city to find that it is deserted and a complete wreck with drugged up criminals running amok rioting and killing each other for a substance called ADAM which is the main source of power that rapture runs on. ADAM is a power source that makes people stronger and everybody wants it, everybody needs it.
There was also a war between two major powers in the city Frank Fontaine and Andrew Ryan and people chose what side they wanted to be on. This tore the city apart as they both wanted total control of Rapture leading to the downfall of the city causing it to all go wrong.
Throughout the game you can also pick up audio diaries whilst searching areas that you come across that give you a back story from other peoples perspectives to what happened. This gives a detailed background but also builds a lot of depth to the plot of the story which I like. But this is also sort of irritating having to find audio diaries and listen to them all the time during game play in order to get more of the story and pass codes for doors and safes. This reminds me of Doom 3 having to do this all the time to receive pass codes and get back story. But this can also be relevant and interesting. Also your main character who is very shrouded in mystery throughout most the game is kept in the dark a lot so you don't really know who he is. So plot development is a crucial part in this game to find out who you are. Which is good because you gradually learn that little bit more about yourself but you never get everything which I find good because you never actually see yourself.
But I will say that Bioshock definitely has one of the best storylines and plot twists I've seen in a game and is definatly a reason to get this game. I don't want to spoil it for you either but play the game and I'm sure you will agree.
Bad point is the game play. If I must say a bit of a let down in many aspects which I will discuss throughout the review. I just thought that it could have been so much better and the amount of hype this game got to. I just felt a bit cheated when it came down to the whole game play aspect. If they changed or took some of the gameplay aspects out and tweaked it up it could have definitely been a perfect game in my view. Its still an ok game but it got so hyped up and when I bought it I just didn't feel like all that hype should have really been there.
Weapons I thought where a tad disappointing. First of all there isn't really much variety of weapons there is probably about 8 maximum and there isn't much difference between these weapons and even with some of the bigger more powerful weapons they can sometimes do the same amount of damage to a more inferior weapon depending on what enemies you come across and how the weapons effect the kinds of enemies. But you can upgrade these weapons if you find a "Power To The People Station". Here you can upgrade your weapon to hold more ammunition, faster shooting rate, reload rate or perhaps do more damage so that you can kill bigger enemies faster. This is good as enemies become more resistant to you toward the end but also very irritating as they all have there own strengths and weaknesses and sometimes your weapons are still just as bad before you upgraded them. You find these stations throughout the game and can only use one station once for each upgrade.
This brings me onto the research camera. I find this feature kind of irritating. Because you have to constantly take pictures of your enemy to gain more research so that you can make them more venerable throughout the game. You are constantly having to take pictures. Its just annoying having to swap weapons to get your camera out to take pictures of your enemy as they attack you so you can gain more research points so that you can do more damage to them. I just don't really see any point in this, I only ever really did the research side of things to get the achievements apart from that I don't really see any point in research and its just irritating and is a aspect of the game just to make it drag out a little bit more.
I hate the fact there is so many kinds of ammunition. This annoys the hell out of me as most the ammo you choose actually barely is any different from the other types of ammo you collect except for explosive rounds and the shock rounds. which I see as a pretty pointless thing to have if they all pretty much do the same thing.
I don't get why they cant take damage like other games instead of wasting round after round trying to kill different enemies and swapping ammo around just to focus on certain enemies weaknesses. I think this would be a lot better as your constantly having to waste ammo and buy lots as you go along the game. Keeping the damage on enemies more simple would be a lot better. Most the time you are having to accomplish headshots which don't always work and can become difficult with enemies jumping around and also when there are multiple enemies trying to attack you at once.
But I do like the whole health metre feature for enemies so you know how much damage you have done to them and how much left until you kill them, I found this very helpful when having to come up against Big Daddies.
I will also say that enemy AI is rubbish! Which is just so annoying and not challenging in the slightest but can also be very frustrating. Like in most games enemies usually take cover and shoot from cover, hide and there is some what a brain in there head. Bioshock the enemies just seem to come flying at you with no thought in there head and just make a B line straight for you and you just respond by shooting them in the face. There is nothing challenging about that, there is not really much strategy needed to kill enemies as there easy to pick off unlike other FPS games I have played. But this feature can also piss you off to no ends when facing big daddies. These are the most powerful enemy in the game. They just come straight for you thundering towards you and take off ridiculous amounts of damage and just shoot the hell out of you before you can even do anything. Its just annoying as the minute you hit them you have to usually be very prepared or your pretty much screwed.
You face probably a variety of 5 types of enemy throughout the game them being.
Splicers (They just hit you really)
Leadhead Splicer ( They shoot you)
Houdini Splicer (Disappear and shoot fire at you)
Spider Splicer (Crawls on ceiling and throws knives at you and attacks you)
Nitro Splicers (Throws grenades at you)
Big Daddy's And Rosies (Protect the Little Sisters and are most strongest)
There isn't really much difference with these enemies except for the attacks they do to you and what types of damage they inflict but apart from that there all just as easy to kill apart from the Big Daddies.
