[Multiplatform] Bioshock. Available on Wii 12/5/2010

While it is certainly better than a loaf of sliced bread, there are a few minor things holding the game back from getting a perfect 10.

First, length. It took me about 16 hours total to beat this on the normal difficulty, which isn't terrible for an FPS, but that's with me exploring every inch of every room in the game trying to find and listen to each of the >100 audio diaries (and I apparently still missed at least one). You could easily beat this game in 7-10 hours if you simply go for the objectives and avoid exploring or trying to upgrade your stuff. But only an idiot would do that, so no big deal. I just would have guessed there would be a little bit more to do in a game that is strictly single player. Fortunately, the game compensates for this by having three different endings, which draws me back for at least one more play through it.

Second, level and enemy varieties. The environments are very well done with great detail and a fantastic atmosphere is set up throughout the game. However, it does start getting a little bit stale, since from beginning to end, you are in metal rooms and tubes with windows looking into water, et cetera.

This, combined with the fact that there are only a handful of slightly different enemy types, creates a less-than-spectacular fighting experience by time you're 2/3 through the game. Big Daddy fights are more interesting, but it still comes down to me pulling out the shotgun and shooting them 5 times while getting knocked around occasionally. Everyone else just gets a wrench to the face, and that about sums up the battles.

If they could have made all projectile weapons a little bit stronger, and the wrench a little bit weaker, that would have fixed the issue of me having no incentive to put away the wrench. It literally killed everyone who wasn't a boss or Big Daddy in 1 hit. Sometimes 2. And you're basically guaranteed a free hit with that, whereas you'll just waste ammo and money using any other weapon.

The storyline, despite it being predictable to an extent, was very captivating and contributes to pretty deep immersion, especially if you're following along to all the radio transmissions and audio diaries (tip: turn on subtitles if you don't want to miss almost everything everyone says due to overlapping voices or ambient noise). It unfolds at a very good pace, until the very end, as in, last 15 seconds.

Spoiler:

The problem with the ending for me is that you are given a seemingly pointless task of turning yourself into a Big Daddy. As you are becoming a Big Daddy you keep hearing from the antagonist how it is this life-changing thing where you can never turn back, yet you do it anyway for a seriously trivial reason. Then after you kill Atlus/Fontaine, you get absolutely no elaboration on what happens to you. You see in a short cinematic [from the 'good' ending] that the little sisters become normal people, and that you eventually die. That's it. It doesn't even end in the good way where you are curious and it sparks discussion on possibilities, but in the way where you're just like "So that's the end? Cool, I guess."

I was also hoping on getting more backstory on Big Daddies in general. Where did they even come from and why do they exist. To roam around and protect little sisters, ok.

All that said, it is a great game with a ton of incredible and original ideas that will surely raise the bar for games of this type in the future. I certainly was pulled into the game more than I have in any game for quite some time. I also have to mention that it takes quite some time before you even start hearing the enemies repeat bits of dialog, which helps keep things fresh and entertaining. You'll occasionally hear one sing a song "Jesus loves me this I know, 'cause The Bible tells me so." Lmao. 9/10.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I was using all the wrench upgrade tonics, it seriously made it that easy.

How ya doing, buddy?

Ok, first of all, the widescreen 'issue' isn't a big deal. It is a conceptual annoyance, that you see more in 4:3 than in 16:9. But this is not a technical problem or anything that really needs to be fixed. Developers just need to be mindful in the first place that widescreen is by definition is a horizontal extention of a traditional 4:3 picture, and HDTV owners don't like feeling short-changed for purchasing superior equipment. But the game itself was developed with 16:9 being the standard and optimized way to play Bioshock. It runs natively in 1280x720 with no scaling/stretching of the screen or other fakeness. It is legitimate widescreen.

As far as the game difficulty, I always judge by what is standard. And the normal difficulty is definitely not at all a challenge. Suggesting to change weapons and use plasmids more at illogical times just to make it harder, is stupid. I still enjoyed the game despite the difficulty, but I felt a little bit like I missed out on a few things because I rarely used anything other than shock, incinerate, wrench, and shotgun. Those were proven to be the most effective for nearly everything. There is a lot of fun to have using all the other weapon/ammo types as well as the plasmids, but I only used them for screwing around after I had already beaten the game. I simply think they should have been more powerful/useful so that there is a logical reason to use them in battle.

However, I have been going through the game on hard now, and it is actually a lot more fun. You die in 2 or 3 hits so you tend to think out strategies more, and think about out how to best use your limited Eve and ammo. The whole game is just five times more serious, and there is more incentive to explore everywhere to make sure you get all the ammo and Eve you can get, since it no longer just feels free and valueless.

How ya doing, buddy?

Just beat the game on hard, and by time you're past Neptune's Bounty the game is practically as easy as it is on easy. You just get all hack/wrench/shock upgrades and fly through the game with little challenge. Easily worth the couple playthroughs, but I hope Bioshock 2's weapon/plasmid balance is thought out a little bit better.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Just to comment on the 5.1 issues, they're not made up. Sound effects and voices periodically will come from what appears to be a very close proximity, but no one will actually be there. I'm pretty sure it's an issue with your vertical placement, as it usually happens [to me] when there's someone on the next higher/lower floor of the building.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by liuu

What sucks is silver member can only download the patch, not the DLC. Since I don't plan on ever buying Xbox live gold, it looks like I won't be able to ever try the new plasmids.

Silver members just have to wait a week.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?