XBOX Reviews

BioShock

BioShock lets you do the impossible as you explore a mysterious underwater city. When your plane crashes, you discover Rapture – an underwater Utopia torn apart by civil war. Caught between powerful forces and hunted down by genetically modified “splicers” and deadly security systems, you have to come to grips with a deadly, mysterious world filled with powerful technology and fascinating characters. As little girls loot the dead, and biologically mutated citizens ambush you at every turn. Now you’re trapped, caught in the middle of a genetic war that will challenge both your capacity to survive and your moral allegiance to your own humanity. Make meaningful and mature decisions that culminate in the grand question – do you exploit the innocent survivors of Rapture to save yourself – or risk all to become their savior?

User Ratings and Reviews

1 Star Wouldn’t load for me, wasted money
The game looks cool and I’d love to get it to work, but it WILL NOT LOAD on my hardware. Emails to BIOSHOCK produce nothing, since they say it should run. Emails to Securom blame me for running some program their software doesn’t like or say I should change my hardware.

I did my own checking and found a number of complaints regarding the Lite-On DVD writer, which I have in my system. Apparently Securom doesn’t like my DVD writer. I suppose I could buy a new DVD writer ($30) just to play a $19 game, but even if I do, how am I supposed to know this is the only thing in my system that Securom doesn’t like?

Worse, I PAID my money, but I can neither play the game nor get a refund. When someone takes your money but won’t deliver what you purchased, that’s called THEFT.

Look, if the game works for you, I’m glad for you. But if you don’t want to have your money stolen, I’d give this a pass, at least until the complaints about Securom drop.

We expect food distributors to give us a label telling us what is in our food. It’s time protected games were required to have a label telling us what EXACTLY is required and what EXACTLY they are doing with our computer. It CAN’T be being done right, or I’d be playing the game. The only good thing I can say is that I paid $19 for a lesson in why software companies can’t be trusted.

1 Star Unable to install due to virus
This game contains a virus called “secuROM” that permanently installs itself into your OS and can disable your drives (as it did mine) and should be avoided at all costs. It’s a shame. I played Bioshock on a friends 360 and was blown away. The cool retro 50’s look of the underwater city and the music set over the dark and creepy atmosphere made for a great gaming environment. It has an original and thoughtful story and the endless attack combos and multiple endings gives this game a very high replay value as well. I was very exited to get this for PC as mouse/keyboard is the best set up for a FPS by far. I was crushed when I found it had installed a virus that crippled my virtual drives. Removing secuROM from my system was a lengthy nightmare that involved risky registry editing that can damage your system permanently if not done exactly right.

Bioshock is a great game that contains a virus. Buy the 360 version if you want to play it.

5 stars for a fun game

1 star for infecting my computer with malware.

1 Star DRM needs to be protested
Just as everyone else is saying, the console version for this game was great. When I bought the PC version, I was distressed to learn that I could only install in 3 times. This is not worth your money, we must protest DRM in PC games.

1 Star Still not buying
I was seriously considering buying Bioshock until I read about the people who recently purchased the game and had problems with their computers. It seems that the company has decided to keep the DRM in the game. Why? The game is not current and I’m sure the sales are not too great. Not a wise decision. Sorry, but I am not going to spend my money on a game that may possibly screw up my new computer. If the powers that be finally got rid of DRM they would get hundreds of people willing to buy their game. Until then my money will remain in my pocket.

3 Stars Awesome action, sound and graphics, but at a cost!
This is an incredible game with stunning graphics, sound, and playability. Multiple difficulty levels, ability to save anywhere in the game, a cool story, sets and characters.

However, even though my system met or exceeded all the requirements, I could not play the game when I installed it.

I had onboard sound and a GeForce 7600 GS, but neither of these could handle the game. I upgraded to a SoundBlaster Xtreme Gamer and a GeForce 7950 GT, and now the game screams; but it cost me $300 to get there. Still, it has a memory leak somewhere and locks up randomly. A good idea is to stop every so often and reboot.

It takes FOREVER to load (seriously, like 3 or 4 MINUTES), but once loaded, you can play for a long time before you need to load again.

I know there are people out there who are afraid of SecuROM, but it hasn’t given me any trouble that I know of.

So if you think your PC can handle it, you will most likely enjoy it.

