So Bioshock gives me a headache when I play for long periods. I can still enjoy it for a couple of hours, right? I take in the twisted art deco, the awesome eye candy, and the superior audio for 120 minutes or so, then log out happy, right?

Taking in the atmosphere may put a grin on my face, but the visit to Rapture can get really tedious because you can fight only so much bad guys before you notice that there’s not much variety in the antagonists you encounter.

You have a few splicers, two types of big daddies (that look pretty much the same), a bunch of little sisters that you can’t tell apart from each other, and a few freakish stage bosses that are too far in between that somehow remind you of the splicers.

That’s pretty much it.

Can’t I have ninjas? Ninjas are always cool. How about bears that shoot lasers out of its eyes? Nevermind that these types of enemies have nothing to do with Rapture or Plasmids. Hardly anyone pays attention to FPS storylines anyway.

Post from: EveryJoe

Bioshock annoyances #2: Shooting splicers are fun—up to a certain point

I haven’t played Bioshock myself. Aside from the physical barrier of not being able to get a copy because it’s not out yet, my PC’s limitations (despite its still-decent ability) might force me a premature upgrade before I truly get to enjoy this new FPS.

The worst part? According to a few game journalists who got an early ticket to Rapture, the game is really as good as advertised. Maybe even better.

IGN’s Charles Onyett says there is “art [in Bioshock], despite what many would say isn’t possible with games, from Roger Ebert to game designers like Hideo Kojima.” Onyett even goes as far as proclaiming that Bioshock is a wake-up call to the industry at large because playing the game will make you realize why you should demand more from publishers and developers.

Gabe Graziani of GameSpy labels Bioshock not as the spiritual successor of System Shock 2, but as its “spiritual superior.” Pretty strong words for a new game being compared to the proven classic. Graziani adds that “it’s impossible to not recognize the brilliance flooding your senses.”

Andrew Pfister over at 1UP asks if a videogame can make you feel guilty and presents a good scenario involving the Little Sisters and Big Daddies. This after raving about how worthy the game is of your time and money.

As I’ve revealed earlier, the Little Sisters are designed to ask you the moral question of killing malnourished children. If a game is capable of raising these questions, then the developers are indeed doing something right. An emotional connection to games is something you don’t encounter every day (or year).

Let the Xbox 360 gamers cheer for having another outstanding game in their library. In addition, they don’t have to worry themselves over the question of system requirements. After all, they already have enough problems (**cough RRoD cough**).

Post from: EveryJoe

Bioshock reviews tell us there’s more to the hype