Bioshock

[Space05us]

I managed to play up to Arcadia (I think that's what it's called). I completely researched the leadhead splicers and promptly ran into one that took an entire drum of machine gun rounds and two shotgun blast at point blank range.

It's sad that the most challenging aspect of combat in Bioshock is remembering where the vendor machines are so you can pick up more health packs. I rarely use the plasmids in combat, even with big daddies. I stand toe to toe with them and just empty my machine gun into their face all the while merrily pumping koolaid into my veins.

They messed this game up by trying to add RPG elements. Put in a recharging health bar, like many FPSes have used since the first Halo (I'm sure they even stole it from somewhere else), and get rid of hacking. I'm afraid I have to agree with Wiglaf (I know, I'll go jump in front of a bus after I post this), I don't mind that it is essentially playing pipe dream, I mind that I have to do it every two minutes because if I don't I lose out on money, allies, and loot.

Then every two minutes they're showing me some new game element. It starts off as an FPS, then you get a bit of magic, I mean plasmids, that totally don't work like spells in every Bethesda RPG to date. Then you're merrily walking along and they decide you should hack stuff, alright. Then you get to buy new spells, I mean plasmids and tonics. Then it's weapon upgrades from the left field, then research, then you can "invent" things buy exchanging random items into a machine very similar to buying them with cash, only it's a different kind of cash!

Oh and lets not forget that you can't clear levels and explore because **** will respawn/spawn anew, even big daddies that up to a point in the game always have a little sister but now all of a sudden you can find them all alone!

And **** I wanted the satisfaction of killing that bastards family. It was all I had to look forward to, but noooooo can't give me that. And I'm supposed to keep following him like some lost puppy?

Bioshock is ****ing lame. I will finish it eventually just in case it actually does get better but I am thus far feeling very ripped off.

[DrSpike]

Maybe the game isn't for you. I'd recommend checking out the Sims.

[Alinestra Covelia]

The recharging health bar is one of the least welcome developments in modern FPSes. I'm not sure which game first put it in, but it's really led to a dumbing down of combat.

Bioshock continues the low-ammo, strategy-intense combats of SS2 and Thief, and so it's really unsuited to the recharging health bar.

[Seedle]

I had mixed feelings about Bioshock. The demo was amazing, and had me drooling for its release. But when I finally played the full game, it was a bit of a let down. The production values sure held up. The music, voice acting, atmosphere, graphics (and I played 360 without hdtv), and story are all some of the best, if not the best, I've encountered in a game. But the combat didn't live up to its promise. Sure, you can do interesting things with the abilities/weapons (light you on fire, launch heat seeking missle. narf!) but either the enemies are easy enough that it doesn't matter, or you can't execute your combo because you'll use the first part, get attacked by another splicer, and by the time you've neutralized the second splice, the first has recovered from the first part of the combo. More enemy variety and more of the element immune splicers that show up late in the game would have helped I think. Even the big daddies eventually become easy (though I never went toe-to-toe with a machine gun with one. What difficulty are you playing?). They are especially easy if you

Spoiler:

use the electric chemical thrower

which is just broken. How did that make it through play testing? And all this is disregarding the vita-chambers, which I just didn't use. And the final boss was lame beyond belief.

Also, the first 2/3 of the story was beyond great. The last 1/3 of the game it's boring and pointless. (though learning more about Rapture in the areas you visit is interesting.)

About the hacks: I don't think they're that bad. Yes, I got bored with them towards the end, but you can always pay full price/destroy things rather than hack, plus iirc you can use dollars to pay for hacks, and buy hack tools, and at the end of the game, you have plenty of money. As for the difficulty, remember that not everyone is equally good at this sort of thing. Some people don't have the reflexes/coordination to flip the tiles/move the pipes that fast, while others (including most of the people who've played my copy) just can't think it through that fast. So while it might be easy for you, for others, it's too challenging as is, and putting restrictions on the hack would be bad.

And I agree that recharging health bar would be wrong for this game.

And regenerating big daddies aren't a problem: if you don't bother them, they won't bother you.

[Space05us]

And regenerating big daddies aren't a problem: if you don't bother them, they won't bother you.

I WANT MY ****ING ADAM!
(I didn't know it was alone until I killed it)

I've been playing on normal difficulty, I also want my gamer points!

