Replaying Bioshock and plan to play Bioshock two after I'm done.
So far; visually it has not aged that well; The main problem is the geometry honestly; the textures still aren't all that bad. Also I don't remember stumbling on so many physics bugs i.e. stepping on a pail and having it whiz at warp speed into the wall behind me scaring the bajesus out of me.
Really a great game, anyone who says other wise needs to re-play this. The combat is a little....hectic; switching between gun, melee, and plasmid is much more challenging than being a walking god spiting fire as you blast people apart with a shotgun. Finding your groove with the large selection of plasmids is great and really lets you tailor your own play style. The gun play is still pretty good and the guns don't feel fake like most games tend to do now. Sound design is just....dreadful how ever; seriously some awful sound design; it has no sense of depth in sound. and that really throws you off when playing; running through a hall and hearing "STOP RIGHT NOW HUAAAAHHHHH HA HA HA!" stop, drop, thunder shock, only to find two splicers going at it over a safe. The RPG elements are lightly peppered in and really not much to them; just cool gun upgrades and upgrading your plasmids; clearly not as much depth as System Shock or System Shock two; but....those are...well those games are a special case;having two games clearly built as hardcore RPG's taking place in a shooter world and having a well done shooter mechanics, these games are really not made for this generation. So yes; dumbing down the rpg elements a little bit to make it accessible to the new generations didn't really tarnish it.
The story is the best part; and I'm not talking the Atlas Shrugged inspired parts but the story of rapture and the people in it; you get such an amazing look into the lives of the characters you listen to on audio logs and as you walk through the areas they inhabited. The main story is also still pretty good; the Atlas Shrugged "unda da sea!" aspect of the rich and powerful working only to benefit them self's but ultimately not being able to control the underlings that don't share their "vision" and the growing war and power struggle between the rich and powerful in what was supposed to be a moral free society unbound by the laws of man, god, or physics. I really loved the idea of what society might be like if we were not bound by morality and laws; if science was free to expand in all directions without hindrance; and the realistic twist of "well, we have a ton of money already...but someone else has more; so lets get greedy and take their money!" and this causes the downfall of a utopia.
Over all, 9/10. Seriously; yes its a little dated but god its still so fantastic. Also made me rethink 'Bioshock Infinite:A lesson in false depth manufacturing' I plan on re-playing it, but its only been a couple months since I last beat it...5/10; after playing Bioshock and thinking about Infinite more; I just don't understand why it got so much praise. its just you walking through some stages with nothing happening of consequence and nothing you do matters; also couldn't be more linear if it were a sidescroller.
