Zero Punctuation: BioShock

This week, The Escapist's Zero Punctuation reviews BioShock.

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I'm just going to go ahead and say it, BioShock is not an FPSRPG, it's just a shooter.

It's true Bioshock was an actiongame. And I don't mind you being nice. Especially when you are nice to Psychonauts!
That aside I laughed like hell!
Good job! Keep em coming!

I can't watch these at work anymore, I'm laughing too hard.

Hopefully Fallout 3 won't do the stupified (sorry, simplified) interface so it's "console friendly".

I have the sudden urge to go load up System Shock...

I do agree with the fact that when looking at one of the preview videos a year ago, it did make out that this game would be very difficult. But fighting a Big Daddy is not the massive apocalyptic, risk ridden battle that I was expecting.
No, when you die you "respawn" and have almost all your health restored and a pleasent stroll around the corner to resume the fight. It's not like S.T.A.L.K.E.R, where if you make the slightest mistake in scraps with bandits or whatever, you basicly get fucked over and that's it... Game Over.

Bioshock was billed as a action game but more,the more part of coarse being a warted down poo fest for for the casual console gaming crowd.

its not bad but not great. personally I am waffing between a 7 and a 8.

I cant wait till Fallout 3 comes out and its just as bad >>

Brian Easton:
I'm just going to go ahead and say it, BioShock is not an FPSRPG, it's just a shooter.

Then they should have never brought up "spiritual successor" bit up and merely say IG is now bought and renamed 2K austriala and theya re working on a FPS title.

PR and hype ,gotta love it.

Despite the fact that I genuinely like BioShock for its story, atmosphere, and artistic presentation the review is dead on (the game loses 90% of its spook-factor due to being way too easy), not to mention utterly hilarious. The Mother Teresa bit had me hurt myself laughing. Thanks for brightening up my Wednesday: )

Brian Easton:
I'm just going to go ahead and say it, BioShock is not an FPSRPG, it's just a shooter.

Yeah. I think that within the last 12 months everyone associated with the game has bent over backwards to ensure that everyone knows it's NOT an RPG, hybrid or otherwise. Which also kind of punctures the Bioshock = System Shock 2 thing, since SS2 is an FPSRPG.

You think Yahtzee's trolling here? It certainly has brought out the NMA crowd.

fonzythedog:
I do agree with the fact that when looking at one of the preview videos a year ago, it did make out that this game would be very difficult. But fighting a Big Daddy is not the massive apocalyptic, risk ridden battle that I was expecting.
No, when you die you "respawn" and have almost all your health restored and a pleasent stroll around the corner to resume the fight. It's not like S.T.A.L.K.E.R, where if you make the slightest mistake in scraps with bandits or whatever, you basicly get fucked over and that's it... Game Over.

And you'd rather have the STALKER-style experience?

Joe:

fonzythedog:
I do agree with the fact that when looking at one of the preview videos a year ago, it did make out that this game would be very difficult. But fighting a Big Daddy is not the massive apocalyptic, risk ridden battle that I was expecting.
No, when you die you "respawn" and have almost all your health restored and a pleasent stroll around the corner to resume the fight. It's not like S.T.A.L.K.E.R, where if you make the slightest mistake in scraps with bandits or whatever, you basicly get fucked over and that's it... Game Over.

And you'd rather have the STALKER-style experience?

Yes because real PC games offer this thing called quick save where I can save the game on my own and if I die I can re try my tactics.

ZippyDSMlee:
Yes because real PC games offer this thing called quick save where I can save the game on my own and if I die I can re try my tactics.

Bioshock has quick save.

So what's the difference between the two? Either way, you restart in an advantageous place without much hassle.

Joe:
So what's the difference between the two? Either way, you restart in an advantageous place without much hassle.

No, in Bioshock you respawn when you die and just carry on. In STALKER you die and.. um.. that's it. You reload the last save game and try again, maybe try a different tactic.
Yeah I can understand if people don't have the time and would rather play an awsome-but-piss-easy game rather than an awsome-but-rock-solid-hard game. Personally I like to play a game that offers me a challenge. Like playing MGS3 on European Extreme mode with just a knife or something, could I do it? Why not try?

fonzythedog:
No, in Bioshock you respawn when you die and just carry on. In STALKER you die and.. um.. that's it. You reload the last save game and try again, maybe try a different tactic.

So user-provided respawn (provided you remembered to quicksave) instead of game-provided respawn...

So do the enemies stay damaged after your doomed attempt to tackle them, or is it just like the game autoloading the last savepoint?

jabrwock:

fonzythedog:
No, in Bioshock you respawn when you die and just carry on. In STALKER you die and.. um.. that's it. You reload the last save game and try again, maybe try a different tactic.

So user-provided respawn (provided you remembered to quicksave) instead of game-provided respawn...

