Bioshock is the latest game to get the demo treatment and is also the next first person shooter to arrive on Xbox 360. Bioshock is being published by 2K Games and is developed by Irrational Games. Next week the game hits retail in the US and anticipation is high considering the number of movies which have been released for the game.
The demo starts at the beginning of the game where having survived a plane crash which plummets into the ocean you are forced to take refuge in the underwater paradise lost known as Rapture. As you get your bearings and the demo gives full control of movement, you are introduced to un-known inhabitant who calls himself Atlas. With no means of understanding where you are or what you have to do your character is somewhat at the mercy of Atlas as he coerces you to rescue his family.
Fraser, Scott and Rob have played the demo and each has their own views on the game.
ROB
From the opening of the demo the first thing that really hits you is the atmosphere, it's dark it's creepy and the 1950's art deco styling is familiar but also very surreal in context of the underwater city. Despite some rather shiny textures (think Perfect Dark Zero with more realism) Bioshock draws you in with its moody lighting, deformed characters and once you have free movement the short sharp shocks come at you thick and fast. What is probably the most striking thing about the demo is the audio which is suitably spooky and compliments the graphics perfectly.
The demo level is fairly linear although you are able to look around off the beaten track and it's this that adds to the immersion value of the game. Players can search through boxes, corpses and other items to get things like health and Eve (plasmid power). I like this aspect as it means that foraging for items will be just as rewarding as shooting up foes and paramount to survival as demonstrated by playing on Hard difficulty.
The actual combat is very smooth and although I switched off the auto aim it was easy to get headshots in with the pistol. I liked the fact that I was able to sneak behind enemies and get a couple of melee hits in with the wrench at some moments although this wasn't such a good technique during encounters with more than one enemy. A lot has been said of the plasmids and their use in combat and once the demo gives you lightning and Incinerate things become less conventional. Sure you can approach any situation with guns a blazing like you would in any game, but I like the fact that you are rewarded for using more lateral thinking.
For example one moment during combat I set a Slicer woman on fire with Incinerate which I knew she would run towards the nearest body of water to extinguish the flames. Whilst she ran to a nearby pool I prepped my lightning plasmid and electrocuted her sorry ass by aiming at the water. Her body was a mere husk of burnt but wet flesh with her final use to provide me with some bullets and some health gleaned from the dead carcass.
Bioshock is full of neat features and little touches that make it appear to be a well polished adventure shooter. Whilst the demo is linear and comparatively short there is enough here to give a great taster of the game. Well I am certainly sold and whilst gamers will probably be able to approach the game like a conventional shooter the offer of over 70 mods , customizable weapons and a deep spooky storyline means that Bioshock should be one to look out for. I've played the demo several times and tried many things and it's just great and left me impatient for next week!
FRASER
Since the developers were claiming Bioshock would change the way we look at FPS games and ‘Break the mould’ I decided that before I even played the demo that it has some pretty big shoes to fill and so set my expectations much higher than usual. It definitely ticks all the technical boxes, in fact it is probably one of the most impressive games on the Xbox 360 in terms of audio, both character dialogue and the use of the 50’s era music. You won’t find any of those notorious ‘jaggies’ in this game and it runs at a smooth frame rate with no visible screen tearing. From the setting of the game, you would expect the water effects to be top notch and again they are quite possibly the best seen on the Xbox 360, or any system so far to date. All of this comes together nicely and creates a very atmospheric game; its unlikely many people will be running about mindlessly in this game, on the first play through its best to take things a little slower for a number of reasons. Walking through the decaying and waterlogged buildings of Rapture, you are never quite sure what you will meet next. Its easy to see why the game looks impressive and before players even meet an enemy or have to use their problem solving skills they may already be set on the game, however I do not believe it lives up to the hype.
After remembering playing the highly under rated Condemned, the hand to hand combat didn’t seem to do it for me in Bioshock. The game is all about choice though, so hand to hand combat can play a very small role in the game if the player wishes as firepower and Plasmids are also available. There are dozens of customizing options available for the selection of guns in the game, however some may find that bullets are limited and will require a fair amount of searching to find more. I am aware there will be a larger variety of Plasmids in the full game, however I find myself questioning just how many uses Plasmids will have and will their use become repetitive and thus make people bored of the game later on? There are around 20 different Plasmids in the game, however I can foresee the controller issue coming into play, there simply isn’t enough buttons so perhaps it won’t be so intuitive for people to use all these Plasmids. I could of course be completely wrong about the Plasmids, but overall the game doesn’t do it for me.
Bioshock was supposed to ‘break the mould’ that FPS games seem to have, I’m not quite sure what the mould is but that seems to be a powerful statement. Looking at previous similar games to Bioshock such as system shock and Deus Ex, they are all highly acclaimed games but looking at the games which top the FPS genre, it’s easy to see why those games aren’t in it. Bioshock is obviously going for a deep single player experience; however it leaves fast paced and multiplayer loving fans in the dark. As previously mentioned the game pulls off the atmosphere well, it’s creepy and some parts will have you genuinely scared, but in the demo it seems a bit pointless, there is no clear end goal it seems, perhaps the end goal is left for the player to enjoy, however I prefer having a specific goal that I can work towards. Some people claim this was the problem with Oblivion, however with Bioshock being a more linear game it might help its direction. To summarize I can see how this demo has left people wanting more, however I am being slightly more optimistic about how it represents the full game. There is no doubt this game will receive high praise, but how will it stand up to the big titles coming this year, will people look at Halo 3, Half-Life 2 and wish it were Bioshock, or will it simply fade to the background with only a hardcore fan base to remind us its there. Looking at the list of titles coming this year, there is a lot of highly anticipated FPS games so for one to take the crown, it is going to have to be something special, but of course that doesn’t stop Bioshock being an amazing game for many.
SCOTT
There is no doubt in my mind that Bioshock will live up to the hype. While I am not a fan of single player First Person Shooters I have to say Bioshock impressed me.
Initially when the demo first started up and my character struggled up out of the wreckage of the plane, I didn’t even realize the opening cut scene had ended and I could move. That’s how good the graphics are in my books.
The rest of the demo did not disappoint. I loved the “atmosphere”, both for its funky 1950’s art deco style, to its survival horror music and sound effects. The actual enemies in the game felt realistically insane, I have to admit I felt a chill down my spine when I ran into “the baby carriage”. Those of you who have played the demo will know EXACTLY what I mean.
My only annoyance with the demo overall was that I suffered from a problem I had encountered when I played Prey a year or so ago … nausea. By the end of the demo I had a splitting headache and so did my wife … however I suspect this may have happened because I wasn’t close enough to the TV.
Headache or not, the demo rocks plain and simple. Bioshock looks like it will live up to the hype … and then some.
Preview By: Robert Cram
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