Bioshock reviews are coming in...

[FrostyBoy]

quite a cool game, effects are cool, time to upgrade gfx card tho

[CapTVK]

Can't wait to try out the full game. Any major stuff we didn't experience in the demo?

[DrSpike]

Yes, the game.

[Solver]

I utterly hate non-simultaneous game releases. Treating half the potential buyers like crap

[CapTVK]

Well, in this situation we're lucky Bioshock is still a PC-title. The emphasis is shifting more and more towards consoles.

[Solver]

I wasn't referring to the PC and Xbox releases here, I was referring to the European release being 3 days after the USA one.

Everyone knows that consoles need dumbed down versions anyway

[Kataphraktoi]

So is the game good? The way those reviews describe it, it will solve world hunger and cancer at the same time...

[Kloreep]

I've read the PC version requires an internet connection, with which it implements limited installs (2). You're supposedly given back an install whenever you uninstall. (If you REMEMBER to uninstall.)

Is it true that you have to be connected to the net to install/activate?

[FrostyBoy]

I was reading somewhere about activating it using steam?

[Apocalypse]

After installing you have to authenticate (very quick) but also download a patch, which is a requirement right after installation. My connection to the patch had timed out so I pressed STOP, but it did nothing. I had to end the process and then reinstall the entire game to be able to run the patch thing again. It went fine the second time though.

[Kloreep]

So basically, if they ever stop running the server, your retail copy is useless.

Hmm, Steam sounds like a real good idea on this game. (Not that I'll have a PC that can run it anytime soon.)

Any idea who runs the servers for the retail version?

[mactbone]

The review that seemed the most accurate to me after I played the demo was from Worthplaying

If Bioshock has one notable flaw, it lies in the game's difficulty level, or lack thereof. On the normal difficulty level, it's just a bit too easy. It is still fun, but once you start getting a solid number of plasmids, you can tear through every Splicer in your way as if they were nothing. By the end of the game, I was using the default wrench on every enemy, not because I needed to save ammo, but because my plasmids made the Wrench so ridiculously powerful that it would have taken me longer to kill Splicers with a gun. I was rarely using many of the plasmids or alternate weapon types available to me — only the wrench, Electro Bolt and the occasional grenade and armor-piercing bullets for the Big Daddies. A game being easy isn't a tremendous flaw, but considering the wide variety of options available to you in defeat foes, it's rather wearisome that the straightforward smash-and-grab technique is the most effective. The game does offer a hard mode, however, for those gamers eager to up the ante a bit, but the differences between the modes are not quite enough to give experienced players a much harder time, although it does encourage the use of some of the lesser-used plasmids.

It's obviously a solid, good game, but Metacritic has it around 97/98 which is absurd. Around half of the reviews have it at 100.

[Kloreep]

Yeah, the Gamespot review said that both the difficulty and enemy variety left something to be desired. (But gave it a 9/10 anyway...)

Still sounds like a good game though, just not one you play for the challenge.

[Quillan]

In some ways, I think the Gamespot review (and similar ones) are overly harsh. The entire premise is that genetic modification went wrong, so all the enemies should be modified humans. It was similar in SS2, the only ones with lots of variety were the aliens of the Many.

However, the part about the challenge is quite correct. It will make it more accessible to people who aren't good at shooters, but once you figure it out you really don't need to worry about first aid kits or ammo; just use the wrench and charge over and over again.

Several of the professional reviews that gave it lower scores cite technical problems, of which I have experienced none. I'm still torn on the validity of counting technical problems on the part of the reviewer as a portion of the final score.

[CapTVK]

Well so much for us Euros having to wait. I heard rumors that Bioshock popped up at some Dutch stores around wednesday.

So i checked it out and....Yes, I have a copy too