Scrolling through weapons sometimes it can become very frustrating having to scroll through all the weapons just to find the one you want. If you run out of ammo for your weapons then having to find another one that you want you may have to flick through a variety of weapons and ammo just to find the one you need with a decent amount of ammo. I think that a weapon system such as Halo Or Call Of Duty 4 would be a lot easier so that you can change between weapons fast and effectively but also pick new weapons up for your preferences. Or even an easy to use inventory screen would have been better. I think that if there where a better variety of weapons, weapon damage was changed, easier to go through weapons and the fact that you don't have to research your enemies every corner you get around I think the weapon system would be considerably better.
Another kind of weapon you have in the game are your Plasmids. I really like these because they all are different and have different effects on enemies but also you can use these weapons effectively on the environment to help you throughout the game. You can have such powers as Electrobolt, Incinerate, Telekinesis, Winter Blast and many more. You can use these powers to burn, freeze and stun your enemies. Or you can use them on the environment making water electrical so that enemies die if they are in the vicinity, setting fire to oil slicks and melting ice to go through sealed doors and also throwing objects around you at enemies to kill them.
You can also upgrade these special powers by accumulating a substance called Adam which can be used as currency to make these powers stronger or buy new ones from vending machines called Gatherers Garden. You have to get Adam from the Little Sisters, these are little girls who are possessed who are guarded by the Big Daddies who protect them at all times who go around collecting Adam from the dead bodies of Rapture. To get to them you must kill the Big Daddy and then you can choose to either save the Little Sister or you can choose to harvest the slug in them which kills the girl. If you harvest them you get the full amount of Adam, but If you choose to save them you only get a partial amount of the Adam to what you could have. But if you choose not to harvest them you also get a bonus every 3-4 little sisters you save that helps you throughout the game. This can also change the ending of the game to be either good or bad depending on what you decide to do.
You collect various tonics throughout the game that can boost up your physical, combat and engineering abilities. Physical tonics help you throughout the game giving you abilities to move faster, damage reduction, invisibility and help your physical state. Combat tonics help you when fighting enemies giving you increased wrench damage, ability to shock people when your hit (Static discharge) and engineering tonics help you whilst your hacking making sure that you get les alarm tiles or the flow speed is slower making hacking easier. There is over about 80 tonics in the game and there are various abilities and upgraded abilities to help you throughout the game. You can constantly change what tonics you want to have equipped using the Gene Bank station.
Hacking I find quite fun little aspect of the game. Although I don't think it should really be called hacking when really its just plumbing. This little aspect of the game is basically a Pipe Mania mini game. You have to get the fluid from one side to the other without it catching up to you or making a mistake so it goes wrong, or so that it doesn't hit any alarm tiles. This can be kind of easy and frustrating as you do it quite a lot. Also later in the game it gets a bit harder and I'm sure a few of you have come across this scenario. You are uncovering tiles at the beginning and you have 2 or more alarm tiles blocking your path or no tiles you need nearby so the minute the fluid comes out you fail almost instantly. Even with tonics equipped this can still happen and its so bloody annoying. You can hack such objects as security turrets, cameras, vending machines and security bots. If you hack security devices it puts them on your side and you can use them against your enemies.
Hacking vending machines makes items cheaper and with invent machines it just gives you less items to use when making items. You need to hack these a lot to get ammo as you waste most of it playing through the game and hacking machines is just a little advantage to help you get more ammo so you're never too short.
U-Invent machines are ok but pointless as its always the same inventions over and over. Its also not that fascinating either or individual and I don't really ever use them unless I need ammo for my grenade launcher or some trap bolts for my crossbow.
If you made something really beneficial that you pick all these parts up for such as a new weapon you could get by inventing things, Or making attachments for your weapons to customise them then maybe but its really not necessary.
Security cameras are placed throughout the game and if you are caught in its sight for to long security bots come after you for about a minute or so whilst the alarms go off. These are good to hack as you progress some enemies you might have missed or some that try sneaking up on you get immediately caught and are taken care for you so you don't have to. But if you don't hack them it's a bit annoying if you get caught out as you have to evade a few bots until the alarm stops. You can just shoot these but its more advisable to hack them as they do work well in your favour.
Security turrets are also another security device you can hack. These turrets automatically come online at the sight of an enemy and shoot whilst it is in range. These are also good to hack as they protect areas you have been through or have come to and attack any enemy near by making life a lot easier for you and you don't have to waste so much ammo. These can become annoying as you get caught out sometimes with these, again you can just destroy them but hacking is more advised. It is a advantage that can be used also. Finally you can hack security bots. These are robots that fly around and can shoot enemies for you when hacked. But really I don't hack these so often because most the time they just fly in the way of where you are shooting or they just get destroyed very easily so there isn't really much point having them there in the first place. Another thing I just want to point out quickly. This game is set in 1960. Why is there even these types of things in there I don't really think that security cameras, turrets that could tell friend from foe and little flying robots where around back then which is a point I thought id point out.
