Badesumofu
Sentinel
First thing is first: If you haven't finished Bioshock, then stay the fluffy out of this thread. I don't care if you decided never to buy it because of the DRM. Don't be a fool, the DRM is really a non-issue at this point. You can install and play the game much liek any other game now. The Activation servers are now stable. You truly are doing yourself a major disservice by not playing this game, or by reading any spoilers prior to finishing it.
With that said:
The game is not a 10 out of 10. As I stated in another thread, I'm not of the view that 10 out of 10 is a cinceptual impossibility, simply because the 'out of 10' scale is an abstraction. 10 just means closer to 9.5 than 10 for most mags or sites. The game, while being one of the best things I've ever played, and easily my personal favorite FPS ever, does have flaws that go beyond 'minor niggles'. Most of them, for me, are to do with theings that occur after the death of a certain main character. That death scene is probably the best death scene in any game I've ever played. I, personally, loved it. The emotional impact... seeing that bulletin board with a certain key phrase wirtten in blood- amazing. So, my thoughts on a few thins from the game (the blatant spoilers will begin here, if you've scroll down despite my warning, tough):
Would You Kindly - I had noticed that Atlas was saying this a lot. I had guessed that Atlas would betray me somehow. I hadn't quite put two and two together when I saw it written in blood though. When I did, I was flawed. I felt chills. I had been sent to kill the man who is pretty obviously my father. This reveal worked really well for me, because I had observed the fact that I had been doing whatever Atlas told me despite my suspicions. I was doing it because... well just because. I didn't really know why I was following all his orders... just doing it because the game told me to. So, for me, the reveal was brilliant.
Moira and Patrick - Something that a lot of people seem confused about is why Fontaine bothered with that whole charade. Would You Kindly is a blunt instrument, but not enough to get the job done alone. If Jack knew what was happening, he could have just dropped the radio, or destroyed it. Would You Kindly allows Fontaine to give commands, but if you knew what was happening, you could have found a way to break free. Sure, he could have said 'would you kindly make sure you keep listening to me' or something, but it was always going to be easier if Jack was a willing slave. Consider Fort Frolic where Choen cut you off from Atlas. If you had know what was up at that point, Fontaine's plan could have utterly unraveled. It made total sense to me.
Fort Frolic - Damn was this a good level. I can't gush enough about this level. When Choen sends the splicers after you, when he walks down the stairs as his masterpiece is complete. I was expecting to kill him at the end of the level, but at that point I couldn't bring myself to do it. Oh, and the tape about him pulling ears of the rabbit, holy shit was that good. This game has some of the best voice acting ever.
Post-Ryan Plot - this is where it fell apart a bit. I played the 'good path' and after I finished the game, I was wodnering what happened if you were harvesting. I figured that you wouldn't have gotten rescued by little sisters, or gotten any help from Tennebaum. Apparenty it's exactly the same. Why did I need to assemble a Big-Daddy suit? Those kids clearly liked me anyway, I didn't quite understand that. I get that they wanted, maybe needed to do that sequence. It was great in some ways, I felt really bad when I lost a sister, and wanted ot reload. I didn't though. I lost a total of two, and it hurt both times. Apparently they are in unlimited supply, and if you lost many more, the sequence probably didn't feel like it worked. I also expected that the game would open up for the last section after being linear up until then. If that last part had held together better, and had you been given true free-reign to do whatever the hell you wanted after Would You Kindly is defused, then the game probably would have been a 10. Oh Well.
Is It an RPG? No. It's really not. You have no ownership over the character. He isn't the Player's Character, he's just the character you view the world through. There are very limited RPG elements, but the game is not an RPG at all. It isn't fair to call it 'just a shooter' though.
With that said:
The game is not a 10 out of 10. As I stated in another thread, I'm not of the view that 10 out of 10 is a cinceptual impossibility, simply because the 'out of 10' scale is an abstraction. 10 just means closer to 9.5 than 10 for most mags or sites. The game, while being one of the best things I've ever played, and easily my personal favorite FPS ever, does have flaws that go beyond 'minor niggles'. Most of them, for me, are to do with theings that occur after the death of a certain main character. That death scene is probably the best death scene in any game I've ever played. I, personally, loved it. The emotional impact... seeing that bulletin board with a certain key phrase wirtten in blood- amazing. So, my thoughts on a few thins from the game (the blatant spoilers will begin here, if you've scroll down despite my warning, tough):
Would You Kindly - I had noticed that Atlas was saying this a lot. I had guessed that Atlas would betray me somehow. I hadn't quite put two and two together when I saw it written in blood though. When I did, I was flawed. I felt chills. I had been sent to kill the man who is pretty obviously my father. This reveal worked really well for me, because I had observed the fact that I had been doing whatever Atlas told me despite my suspicions. I was doing it because... well just because. I didn't really know why I was following all his orders... just doing it because the game told me to. So, for me, the reveal was brilliant.
Moira and Patrick - Something that a lot of people seem confused about is why Fontaine bothered with that whole charade. Would You Kindly is a blunt instrument, but not enough to get the job done alone. If Jack knew what was happening, he could have just dropped the radio, or destroyed it. Would You Kindly allows Fontaine to give commands, but if you knew what was happening, you could have found a way to break free. Sure, he could have said 'would you kindly make sure you keep listening to me' or something, but it was always going to be easier if Jack was a willing slave. Consider Fort Frolic where Choen cut you off from Atlas. If you had know what was up at that point, Fontaine's plan could have utterly unraveled. It made total sense to me.
Fort Frolic - Damn was this a good level. I can't gush enough about this level. When Choen sends the splicers after you, when he walks down the stairs as his masterpiece is complete. I was expecting to kill him at the end of the level, but at that point I couldn't bring myself to do it. Oh, and the tape about him pulling ears of the rabbit, holy shit was that good. This game has some of the best voice acting ever.
Post-Ryan Plot - this is where it fell apart a bit. I played the 'good path' and after I finished the game, I was wodnering what happened if you were harvesting. I figured that you wouldn't have gotten rescued by little sisters, or gotten any help from Tennebaum. Apparenty it's exactly the same. Why did I need to assemble a Big-Daddy suit? Those kids clearly liked me anyway, I didn't quite understand that. I get that they wanted, maybe needed to do that sequence. It was great in some ways, I felt really bad when I lost a sister, and wanted ot reload. I didn't though. I lost a total of two, and it hurt both times. Apparently they are in unlimited supply, and if you lost many more, the sequence probably didn't feel like it worked. I also expected that the game would open up for the last section after being linear up until then. If that last part had held together better, and had you been given true free-reign to do whatever the hell you wanted after Would You Kindly is defused, then the game probably would have been a 10. Oh Well.
Is It an RPG? No. It's really not. You have no ownership over the character. He isn't the Player's Character, he's just the character you view the world through. There are very limited RPG elements, but the game is not an RPG at all. It isn't fair to call it 'just a shooter' though.
