|
Imagine, if you will, that you are strolling through a car lot, and you come across a 1967 Ford Mustang. It’s one of the most beautiful cars you’ve ever seen, and the dealer is willing to sell it to you for only $3,000, and it seems to run fine. Then you write the check and sit in the car…and nothing happens. The car doesn’t start. You open the hood…and half the engine is missing. You then turn around and ask the dealer why it’s in this condition, and he tells you to buy a new engine. Welcome to my experience with the PC version of Bioshock.
Bioshock is a title from 2KGames that puts the player in the role of a nameless protagonist that is the sole survivor of a plane crash in the middle of the ocean. Struggling from the wreckage, you head towards the only thing in site that isn’t on fire: a lighthouse on a small island. And so begins your journey into Rapture, the underwater paradise gone horribly wrong, and the setting for the game.
And what a setting it is! Rapture is, by far, one of the most beautiful, well thought-out environments that I have ever experienced in a video game. Every question my non-engineering-oriented brain could come up with was answered at some point in the story, from how the actual structure is built to how it is supplied with oxygen and food to how it is powered. However, all these explanations come in a very natural way that explains what’s going on without becoming boring. You character never speaks with the exception of a few lines in the intro, but almost all dialog with NPCs is done through a radio that you find shortly after arriving in Rapture. The plot is also amazing, with a major twist that hit me from totally out in left field in a way that, honestly, I can’t remember another game doing for quite some time. The ending (there are three, and I got the good one) was quite satisfying to me, despite others complaining about its quality; it gave me the closer I needed. The plasmids, genetic superpowers, are very satisfying while at the same time being totally creative. They range from your standard fire-ice-lightning-telekinesis combo to being able to literally shoot bees from your hand.
However, this game has one major problem that makes everything I’ve said so far nearly irrelevant. This review is on the PC version, which was a game rife with bugs. Even on a top-of-the-line computer released nearly a year after the game’s launch, there were still major technical issues. For example, any attempt to minimize the game brought my PC to a grinding halt. The game also featured rather long load times for a title a year and a half old. The first PC that I installed this game on would not even boot, causing crazy graphical artifacts and errors, despite the fact that it was well above the game’s minimum requirements. There has also been nearly zero patch support for the title since launch, with one, maybe two patches that address minor issues in the first month or two. It has been completely ignored since then.
In conclusion, I really want to recommend this game to you, but I can’t, as it’s just too damn buggy. Try it first.
 |
System: |
PC
|
|
| Genre: |
First-Person-Shooter
|
| Experience: |
Finished the game, got the "Good" ending
|
|
reason I never had any problems getting the game to work. But I'm the only one
it sounds like.
Both you and Frozen had trouble. Then again, it didn't run entirely smooth on my
PC either, its probably cause mine is a bit older, won't play real well on
anything above medium settings..and then it struggles a bit.
The 360/PS3 versions are definitely the way to go on this game. Cause all the PC
technical problems aside, it is a really good game. Any game that you can fire
bees out of your hand is just fine in my book.