Gaming Bioshock Hands-on Preview

http://www.bit-tech.net/gaming/2007/07/18/bioshock_hands-on_preview/1

Bioshock is possibly one the most long awaited and anticipated PC games since Duke Nukem Forever was first announced (still waiting, 3D Realms), so join us as we go hands-on with the soon-to-be-released Xbox 360 and PC versions of the game.

 

Definately glad I have a 360 for this.

 

I was getting the cold sweat just watching Joe playing the game down at Take 2's offices - the intensity is top notch and it's high adrenaline... I had a quick play as well and I have to say that it's shaping up to be truly awesome. Think of the first 30 mins of Doom 3 for the kind of level of atmosphere and intensity, but this is more dramatic, doesn't tail off (based on what we've seen so far) and there is a story too!

My only concern at the moment is that there is 20 hours of story to fill and I'm personally not sure how the story will evolve over the game. I'm guessing there will be some twists and turns along the way.

 

Was Doom3 meant to have a story?

One thing is that from what I've made out from Bioshocks interviews is that if you save the Little sisters you get a big reward at the end. You also get a whopping 100 points for saving them all on the 360. Full list of achievements here

A question which comes up with those achievements is what is this "invention" thing?

 

I can't wait but I'm still deciding on PC or 360, though It'll probably have to be 360.

 

I think it was, but it wasn't exactly fantastic... after the first 30-45 minutes, Doom 3's gameplay didn't evolve or change - the surprise of a monster being behind every door (or in almost every dark corner) just wore off. The AI appears to have free roam in Bioshock, so while there are a few "scripted" parts of the game (i.e. the bosses) where you meet with the enemies is practically randomised and time/instance-based.

 

Invention was something we didn't get to look at, but Research was something we had a fiddle with. In System Shock 2 you could get bits of dead enemies occasionally and then, if your skill was high enough and you had access to the right chemicals, you could learn more about them and do more damage. It's much more simplified in Bioshock, so that you don't have to run back 5 levels to find a chemical storeroom thank god, and instead of the ss2 way you use a camera to take photos of different enemies. The photos can then be analysed to let you find weaknesses, which you can build up on by taking more photos. Unfortunately, it means you have to whip out the camera and stop to focus it in the middle of a gunfight.

Also, as Tim points out, the enemies have a virtual economy. They don't patrol the same paths or respawn or loiter, instead they wander around intelligently on the search for things that they want, whether thats weapons, health, ADAM or fresh corpses to harvest.

 

Joe's right about the Spanish Inquisition when he and Tim arrived back!! I think I must have spent about an hour just asking question after question about the game!!

Still have more...

 

Cant wait for this game, im pretty sure im more excited for this game than crysis, although both should be spectacular! Thanks for the Preview bit!

 

I can just never get along with FPS's with analogue sticks.. So its going to have to be PC for me... Although I may just wait until there is a retail version review as I would prefer it to be harder rather than easy.

 

I thought that too, but I only played the 360 version and while it was a "different" experience, it was certainly not completely alien. I'm a through-and-through PC gamer when it comes to first person shooters, but I was impressed with how well this played on the 360.

 

Do you know what settings you played it on... Something like 2560x1600 with 16aa&af?

 

On the PC version, it's still going through QA so we played at 1280x1024 I think. I'm not sure what the exact system specifications were... all we were told was "dual core, 2GB RAM and an 8800". That could be anything from an 8800 GTS 320 to an 8800 Ultra but judging by the size of the case, I'd be surprised if it was anything more than a GTS 640.

 

And was the game running at the highest settings ( AA FSAA etc .. ) , and what framerate did that give ? Rlly hoping my new pc can max this out at 1680 x 1050 :x !

Regards

 

The AI sounds a bit like the AI was supposed to be like in Oblivion... untill they removed it
It had got me really excited too!

 

That comment will probably sell more copies than the preview.

 

How about:

I got a cold sweat just hearing Tim talk about watching Joe play the game

 

Or how about I got a cold sweat from reading the preview

 

This reminds me of Alice on marijuana... and Alice was on heroine...

 

You gotta admire the enthusiasm of the review team. Tim's comment made me think he had discovered a new drug. One user/abuser signed up.