Why does everyone love Bioshock?

[MrLumber]

I thought Fallout, Bioshock, and Mass Effect were all pretty mediocre.
I personally didn't feel like any of their stories were particularly stellar, and Fallouts was just boring. Topped with the fact that I still don't find RPG shooters to be any good. Deus Ex: HR gets around this by having a significantly larger variety of gameplay options, and less restrictive rules on gunplay. The fact that I'm bound down to a specific subset of guns in any game, in the already repetitive shooter genre is just lame, and does nothing for the actual gameplay.

To me, none of the three aforementioned games had good enough stories to give their poor gameplay structure a by, and therefore were all pretty sub-standard games. Personally I find sweeping story lines fine, but not without any sort of high concept moral quandaries going on, something, again, none of those games had, with the possible exception of Bioshock, but Deus Ex does a much better job of it anyway.

 

[remnant_phoenix]

....the story and philosophy behind the world of Rapture are far more interesting and thought provoking than the current "YOU ARE A WESTERN SOLIDER - KILL ALL THE ARABS IN THEIR COUNTRIES" setting and story that's puked about

This. A thousand times this.

I personally loved the gameplay (no iron-sighting needed, no two-weapon limit, cool powers like shooting lightning out of your hand, etc), but what really drew me in was the art deco steampunk setting and the story with interesting sci-fi, historical, and objectivist commentary. The fact that it has a silent protagonist really ups the immersion and made me feel like I personally was the one who was exploring Rapture.

Gameplay-wise, it really comes down to personal preference, and I personally perfer the Bioshock/Half-Life/Doom approach to FPS to the Halo/Call of Duty approach.

But even if Bioshock did have Call of Duty style gameplay, I'd still love it, because in terms of story and setting, Bioshock is a cut way above the generic schlock that floats around a lot of video games, particuarly first-person shooters.

 

[hyker]

because yahtzee brought in atleast 50% of the escapist, and yahtzee likes the game because it's arty

 

[someonehairy-ish]

I enjoyed it for the many highly entertaining ways of killing stuff. In no other game can I set bees on someone to chase them into a pool of water, electrify the pool and then crossbow them to a wall if they recover.
The story was good but the way there are so many clever little details in the game that you probably missed a few if you raced through it. Also, the set-pieces toward the beginning were excellent.

Uhm, what else?


The graphics were good? The music was also good? The art style was extremely cool, as was the setting?


I don't really see how this can be average tbh.

 

[Ubermetalhed]

well..it was pretty nice. but if you ever played system shock 2, you probably will only have a tired smile left for the consolized, dumped down experience that is bioshock. don't get me wrong, it's still a very good game. not great perhaps, but very good. a lot deeper than what console players usually get served. pc players who remember the hayday of deep games know what i'm talking about though when i say that it's not as big a deal as it gets made out to be nowadays.

You couldn't be more spot on. Exactly right.

Bioshock is indeed a depressingly watered down version of SS2. It makes me cringe when people tell me that Bioshock was either 'atmospheric' or 'scary'.

I can only speak for the first ME but the story for that was crap only picking up at the last 5th of the game. Fallout 3 was also crap, its variety of missions making the story interesting enough to continue.

Bioshock, or SS2 rehashed story was far superior even if it was delivered in such a lacklustre way.

 

[Mr. 47]

I agree. I didn't see much new, and stopped playing to go play Mass Effect 2. I didn't dislike, but I didn't enjoy it either.

 

[Jake0fTrades]

Bioshock was a step towards making video games a respectable medium. A story deeply influenced by literature and philosophical ideals, voice acting well on-par with most movies, and consistently pliable gameplay mechanics.

I have no idea what you're talking about. But I respect your opinion.

 

[cormacd12]

I wasn't a big fan either. Half of the game was backtracking and looting to find 5 or 6 mcguffins. I never had enough health and the stupid vita-chambers didn't help. Every time I finished a level the game would say - oh, there's one or two little sisters you haven't found yet but I could never find them.

The only great things were the plasmids, audiologs (fresh at the time), the twist and atlas's Irish accent. Seriously, I'm Irish and I cringe whenever I hear a leprechaun impression in games like the saboteur.

