Opinions are subjective, so nobody is wrong there. But saying “the majority opinion is that bioshock1 was shit” is just obviously not accurate.
Hmm. What is the best these days? I thought Half-Life had more interesting level-design and challenges, moment-to-moment(in general) than BS, but I’m sure I can think of something that’s surpassed it if I throw out the nostalgia goggles. Yeah, CoD definitely brought that in(and the others you listed are examples), but I’d say BioShock was a major push in that direction from a gameplay perspective(maybe not the pure spectacle, etc.).
System Shock 2, because of it’s rpg/points system, required you to make decisions and then solve challenges based on the decisions you had previously made. BS really has nothing on that level going on in it’s mechanics. Also, SS2 took place on a space station(or was it a ship? can’t remember). And the people who left behind logs were workers on that ship/station. So it’s setting made a bit more sense, and therefore it was easier to take at face-value. How and why in the hell would something like Rapture ever exist? It’s, kinda, stupid.
It is at Hipster Gamer Cafe!
You probably don’t know it.
Good thing nobody said that then.
You must not have read a lot of opinions outside of very insular communities, or you conveniently skipped the majority of published reviews.
I think that Bioshock’s design is actually a very clever way of co-opting and exploiting the very problems that you mention.
The vita-chambers are basically a clever “trick”: make the player feel like they’re in danger, but never actually be in danger. The imperative not to impede player progress is just a part of modern game design sensibilities. How do you keep the illusion of danger without actually imposing on the player? You pretend to kill them. For a large part of the audience, that’s enough. Once you “see through” the trick, and realize that death doesn’t matter, yes, it loses it’s power. But most for most players it’s effective long enough to get through the first playthrough.
The underwater setting is likewise a clever justification for the corridor-centric gameplay that characterizes modern shooter design.
Likewise, the Would You Kindly reveal similarly cleverly plays off the linear nature of the medium that is theoretically all about choices.
It’s a series of clever design choices in response to specific goals and limitations.
Not enough outrage in this thread so I need to register my own at lumping Tomb Raider in with Call of Duty. Carry on.
It’s Zylon. He probably wrote it off once he found out it supported widescreen monitors.
I agree w zylon. Everything BUT the gameplay in Bioshock 1 and Infinite was well done…
But do you agree that the “overwhelming majority of opinion” was that the “actual gameplay of BS1 was bland and mindless” like Zylon says?
I understand he hedged his bet by qualifying the statement with “I’ve read” but that’s ridiculous. The majority of reviews for Bioshock praised the gameplay as well as the setting.
I agree with Avatar and Zylon: I can’t believe people are praising the Bioshock gameplay experience. It was dull as dishwater and was nothing more than zap-wrench, zap-wrench. Also: most people would be conveniently stood in water, or charge in from a direction that causes them to pass though water etc. Zap-zap-zap. I practically fell asleep playing it. Like Avatar, I didn’t connect to the story or theme, so the game was a real bore to play.
I don’t agree about this “majority opinion” thing, though. Lots of people out there like the game for it’s ‘amazing’ gameplay and most reviews I read were positive about it. It’s one of the pivot points in helping to form my “never believing a word mainstream reviewer’s say” opinion ;)
Is this where we weigh on in whether the first Bioshock sucked? I’m afraid I can’t join that club because I used up all my hipster cred hatzorzing on Deus Ex.
-Tom
P.S. The ending of Bioshock 1 sucked. Everything else was totally awesome. And fun!
P.P.S. I don’t want to hearing anything about any fucking cyborg ninjas!
Maybe the public opinion or my own perception of it has changed over time, but I feel like “Everything about Bioshock 1 was amazing, except the combat which was just average,” is pretty much the way to sum it up. It certainly didn’t do anything to evolve shooters. Unless you count bringing back audio logs that play while you keep playing into the mainstream an evolution.
Doom 3 did that.
And so, for all its stylistic achievements, all Bioshock is left with is the zappy-wrench maneuver as its crowning gameplay evolution.
All the wrenching here is starting to smell suspiciously of the Kick Discussion™.
Arise!
The remaining members of Irrational Games are now called “Ghost Story Games.”
Ghost Story was founded by twelve former Irrational Games developers and our mission is simple: to create immersive, story-driven games for people who love games that ask something of them. While we believe our new games will have strong appeal to fans of BioShock, our new focus allows us to craft experiences where the gameplay is as challenging as the stories.
Who is Ghost Story?
We’re a Boston-area game development studio dedicated to making immersive story driven games for gamers that like a challenge. The studio was founded by a group of former Irrational Games developers, such as creative director Ken Levine, art director Shawn Robertson, executive producer Don Roy and more. We’ve been concepting, prototyping and experimenting on a new game for some time now and have attracted new talent along the way. You can learn more about our team and our vision here.
What happened to Irrational Games?
The Irrational Games studio was closed in 2014. However, you might have seen continued activity on the Irrational Games Facebook or Twitter accounts. These have remained active because many on our team were key contributing members to BioShock and love engaging with the fan community. That is separate from what we are working on today. We are a new team, working on a new game and we’d like our studio name to reflect that.
Good for them! Their missions statement is exactly what I’d hope they would focus on.