Bioshock series

[Pekka]

I would like to discuss the Bioshock series, FPS title from Irrational games (sequel was done by 2 K).
I think it's an outstanding game in the FPS genre, its main strengths in my opinion are as follows:
1. An engaging story set in a unique atmospheric environment;
2. An interesting character development concept (based on ADAM);
3. Good difficulty of combat, challenging, but not overly so (on medium setting);
4. A matter of taste maybe, but I really liked the nice oldies songs playing from time to time. That's something I enjoyed in Fallout 3 as well

On the minus side - I would like a menu option to disable Vita-chambers in the game to make mistakes a little more punishing. Also an instant autosave would be a nice improvement, cause you really get to use it a lot through the course of both games. Later I'll add a bit of comparison between Bioshock 1 and 2.

So, if you have played these games, chip in with your thoughts on the subject

[DesR85]

On the minus side - I would like a menu option to disable Vita-chambers in the game to make mistakes a little more punishing. Also an instant autosave would be a nice improvement, cause you really get to use it a lot through the course of both games. Later I'll add a bit of comparison between Bioshock 1 and 2.

If you're playing the PC version and have the latest patch, the option to disable Vita-Chambers is included.

Even so, I still find the game to be pretty easy for a shooter that claims to be 'revolutionizing' the genre. I didn't need to disable the Vita-Chambers, but rarely end up having to use them unless I did something stupid. Enemies don't seem to put up much of a fight, except for the Big Daddys and the last boss. Then again, relying on easy tricks like spamming the camera to harass the former makes it a lot easier.

Overall, I just found the game decent, but overrated. Something like a 7.5 grade to me. I liked the atmosphere, the art style and it's use of audio-logs to explain what happened to Rapture and the inhabitants that left them lying around, but I find the story is pretty so-so, the hacking mini-games are brainless up till the point of being irritating and it's gameplay being easy for a shooter as I mentioned previously.

[Faust]

I own the first game, but have never gotten around to playing it. I've enjoyed the RPG/Shooter hybrid (Bloodlines, Fallout 3 & New Vegas, etc.), but I'm not normally a big FPS fan. What RPG elements are present in Bioshock? Is it mainly just getting to make some critical choices? Any significant NPC interaction?

[Pekka]

The main choice in the game is whether you save Little sisters or kill them. The nature of the narrative is linear, like eg. in Half-Life or Dead Space. Don't make any mistake, it is a FPS, with RPG elements mostly limited to character development. However, its the story that unfolds before as you progress that makes the title so engaging. I am not a big fan of FPS myself, but I still enjoyed Bioshock 1 and 2 a lot. I would certainly recommend you to at least give this game a try.
One thing I forgot to mention in the first post is that the replayability value is rather low. Still, I think it's one of those games that don't need much replaybility value to make them good and solid. For example, I didn't have an urge to replay Dead Space after I finished it, but I still consider it a masterpiece in its own right.

Oh, and in the sequel they added multiplayer, so that gives you something to do as well, if you like playing on the net with your friends

[Pekka]

To DesR85 - you must be pretty good at shooters if you find the difficulty too easy I think. I died quite often, esp. in the beginning and in the sequel in my first fights against Big Sisters. Granted, it was before I started abusing Winter's Blast Still, I thought the combat rather balanced difficulty-wise, esp. if you refuse to use Vita-chambers much and abandon some cheesy tricks. Bioshock 2 has slightly more difficult combat, than the first installment imo.

On the subject of the story being so-so, I beg to disagree There's nothing new under the sun as they say, but the story was very well-rendered and interesting as far as sci-fi narratives go.

[DivineBeetle]

I'm not a fan of shooters, but I enjoyed playing Bioshock 1 and 2.

The atmospheric environment is what kept me playing I think

[DesR85]

To DesR85 - you must be pretty good at shooters if you find the difficulty too easy I think. I died quite often, esp. in the beginning and in the sequel in my first fights against Big Sisters. Granted, it was before I started abusing Winter's Blast Still, I thought the combat rather balanced difficulty-wise, esp. if you refuse to use Vita-chambers much and abandon some cheesy tricks. Bioshock 2 has slightly more difficult combat, than the first installment imo.

I only played Bioshock and not the sequel, so my experiences are based more on the former than the latter. With that said, I still found it easy even though the difficulty is at 'medium'. Splicers are easy to deal with except the Big Daddies, and I'm not that fantastic with shooters. Not to mention that I rarely play online, but I do admit that I play a lot of shooters, so it might have helped. I also did not rely on Vita-Chambers but I did rely on cheesy tricks on some Big Daddies after getting quite fed up fighting them.

On the subject of the story being so-so, I beg to disagree There's nothing new under the sun as they say, but the story was very well-rendered and interesting as far as sci-fi narratives go.

Was it an interesting take on a story? Yes, but it is still pretty much your average 'be the ruler' type of story. Not saying that it is bad, I just found it okay. Not to mention that the gameplay does get repetitive after a while and you just feel like wanting to reach the end as quickly as possible.