I was playing on the hardest difficulty, and the game started with a decent challenge. I was having to think about concerving ammo and health kits. Somewhere along the line though things shifted dramatically (I think it was getting hypnotize 3) I was just flying through enemies and having to leave ammo, health and eve hypos behind. In the final battle I only had to use one health hypo and two even hypos, and I didn't run out of ammo for a single weapon. It ended up being way too easy, even on the most difficult setting.

I'm also unimpressed by the "moral" choice of whether to save or kill the little sisters. You actually get MORE adam and plasmids / tonics by saving them which throws out the argument of killing the little sisters for a bigger gain.

Overall it was an enjoyable game though. I'll try out multiplayer next to see if that is any good.

I've got both games and for some reason I could not get into the first one. Now I'm practically addicted to the second.

However there are a few bugs I noticed that are still in the game from the first one that I think should have been caught, especially when the audio logs glitch and replay.

These games make me feel old though because I walk through them extremely slow looking at all the junk placed around the levels. So...many...static...meshes...

Quote: Original post by programmermattc
These games make me feel old though because I walk through them extremely slow looking at all the junk placed around the levels. So...many...static...meshes...

That's what took me so long when I played it. I'm one of those players that has to see everything. I love the secret buttons and switches they put in the levels. Most players would never see them, but for the people that are bored and love exploring they're awesome.

Quote: Original post by Sirisian

Quote: Original post by programmermattc
These games make me feel old though because I walk through them extremely slow looking at all the junk placed around the levels. So...many...static...meshes...

That's what took me so long when I played it. I'm one of those players that has to see everything. I love the secret buttons and switches they put in the levels. Most players would never see them, but for the people that are bored and love exploring they're awesome.

Call me crazy, but if you're bored while playing a game, surely the game is not doing it's job?

Haven't played bs2 yet. Bioshock was pretty, the storyline and setting were interesting and I liked the meta-ness of questioning the players freewill, but I just didn't enjoy playing it. There was no visceral feel to the combat and that's a fairly major fault in an FPS. Looking back, I think one of the problems was the lack of feedback from the enemies. It took tonnes of ammo to take down a big daddy, and it didn't have any indication of it's status until it died (at least that's how I remember it, I could be wrong). So I just got bored and whacked it with the wrench. It didn't matter if I died, since I would instantly respawn with no real penalty.

That said, I'm still curious to see where they go with the sequel, so I might pick it up when the price comes down.

Quote: Original post by ChaosEngine

Quote: Original post by Sirisian

Quote: Original post by programmermattc
These games make me feel old though because I walk through them extremely slow looking at all the junk placed around the levels. So...many...static...meshes...

That's what took me so long when I played it. I'm one of those players that has to see everything. I love the secret buttons and switches they put in the levels. Most players would never see them, but for the people that are bored and love exploring they're awesome.

Call me crazy, but if you're bored while playing a game, surely the game is not doing it's job?

Haven't played bs2 yet. Bioshock was pretty, the storyline and setting were interesting and I liked the meta-ness of questioning the players freewill, but I just didn't enjoy playing it. There was no visceral feel to the combat and that's a fairly major fault in an FPS. Looking back, I think one of the problems was the lack of feedback from the enemies. It took tonnes of ammo to take down a big daddy, and it didn't have any indication of it's status until it died (at least that's how I remember it, I could be wrong). So I just got bored and whacked it with the wrench. It didn't matter if I died, since I would instantly respawn with no real penalty.

That said, I'm still curious to see where they go with the sequel, so I might pick it up when the price comes down.

Interestingly enough for me, I wasn't bored while I explored every nook and cranny of Rapture although I could see where that could be a fun side game (explore all the little knobs and such the designers put in :D )

Having just finished Bioshock 2 last night I'll say personally I thought the overall plot of the first was just way better. The first is really about this dystopian society and really has some deep questions behind mans motivations and convictions. However, the second tries to build off that but with less of a sense of granduer than the first had.

Though the gameplay seems improved to me a lot but if you didn't like the first one I doubt you'd like the second one. (I'm going to be replaying the first now that I understand the core gameplay of both games) You do still have the issue where creatures take a million shots to kill however you can easily 'glitch' your way through the game. Now that you play as a Big Daddy (shouldn't be a spoiler) you have a drill that runs on fuel that is quite powerful. Once you get the ice plasmid you can basically freeze and whomp the creatures with your drill or other weapon(s). Much of the more tedious stuff has been revamped (camera, I'm looking at you) for the better.

