I really loved the start of the game and it had such a great opening and atmosphere, kinda wished the ride around the city was abit longer like Half-Life on the tram but ok. It just has a really great feel to it and makes me really want an RPG based in the city before the downfall and leading upto the events of Bioshock.
However after the atmosphere the game doesn't really do much else to impress me. I think the level design doesn't feel like a city and I hate all the back tracking you have to do and searching for items. Most of the time I had my face to the ground picking things up instead of looking at the sights. I also wish'd they did more with water seeing as it's an under water game like the first level where they had that tube collapse on you. The gameplay is all sound, but it does nothing special and often becomes frustrating and can feel dated. The shooting and plsamids are ok but you'd never point the combat out as being one of the best of the genre.
I don't like all the terminals aswel because they don't feel very natural, you wouldn't have them machines selling weapons and ammo just dotted around the city and all the gene banks and stuff. I thought they let down the story and the feel making it very unrealistic and for me to care about the story I have to believe it could happen. Another thing that let the story down for me was the whole Big Daddy and Little Sister thing which I was hoping would be something in the background but it grew into a main part of the story. Again it's just very unrealistic and stupid and more annoying than anything. The last level when you had to escourt the Little Sister she keeps repeating the same old crap over and over and frigging getting glitcthed so I had to reload the level. She also travels too slow and just all the annoying problems you get with escourt missions.
The ending of the story was also a disappointment because it went over the top and stupid and the whole little sister thing just ruined it. I had no care for the story by the end and anything good they did with it was ruined. Such a shame because it was a really good story upto the point when you joined forces with that little sister woman.
I love the sound design and the graphics and just everything about the look and atmosphere of the game. It's what gives it a 3 for me alone because it's a game you can enjoy for that alone. It's also fun to listen to the voice recordings but my problem is you're trying to listen to them and the background noise can drown them out. It's annoying to have to stop and find a quiet place to listen which breaks the pace of the game. Theres many times like that aswel in points where you're in combat and the guy speaks to you over the radio and you can't hear him and then you miss it. Other times where you can get to the objective too fast and you have to wait for the trigger of an NPC to talk. Another weird thing was the physics seem messed up like the animations are missing frames when they fly through the air or something.
I had some fun with Bioshock like the Atmosphere and all that but I can't help feel that it's in the wrong genre. The story was ruined by stupidity and the combat and gameplay wasn't that great. The only saving grace was the atmosphere and thats where I got all my enjoyment out of it. The game felt very Doom 3 or System Shock 2 like.
Just wish'd they made it an RPG like a KoToR or something.