 

[monkey_man]

Oh heavens. This thread again. There have been "I no likey Bioshock so heres me saiing thad" threads too many already, and you just made another one?
Just because a game is good in one's opinion, or in a large quantity of people's opinion, does not state that everyone will like it. You like it, you play it. You don't, (x2) But PLEASE for the sake of my pants, stop making threads going "I didn't like this game. Deal with it." It's been done before, and it only enrages others like myself, or inspire samefaggotry (might be rude, but 4chan's terms are good terms). Not every game can be a diamond farting miracle. But gold sneezing irregularities work just as good in my opinion.

loads of good points

Even though this guy comes over as being high on mad, he still makes valid points. I agreed with all of them, and BOY do I like those Ideas you gave me to use for my dark mind > I like your style.

because yahtzee brought in atleast 50% of the escapist, and yahtzee likes the game because it's arty [OR ARTSY?]

Bioshock artsy? it was just a good game, played well, a decent story, balanced gameplay. nice difficulty, some colour in it(besides gray, black and red), varied gameplay styles. Man if that's artsy I am so going to play every arty game out there, because apparently they are brilliant! also, it's probably artsy. But I could be wrong.

 

[Kodlak]

I loved it as I was immersed in the story and the player customization through the tonics, plasmids and weapon upgrades. However I replayed it a few months back and to be honest I do agree it does get a bit repetitive, so maybe it is so well loved due to the time it was released and that there weren't many games like it at the time. Although it will always have a place in my shriveled old heart.

Would you kindly...

 

[Dreadman75]

Maybe Bioshock just isn't your type of game. You've said repeatedly that you did not really care for the story and atmosphere and instead focused more on the gameplay. Mabye it just isn't for you.

Personally, I loved the story and the atmosphere. I loved seeing how one man's dream of a free society quickly turned into everyone's nightmare. The concept was, in this console generation, quite original. Add into that the many different ways there are to kill things and that made the entire game just that much more impressive to me.

 

[BleedingPride]

personally (aside from bioshock 2) i like the bioshock series because it has a great atmosphere and sense of originality to it. Bioshock infinite looks really great in my opinion

 

[Alphakirby]

Bioshock is mainly System Shock 2 only simpler and with a different story. So if you don't like System Shock 2,you of course wouldn't like this.

 

[Treblaine]

Also enough of the nonsense that the gameplay is too boring, a game that has more enemy variety and ways of killing them than 95% of the games out there. Most gameplay of other games is "shoot foreign infantryman". I wonder what enemy will be around the next corner? Could it possibly by another guy with an assault rifle occasionally popping out of cover? It is! (rinse repeat for next 4 hours).

Why the fuck cant you accept that some people have different opinions then you? More enemy variety? Bioshock had what three or four different enemies? Having 15 identical versions of the same enemy but with different names doesnt count.

Bioshock was boring, it was boring because it had a crappy story and was rediculously easy. A problem that was made even worse if you bothered to use the camera or vita chambers.

I can deal with boring easy gameplay if the game has a good story but Bioshock didnt. The biggest turn off for me was that up untill the ending you had no clue why your character did anything that he did. He was just acting like a mindless drone doing everything that anybody told him to. The big reveal about that at the end didnt make up for that. Making shitty excuses for massive plot holes at the very end of the game does not make up for the fact that you had massive plot holes throughout the rest of the game.

I accept that he has different opinions, I can't accept that he comes on a game Discussion forum yet refuses to actually Discuss his opinions. He doesn't want to explain himself, just wants to spout it and expect us to accept his opinions without challenge.

Bioshock had more than 4 basic enemy types:

(1) Big Daddies: Bouncer and Rosie have such different weapons they really do have to be fought completely differently
(2) Thuggish splicer: melee focused, some are electro-resistant
(3) Leadhead splicers; armed with pistols, subguns or shotguns don't stick in cover, they advance firing with fanatical desire to claim the price on your head.
(4) Nitro splicers; toss grenades and molotov cocktails that can be caught in air to be thrown back for direct-hit kill
(5) Houdini Splicers: turn invisible/teleport and throw fireballs, pretty unique I'd say
(6) Spider Splicers: they can walk up walls and ceilings then throw deadly hooks at you that can be dodged or TK thrown back. Statue variants are completely silent and very stealthy and hunt you down or set ambushes.
(7) Security bot: a flying machine gun platform that can be turned to an ally if you are skilled enough though they come continuously for 60 seconds if security camera spots you. Also the sentry guns of machine gun and flame-thrower variety.
(8) The various bosses and special opponents that have other plasmid powers

All have to be fought in very different ways with hugely different challenge and throughout the game they change significantly in their capability and difficulty. I don't think I have even covered them all here and frankly this isn't even the half of it, even if it was just leadhead splicers it would be more variety and interesting opponents than the other top games.

Compared to most games that has precisely one enemy type: guy with rifle, hiding behind cover. Maybe lucky enough to see the occasional variant like one with a Riot Shield but really 98% of the enemies are exactly the same from start to finish.

