Comments on: BioShock Review Review

By: Jazmeister

Jazmeister — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 16:42:08 +0000

Oh shit I forgot about that plasmids bit. I stuck with like, one plasmid through the entire game (I was so focussed on the plot that I tore through the combat sections) and that was the only section where I found myself trying new ones.

In Rapture’s world, plasmids are products, right? So these were like demonstrations, free samples – I instantly fell in love with the tornado thing, and the telekinesis.

By: Pentadact

Pentadact — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 14:56:53 +0000

You don’t have to be sick for long – those two things happen a matter of minutes from the end of the game.

By: Jason L

Jason L — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 12:31:19 +0000

A friend of mine is nearing the end and says he’s sick of the game arbitrarily ‘fucking with him’ – taking away ammo, making plasmids go wacky etc. I think he may be missing the point of survival horror a bit, but it is interesting that in all the bouillabaise of Bioshock backbiting I’ve never heard that particular complaint anywhere else.

By: The Deleter

The Deleter — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 10:58:09 +0000

Jim unlocked the Achievement “Good is Bad”.
Complain about a game that everyone else has stated to be excellent.

Jim unlocked the Achievement “Damaged Gene Pool”.
State explicitly that you think 95% of the human race is stupid, whilst failing to give the impression that you don’t belong in that 95%.

I played the console version, but I enjoyed this game immensely. It had a richness, a creepyness and a sense of despair and brilliance that no other shooter could match – it beats Gears of War in the atmospheric states hands down, and you relish any special moment, like when you make a Big Daddy’s corpse fall in such a way that he looks like he’s working a vending machine. Hats off to 2K/Irrational for making me feel bad about bludeoning a wireframe model to death.

By: Jim

Jim — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 19:22:41 +0000

BioShock is one of the most dissapointing games I have ever played. System Shock 2 is head and shoulders above it.

The controls, ‘dumbed down’ nature of the game (thankyou consoles… you f**ks), and gameplay suck. Its a game for morons, and I’m not at all surprised at the reviews – 95% of the human race are morons after all

By: DuBBle

DuBBle — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 18:23:58 +0000

Ah, yes, completed it, I know what a kindly old kidder you are now Tom :)

By: Pentadact

Pentadact — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 10:00:45 +0000

I read the review pretty closely, since I wrote it, but you’re right of course. Slip of the speech center of the brain, now fixed.

By: M.

M. — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 04:42:27 +0000

“Someone made a game about a subaquatic socialist utopia for the intellectual elite”

I guess you either didn’t read the review very closely or the review didn’t mention it, but Rapture was actually created as a capitalist paradise. A free market one at that.

Please correct this post.

By: The_B

The_B — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 21:41:16 +0000

Finally got my copy – Excellent review Tom, and kudos on the refraining from spoilers, I remember how some people were a little iffy on that in your Oblivion review.

Only problem I now have is getting enough money to upgrade my computer to run and play it. Stupid single core, less than a GB RAM computer…

By: The_B

The_B — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 01:01:06 +0000

And by find I meant fond. My late night typing is getting worse…

Well that and I think I made a sentence that doesn’t really make sense, I mean; “Hold a thought”?

Again, I’ll just blame tiredness.

By: The_B

The_B — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 00:54:49 +0000

Can I take this opportunity to hold a thought of rememberance for Irrational now T2 have announced their Borg-erisation. I know it’s only a name, but I really am sad to see “Irrational” go. It was a name that when mentioned always brought find memories.

Bloody suits. :(

By: Pentadact

Pentadact — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 00:00:45 +0000

Nope. I’m liberating the word ‘paradigm’ from its shifty prison. Those two words are so commonly conjoined that it’s become freakish to use the first without the second, which is a shame because it’s a nice one.

Dan Gril of official Xbox, Steve Hogarty of PC Zone and I all made this same weak in-joke in our reviews, and all of them were taken out by our respective prod eds. I guess it didn’t sound as natural as we’d hoped.

By: Rob

Rob — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 17:49:54 +0000

” It has ideas. There are themes. I think I even saw a paradigm.”

Ah, but did it *shift*, Tom, did it *shift*?

(I’m too afraid to use any formatting code in your blog :) )

By: DuBBle

DuBBle — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 07:22:09 +0000

Do you mean your second paragraph’s outset: “So kindly refrain from reading any forums”?

My guess: So kindly drown any aspiration to read forums ;)

By: Pentadact

Pentadact — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 17:41:35 +0000

Cheers, by the way.

By: Pentadact

Pentadact — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 17:38:16 +0000

Heh. I just discovered today that there’s a whole thread over at the official forums about what these three words might be – http://forums.2kgames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2484

The guesses are all wildly off, but one person has managed to guess something that’s actually true, although it’s not the twist I’m thinking of. I was going to remind them that if they did guess it, they would of course have ruined the game for themselves. But there’s no chance they’ll ever get it, it’s just not the kind of thing you can see coming.

By: DuBBle

DuBBle — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 16:45:46 +0000

Regarding your third-from-last paragraph: I’ve tried to guess and I can’t. I tried to stop myself from guessing but I couldn’t.

Splendid review. If you wanted me to think that Bioshock is a very special game and fully deserving of my credits, then you have succeeded in mental manipulation. That’s a lie actually, I was going to buy it anyway. Now I’ll TOTALLY buy it in the XTREME, I’ll buy it whilst double-ollying a molten vesuvian nobleman, right after I pop into Body Shop before it closes because I’m almost out of dolphin-shaped dissolving bath oil capsules.

I think it was Doug Lowenstein who called for professionalism and a higher quality of games journalism. You, sir, have done us both proud. Keep it up! If only every game could warrant the critical faculty of a ‘high-art’ review.