Bioshock Demo

[Funkmasterr]

I played the demo last night and WOW! The graphics were great, the environment was great, and the controls were very easy to use. The demo lasted about 45 minutes or so, but gives you a good feel for the game. I am really looking forward to this one next Tuesday!

I also played the demos for Stranglehold and Eternal Sonata which both looked pretty cool too.

[Sabek]

If you liked System Shock or System Shock 2, you will think this is a great looking game.
I played just for about 30 minutes this morning, and they do a great job of telling a story like they did in the previous titles.

[Winnow]

Grabbing the full version of Bioshock (360) off the newsgroups. Someone at ToysRUs screwed up and released a few copies early.

Hope it's good! Some dude on 1Up podcast couldn't stop raving about it in this week's episode:

1Up is one of the better gaming padcasts out there.

08/10/2007 | 1UP Yours - Podcast

That mystery game of Garnett's from last week...yep, you got it, BioShock. And this week he hardly restrains his enthusiasm for it with hands-on impressions from the final game. And in the second segment we talk about how BioShock, Mass Effect, and other modern games represent a real maturation of game design in offering players choices. Shane headed home for a long weekend, so we brought in Mark MacDonald and Jeff Green for a Battle Royale for the fourth chair. Jeff gives a few highlights from checking out Starcraft 2 and WoW's upcoming Lich King expansion, while Mark has been busying himself with Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree. Top it all off with a news segment that includes Epic firing back at Silicon Knights, and you've got yourself one heck of a way to start the weekend. READ MORE >>

I recommend 1Up podcast: (have to allow for a little nerdish lead-in and comments. Give the hosts about 5 minutes to settle down. The current episode isn't one of their best but has the Bioshock info after comments on Brain Games and Stranglehold)

http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3149993

and Game Theory:

http://gametheoryshow.com/

As two of the most informative shows out there on PC/Console gaming.

[Winnow]

This game is creeping me out!

about 15 minutes in I can say:

-best art/design graphics ever.

The underwater city of Rapture is amazingly detailed. They put tons of work into designing the layout and the futuristic 40s-60's theme is beautiful

-best water in a game ever

when an airlock breaks and water starts gushing in, your heart rate jumps and it sure helps speed up finding a way out of the situation.

-excellent audio effects

the 40s-60s' theme of music is well integrated along with the architecture style and artwork present all over the city. The background noises are creepy.

Everything about the game seems first rate so far. I'm highly impressed by the amount of effort that must have went into designing this underwater city.

Help/Maps, etc are well done.

Nothing comes close to presenting an environment like Bioshock has. I find myself going extremely slow just to admire all the details. It also helps to look around and find things so this is a game to enjoy and not rush through. Look through all the windows. Amazing stuff to see.
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Game of the Year candidate, no doubt.

Creepy games are not my thing but this is awesome stuff. This looks like a big time winner.

[Kwonryu DragonFist]

Isn't this that game with that tiny creepy child that has a Big Daddy following her/him wearing an ancient divinghelmet?

[Funkmasterr]

Isn't this that game with that tiny creepy child that has a Big Daddy following her/him wearing an ancient divinghelmet?

That's the one!! In the demo, you see one of them literally crush someone's skull to a pulp (by bashing his head into the wall) after the dude attacked the little girl.

[Winnow]

Isn't this that game with that tiny creepy child that has a Big Daddy following her/him wearing an ancient divinghelmet?

That's the one!! In the demo, you see one of them literally crush someone's skull to a pulp (by bashing his head into the wall) after the dude attacked the little girl.

I've encountered one of the Little Sisters so far although it was from up above her and then behind a window while she was sucking out the brains of someone or whatever she does. A zombie dude started giving her grief and the Big Daddy put the smack down on him. From what I've read over the past few months, Big Daddys won't hurt you unless you mess with Little Sisters. ( ) One of the big deals of this game is that you can approach problems from several different angles. You can play stealthy or you can come out with guns blazing.

I stopped at the first place you need to hack a security bot...it's like playing a game of Water Works, if anyone remembers that board game, where you need to line up some pipes and get the water to flow out and exit before the water catches up to your construction. It's strange. I failed a few times and then quit for the night.

The story seems a little linear so far but the podcast dude said there are many side quests you can do so I'm guessing this is a very well done tutorial type part that introduces you to the things you can use during the game. He said if you are completely focused on getting through the game without enjoying it and doing side quests, you can do it in about 12 hours but then you get the comment:

You'll be playing this game for months to come, exchanging story elements to build up the bigger picture, and arguing about what it all means.

I haven't figured anything out yet except that the Little Sisters are harvesting something that people need.

