BioShock Demo: First Impressions |
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With the memories of Rapture slowly crushing itself into digital oblivion still fresh on my mind, it's a bit unnerving to see my hands actually shaking as I'm writing this First Impressions article of the Bioshock (Xbox 360, PC) demo that recently became available for download on Xbox Live. Yes, they're actually shaking; yes, Bioshock is THAT scary; yes, even as a demo, Bioshock is THAT darn good.
While I can still taste the girlish screams of panic I've choked down so as my colleagues here over at QJ.net will not throw any doubt to the hardness of my core as a horror game fan, let me start you off on this guided tour of the underwater city of Rapture by giving you a warning: this game is NOT for the faint of heart.
Being a fan of games with horror and supernatural elements - Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Fatal Frame - I happily dove head-first into playing Bioshock's demo, thinking that it could never come close to the raw, intense fear that came at you in bucketloads from those iconic horror titles.
I was expecting a "meh". The game got a OH GOD PLEASE NO BIG DADDY NO from me.
The Bioshock demo starts us off with a slick, yet simple opening cinematic - pretty much a first-person view of you looking at the back of someone's chair. You pull out your wallet, you glance at a photo of your own family waiting for you down at terra firma. Everything's cosy, everything's peaceful on the passenger plane you're on. Nothing unusual.
Then, a curve ball. Your airplane crashes into the sea.
A moment later, we're waterlogged - your character is gasping and coughing as he watches the airplane he's been comfortably sitting in burn in a fiery blaze. Control is given to us at this point, and we can move across the water pretty quickly. It's to note that the graphics, even right at the beginning, pull no punches to astound you - the water looks absolutely beautiful, and the blaze that burns from what's left of the sinking airplane is reflected magnificently off the surface. The airplane itself is sinking, so we swim towards what appears to be a small island.
Gasp, cough, hack, wheeze. Our character's thankful we got out of the water quickly enough. We pull ourselves up onto the island, walk up its stairs, and into an entrance that seems to lead to something else deep underwater. We find a bathysphere, and, being the curious feline about to flirt with death - we activate it with a pull of a lever (done by pressing A, the context-sensitive interact button) and we wait as we're sent deep into the unknown.
10 fathoms. 18 fathoms. Looking out the Bathysphere's porthole, we get a glimpse of Rapture - and it's a gigantic, bustling metropolis flourishing under the sea. Buildings with inviting neon lights stretch out from the ocean floor while a giant whale swims past us, seemingly unperturbed by the encroachment of human civilization upon its habitat.
The graphics wow us more over here - it's really something to see something as massive and as detailed as the exterior of Rapture glowering at you from the Bathysphere. Really awesome.
Just when we're starting to feel comfortable, though, things go downhill the very moment we get to the end of our Bathysphere journey. We witness in real-time a cold-blooded murder of a civilian - the murderer a bloody, mutated creature that was once a man, and with hooks instead of hands. A clever use of lightning and darkness plays here and amplifies the tension, so much that I reflexively looked around for a way to escape. No such luck, we're trapped in a freaking metal ball!
The creature then turns its attention to us, and it tries to get at us. Fortunately, it only manages to give us a scare, and soon gets tired of us. We take a moment to collect ourselves - and change any soiled underwear if need be - and continue on our journey, taking with us a radio that might probably be our only sane companion in this twisted tour of Rapture.
The radio crackles and speaks to us. The bloke on the other end seems to be named Atlas, and from what we could gather he's one of the few people left sane in Rapture. He's pretty much the game's way of giving us tips and mission objectives - the first of which is to get to a location in the city, where he believes his wife and son are trapped. Our character is his last hope on finding them - and as such, he'll be helping us along the way.
That's the first few minutes of the Bioshock demo - and it'd be criminal of me to spoil the entire thing for you, as it really needs to be played. The visuals are breathtaking, and very high-end. Sound and lighting are all used to create one of the most frightening atmospheres ever, and you'll find yourself being all too sensitive from the smallest peep you hear as you trek the halls of Rapture.
The AI here is also ridiculously smart, with your enemies using a number of different tactics every time you try and take them down. They'll flank, use cover, dive out of your range - and most disturbingly, lunge at you in a deadly melee attack, even after you've set them on fire with an Incineration attack. This little quirk of theirs always got me into a panic myself, with me emptying the machine gun I managed to recover into a splicer even though it's already been put down. No, my ammo!
If you've been looking for a demo to play, the Bioshock demo is IT. There's so much to this game than meets the eye, and that's a whole lot. Great visuals, mind-screwing special effects, a dark anti-establishment undertone reminiscent of Fallout, it's all here. The moment you see the game's logo float up into the screen, dripping with the seawater it rose up from - it's going to be one hell of a ride from that point forward, until you're left gasping and shaking from the demo's tension-filled cliffhanger ending.
