BioShock Demo Impressions and Copy Protection
August 22, 2007
I finally managed to finish up the BioShock demo download from Steam last night. Man, oh man am I impressed by this game.
From the outset you can tell that it's going to be an intriguing romp with your character smoking a cigarette bearing a package from his parents that (I believe) reads, "Don't come back until you've...". Your character looks at a photo of him and his parents narrating, "They always said I'd do great things...". Of course your plane crash lands into the ocean for some unknown reason and you're left gasping for air clawing your way to the surface. Once you breach the surface you're greeted by some of the best graphics that I've witnessed this side of 2007. The wreckage is ablaze all around you and the flames are spreading. You can see a tower a bit away so you make your way towards it...
You then descend into a dreaded "rails" intro. An introduction that you're forced to watch and can't skip - no matter how many times you've seen it. It's wonderful the first time, but after you've seen it - you don't want to see it again. The intro itself is an interesting 50's style narrative-reel detailing what caused the benefactor Ryan to found Rapture beneath the sea. Very high quality production.
At this point, you must have beta nVidia drivers to continue. At least on my box, without them your screen goes out of sync range and never comes back. Ouch. No matter, it's totally worth it and the drivers do increase your performance in general quite a bit (I eeked a few new details out of Supreme Commander!).
Then the real game begins...
Your Balysphere pops up into a docking chamber where someone is waiting for you, presumably to help you... but his intentions are cut short when a Splicer appears to uh... well, Splice minus the p. The impressive effects and physics start becoming highly apparent as the Splicer hops atop your Balysphere to try to cut it open. For reasons that I still can't figure out, the Splicer leaves and runs off to a darkened corner to await you o rwhatever else might kill it.
The demo comes off without a hitch and totally pulls you into the Rapture universe. From the first time you "splice up" to the first encounter with a Big Daddy and his Little Sister, everything is executed beautifully. The narration and storyline are quite something to behold, given the brievity of the demo. There was clearly a lot of thought that went into this game, and it shines brilliantly.
So, what have we got here? Immersion? Check. Great storyline and universe? Check. Great gameplay? Check. Great graphics for Halo fanboiz? Check. Everything's in place for an amazing shooter and I'm totally excited to get my hands on a copy.
Babbles gives it a double plus thumbs up!
Update
Whoops, looks like 2K fucked up the anti-piracy measures hardcore. You get two installs of the game before you're toast. Looks like I won't be buying this one. -> 2kgames Forums
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1 Comments
| Tagged: BioShock, VideoGames
david 2007/08/24
someone at work purchased that game - he seems obsessed and i am quite intrigued by it. i wouldn't mind dabbling in it for a little.