The Unreal 3 engine shines in this game. Amazing that the more advanced Cry2 engine is right around the corner with even more features.

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Second 10/10 rating from Games Radar:

This is the really bewildering thing about it: it succeeds so stunningly on three different fronts. Not esoteric ones, either, these are the big challenges developers have been struggling to master for decades: narrative, emergence, a sense of place. If another game did just one of these as well as BioShock, it would immediately qualify as a classic. When a game comes along that does all three, we can only be baffled and thankful.

Here are the scores so far for Bioshock. Mostly perfect scores, with 95% being the lowest score:

Game Informer: 10/10 and 10/10
Eurogamer: 10/10
Games Radar: 10/10
PC Gamer UK: 95%
OXM UK: 10/10
PC Zone: 96%
gamer.tv 5/5

"...all that remains is to insist that anyone with a PC or a 360 goes out and buys this wonderful game on the 24th of August, and send a message to the entire games industry that this is the kind of game that people want. BioShock not only lives up to its lofty promise, but exceeds it through simple, old fashioned talent and imagination - not to mention verve, style,class, wit, and sheer bloody-minded ambition. It takes the tired, worn-out FPS genre by the scruff of the neck and reinvents it in such a breathtaking fashion that it's going to take something very special to top this in the months ahead. For a game to be so outstanding in one department is one thing - to manage to tick every single box from graphics to audio to gameplay depth to atmosphere and innovation is pretty much unprecedented. Seriously - if you don't find something to love about BioShock, we'd recommenced a trip to the nearest doctor to check if your heart's still beating."

[Niffoni]

Game Theory, and pretty much all 1UP podcasts are must-listens each week for me.

It looks like it'll be even better than I'd originally expected. Got my copy ordered. Now if only Mass Effect was coming to PC, I'd be set til Christmas!

[Winnow]

The game currently has a 99 rating on Metacritic:

http://www.metacritic.com/games/platfor ... 0/bioshock

Here's the latest reviews coming in more from North America now:

[Funkmasterr]

Winnow, I am so jealous that you have played the game already that I can hardly stand it. Tuesday can't come soon enough.

[Winnow]

The game's gotten even better as I've played.

I don't think I'm too far into the game but I've made it through what might be considered the first "section" of the game which the demo, I think leads, you up to.

***there are no spoilers here****

Without spoiling anything, there's a lot more to this game than your typical FPS. You do have your weapons on the right trigger, guns, shotguns, machine guns, etc, all with various ammo that's effect vs various opponents.

It's the plasmids that throw a twist into things. As you progress through the game you have opportunities to acquire more plasmids. A couple plasmids you get early on (within a few hours of the game starting for me at least, but I'm poky)

Electro Shock: great vs human(oids) and also mechanical stuff. It freezes or disables, depending, allowing you to use your weapons to take down the opponent/object. It's also extra good if your opponent's in water.

Incinerate: Flame on! Kinda self explanatory

Telekinesis: can use to grab something and heave it, or stop an object being thrown at you and hurl it back at that person or anywhere else you aim

There appears to be a bunch more from the available slots. I don't want to spoil anything by saying more. You can also upgrade these plasmids at Gene Shops

Gene Shops

This is where you can use "adam" to buy new or upgrade your Plasmids, Physical Tonics, Engineering Tonics, or Combat Tonics (yes, there's a crapload of things you can swap in and out of available slots you have for each of these things...and you can buy additional slots to have multiple of each equipped at the same time. Tonics are passive, Plasmids are active.

While Gene Shops deal with that stuff, there are vending machines that allow you to buy ammo, health items, etc.

Many things can be hacked in the game. You can hack vending machines to open up more items for sale, hack safes to get random loots, hack health station for a free heal, etc. If you don't want to hack (like playing a game of Water Works as mentioned above), you can buy out the hack with money...so either hack or spend a dollar amount.

Decisions decisions...you have to decide on a few things during the game...this game rocks in that your plasmids and weapons allow for various tactics but on top of that, as most people know already, Big Daddy's and Little Sisters can be delt with in different ways. (I'll mention here that Big Daddy's are by far the toughest mobs to deal with)

Searching corpses you get various things like ammo, health, eve (eve is what you use to shoot yourself up with to recharge your plasmids), and you also get money off mobs on occasion. Adam is the other stuff you gather to spend on your gene upgrades but you have to make a choice in that as well. I made my choice and am not sure yet if it was a good one. I feel good about it so far! hehe.

Another thing you can work two ways with are security. You can hack security and even get the cameras working for you, or you can blow them away with armor piercing ammo. Just another additional way to make the game more diverse.