As for this writer, while I'm certainly glad to get out of Rapture for the time being, I can't help but feel excited for the day when we're not only given a taste of Irrational Games' Bioshock, but we're given full access to the whole smorgasbord. Rapture may not be a very good place to live in right about now, but it sure as hell is fun - the scares and frights included - to visit.
28 Jumps EU PS Store Update - 12/17/09
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Comments
but it could be better... the 1
Wow, just watching the plane gradually sink into nothingness in the ocean, I knew I was in for something special. This is truly one of the most spectacular looking games ever developed. The environments are amazingly original and detailed, and the enemy AI - damn, after playing some of the dummies in Stranglehold, I got my A$$ handed to me by the denizens of Rapture. I can't wait for the full game now.
Common, the game was not that scary, it was was nice :)
Just finished the demo and i think it was wicked which left me wanting more.....easily one of the best next gen game and top 5 best games of the year.
That was one of the most time generous demos I've ever played!
Mmm...scary? it wasn't any more scarier than F.E.A.R. or Doom 3. :P
No, i thought it was kind of short too, but I'm greedy so whatever. It was kind of scary though, at one point I really got scared when I turned around and one of those splicers was about to attack me, I screamed. Embarrassing.
U want generous? Play the Prey demo, that thing never stops! I'll have to try out BioShock tonight
Is the water in Bioshock flat or moving?
the water is moving it has minnie waves and ripples
Have you played the Heavenly sword demo?! Dude, it was like 2 minutes long. This is gold compared to that. Plus the trailer at the end of the demo left me in awe.. the things you can use as weapons in this game is freaken sweet (freeze someone, telecanesis to move boobie trap, hacking robots and taking control of big daddy to be on your side) I do believe we have a winner here. I'd really like to see someone find something to flame this great game about.
This game will be awesome! Very good stuff.
You spelled retarded wrong.
I been waiting for this for a long time now its here! I'm going to go get it right now.
bioshock isnt a 10 out of 10, its like a 8.5 out of 10. the games graphics are normal for a next gen title and better than the darkness. the way this game was hyped up, i thought it would have been better. people who go crazy about this game are the same people who chainsaws everyone in gears of war all day. this game is a 8.5 out of 10 and thats it, this game would have impressed me more if it was 2006 before prey and fear came out but i dont let cheap gimmicks and mediocre graphics impress me.
Well I just finished this gem, what an excellent experience indeed. Its as scary as FEAR, but I wouldn't say more scary. Doom 3 doesn't even count, Doom 3 was lame. Anyway, the ending of this demo really got me excited, I was actually hoping it was the end of the demo because those baddies were seriously freaking me out! This game has my buy, not sure if I want it for the PC or the 360 though.
heavenly sword sucks. its just another hack and slash button masher with interactive cutscenes. boooring.
Why does AoxomamoxoA, hardtoexist, and Frank the Tank tie together?
I liked all the little touches like the diarys, the fact that you can get drunk off the alcohol, the cigarettes take away more health each time you use them, the minigame when you hack something. The conversations that various splicers held were very entertaining. Did anyone find that bizarre stiff cat that was behind one of the vita-chambers. Also I watched the tail section of the plane sink and later it came back to haunt me! Overall an awesome demo and it's a definite buy for me!
Also did anyone else notice that all the splicers are wearing masks from the masquerade ball that took place the previous year?
I liked it and it wasn't scary hahaha
There is even one room where the water gradually builds up...although I was dissapointed it stopped at a point... But the water effects are THE best in any game forsure...
The graphics are better then any other game out there, not just "normal"......some may argue gears is better still, but their aesthetics are so different...if you know anything about lighting and other technical aspects of graphics you can see that bioshock is doing ALOT and doing it the best....it just doesn't seem to have the fancy cutscenes where they can pump up the GFX due to lack of AI and physics and game control....
Friggen spectacular!!! not often a game sucks you in this way. Nice job 2K! Brilliant!
Hahaha....If you get chainsawed all day long then u suck. You can stop any chainsaw with a single bullet of any gun. I would love to play a mtch against you. You sound like u suck!!! LOL
Man, have you ever played the Heavenly Sword demo? It's like 30 seconds long. All you do is go down these ropes, fight these people on this giant rock, then you cut it down which makes you go down to another platform, then you fight more guys, then three big guys come out and that's the end.