So do the enemies stay damaged after your doomed attempt to tackle them, or is it just like the game autoloading the last savepoint?

Am I not making myself clear enough when I said, you "respawn and carry on". Enemies stay damaged and your health is restored to about 60% so you have a good chance to fight again. This is just a classic case of dumbing a game down for a console. BUT the game is still very good. It seems i'm just blazing through the game quicker than I expected...

And it's not really a "respawn" so to speak when you load the game and try again. You have to retry a whole section again, while actual respawning just let's you come back and join the fray once more.

fonzythedog:

Joe:
So what's the difference between the two? Either way, you restart in an advantageous place without much hassle.

No, in Bioshock you respawn when you die and just carry on. In STALKER you die and.. um.. that's it. You reload the last save game and try again, maybe try a different tactic.
Yeah I can understand if people don't have the time and would rather play an awsome-but-piss-easy game rather than an awsome-but-rock-solid-hard game. Personally I like to play a game that offers me a challenge. Like playing MGS3 on European Extreme mode with just a knife or something, could I do it? Why not try?

I'll try again: Bioshock has quick save.

No one is forcing you to use the Vita-chambers. If you don't like that mechanic you can simply quick save/quick load. I know of plenty of people who prefer to do just that.

Bioshock on Hard with a single autosave at the beginning of an area, and if you die you reload. Could you do it? Why not try?

Ian Dorsch:

fonzythedog:

Joe:
So what's the difference between the two? Either way, you restart in an advantageous place without much hassle.

No, in Bioshock you respawn when you die and just carry on. In STALKER you die and.. um.. that's it. You reload the last save game and try again, maybe try a different tactic.
Yeah I can understand if people don't have the time and would rather play an awsome-but-piss-easy game rather than an awsome-but-rock-solid-hard game. Personally I like to play a game that offers me a challenge. Like playing MGS3 on European Extreme mode with just a knife or something, could I do it? Why not try?

I'll try again: Bioshock has quick save.

No one is forcing you to use the Vita-chambers. If you don't like that mechanic you can simply quick save/quick load. I know of plenty of people who prefer to do just that.

Bioshock on Hard with a single autosave at the beginning of an area, and if you die you reload. Could you do it? Why not try?

Because I don't want to...

Ian Dorsch:

fonzythedog:

Joe:
So what's the difference between the two? Either way, you restart in an advantageous place without much hassle.

No, in Bioshock you respawn when you die and just carry on. In STALKER you die and.. um.. that's it. You reload the last save game and try again, maybe try a different tactic.
Yeah I can understand if people don't have the time and would rather play an awsome-but-piss-easy game rather than an awsome-but-rock-solid-hard game. Personally I like to play a game that offers me a challenge. Like playing MGS3 on European Extreme mode with just a knife or something, could I do it? Why not try?

I'll try again: Bioshock has quick save.

No one is forcing you to use the Vita-chambers. If you don't like that mechanic you can simply quick save/quick load. I know of plenty of people who prefer to do just that.

Bioshock on Hard with a single autosave at the beginning of an area, and if you die you reload. Could you do it? Why not try?

I have been(using auto save) as well as a few other things to make it harder but its annoying to do when the game was made with casual gamers as a target audience.

Fantastic, keep up the good work, i laughed so much!!! loving it!!

fonzythedog:
Because I don't want to...

Okay, how about wrench only? :)

I wish I could say this "review" was funny, or that it was even a "review". The game was originally going to be a successor to the System Shock Series, but later turned into a "spiritual successor". The game stole from both the original games. Why would that matter ? A revamp of a game like System Shock 2 , the most underrated FPS in history that maybe 5 people including myself in the Western Hemisphere even bought. The fact that people now know what it is and want to jump on its bandwagon to bitch or praise , they can all suck my hairy balls.

The fact that you state no real review of the use of the weapons that perform better than any other game out now that tries to use similar ones, but only stammer on the fact that you think it copies System Shock 2 , when it was originally supposed to be a successor of the game, shows that you are a jackass trying to push his opinion with propaganda tactics.

This "review" makes no sense and would be like anyone attacking Super Mario Bros 3 for being like Super Mario Bros 1 or Metroid 1 being like Metroid 2 or Castlevania 1 being like Castlevania 2. The whole thing was terrible and uninformative. I read a better review that knew that the game was a successor from an article in Stuff Magazine. That's just sad. Both the fact that I read it, and that this couldn't compete with it.

These videos make Wednesday fun again, thank you Yahtzee.

I'm still playing BioShock but I really don't feel like finishing it anymore. Every time I go to play I just remember I have to shoot a bunch of splicers again.

I Have this question and I hope someone can think of an answer because I can't.