You can side step the grenades and mines and just take a step back when they try to melee you. The normally shot from their gun hurts quite a bit but it doesn't matter since all you have to do is use a health pack a second before your health falls to 0. It's like world war two, big daddy is Germany, you are Russia. If I were playing on a higher difficulty level it might not work so well.

strategy-intense

What strategy? The hardest part is remembering where the vending machines are so you can run back for more health packs. Other than that you can just run through gunning **** down like in every other FPS. Most of the regular baddies die with a point blank shot to the face, like in every other FPS. Except for the occasional superman that takes more to kill than a big daddy.

Maybe if I were to up the difficulty level I would have to start using such difficult strategies as carrying around eve hypos as well, but why the hell would I do that the game is a ****ing borefest.

it's really led to a dumbing down of combat

Combat is dumb. I would rather have nonstop action instead of having to hunt around for health. Strategy games and RPGs are for doing not dumb stuff. I actually expected Bioshock to be more of an RPG game.

Maybe the game isn't for you. I'd recommend checking out the Sims.

Maybe I will!

[Solver]

Bioshock was really easy... if you have vita chambers on, no reason to hunt for health, you'll just be resurrected with some extra health when killed.

Since it was so easy for the most part, I went ahead and did something else, like had fun setting up traps for big daddies or trying to use combos as much as I can. Setting stuff on fire and then flinging it an enemies is great

[Alinestra Covelia]

Yes the best I came up with was to stick a pack of proxies onto a barrel and then fling it at a Big Daddy. Insta kill!

[DarkCloud]

And **** I wanted the satisfaction of killing that bastards family. It was all I had to look forward to, but noooooo can't give me that. And I'm supposed to keep following him like some lost puppy?

Why that happens is explained later- to good effect. Would you kindly play a few more levels and find out?

The game is really quite clever.

I'm a little surprised you were looking for a FPS, I played it as a RPG and enjoyed it greatly. The new gadgets and fun little quirks I kept discovering kept me enthralled by the game. I guess it just wasn't for you, then.

I loved how the game had maps and signs that pointed the correct way to go. I always get lost in games. In Bioshock, I only ever got confused three times- once in the medical bay, once in the nautilus section (I was turned around), and once in arcadis (because I didn't realize the bee level was infinite respawn- oops- 1 1/2 hours wasted there... really.)

And there's no real penalty for respawning in the Vita Chambers... which is will agree with Ali is much better for the game's interesting style than a recharging health bar.

Hunting for health? I almost never used the health packs... I needed to conserve all the money I had for ammunition! (I just respawned in the Vita chambers)

PS: Once I killed a big daddy with a wrench. It was simply amazing. (I was out of bullets)

[Solver]

For killing Big Daddies, there's an infinite amount of things to do with explosives. The easiest is to set up a bunch of proximity mines between you and a Big Daddy, then shoot him from the other end of the room. As he charges towards you, he'll blow all the mines. Trap bolts make an amazing complement to it, and the chemical thrower is just too easy.

[Quillan]

I just fell back on the old faithful technique: I'd charm one, shoot another, and let the two fight it out. Then I'd easily finish off the target if he won the fight. If he lost the fight, then my "friend" would be badly hurt and easy to take out next time he picked up a Little Sister to escort.

[Solver]

Yeah, charming/enraging works well. Also, luring them into the range of a hacked camera works well, security bots do you a lot of good. They distract the big daddies while doing considerable damage.

[DrSpike]

Cowards! The only real way to take on a Big Daddy is with grenades, face to face, one on one.

[Solver]

Nah, if you want to do it face to face, only use firearms, no explosives. Now that's a man's thing to do

[snoopy369]

Originally posted by Solver
Yeah, charming/enraging works well. Also, luring them into the range of a hacked camera works well, security bots do you a lot of good. They distract the big daddies while doing considerable damage.

Yeah, this was one of my favorite ways (or just hacking a few sec bots and letting them follow me around BD-hunting)... BD's were the only real challenge for me in that game, and it was fun doing different things to kill them based on the terrain.

[Solver]

I would recommend a second playthrough without vita chambers. I did that and it allowed me to enjoy the action aspects of the game more. The first time I greatly enjoyed the story, the atmosphere and some interesting stuff to do with plasmids, but I was rarely thrilled by the actual action. Playing without vita chambers also makes Bioshock into a good action game.