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Gotta say, I'm still creeped out big time playing this game. I play it on my 10 foot screen in the dark with surround sound volume turned up. The sounds are first rate in this game...as in eerie. I'm scared to go around corners. One nice thing though, which helps me a lot, is the directional audio and audio hints. I'm thankful mobs aren't mutes in this game.

10/10 Outstanding Game. (11/10 if you have HD and a good sound system)

The level design is stupendous. I spent a couple hours running around an area with it dynamically changing depending on what I did.

The menus/presentation are unique and easy to use and follow...which leads to the great help/map system in the game. There's an indicator on screen to help out and a "hint" if you need one...sometimes I even think the game tells me to reload (if I'm sitting there with only a couple rounds in the chamber) when I'm approaching a dangerous area but can't confirm that yet. I'm playing on easy do it's possible the hint and reminders could be specific to my difficulty level.

The scripting in the game is as good as everything else in the game. I can't really talk about that though. There are diaries you can pick up and listen to that help flesh things out even more...and there's always either 40's music going on mixed in with announcements to the citizens about this or that....lighting changes,...and one part where I got ambushed had me freaked out more than any movie I've watched but in this case I had to do something about it.

Sweet game. I can't imagine this not getting game of the year. Halo 3 may be a good shooter but nothing like the entire package that Bioshock presents. Will have to see Mass Effect I suppose to be sure. I'm curious how Bioshock controls will handle on the PC. They seem perfect for the two trigger and bumpers above them for the weapon/plasmid combo.

Edit: one more thing. This game doesn't rely on cut scenes to be effective but the few that it does have are short and sweet and advance the story or explain things.

[Winnow]

Bioshock's back up to a 99 rating on Metacritic (it had slipped to 98)

A few more things to add to the pile:

***no spoilers, a couple general tips***

-Best use of rumble in quite some time (when the Big Daddy's are close). I find it hard to believe Sony didn't include rumble in their controller. Last generation my ass.

-Add weapon upgrades to the list of all the other upgrades you can do in this game.

There's big time Ammo/Eve management in this game. Most shooters allow you to have enough ammo to blast like mad but in Bioshock, you'll be counting up your various rounds before advancing into a situation. The ammo availability does serve a purpose in forcing you to be creative. (grab a corpse using Telekinesis plasmid, stick it over something burning to catch it on fire, throw it at your target) You'll like "Winter Blast" The special effects and the way your left hand morphs when using various plasmids is neato.

-There is a way to research mobs in this game that allows you to find their weaknesses. (another cool way to help yourself along the way)

Another thing that impresses me about this game is that the level layout doesn't let me have my back to a wall at all times like I usually will do to prevent mobs from creeping up behind me. In an early on situation, you've got a sizable area with a cross fire going on from security gun turrets, at the same time you're being interrupted by "inhabitants" and there's also a Big Daddy/Little Sister going about their business. Dealing with it all was fun stuff and the good old wrench is useful in those kind of situations. Speaking of watching your back, don't forget to check out the ceilings. The noises, moving shadows, falling debris, is all very well done.

-don't forget about your Telekinesis plasmid when it comes to finding loot that appears unreachable.


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Edit:

BioShock PC Demo: Tomorrow (Monday 20th) 7 PM EST

"The wait is nearly over. At 7 PM EST the BioShock PC demo will go live for you to enjoy. We will have exclusive pre-loading at Fileplanet. Set your watches for 7 o'clock! IMPORTANT: Please be sure to download the latest drivers from ATI and Nvidia that will be available Monday for best performance with your video cards."

Hmmm, new drivers released same day specifically due to Bioshock?


Fileplanet sucks so hopefully someone will post the demo on the newsgroups later. (1.84GB) May as well wait a day and get the full game!
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I'm in the middle of the 4th "section" of Bioshock. It's a big one and I've been in it for three hours or so and still have more to do. While the city has a consistent overall theme, they managed to make the various areas unique. You can "invent" things at this stage of the game which adds to everything else.

[Funkmasterr]

I am so excited to get off work and play this it's pathetic. I worked from home until 9 last night to get my work for today's build done and came in 2 hours earlier than usual. I haven't been this excited about a game for a long long time. My review to come (not that there's much that winnow hasn't covered!)

[Boogahz]

Fileplanet sucks so hopefully someone will post the demo on the newsgroups later.

What sucks about it? I have used it for several years and have never had a problem.

[Fash]

It's really slow, subscription or not. But we newsleechers are spoiled with our download bandwidth maxxed out.