My character as just arrived at Fort Frolic, at this point he has rescued 8 little sisters, taken out 11 big daddies (3 had no little sisters), dispatched over 100 splicers and is still alive to talk about it.

Now shouldn't every other character in Rapture with half a brain left, run away from him like the plague instead of you know running directly at him with a wrench in hand while he's holding a loaded shotgun?

Does that confuse anyone else? Because it makes no sense to me. Why run into the path of a mass murderer on purpose?

All that said I still like the game but I was hoping for more, like melee enemies trying to ambush you instead of running straight on.

Well at least it's deeper than most other console shooters.

Edit: When did the BioShock Defense Force get created, I thought all the folks liable to sign up for that were to busy with the console "war".

Your drawings are cute.

Eurgh, down with all these serious people arguing about the game.

The review was superb, both funny and informative. Funny for the obvious reasons and informative because you stated many things which other reviews have failed to even mention. As someone who was gripped by games like Deus Ex I was wondering how similar Bioshock would be to System Shock 2 and also how much of a battering its new aim to appeal to a wider audience would affect it. I'm sure it's a fantastic game, but I don't think I will find it to be as good as everyone tells me it is.

Also, was that 6.0 a point score from you for Bioshock?

Anyway, keep up the awesome work, I love all the videos so far and I even registered here because of them. You're doing The Escapist some good business. ;P

ZippyDSMlee:
I have been(using auto save) as well as a few other things to make it harder but its annoying to do when the game was made with casual gamers as a target audience.

Bioshock was made with casual gamers as a target audience? Did I miss the memo?

There's at least one, I think more than one, article I've read where the author discusses the difficulty of coming up with a death/failure mechanism which maintains challenge, without being overly punishing. What's the point of death, if you have quicksave ability? Why punish the player to repeat large sections of a game which they completed successfully, only to fail at the very end, right before the next checkpoint?

I think there are extremes, and maybe Bioshock is at one end of the extreme, while, say, Ninja Gaiden might be at the other. How this makes it targeted towards 'casual' gamers, I have no idea.

LxDarko:
Now shouldn't every other character in Rapture with half a brain left, run away from him like the plague instead of you know running directly at him with a wrench in hand while he's holding a loaded shotgun?

Perhaps they are so busy trying to selfishly compete for and harvest Adam that they don't communicate such things?

Dissemination of such information would also presumably require some kind of centralized communication system, an APB "warning, psycho outsider on the loose, considered armed & dangerous".

*shrug*

Geoffrey42:

ZippyDSMlee:
I have been(using auto save) as well as a few other things to make it harder but its annoying to do when the game was made with casual gamers as a target audience.

Bioshock was made with casual gamers as a target audience? Did I miss the memo?

There's at least one, I think more than one, article I've read where the author discusses the difficulty of coming up with a death/failure mechanism which maintains challenge, without being overly punishing. What's the point of death, if you have quicksave ability? Why punish the player to repeat large sections of a game which they completed successfully, only to fail at the very end, right before the next checkpoint?

I think there are extremes, and maybe Bioshock is at one end of the extreme, while, say, Ninja Gaiden might be at the other. How this makes it targeted towards 'casual' gamers, I have no idea.

Yes it looks like the memo slapped you in the face but you still missed it... :/
The game was designed primarily for the 360 user I believe. And no offence, but playing an FPS on a console is difficulty enough what with the retarded controls and such.

I think the respawn feature was definatly aimed at casual 360 users since it's bad enough that it is harder to aim and move than on a PC. And since i use the pc version and i've probably died more times than i can count on the fingers on some hick inbread family, the game would be punishingly hard for a casual console user...

Why would, if they weren't aiming it at casual gamers, they make the game for the 360 for which the majority of users are casual gamers?

Ian Dorsch:

fonzythedog:
Because I don't want to...

Okay, how about wrench only? :)

Well now that you are challenging me to play the game on the hardest difficulty while only being able to quicksave at the start of the area and wrench only... (breathes)... that does sound like a worthwhile challenge. But i'll still use all Plasmids, because the game wouldn't be as fun without them :D

He nails all the issues with this game on the head while being fucking brilliant. Kudos blabbinator!

fonzythedog:
Yes it looks like the memo slapped you in the face but you still missed it... :/
The game was designed primarily for the 360 user I believe. And no offence, but playing an FPS on a console is difficulty enough what with the retarded controls and such.

I think the respawn feature was definatly aimed at casual 360 users since it's bad enough that it is harder to aim and move than on a PC. And since i use the pc version and i've probably died more times than i can count on the fingers on some hick inbread family, the game would be punishingly hard for a casual console user...

Why would, if they weren't aiming it at casual gamers, they make the game for the 360 for which the majority of users are casual gamers?

