Director's commentary

[Jonnydodger]

Is it worth a listen?

[Rascal]

Not really. Not even sure why they bothered adding it into the game.

[Jammet]

I found it a nice addition, but really, why on earth *hide* it in the game? Why not just offer it up?

[QuatermassAU]

It's okay, though it's not a commentary per se as much as a mini-documentary in multiple parts.

[Dustin81]

You can also just go in one of your inis and set all the movies to true if you don't want to bother finding them.

[Nicholas Steel]

Originally posted by Jammet:

I found it a nice addition, but really, why on earth *hide* it in the game? Why not just offer it up?

Portal and Portal 2 presumably set a precedent for developer logs to be strewn throughout the gameplay.

[.JezMM]

I overall enjoyed them, but I definitely prefer Valve's way of doing commentary. I didn't mind them being hidden either as I think I preferred having the viewing spread out across a playthrough in little 10 minute segments rather than watching it all at once. Also, while kudos to them - full effort was put in with the amount of commentary we get and I'm appreciative of that, part of me does still want to be greedy and wishes we had got this for BioShock 2 and (via game update or w/e) BioShock Infinite + Burial at Sea as well.

My only issues were:
I get bored of the "documentary style" where they break up the interview with little clips of gameplay... like this wasn't made for TV, I'm playing the game, you don't need to illustrate these things - and half the time the clips used barely relate to what was just discussed or are just weirdly long. The pre-release footage was interesting, there should have been more of that, and it feels like there are several spots where they talk about early versions of the game where I would have thought they'd be able to dig up some concept art or SOMETHING to show what they were talking about, but didn't. The way each episode opens up with them bragging about how revolutionary BioShock was in all these ways seems a bit awkward too lol (on the flipside the devs do critique what they didn't like about the final product here and there which is nice).

Some of the reels were a little TOO well hidden, while several were way out in the open. I enjoyed searching for the ones that were hidden, but got annoyed when it was time to leave a level, I realised I hadn't found it yet, looked up guide and the location turned out to be way out in the open, right outside the level exit lol. Their implimentation also seemed a little lazy - for being called "Golden Reels" they sure looked like all the regular film reel props found in a few places around Rapture, and the fact that they don't have item shimmer like normal collectibles makes them really hard to spot.

I would have appreciated some on-screen displays for any "controls" present. Luckily I was able to just sit and watch each one in a full session, but if I had been interrupted I have no idea whether Esc would pause the game as usual or quit the movie causing me to have to sit through the entire thing to get back to where I was. I mean the devs were quite happy to leave that immersion ruining PUSH ESC TO SKIP icon in BioShock 2's opening video, on these having a display to say how to pause and how to quit would have not ruined the experience.

Finally despite the warning to finish the game before watching the commentary, they neglect to mention that one of the episodes also spoils the ending to Burial at Sea. I hope no-one playing these games for the first time watches the commentary before moving onto BioShock 2 and Infinite.



ANYWAY criticisms aside, I will say, the most interesting part of the commentary for me is that Ken Levine implies that he's never actually touched BioShock 2. They're talking about the scrapped Slo-Pro-Fum Big Daddy (i.e. The Rumbler) and he's like "Didn't they put it in BioShock 2? I dunno." I know he had very little to do with that game, probably doesn't even consider it canon to 1 and Burial at Sea, but I'm surprised he seemingly didn't even play it to know for sure such a basic fact.

[Jonnydodger]

Originally posted by .JezMM:

I know he had very little to do with that game, probably doesn't even consider it canon to 1 and Burial at Sea, but I'm surprised he seemingly didn't even play it to know for sure such a basic fact.

I believe Burial at sea 2 retconned a partcular scene so that Bioshock 2 was canon, as Bioshock 2 previously got a fact wrong.
Schong's death is changed so it fits into 2's story more, as Gil Alexander said that Schong was dead for some time by the events of Bioshock, whereas in the original game infered it was much more recent. I think.

[Cooperal]

Just watched them. They're good radio noise. But they're only slightly over 10 minutes each so you need to keep switching. You don't need to be looking so much because it mainly shows us the interview room.

[.JezMM]

I have to say I wish they could have dug up some footage of Atlas' original voiceover. It gets brought up a few times and I would have been interested to hear it.

[Jonnydodger]

Originally posted by .JezMM:

I have to say I wish they could have dug up some footage of Atlas' original voiceover. It gets brought up a few times and I would have been interested to hear it.

You mean the voiceover where he has a Southern United States accent, not an Irish one?

[[OCN] John Wick ~ Rabbit]

Originally posted by Jonnydodger:

Originally posted by .JezMM:

I have to say I wish they could have dug up some footage of Atlas' original voiceover. It gets brought up a few times and I would have been interested to hear it.

You mean the voiceover where he has a Southern United States accent, not an Irish one?

Yeah thats the one he's talking bout