Buy/More Info

BioShock

BioShock lets you do the impossible as you explore a mysterious underwater city. When your plane crashes, you discover Rapture – an underwater Utopia torn apart by civil war. Caught between powerful forces and hunted down by genetically modified “splicers” and deadly security systems, you have to come to grips with a deadly, mysterious world filled with powerful technology and fascinating characters. As little girls loot the dead, and biologically mutated citizens ambush you at every turn. Now you’re trapped, caught in the middle of a genetic war that will challenge both your capacity to survive and your moral allegiance to your own humanity. Make meaningful and mature decisions that culminate in the grand question – do you exploit the innocent survivors of Rapture to save yourself – or risk all to become their savior?

User Ratings and Reviews

4 Stars Fun and not frustrating, but also violent and a bit too easy
I enjoyed this game very much. The graphics were unique and the plot was ludicrous but engaging. You could use a wide range of weapons and “superpowers,” which made killing things a bit more novel.

This game is pretty violent, which may or may not be a downside to you, depending on your personality. I didn’t really mind it. However, every time I used nitrogen to freeze a mentally-ill person, then smacked them with a wrench as they whimpered helplessly, thus shattering them into bloody frozen chunks, I thought “This is probably desensitizing me in a way that is not healthy.”

The only real downside (again, to some it may be an upside) was that this game was not really challenging. I am a fairly unskilled gamer: I mostly just run and shoot until the ammo runs out, at which time I switch to the next weapon. Even so, I only died twice during this entire game. Just a note, when you die you reappear at a nearby location and all of the hits you made on enemies are saved; so there is almost no penalty for dying. This makes the game a little too easy, but it sure cut down on frustration and swearing on my part.

Anyway, I would recommend this game highly, because it is fun and not too expensive. However, you can expect to finish it in a week or less.

1 Star Don’t buy this game.
This is quite possibly the most boring game I’ve ever played. Not to mention it screws with your system and you can only install it three (3) times– *ever*.

3 Stars twisted. creepy. great prospects ruined.
the game looked great. it had all the makings of a 5 star game. that said, it’s too twisted, too gruesome, too sadistic. they could’ve gone in much better directions keeping the same gameplay/campaign style game in tact. if you don’t like scary things, (like i don’t), pass on the game. it’s not worth it. halfway through, i’m done. too creepy.

2 Stars Bioshock smells like it had more than one in the stink
Bioshock is a great game….for about 40 minutes. After that its story gets convoluted and tries to be smarter than it is. And like most things that fall into that hole, it throws in a M Night Shamalayn patented “twist” into the mix, which fails miserably.

This game had promise, it has an interesting mechanic and decent graphics, but the story leaves a lot to be desired and the combat is repetitive and boring.

Its a shame as what I read the original story was going to be, involving cult deprogramers and the like, was scrapped for this horrible stuff.

Download the demo, it will leave a better taste in your mouth and you won’t get to the crap nougat center of this game. And you can avoid all that license protection stuff too. Fun times.

1 Star Paying to rent
Don’t buy this game. Will NOT run without an internet connection. It is one of the many new PC games that installs a very intrusive copy protection scheme on your computer. It is very hard to delete this software from your computer cleanly. The game requires an internet connection even though it is mainly a single player game, so it can check to make sure you are using the software properly.(to the manufacturer liking). Basically you are paying to RENT it.

Buy/More Info

BioShock

BioShock lets you do the impossible as you explore a mysterious underwater city. When your plane crashes, you discover Rapture – an underwater Utopia torn apart by civil war. Caught between powerful forces and hunted down by genetically modified “splicers” and deadly security systems, you have to come to grips with a deadly, mysterious world filled with powerful technology and fascinating characters. As little girls loot the dead, and biologically mutated citizens ambush you at every turn. Now you’re trapped, caught in the middle of a genetic war that will challenge both your capacity to survive and your moral allegiance to your own humanity. Make meaningful and mature decisions that culminate in the grand question – do you exploit the innocent survivors of Rapture to save yourself – or risk all to become their savior?

User Ratings and Reviews

4 Stars Fun and not frustrating, but also violent and a bit too easy
I enjoyed this game very much. The graphics were unique and the plot was ludicrous but engaging. You could use a wide range of weapons and “superpowers,” which made killing things a bit more novel.