Finally, from my very short experience in Multiplayer, I wasn't thrilled. I only tried a couple free for all deathmatch games (couldn't find a single full game of Team DM on a weekend...) and it was ok. It seemed like I was getting whomped quite a bit and didn't know when people were behind me, although since I'm still new at the MP I'll chalk that up to inexperience with the maps. Still has some promise though with a level based system and unlockables based on match results.

(Sorry for such a long response/mini-review!)

Quote: Original post by ChaosEngine
Call me crazy, but if you're bored while playing a game, surely the game is not doing it's job?

Not necessarily. Maybe that type of game just isn't your cup o' tea.

Quote: Original post by Machaira

Quote: Original post by ChaosEngine
Call me crazy, but if you're bored while playing a game, surely the game is not doing it's job?

Not necessarily. Maybe that type of game just isn't your cup o' tea.

I'm not really sure what you mean. What "type of game" should bore you? I'm not arguing against exploration games, or even games where you have to wait, but if I'm exploring I should be experiencing a sense of discovery, and if I'm waiting it should be in anticipation. A game should never be boring. I've got work for that [grin]

For the record, I didn't think Bioshock was boring. Exploring rapture and looking at the amazing levels was one of the best parts of the game, IMO.

I started replaying the first after reading the wiki and realizing I didn't catch over half of what was going on in the game. It's definitely a step down from B2. I never realized you couldn't shoot plasmids and a gun at the same time in the first one which is a real pain, especially when you switch to a plasmid in the middle of a fight only to watch yourself take a 3 second animation to inject yourself with more plasmid juice.

Plus, IMO, the hacking game in the 2nd is way better and doesn't take you out of the game as much.

Although, I could be a bit biased considering I'm playing B1 on Hard.

Finished Bioshock 2 aka the adventures of the world’s flimsiest big daddy.

Honestly I gotta say I have mixed feelings about this game. As Bioshock is in many ways the inferior bastard child of system shock 2, bioshock 2 is inferior in many ways to bioshock. Yet its harder to say which of the bioshocks is better.


Cons:
Too little originality. Not much is added to the game. Enemies are slightly altered with a few additions. You think they’d be able to do cool things with splicers having been stuck in rapture for 10 years but the splicers actually look less messed up this time around. Weapons are somewhat revamped but pretty much the same basically.

Game feels way shorter than the first. But gets repetitive faster.

The ‘end’ fight, is hugely anticlimactic and ridiculously easy even on hard, you’ll be stocking up and getting ready for some epic action only to get letdown.

Very buggy in the last level. Your map gets messed up and tonics and plasmids stop working.

A lot of wasted potential.


Neutral:
The balance of changes make bioshock 2 easier with the notable exception of the big sister fights.

I sorta liked the level design better but they didn’t reach the level of fort frolic


Pros:
The core gameplay is vastly improved. Dual wielding (found years earlier in Undying) improves fighting so much you wonder what’s taken it so long to find its way in more shooters.

Hacking is streamlined

Splicers and big daddies have moderately improved attack repertoires although with dual wielding and changes to tonic slots they’re even more of a cakewalk especially in the end. Even on Hard with your mysteriously diminished ability to carry hypos and med kits.

There are a lot more useful tonics and plasmids and ones that were useless in the first game are suddenly much better due to upgrades. No more entire classes of hack tonics that you entirely ignore.

The gameplay mechanic with the little sisters is more than just a small afterthought and actually fun.

There is a very interesting segment of gameplay toward the end.

After some thought I’ve concluded that the story is better than in the first game. Bioshock is an epic tale of how a man's vision of utopia got corrupted and how some survived this corruption. Bioshock 2 is a darker more personal allegory of the connection between a father and daughter and the conflict between parents.

Although some might find her annoying the villain is pretty interesting and has unique motivations compared to your typical video game tyrant and is definitely a stepup from that pussy Fontaine and maybe even Ryan. And they actually make a small effort to include more meaningful moral choices this time around rather than do I press one button to get more adam or another for some kickass plasmids?

Nobody seems sure of how many endings there are let alone how to get them. But my personal impression is what you get this time around is better than the original endings. Overall the game is much more tragic than the first. The ‘neutral’ ending especially is a real bummer.

[Edited by - Jarwulf on February 26, 2010 11:47:35 PM]

Speaking of Bioshock 2, is it nerdy that I framed the posters from the Special Edition and am in the process of hanging them up...?