Two things I will come to now I think this game really could have been better off without. In my mind it makes the game so easy and not challenging and it just ruins the whole experience for me. If they took these two major things out I think the game would have been a lot better.
Firstly respawning. I cannot even tell you how many Vito-Chambers there are throughout this game where if you die you get spawned back to. This makes any sort of difficulty in the game almost virtually easy to finish the game with ease. You get transported to these things with all the items, ammo and weapons you had when you died intact and its so annoying! I honestly don't know who thought it would be a good idea but it really made this game so easy to finish and you can get killed as many times as you like and not have to worry about playing this game with any sort of strategy hiding behind walls and taking cover or being tactful because every time you die you just don't need to worry because these things jus pick you up where you left off. There is nothing good about this and its just makes everything to easy.
Secondly the quest arrow. This just points you exactly where you have to go. There is nothing so that the player figures it out for themselves or has to find where to go by themselves because the quest arrow just throws that straight in the bin and just shows you the way so you never actually get lost. Its just basically a yellow brick road for you to follow there is no way in this game you can get lost or find things yourself making it that little bit harder having to do it yourself because that just gives away everything. I mean you have a map you can use which would be a lot better looking at it logically but this arrow just also makes the difficulty of the game so easy.
To me its these two features that annoy me the most its basically just setting out a route for you to follow and you can die as often as you like with no consequence. The only time your not allowed to die because you cant respawn is the last boss and to be fair its practically impossible to die on him also as he is so easy. Its just so easy and there is no challenging aspect to this game at all.
Something very good I do have to say about this game though is the graphics, they are defiantly an up point to this game. The environment, lighting, detail and colours and water graphics are just really good. I do love the fact that unlike most other first person shooters that whenever you get water over you or go through water you get splashed on the screen or water runs down the screen. I think that the graphics are a detail in this game it can definatly be praised for which was one of the first things that caught my eye through the rest of the game.
Controls are very easy to grasp for this game and are very basic and easy to learn like most other first person shooters. Only quarrel with these controls are no melle action which does prove frustrating at times, no button for grenades and I think if you could actually have an action to throw grenades id probably choose that over having to scroll through all my weapons to find the grenade launcher, id have a better system for weapons so its easier to swap between one and the other. Apart from that id say the control where easy enough to grasp and where good for the game.
There is no online play in Bioshock. This is one of the few games on the Xbox 360 that doesn't have online play and to be honest I'm kind of glad it doesn't. With how disappointing I found the game play during single player if they used this for multiplayer it would be terrible for match making and playing with your friends. Just for the pure fact I think that people would end up killing each other so easily or you'd have a hard time doing this because of the amount of health kits you can get. I just don't think this game feels right to be an online multiplayer experience as its got a lot of downfalls already and I think multiplayer would be something else to add to there list. Also the environments are quite samey and I don't think they could have a good variety of maps and ideas for people to play online it'd be quite boring and repetitive and its something you could get bored of quite easily.
But you can download new plasmids and powers on Xbox live. There isn't much but the sonic boom plasmid Is something I downloaded which I didn't think wasn't too bad but apart from that there isn't really anything else.
Finally something I wanted to come onto Bioshock 2 has been announced. 2K aren't making this game and it has been put in the hands of a different company which I think might turn out ok. I think that someone might see the games potential and I'm hoping that some of the gameplay issues from the first game will be resolved. Weapons and ammo, AI, no quest arrow, no respawning, some added control features, another good story, great graphics and some extra touches and possibly some multiplayer if maybe there are more environments and gameplay feels a bit better and I think it would make a perfect game and show the potential of what this game could have had. I honestly don't know how there going to make Bioshock 2 work unless its set before this game or after the game on the bad ending. Other than that I cannot see the storyline for the second instalment working. Unless they create a whole new plot line altogether which I think would ruin the whole story behind the game.
But on a final note I will say play this game at least once. It is a good game to an extent even though it has a few points it needs to brush up on though but even so it's a good game to play first time around just to get an experience. If you liked System Shock 2 as I did you will like this game. I dont know Bioshock just feels like a dissapointment compared sure its got a good story and graphics are better but System Shock even being released about 8 years or so ago was amazing for its time and still is a great game and has all the elements for a great game. This is probably a game better played on pc where as I played it on Xbox but if you like system shock you will like this but noticing the flaws I will say system shock is practically identical with a few changes to either game and different story. Definatly play if you haven't its just one of those games you have to find out if you like for yourself. This game definatly had a lot more potential game play wise than it did and hopefully Bioshock 2 brushes up these mistakes and makes them better for a brilliant experience when the second instalment comes out
