For example, a specific scenario. You're fighting a large group of splicers sent at you via a scripted event. You have a pretty large arena, you can go where-ever you want while you fight these guys, but while fighting this supposedly "difficult" horde, you can just sit there and fire off your pistol while slinging plasmids and letting your hacked security bots drill holes into your enemies. You either walk into a room with a gun and some plasmids, or you walk in with upgraded weapons, a ton of plasmids, security bots, and a hypnotized Big Daddy following you. This in itself isn't bad, and it's awarding you for preparing properly, but it creates a problem when you realize that the entire difficulty of the game is based on whether or not you're lazy.
If you go around doing every single thing to warrant success, then there's no difficulty, but if you go with the bare minimum it's a roast. This seems like a GOOD thing, but the bad thing is that nearly EVERY situation of the game can be presented this way. I hardly broke a sweat on hard mode at all because I could just bolster myself up for each attack. It attributes to the game being too easy.
Once again, like the Vita-Chambers, it's tedious. Before fighting a Big Daddy, get your crap together for 30 minutes, then go kick his ass in some few seconds. It's so ROTE and dull. I want the game to randomly throw in an area with an EMP shield or something that will shutdown my security bots or mess with my plasmids, forcing me to battle my enemies by effectively using the resources I have. NOT amassing a large amount of resources then just unloading it whenever I feel like I might face a challenge.
To be fair, there is one point where your plasmids are on the fritz and you can't actually use the ones you want to at the moment (they switch around randomly) but it's not used in an interesting way. In fact, it's annoying, you fight a few splicers, find an item, and boom, you're back to normal. Instead of taking advantage of this, the developers just made it a passing memory. How about an interesting battle where you have plenty of opportunity to use a large variety of plasmids, but you're only able to use one every random interval because you've been sucked into this unstable condition? It would make the player think, and it would challenge his reflexes both physically and mentally.
What I’d like to cover lastly is the graphics, sound, writing, and etc. They’re the least important to gameplay naturally, but they’ll produce the most enjoyment from Bioshock. You already know about the Art Deco art style, and I’ve already covered how much I love that. I’ve already covered the cheesy sound bits as well, and I’ve mentioned that those are great. The fact is, the overall presentation of Bioshock is fantastic, and it’s enough to elevate the fun yet incredibly questionable gameplay to the point where it’s merely a vessel for Bioshock’s story and surroundings.
Quote:
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This is me in Rapture last summer, as you can see it SUCKED and I hope you ALL DIE IN A FIRE, I had a great time in this beautiful city.
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What you get is a great little thriller/horror bit about dangerous politics, exploring the past of yourself and this doomed city, and finding personal gratification at the end of all of it. The twist that comes three quarters through the game is wonderful, and is perfectly done, in fact, Bioshock is the best game since Half-Life and its sequel to place the player in a world and situation where he himself feels like he is going through all of this. You don’t feel like you’re necessarily guiding Jack through the mess, but that you are considered the protagonist. It’s great, and refreshing when games like Halo consistently take you out of the action by reminding you that all those hard ass soldiers are speaking to a corny Doom marine rip-off and not Jim sitting in front of his TV.