Playing Bioshock In 2019 - For Those Looking To Get Into It

[Jakerfv]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYKe__KoJ6c&t

Bioshock is one of those games everyone has played and everyone says the same thing: It's a masterpiece, it's perfection, it's like having sex with Jesus.

I'm not here to tell you Bioshock is overrated, underrated or misinterpreted, I'm here to tell the common man what playing this game is like today and if it still holds up. And yes I will briefly talk about the remastered version.

Whenever you hear people talk about Bioshock's gameplay you always hear Bioshock 2 brought up. "You play Bioshock 1 for the story and Bioshock 2 for the gameplay." Let me be clear on this: Bioshock 1's gameplay is actually great. It's not the type of game where you're suffering through poor gameplay to get into a great story. There's tons of stuff Bioshock The First does with its gameplay that even beats out new shooters. For starters, the AI. Enemies will climb on walls to sneak up on you, they'll play dead, when you light them on fire they will dunk themselves in water to put it out and even try to heal themselves using healing stations that you can hack to damage them whenever used. I can't believe how impressive the AI and the environmental mechanics are 12+ years later. Unfortunately, the gunplay is the weakest aspect of the game. Switching between plasmids (your "magic" attacks) and your weapons is cumbersome even with hotkeys (something the sequel improved) and guns don't quite have the impact and sound effects you are looking for although they do have plenty of kick.

As for the story it's worth playing even if you've been spoiled on it before. I won't say much but I think the only flaw on the story is that most of the essential parts and good stuff is locked away behind audio logs. Now unlike bioshock infinite where they just dump a ton of crap on you at the end, Bioshock 1 lets you soak in the atmosphere, listen to audiologs, get immersed, and then hits you with that zinger at the half way point and then gives time to elaborate on it through characters, audiologs and environmental storytelling. You will be able to follow the story without the audiologs but you will be so much more invested if you pick up a few as they also contextualize what's going on right in the moment. Besides, the voice acting is top notch here so you really should check out those audiologs. The story isn't super crazy to understand either. It's well fleshed-out and doesn't come off as pretentious (cough, bioshock infinite, cough).


Where bioshock 1 falters near its final act. While the game has decent enemy variety and I love original creations for its universe like the Big Daddy's and Little Sisters, by the 4th hour mark you will have seen everything and by the 5th hour mark you will have every weapon. This means that you will have a lot of the same encounters over and over again with enemies. Near the end the level design also starts to fall apart. Too many tight corridors leads to little room to maneuver and scripted events in addition to enemies gaining more and more health leads to unfair difficulty spikes. It's almost a chore but the game is generous with dying (enemies stay dead, damage dealt is still there). Thankfully that's only one level I have a real gripe with. The very final level is actually great with a nice ending, just make sure to not harvest and collect all the Little Sisters.

Overall Bioshock 1 despite its flaws is still worth playing today. It's a great game deserving of much of its praise even today. The remastered version added some bonus content from the PS3 version and improved the graphics although it's a bit buggy (Had some save file corruptions and crashes). Still highly recommend!

[The Brown Hornet]

I find the story and gameplay lacking in Bioshock. Audiologs tell the story which literally is just backstory. Maybe cool stuff happened in the past in Rapture but nothing interesting happens while you're there.

To get immersed in the environment and atmosphere requires free exploration which the game doesn't let you do because every 15 seconds something is attacking you. The fighting gets repetitive and cumbersome after a few levels. Graphically everything is art deco all the time, never a scenery or motif change...Bioshock is the same from beginning to end, look at advertisements and billboards, get attacked, use plasmid, use gun, hack, walk to next area. No real puzzles or challenges, just stronger enemies, more enemies, more plasmids.

[lammy from um jammer lammy]

Publicado originalmente por The Brown Hornet:

I find the story and gameplay lacking in Bioshock. Audiologs tell the story which literally is just backstory. Maybe cool stuff happened in the past in Rapture but nothing interesting happens while you're there.

That's the point of this genre of game, only BSI breaks that mold Ken Levine set so long ago, what makes the story so interesting is finding out HOW the city you're in got so messed up and WHY.

To get immersed in the environment and atmosphere requires free exploration which the game doesn't let you do because every 15 seconds something is attacking you.

And what's wrong with that? You are immersed, and the game is doing exactly what it's trying to do. You're never supposed to feel safe in this game, and you almost never are. Notice how your only ally in the game, Brigid Tenenbaum, is a shy character that doesn't really talk as much as everyone else. Andrew Ryan and Frank Fontaine taunt you a lot, make lots of threats, and try to impede your progress.

The fighting gets repetitive and cumbersome after a few levels.

Not really, it only gets more free imo. Having larger, tougher encounters and having to experiment with your equipment more than just popping off headshots on every mook with your pistol.

Graphically everything is art deco all the time, never a scenery or motif change...Bioshock is the same from beginning to end

That's... What an art style is? it'd be pretty jarring if Bioshock suddenly morphed into an Art-Nouveau game halfway through

look at advertisements and billboards, get attacked, use plasmid, use gun, hack, walk to next area. No real puzzles or challenges, just stronger enemies, more enemies, more plasmids.

man you'd really hate System Shock, you know.