[Winnow]

What Fash said. I'm partially spoiled by the speed and convenience of Newsgroups/Supersearch and partially hate having to go through hoops to download stuff.

If I was releasing a demo and was a small company, I'd be sure and post the demo to the newsgroups right away as one of several methods of accessing it and also post a torrent for the less informed masses to grab it albeit with a little more wear and tear on their hard drives.

Thankfully, the most popular demos, etc get posted to the usenet pretty fast. The same would help out large online game patches that bog down servers.

I also dislike Fileplanet being used as a method for selecting beta testers for games.

Lets keep this thread Bioshock related though!

[Boogahz]

I have never had a problem with the speed on Fileplanet, and I have used multiple services they have, including beta invites. I also have a "free" subscription from a past service which was grandfathered a while back, but I have all of the access that a paid sub would have. Maybe that's the difference. I don't know that the real "free" access includes.

I think you would be surprised how many users don't use newsgroups. That type of release would probably not hit anywhere near the target audience that a Fileplanet, or other gaming site, release could gain exposure to.

As for keeping it on-topic, please, like you're ever capable of doing that

[Aslanna]

The PC demo is out on newsgroups. I'd imagine the full thing in a couple days. Gives more to evaluate!

[Canelek]

PC or 360?

Although I will most likely buy the 360 version, as my super-PC project has been temporarilly been put on hold...

[Winnow]

PC or 360?

Although I will most likely buy the 360 version, as my super-PC project has been temporarilly been put on hold...

The PC will have higher res but I'd go with the 360. One big difference between the two is that when using the left and right bumber buttons to bring up the plasmid and weapon radials, the game pauses while with the PC version, live action continues. I like the ability to strategize my next move! The controller works great for the game control setup and it's not a precise twitch FPS game so you don't have to be super accurate.

Can't go wrong with either PC or 360 version in this game though!

[Xouqoa]

I checked out the demo and was impressed so I picked it up tonight at Best Buy. Fantastic game. The visuals and sound are both amazing, and the game play is easy to pick up and very engaging.

[Aslanna]

According to rumors (and a config file found in the PC demo version) there will probably be a PS3 version as well. So buy all three!

[Winnow]

I got the demo downloaded, updated to the latest drivers, and settled down to play the Bioshock demo. I wanted to set the proper mood, so the lights were off, the speakers turned up and the demo begun.

I was about 15 minutes into it, having very much enjoyed what I had seen so far, when I came upon the first Big Daddy encounter. I watch in rapt attention as he charges a splicer when suddenly BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM. It sounds as though a string of firecrackers has been detonated in my computer case, as well as each BOOM being punctuated with a bright blue flash coming through the case window.

For about half a second I sit there stunned. The first thought in my mind is "Holy Fucking Shit, that is the greatest effect I've ever seen. They should have given this game an 11." Immediately following this a sickening realization dawns on me as I look over at my tower. Blue Smoke! The magic blue smoke that makes electronics work is escaping from my PC.

What follows is a 30 second vaudeville act of me simultaneously cursing, falling as I try to leap out of my chair, and finally ripping the power cord from the wall. But the blue smoke was already out, and the smell of ozone in the air told me the bitter truth. Bioshock had fried my computer from the inside and blown the capacitors.

I took the victory into my living room and gave it some cursory revival attempts, but it was clear once the side panel was removed that it was gone. This all happened at about 8:30 CST, since which I've been endeavoring to bootstrap my old Pentium 3 back into working order. This involved a quick run to Walmart, as the damn thing is so old it doesn't have a built in NIC.

On the plus side, this errand allowed me to pick up a case of Fat Tire ale so that I might drink the pain away as I browse New Egg for a new computer.

A word of caution for anyone else planning on playing the Bioshock demo. THE GAME WAS SO FACE MELTINGLY AWESOME IT BLEW UP MY COMPUTER. Hopefully I can prevent further tragedies.

[Niffoni]

Fantastic stuff, picked up the last PC copy at EB today. I like how the drivers I updated last week were considered out of date and "known to cause problems" according to the installer, and it made me download beta drivers for my 8800

But otherwise, it looks fantastic at max resolution. A word of caution: It's pretty much impossible to tell when the opening cinematic ends and gameplay begins. Thankfully you get a visual cue if you're just staring at your monitor drooling and waiting for the next scene for long enough.

I couldn't figure out how to use the Harvest Garden or whatever it's gone to upgrade my plasmid slots. But it wasn't a problem for 2 hrs of gameplay.

[Aslanna]

Finally decided to give this game a try and see what all the fuss was about. Unfortunately I seem to be one of the unlucky many who have random crashes at many a turn. Rather quite unplayable actually.