Ahh, apparently the memo I missed was that console gamers = casual gamers. Maybe, JUST MAYBE, if we were talking about the Wii, with it's known broad aim, this might be relevant. But the 360? We must have very different definitions of "casual gamers". If, to you, casual and console are interchangeable, then it would be a great help to me if you would use console, instead of casual, and reserve casual for "irregular, occasional" gamers.

This speaks nothing to the points I was trying to make about the current state of death/punishment in videogames. (See Kyle Orland's The Slow Death of the Game Over, or Marty M. O'Hale's Killjoy) Either you die, and have to start over, (yay Steel Battalion) or they give you some sort of save/autosave/quicksave/respawn, and the level of punishment is variable, and, in the end, increasingly irrelevant (what's the point of death in a videogame, if there are no lasting consequences, except the negative reinforcement of having to replay portions of the game you already cleared?). Bioshock seems to have gone more with the "we want people to play for the story, not the brutal difficulty."

And, if you want to start something over console controls versus PC controls, I would ask you kindly to start it somewhere else. There are countless places probably already debating this very point right now (since it's quite nearly a perpetual topic among gamers), and I don't think it's going to add anything to the current discussion.

Slightly irrelevant, but did you know that Sexdactyly is a dominant genetic trait?

fonzythedog:

Geoffrey42:

ZippyDSMlee:
I have been(using auto save) as well as a few other things to make it harder but its annoying to do when the game was made with casual gamers as a target audience.

Bioshock was made with casual gamers as a target audience? Did I miss the memo?

There's at least one, I think more than one, article I've read where the author discusses the difficulty of coming up with a death/failure mechanism which maintains challenge, without being overly punishing. What's the point of death, if you have quicksave ability? Why punish the player to repeat large sections of a game which they completed successfully, only to fail at the very end, right before the next checkpoint?

I think there are extremes, and maybe Bioshock is at one end of the extreme, while, say, Ninja Gaiden might be at the other. How this makes it targeted towards 'casual' gamers, I have no idea.

Yes it looks like the memo slapped you in the face but you still missed it... :/
The game was designed primarily for the 360 user I believe. And no offence, but playing an FPS on a console is difficulty enough what with the retarded controls and such.

I think the respawn feature was definatly aimed at casual 360 users since it's bad enough that it is harder to aim and move than on a PC. And since i use the pc version and i've probably died more times than i can count on the fingers on some hick inbread family, the game would be punishingly hard for a casual console user...

Why would, if they weren't aiming it at casual gamers, they make the game for the 360 for which the majority of users are casual gamers?

Its pretty much Deus ex 2 all over again(or ark faltalis 2 turned mainstream game with tits dark messiah), however this game has more polish its still a kick in the balls for any long time FPS/PC gamer.

I guess I'm in the minority at least on this board, but I actually liked the 'easier' difficulty of Bioshock. I also hate to say it, but I also prefer the game's relative lack of complexity to Deus Ex. Maybe it's just because I'm getting old, but I don't have patience for really complicated games anymore. I want really interesting games that are fun and intuitive to play, and Bioshock delivers in those departments. If a game is too hard and I die every 2 seconds and have to reload or do a lot over again - I get bored of it and will never in a million years finish it. Games can be interesting and fun without being really punishing.

If I were marooned on an island and could only take one game with me - Bioshock, SS2, or Deus Ex - Bioshock would probably be my *last* choice because of its relative lack of depth of gameplay... but it's like video game candy - delicious, goes down easy, gone fast.

Shiloa:

Also, was that 6.0 a point score from you for Bioshock?

I'm pretty sure it was his way of saying that the kick in the nuts was done well.
i.e. the game is good but has issues. Not an actual score for the game.

For those that don't know, 6.0 used to be a perfect score for a figure skating routine.

randomguy:
I wish I could say this "review" was funny, or that it was even a "review". The game was originally going to be a successor to the System Shock Series, but later turned into a "spiritual successor". The game stole from both the original games. Why would that matter ? A revamp of a game like System Shock 2 , the most underrated FPS in history that maybe 5 people including myself in the Western Hemisphere even bought. The fact that people now know what it is and want to jump on its bandwagon to bitch or praise , they can all suck my hairy balls.

The fact that you state no real review of the use of the weapons that perform better than any other game out now that tries to use similar ones, but only stammer on the fact that you think it copies System Shock 2 , when it was originally supposed to be a successor of the game, shows that you are a jackass trying to push his opinion with propaganda tactics.

This "review" makes no sense and would be like anyone attacking Super Mario Bros 3 for being like Super Mario Bros 1 or Metroid 1 being like Metroid 2 or Castlevania 1 being like Castlevania 2. The whole thing was terrible and uninformative. I read a better review that knew that the game was a successor from an article in Stuff Magazine. That's just sad. Both the fact that I read it, and that this couldn't compete with it.

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