***½ [360] 4/25/12 - I can find a lot of things to appreciate about BioShock, but it's still a disappointment given its pristine reputation. Maybe part of it was unrealistic expectations. I also know that as a consequence of playing it so long after release that I was more aware of what Rapture is like, the political themes, and other things that might be more relevatory if I was playing back in 2007. Those caveats aside, I think the game is flawed in significant ways that the strength of the setting doesn't make up for. My foremost issue is with the combat, specifically how much there is. It's not obviously broken or horrible, it's just dull and there's SO MUCH OF IT. The first time I zapped a dude with lightning and the whacked him with my wrench it was pretty cool, not so much the next 500 times. It's not fundamentally bad, but any time you need to go somewhere guys are pouncing on you and they respawn as you explore, even if you don't leave the area. I tried using other plasmids and weapons, but none of it made the constant splicer swarm less tedious. The enemies don't make the game tense, just annoying. I ended up putting the game on easy so I could basically swat them away like flies or ignore them totally if I was just running through an area, without having to worry about them damaging me in any significant way. Hacking is another aspect of the game that seemed fun at first but you need to do so much of it throughout the game, at least the first half until you start being able to make auto-hack tools, that I got completely sick of it to the point where I started just blowing up drones and turrets rather than taking the time to turn them to my side. There are also fetch quests that seem to serve just to extend the game, having you go through areas you've already seen, fighting guys and collecting X amount of some item. The most frustrating example of this is when I specifically wanted to pick up some glowing items my first time through an area, but it wouldn't let me until I had the quest to do it.
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Rapture is an extremely memorable place; the aesthetic is obviously unique and the audiologs really help fill in the world, although at some point the sheer number of them gets absurd. The actual plot of the game is pretty interesting, especially since I somehow managed to avoid knowing the twist for five years; however, I do feel like there was a missed opportunity to make the pre- and post-twist gameplay divergent in a way that would make the story events feel more meaningful. This isn't the place to go into it, though. There's also the mechanic of dealing with the Little Sisters, which is simultaneously one of the more effective and meaningless aspects of the game. Killing the Big Daddy guarding a Sister and hearing their fear and grief is legitimately distressing, but the supposed moral choice aspect of it, of curing the Sisters or harvesting them, has ultimately no impact mechanically. The debate is supposed to be between enriching yourself with Adam by sacrificing the Sisters, allowing you to purchase more upgrades, or getting less by taking the high road and saving them. But at certain milestones you get gifts from the Little Sisters you save, including Adam boosts, that make saving them or harvesting them pretty much the same from a benefit standpoint. So it's not a serious of choice between morals or convenience, it's do you want to be a fucking monster and kill these girls or not. There's no depth or shades of gray to it.
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I feel like I might be coming across as more down on the game than I actually am. It was a positive experience and aspects of it are very strong, but it has problems. The number of big guns and plasmids show action was always intended to be the focus, yet that aspect of it is one of the weaker parts. A moody, tense horror sort of game seems like it would suit the dead city of Rapture better, but that's not the direction they went in. It also feels too long, with boring collection quests serving as an excuse to engage in more mediocre combat. I think I feel conflicted about the game because there's already a conflict between many of the elements. The conflict between wanting to have a significant moral choice while also wanting players who take either path to be able succeed, between making a focused and immersive narrative while also needing to fill out a certain hour count, between the exploration they seem to want to encourage and the waves of respawning dudes they throw in every area. It's a good game, but it's troubled and trying to serve too many masters.