This game is pretty violent, which may or may not be a downside to you, depending on your personality. I didn’t really mind it. However, every time I used nitrogen to freeze a mentally-ill person, then smacked them with a wrench as they whimpered helplessly, thus shattering them into bloody frozen chunks, I thought “This is probably desensitizing me in a way that is not healthy.”

The only real downside (again, to some it may be an upside) was that this game was not really challenging. I am a fairly unskilled gamer: I mostly just run and shoot until the ammo runs out, at which time I switch to the next weapon. Even so, I only died twice during this entire game. Just a note, when you die you reappear at a nearby location and all of the hits you made on enemies are saved; so there is almost no penalty for dying. This makes the game a little too easy, but it sure cut down on frustration and swearing on my part.

Anyway, I would recommend this game highly, because it is fun and not too expensive. However, you can expect to finish it in a week or less.

1 Star Bioshock Disappointment
Have struggled with Bioshock for several weeks now. I am finally throwing in the towel. Amazing art work and scene sets cannot compensate for the frenetic, shadowy and fleeting fps combat situations, all taking place in a dark, poorly lit (albeit artistic) underwater civilization. Give me the light and air of Half Life 2, or Crysis, or FEAR. My sense is that this a game for gamers–especially younger gamers, who might have the endurance and inquisitiveness/inventiveness to traipse through an endless array of beautiful, but ulimately obscure rooms/locales. Bioshock is beautifully crafted, but dreary, uninteresting, and not nearly as engaging as an fps as reviews had led me to believe.

4 Stars “Spiritual Successor” to System Shock 2? More like COPY! (Which isn’t sooo bad…)
I originally played this game last year when it first came out on my PC. I had an XBox at the time but opted for the PC version instead since my monitor was much better than the TV I was planning to use with the console version. In short, I wanted this game to look as good as it possibly could.

So I bought a new video card, an extra gig of RAM and attempted to play Bioshock……bad idea.

Bioshock for the PC is a resource hog and if you have a 360 I recommend just going for that version to ensure you have a consistent and good overall visual and gameplay experience. That’s all I’ll say about that…

As for the gameplay, I loved Bioshock’s setting and characters. The voice-overs were done exceptionally well and the visuals (when turned up all the way or shown as-is on the 360) are jaw-dropping for sure. Bioshock is a beautiful game. I loved the atmosphere of many of the levels and the truly creepiest part of the game is when you enter the level of the crazy artist who has turned an area of Rapture (Fort Frolic) into a bizarre museum filled with plaster-covered dead people…very, very disturbing.

All that said though, Bioshock does have a couple bad flaws: First, and most obvious to anyone who’s played these type of games before: Bioshock is an updated, underwater version of System Shock 2…I mean, it’s almost an identical copy. Ghosts, a huge plot twist in the middle, your narrator helping you, etc. are all direct rip-offs of the 1999 PC masterpiece. I’m not saying Bioshock isn’t worth playing because of this – I just think it could’ve been so much more on its own if it hadn’t copied SS2 so much in major ways.

Another gripe is the inventory system – the system was obviously dumbed-down to make gameplay progress faster and not confuse so many gamers – but for players who liked SS2’s way of finding things and rationing items out bit by bit, this is a letdown. The game’s difficulty also needs to be addressed since all players will come to a point when they realize Big Daddies are easy to kill and the regeneration booths essentially make the game a breeze since there is no penalty of death. Also factor in some huge gaping plot holes that were deliberately ignored (Why only Little Sisters? How was Rapture created in secret in such a short amount of time, etc.) and you have a game that is far from perfect.

And finally, you have an ending that many people weren’t happy about. I’ve never been a fan of “boss battles” in shooters because they all play out the same and it usually boils down to shooting parts of the environment in the right order at the right time to damage or kill the bad guy. Hardly impressive. Even so, Bioshock’s final fight was very cinematic in its presentation and felt like it needed to be there. However, the very short ending makes you feel sorta cheated, so I can’t rate the last part of Bioshock too highly.

Overall, Bioshock is a very fun game and is definitely worth checking out. It’s got an amazing and beautiful world to explore and has laid the groundwork for an interesting setting future games in the series could explore in more detail. I do recommend System Shock 2 more than BS though, simply because it did everything Bioshock does now nearly a decade ago and is truly a more challenging, atmospheric and scary game.

(Reviewed Sep. 1, 2007 by Gamer X