Bioshock 2

[WILL THE ALMIGHTY]

Ign trailer (off-cam)

 

Wha-?

[Meshugger]

That trailer showed less than the Alpha Protocol-trailer. Could've as well been a fan-made trailer, judging from the mere content.

[Krookie]

Well they must have chosen the "good side" ending as the girl seems to be a former Little Sister, no?

[Maria Caliban]

BioShock 2: Now with sand.

 

This tells the viewer nothing but that they're planning on BioShock 2.

[Musopticon?]

From TTLG and Kotaku:

 

Levine is not a major player in the project, it's lead by former Bioshock art and writing leads. Levine is doing an X-com game, by some accounts.

 

The story is "a prequel in a sequel", whatever that means. Personally, I think there's merit to be had in the non-chronological order of storytelling, something that Irrational has already tried and somewhat succeeded with Tribes:Vengeance. We'll see how it will play out.

 

There's a supposed to be some multiplayer features in Sea of Dreams, but that might be just a rumor.

[I want teh kotor 3]

First one sucked, second one won'tbe much better.

[mkreku]

First one sucked, second one won'tbe much better.

"sucked" seems a tad harsh. But vastly overrated I agree with.

 

I don't know, I kind of liked the mood and ambience of that teaser.. Not too shabby for something that's just there to let you know it's there.

[Calax]

First one sucked, second one won'tbe much better.

you sir are going to catch alot of flack for that one.

[Strix]

First one sucked, second one won'tbe much better.

 

The first was much better than Fable, a game you constantly laud.

[Hurlshort]

Well, if he didn't like the first one, then I don't know why he'd bother with the second one.

 

It's not very surprising that there is a sequel coming up. It sold extremely well. I'm not sure if I'll get it, I liked the first one but didn't feel compelled to finish it. The atmosphere was amazing, but FPS mechanics are just not my thing.

[WILL THE ALMIGHTY]

Well it finally made me realise Halo was average at best (sounds retarded, I know). In any case, I actually like the first one's gameplay (I can see why certain people wouldn't though), and the art/music/dialogue/acting/graphics were all top-notch. So I'm definitly looking forward to the sequel.

 

Also, I need steampunk to live.

Edited October 21, 2008 by WILL THE ALMIGHTY

[Maria Caliban]

I found the original BioShock to be a masterpiece of atmosphere. When it came to RPG and FPS elements, I found it bland, but I thought the world itself was wonderfully realized.

[Morgoth]

Well at least we now know the subtitle.

[Starwars]

Like it's been pointed out, the atmosphere and presentation of Rapture was very well done. But the gameplay was made of suck. There are certain FPS games which makes me feel that I'm really playing a character (which is what FPS games are about) and there are games where I feel like I'm just controlling a blob that floats around firing at things. That was Bioshock to me. It completely lacked the "weight" that I want a FPS to have.

 

So yeah, it was a disappointment as far as I'm concerned.

[Slowtrain]

First one sucked, second one won'tbe much better.

"sucked" seems a tad harsh. But vastly overrated I agree with.

 

 

"Vasty overrated" seems a tad lenient. Hideously sucked, I agree with.

 

But it was SO purty.

 

*applauds*

[Aristes]

I'm with mkreku. Once you get past the hype, the game was pretty good. Not a classic, but not made of suck or whatever. (Although I thank you, Starwars. I'm going to remember that phrase.)

 

Maria had it right, the atmosphere was fine work. The "difference between a man and a slave" cutscene was awesome. The gameplay was a bit lackluster, but the thing that really made the game a chore was the respawning people in areas the player was forced to traverse more than one. It made the game a little boring. I don't care that it was easy. No problem. Just don't make it so tedious to get from place to place. That was one of the things that really ruined Wizardry 8 for me. Slogging back and forth over the same areas fighting more of the same mobs just isn't fun. Let us clear an area and put respawns, if we must have them, in certain central areas and let us enjoy the sense of accomplishment otherwise. Even if it's so easy that you don't feel any sense of accomplishment, at least you can enjoy the scenery. If you couldn't even enjoy the scenery in the first game, piss off.

[Enoch]

Once I realized that the splicers were respawning (about 4 hours in), I quit the game altogether. I'm no big fan of FPS gameplay to begin with, and when I realized how much of my time would be spent on repetitively killing the same weak opponents, I decided that seeing the rest of the fantastic art direction wasn't worth it.

 

Maybe someday I'll find an invulnerability cheat so I can ignore the combat and see what all the hubbub was about the rest of the story/setting/art.