This game, depending on how deep and replayable it is (considering there is no multiplayer) could easily be the game of the year. I know I know it has to go up against Halo, and we all know how Halo fans are, but from the glimpse we now have into Rapture the game does a hell of a lot more stuff right than wrong.
hey is game lagging in xbox 360 normal ? wanted to know cause i just bought a xbox 360
So you just bought a 360 and you think it lags ?, yer right go back and play on your PS2..
hey is game lagging in xbox 360 normal ? wanted to know cause i just bought a xbox 360
my XBL id - dylantalon psn id - dylantalon ace, whenever you wanna play gears of war, im ready. when i made that chainsaw reference, i meant it as people that finds the cheap gimmicks in bioshock as awesome are the same idiots that fins the chainsaw melee in gears of war as awesome. anyway ace, you're so narrow minded, you're a loser, and im gonna smash you're face in gears. ohh yeah, you're mom says to bring home some ky jelly for her today.
hey is game lagging in xbox 360 normal ? wanted to know cause i just bought a xbox 360
Just finished exploring, admiring and serving the people that were trying to kill me while I was going through the city of Rapture, which by the way looks VERY slick (no pun intended). The demo took 18 hours to download. I found the demo interesting and intriguing and I will purchase 2 copies when this title hits the streets. What I didn't like about the game was: 1) At the very beginning of play where you get around on the water by gliding on it as if you were on a magic carpet, instead of a true feeling of swimming in the ocean. 2) When you shoot the pistol and machine gun, the gun fire animation makes you feels like you're shooting a toy gun. Aside from those two minor gripes, I found the demo splendid. Freaking gourmet Kudos to Irrational for this effort, you guys ate it alive.
LMAO...as if anyone's gonna buy this over Halo 3. I laugh at how you XBlowx711 noobs think all of these FPS are going to be the be alll end all of gaming. Mass Effect looks like garbage compared to Oblivion, so I don't know what the fuss is all about...let alone it will probably play worst than any "sissy" Japanese RPG. The reason why the PS2 was a success was because it had grade A titles from different genres during it's 2nd Christmas...not a whole bunch of FPS that all played the same. If anything Halo 3 is the only game saving the XBlowx711 this Christmas while the Wii will cruise on by with Sony right behind them. ROFL
lol
When an article for a demo gets 37 comments, you know this game is going to sell. This is a GOTY contender Spectre, why do you bother posting? You only make yourself look like more and more of a fool every time you do. If there is anyone on QJ who really does deserve an IP ban, it's you. And also that as*hat who won't stop posting about free PS3s.
you just made your self look like an ass does more on the 360 than halo 3 do some research fool
I love the demo the graphics are the bomb its just so sweet if you havent played the demo play it now and you well like it trust me.
Great article Ryan C. Keep up the good work. The demo shows what a real group of developers are capable of achieving when they let their imagination fly. The tone and pacing are at such a finely tuned level that it becomes near unnerving to try and look away or release your controller, you just can’t. Such immense detail that has being put into constructing this ungodly-beautiful world of Rapture is humbling. Anyone who can’t see past their fan-boy hate and prejudices are truly missing out on an amazing gaming experience. Yes, not just a game; but one of those rare moments when it becomes more, one that stays with you thru your gaming life and becomes placed into the exclusive “Oh S***!” collective. We hardcore live for those moments. Why else do we play games? That’s why it’s so sad to see such senseless and misinformed comments on this post, some degraded into “U suck!” and “but it could be better…” You would rather have a simple run-and-gun shooting game? Where you don’t have to use your brain, while mindlessly pounding away at the buttons hoping to get some empty hallow 'fix' becasue you were able to kill a guy a 'bullet from a gun' in some silly deathmatch? Yes, then maybe Halo 3 is the game for you. One in which the art design, storyline and world seems dry, contrived, uninspired and simply detached from the game itself. But a shooter doesn't need a story, right? You're not even paying attention to it. Oh well. It’s a shame that you will miss out on another great game, one lost on the unappreciative attitude of a next-generation slowing losing its sense of good taste. Game on.
hey is game lagging in xbox 360 normal ? wanted to know cause i just bought a xbox 360
"LMAO...as if anyone's gonna buy this over Halo 3. I laugh at how you XBlowx711 noobs think all of these FPS are going to be the be alll end all of gaming. Mass Effect looks like garbage compared to Oblivion, so I don't know what the fuss is all about...let alone it will probably play worst than any "sissy" Japanese RPG." Plenty of people will buy this over Halo 3 for the simple reason that the Halo series is seriously over hyped. Mass Effect looks like garbage next to Oblivion? What? Oblivion looks beautiful, I'll admit. But it was so shallow and repetitive (and I am a big fan of all 4 of the Elder Scrolls RPGs). Mass Effect is the successor to KotOR which was an amazing RPG, and should blow Oblivion out of the water.
"hey is game lagging in xbox 360 normal ? wanted to know cause i just bought a xbox 360" Yes, it is quite common in some games. Amazing really, when the big selling point of the 360 was PC-style games with guaranteed performance because of the standardised architecture.
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