Gaming BioShock Gameplay Review

OH NOES!! I'LL HAVE TO MOVE THE MOUSE UP AND DOWN MORE!

/drops to knees, hands in the air and crys.

WHY GOD, WHY DO I HAVE TO MOVE THE MOUSE MORE!?


O-M-G Internets! The drama! The Devs: they're stealing my pixels!

 

I'm not about to throw about a paddy over this issue, but it really doesn't make sense to use the same FOV in both modes. Although I doubt I'd have ever noticed it personally, it does seem a bit lazy considering the overall quality of the game.

 

When do you expect to have the hardware side of the review ready Tim?

 

Everyone can speculate but the developers probably had a big meeting about this and this was the decision for a very valid reason.

 

I don't see how exactly this is lazy. It maintains a consistent experience and focus, and it's not like you can't freely look around.

LOL@Big meeting: "IT'S A MAJOR INTERNETS ISSUE! LOOK LOOK!" /repetitively taps laptop in front of board members who all look concerned that one guy from 2k forums is cancelling his pre-order.

 

I'm hoping soon... but I'm still waiting on code to get started asafp

 

admit it... you just busy playing it

 

Wish I was

 

Direct quote from lead programmer Chris Kline: "You will see more in widescreen. We use a different projection matrix; there is no squashing or stretching of the image involved."

Err yeah. Obviously no squashing or stretching, just cropping.

 

He soooo was. Every 15 minutes he gets spare he starts playing it on the 360 again.

K - More!? Hmm OK, but Imo cropping is far better than squishing.

 

I'm a bit mystified why these widescreeners are thinking they have lost something. Does anyone seriously think that if you buy a widescreen monitor you are entitled to a better experience than a fullscreen user?

 

Can't be bothered..............

 

Here's a great pair of images that I think sums it perfectly:

4:3 on Xbox 360: http://ded.zenblue.net/360_Bioshock/43mode.jpg
16:9 on Xbox 360: http://ded.zenblue.net/360_Bioshock/widescreen.jpg

On it's own, the 16:9 image looks ok... But when you compare it with the 4:3 image it's pretty obvious that the widescreen image would look immensely better with a wider field of view.

 

...I don't think any of us are that upset about it, but it'd be nice if they widened it for us.

 

What's wrong, make I ask, with simply looking up and down? It's down to personal preference. With widescreen you're closer to the action but the 4:3 gives you a feeling like you're standing back, if anything the game is tailored to being more involved making it more intense. The only thing you lose is his tattoo.

You're not losing anything in widescreen because a widescreen monitor will be more pixels anyway for the same size: 19" Wide = 1440 wide, but 19" 4:3 =1280. But the 1440 version will be rendering 1080 lines in the engine instead.

 

That seems to be disregarding the whole point of widescreen in the first place though. That it gives you a more natural field of vision. Surely having the most natural view for each monitor choice is utterly essential in a first person shooter?

 

I think what they've done is correct to keep the game experience the same across both formats.

 

But you're not getting any less because the widescreen monitor has more pixels for the same size screen anyway, the engine just renders it in 4:3. My "widescreen" reality isn't squished, I simply look up and down.

It's also why people played Sup-Com as far back as humanly possible, even though it looks great close up: because you could see more, but it detracts from the gameplay feel in Bioshock. You just don't notice when you're playing unless you're particularly looking for it.

 

Using an exaggerated field of view for one format and not the other is not really going to keep the game experience the same for both formats, it's actually diminishing one and not the other.

Just look at how a game like Half-Life 2 handles this issue. It's perfect. You will have an equally brilliant experience in either format, wide or full.