[Pope]

Once I realized that the splicers were respawning (about 4 hours in), I quit the game altogether. I'm no big fan of FPS gameplay to begin with, and when I realized how much of my time would be spent on repetitively killing the same weak opponents, I decided that seeing the rest of the fantastic art direction wasn't worth it.

Seems like an issue that's easy to mod away. Has no one thought of doing that?

[Slowtrain]

The hacking minigame in Bioshock 2 is right there with the wheel o' speaking minigame in Oblivion as far as annoying and tedious minigames go. On the plus side hacking is so useless and poorly implemented in Bioshock that you can easily ignore it, much like the wheel o' speaking in Oblivion.

 

Did I mention Bioshock has a total of like three enemies that you fight over and over again FOR THE WHOLE FREAKING GAME.

 

 

meh.

 

Its pretty though.

[mkreku]

Did I mention Bioshock has a total of like three enemies that you fight over and over again FOR THE WHOLE FREAKING GAME.

Five. I counted them. Five. Different. Enemy. Types. Throughout the entire game!

 

That is actually the main flaws of Bioshock: too crappy combat and TOO FEW ENEMIES to be a FPS.

Too shallow and no consequences for any choice you make is enough for it to not be a RPG.

Too easy, linear and not enough thought involved to be an adventure game.

 

It has all those three ingredients but they're all so weak in their own ways that even though the sum is stronger than its parts, it's just not enough to make it a great game. Still, I finished it.. in under 20 hours.. so it had something. Flair?

[Meshugger]

Did I mention Bioshock has a total of like three enemies that you fight over and over again FOR THE WHOLE FREAKING GAME.

Five. I counted them. Five. Different. Enemy. Types. Throughout the entire game!

 

This.

 

I expected that more freaky monsters, or people that have gone through serious mutation due to 'Adam', as i progressed. It never happened.

[newc0253]

Bioshock was a great game.

 

it might not have been particularly groundbreaking in terms of gameplay, and neither was its story entirely free of flaws.

 

but it had a fantastic setting, atmosphere, graphics and ideas. that, together with decent gameplay, makes it one of the best games i ever played on a console.

 

to paraphrase deadwood's immortal phrase, those who say otherwise cook socks by choice.

[Aristes]

I played it on my PC, but the DX10 graphics were quite pretty. I think the voice over work and art direction really were all that and a bag of chips. It's good to be able to give honest praise toa game and nice to see folks give it unreservedly. So, even with all the warts, I imagine I'm going to buy Bioshock 2. I just REALLY hope they add monster variety and maybe tone down the respawns. I don't care if they make combat a lot harder, as long as they make travel less tedious.

[Maria Caliban]

BioShock Postmortem

 

I think the sequel will be better than the first game. Then again, has anyone noticed that with games sequels are usually as good if not better than the original? I think it just takes an entire game before a development team figures out what they need to do.

[Slowtrain]

BioShock Postmortem

 

I think the sequel will be better than the first game. Then again, has anyone noticed that with games sequels are usually as good if not better than the original? I think it just takes an entire game before a development team figures out what they need to do.

 

 

Thanks, MC. Interesting read.

 

Have focus groups ever produced anything great? The reliance on it in todays entertainment world seems to be moving everything toward a generic middle ground. Nothing that's really awful, but nothing that's really interesting either.

 

Reading that post-mortem basically echoes mkreku's post above: a lot of the elements that make up potentially interesting games are in Bioshock: adventure, crpg and shooter design elements are all there, but none of them are really refined enough to make a compelling experience. Bioshock basically floats in a sort of blobby middle ground where it has no real identity, other than a visual one.

 

I do agree that visually it looked intesting and the world had a decent amount of atmosphere (although I felt that that unique location of being at the bottom of the ocean was never pushed hard enough; most of the game I felt like I could be anywhere), but, for me, a game's looks absolutely cannot save it, if the gameplay fails so utterly.

 

And there was a lot of BAD gameplay in Bioshock. Remember that part where you have to run and get the honey out of the bee nests. You have to activate the smoker, then have about 20 seconds to run in and collect as much honey as you can and get out before bees swarm you. Wash rinse and repeat until you get enough honey to proceed. I mean, wtf. A 10 year old MIGHT find that sort of gameplay compelling.

 

Also, did I mention that Bioshock wants to be a shooter but has infinite health and you can't die?

 

Really, it's a pretty messed up game.

 

 

I DO think Bioshock 2 has a chance to be much better. Mostly because it would be ahrd to screw something up this badly twice in a row.