Bioshock is way harder than most games out there. I find it so hypocritical people complaining about Bioshock's ease yet dismiss hard games while raving about easy games.

"He was just acting like a mindless drone doing everything that anybody told him to."

What the... THAT IS YOU!! YOU did everything YOU were told to do! Don't give me these bullshit excuses, it's all explained perfectly well, you're just nit-picking, and making up plot holes that don't exists. Give me a real reason why you don't like Bioshock.

Also, is it me, or does the plot only basically develops at the beginning and the end of the game (audio recordings aside)? It felt like if Bioshock was a book, most of the chapters would take place in the later parts of the game.

Wait the plot developed at the beginning?

That is cheap and desperate. Keep on hating, if it makes you feel good.

 

[Richard Mooney]

Am I the only the only person who thought that Bioshock was deeply average?

Sure the story was decent with a few cool plot twists but that didn't make up for the tedious gameplay which became boring and repetitive. People kept on praising the story when games like Fallout and Mass Effect's story is 10x better. They also have better gameplay. I don't hate the game, I'm just pretty underwhelmed.

Does anyone else think it was average or do you think it was great?

It's average and over rated. Nice plot, but nothing that hasn't been done before. Buy Duke Nukem 3D instead. It's FAR more entertaining

 

[Richard Mooney]

Am I the only the only person who thought that Bioshock was deeply average?

Sure the story was decent with a few cool plot twists but that didn't make up for the tedious gameplay which became boring and repetitive. People kept on praising the story when games like Fallout and Mass Effect's story is 10x better. They also have better gameplay. I don't hate the game, I'm just pretty underwhelmed.

Does anyone else think it was average or do you think it was great?

It's average and over rated. Nice plot, but nothing that hasn't been done before. Buy Duke Nukem 3D instead. It's FAR more entertaining

 

[funguy2121]

Am I the only the only person who thought that Bioshock was deeply average?

Sure the story was decent with a few cool plot twists but that didn't make up for the tedious gameplay which became boring and repetitive. People kept on praising the story when games like Fallout and Mass Effect's story is 10x better. They also have better gameplay. I don't hate the game, I'm just pretty underwhelmed.

Does anyone else think it was average or do you think it was great?

Okay, internet, it's time to establish some guidelines.

"I liked it" is not a good description of why a game is compelling. Concurrently, "I thought it sucked/was mediocre/wasn't as good as my favorite game to wank all over the internet too" isn't a good reason why someone shouldn't check it out. You said "deeply average," which makes no sense but I think I understand what you were trying to say nonetheless. And yet you offered nothing empirical, and you didn't compare it to anything for a frame of reference, except to say that "A sucks" and "B rocks." October is right around the corner, so I can get plenty of that from the return of Beavis and Butthead.

I want your thoughts. You created this thread, while speaking ill of a revered work of art. You owe it to yourself to back it up with coherent thought so people can't come in here and call you a troll.

I haven't played Bioshock, but I'm aware of all the Ayn Rand references (even if only like 30% of Bioshock players are). I am currently playing through ME2 and the story is pretty badass, if a bit too episodic.

So, how was the gameplay repetitive/boring? You didn't care for the story - what specifically is the reason for this?

 

[DeathChairOfHell]

When I decide to play Bioshock, it's not because of the gameplay. It's because of the extraordinary aura of the 1950's that has been corrupted by Rapture. The music, the writings and all the pictures all give me such a nice feeling.

 

[Mosesj]

Am I the only the only person who thought that Bioshock was deeply average?

Sure the story was decent with a few cool plot twists but that didn't make up for the tedious gameplay which became boring and repetitive. People kept on praising the story when games like Fallout and Mass Effect's story is 10x better. They also have better gameplay. I don't hate the game, I'm just pretty underwhelmed.

Does anyone else think it was average or do you think it was great?

I remembered how much I loved the game on the first run through, but for some reason, thought the game and it's sequel were very boring. I don't know why it didn't draw me in again, most games have the ability to do that

 

[zehydra]

Is there a point to a "i like ketchup, i hate mayo... Why does everybody like mayo so much.. it makes no sense!"

Seriously... Personal taste is personal taste. If alot of people enjoy it....it becomes a large title.

But do they like it for reasons related to video games? (I'm playing devil's advocate here)

Take for instance the music industry. What happens quite often, is that particular artists have massive followings, not because they're introducing revolutionary music, or are particularly talented, but rather, because they are attractive and singing/performing.