I was just wondering to what extent the games had been improved on console. Is it just a 1080p60fps deal, or is more extensive than that? I'm planning on getting it, but if anyone who has picked up so far would warn against it, feel free to do so.

I think GameSpot some comparison vids on their YouTube channel and it looked like they touched up and changed some textures and lighting etc

They also have some for 2 and infinite

@fivegreenaliens: thanks!

It's weird because in a lot of cases with that Bioshock comparison video I don't think it's an improvement at all. Sure, the higher resolution is sharper, but the game assets are not 'designed' for that resolution. It looks more 'gamey' to me then the original did. Also, in some cases they changed textures and lighting in some of the rooms and it just is ... different. Not necessarily an upgrade.
And thinking about the original dev team did not work on it, maybe this is a little bit of a 'Silent Hill HD' case? (where they did not have the source of the assets anymore and had to replace it, some of it with very bad results)

It's not releasing on Steam for another 6 hours, so... dunno yet.

@dussck: No, I thought this may be the case too, but it is actually much improved. Textures are nice and sharp, and lighting is good.

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I don't know how much of a jump it is you want, but as a huge Bioshock fan that has played all the Bioshock games on all systems, except for Bioshock 2 on 360, and the first on the iPad, as well as not being able to get a good frame rate for even medium settings for Infinite on PC, the remaster is good enough for a fan to want to jump back in. I just beat the first Bioshock today, and started two earlier, and just quit a few minutes ago because I'm tired. The game is 1080p/60fps, but does a little more than that, though not substantially where you think you're playing a new game. That said, the game looks great. The only issue is that anti-aliasing isn't perfect, so you will still see some 'jaggies'. It's not that big an issue though. Infinite is the PC version, which is still great looking. Basically, though there is only marginal to no improvements, this is still the best way to go back and play Bioshock, or play it in general. There's enough of an improvement that the immersion isn't lost in whatever hasn't aged well.

I'll copy and paste my post from another thread as it applies here

"Platinum'd the original Bioshock already.

A pretty straight forward and faithful port, HOWEVER, there are a few small negatives parts to it:

Some of the medical stations cant be broken which means you cant destroy them for free medkits, you get stuck on geometry a lot more now (I would say I got stuck simply trying to walk through a door or set of stairs maybe 20 times through the whole game) and there's a few odd overlooks, like the fire puzzle in the beginning of Arcadia is already solved before you get there or a few spots where the water texture is non-translucent and seems to show the bumpmap instead of the actual texture. There was also a lot of issues with trophies unlocking; I got every single trophy except for beating the very first level, which I did afterwards and now its my last earned trophy for the platinum.

Still though, it was really fun playing through it again. On to Bioshock 2"

Overall, Bioshock 1 was crisp and didn't seem to go under 60 FPS (which shouldn't be a shock) and some models were remade and some textures upscaled so overall something about it feels better even if you can't quite put your finger on it. It has some marginal improvements but overall if you liked the original, this is that 99% faithful.

*edit* One last thing I should add, one of those times I got stuck on the geometry, I actually got stuck in a short 3 second loop of my character bouncing up and down with it constantly spamming the landing on ground noise; once I moved away and it stopped, I lost all my health and was nearly killed from it. My guess is it counted me as falling the entire time. :/

I was having fun till it crashed, eating 20mins of progress and resetting all my options. The acceleration on the thumb sticks feels weird but I can deal with it. Opening the map takes forever, no idea if that's my GPU. There are no graphics/ display settings to mess around with, seems like a straight console port.

Looks nice enough, I don't remember what the original looked like. Though every comparison shot ive seen looks worse in terms of mood/ art direction, textures are of course sharper. Water looks shittier.

overall, seems like a pretty low effort affair, more of a HD texture pack with some missing graphical effects and a few quality control issues.

I have the original Bioshock and Bioshock 2 sitting in my Steam folder. I think I'll reinstall and play them, I never played 2. I finished Bioshock 1 but I remember renting it (remember when renting physical discs was a thing) and plowing through it in a day - so it's all a little hazy.

No graphics options on PC, not too impressed. :(

@captain_insano: I remember. Makes me feel old ugh. Me and my wife were just joking the other day about video stores and how its kinda weird to think about going to one now. Used to be 3 or 4 in our small town and we haven't had a single one for easily over 5 years now.

For fucks sake.

Also I can confirm that the doorbell bug is alive and well. Someone do me a favour and see if it causes the console versions to lock up (in the medical pavilion, for the dental place you need to use telekinesis to grab a key for, just keep on mashing the button that opens up the door).

It actually looks somewhat worse in some of the comparisons.

Is this port really as fucked as the Steam reviews say?

@floppysnake: It's a skin at best that only really solves the physics issue. The fact that things such as the doorbell bug still exist makes me think that this was a purely graphical touch-up. Almost no graphical options to speak of, and if you see my screenshots above I had a very low detail model loading in even though I was in the same room. I haven't encountered the crashing others are talking about. Something about the aiming feels very off, either it's the mouse acceleration or the game itself. I keep on missing shots I feel like should be sure hits, even with Electro-bolt, which always had a generous hitbox. Oh, and in the first 3 minutes of starting it the game already thought I was using an Xbox controller. It's not unplayable, and it is still mostly the same game albeit with the physics fixed so I wouldn't completely write it off. At worst it's a side grade to the original game on Steam. With maybe a few patches it will become a clear upgrade from the original version.

It's a good thing this was free, or else the shitstorm would be huge.

Running at a rock solid 144FPS with no crashes or bugs that I've seen. Some pop-in here in there, but it's not a problem.

Ok, I went back and installed the original Bioshock to compare, after dealing with compatibility issues, constant crashes and various pc gaming bs I got it to run.

It felt more stable and sounded better, also not as many weird audio/graphical inconsistencies. Having said that, I now appreciate the overall facelift a little more, its not perfect by any means and both have their positives but the remaster just looks nicer, even if the new textures are kinda flat and some atmospheric effects are missing I still prefer it. The combo of sharp textures and improved geometry is enough to outweigh the dent on atmosphere, I kept forgetting I was playing a game from almost a decade ago.

So I go back to the remaster and play some more, beat the first "boss" and think man this game is still fun, I go to save and quit for the day and it crashes again. Fuck this game, Fuck the original port, i'm not replaying this game again.

I can play at top res., but holds me at 30fps. Holds me at 30 fps at 1080. Lowest resolution allowed 50.

For me though, I am enjoying getting back into this game, and I did see the steam reviews

@adequatelyprepared: Just did it on PS4 with maybe 30 splicers. It ran fairly well until I used electro bolt, an which point the game turned into 1fps, and the electricity never stopped moving through the water even though it wouldnt hurt me or enemies.

After a while the bodies disappeared and the framerate came back, at which point I did around 30 more, shot a grenade, and the game stopped; the sound effects were on repeat (not so much stuttering, but just looping) and I could easily go into the dashboard with no problems, but the game just stayed there. It probably would've kept going without a crash, however it was taking a lot longer to move on to the next frame, and the electrobolt one already took several minutes to do and this time it wasn't going anywhere near as fast.

I've had a fair few crash issues when hitting loading points, perhaps a crash every hour or so (been playing about 6 hours thus far)