Is Bioshock perfect game design?

re: Is Bioshock perfect game design?

alejo699 — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 23:58:00 GMT

I must agree, Bioshock is as close to perfect a game as I have seen. If one looks hard enough one can nitpick some flaws, but why would one want to? To prove one's world-weariness, perhaps, or to demonstrate one's own inability to enjoy life? I don't know.

As for BlackIsle's comment, yes, it's true: Steam-powered guns are not likely to have IFF. However, if you examine any game's "reality" quotient, you'll find it coming up short. The bottom line is, if a game requires a single player to kill hundreds or thousands of foes it is NOT realistic.

Yes, Bioshock borrows from other games, including its own predecessor, just as most games do. The difference is that Bioshock took many disparate ideas and created a more immersive world than any of the others have. - And yes, I am including Half Life 2 in that, even though I love it dearly.

re: Is Bioshock perfect game design?

Bertrand Le Roy — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 04:42:51 GMT

BF: "far too imaginative"? Since when is being imaginative a flaw? I don't think it's inconsistent. Unlikely maybe, but it's a game, it doesn't have to be likely to be immersive. Underwater skyscraper city? Not very believable from the start but *who cares*?

Not innovative? No, it's not (except for the checkpoint system). I don't think they claimed to have invented new AI behavior or the hovering thingies. I'd go so far as saying that if you've played System Shock or Deux Ex, you've pretty much already played Bioshock. But that's not the point. The point is that Bioshock delivers brilliantly and does what it does perfectly. It's no revolution, but it resets the standard to which future shooters will be evaluated.

What are those faults that you allude to?

I'm not following your point on story and environment. Do you mean the story and environment in Bioshock leave to be desired? That would be funny.

re: Is Bioshock perfect game design?

BlackIsle Forever — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 19:16:53 GMT

Bioshock is too far away from perfect game design.

Hacking by using water-pipe combinations and also steam powered machine guns which can identify friendly and foe are far too imaginative. They tried to create a world but could not keep it consistent.

Many things Bioshock claims to have innovated, especially A.I behavior, is already existent in many games. The mini helicopter guardians (i name them like that) are obviously inspired from the manhacks of half life 2.

It has many faults.

Also I always think that the most important sin of modern game design is the "story(fiction)" and the enviroment. Look at fallout it has pages of story behind it (before the game) and the game is based on that (even though you encounter the total story or not).

re: Is Bioshock perfect game design?

Bertrand Le Roy — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 17:13:22 GMT

Oh, and Gregor, my friend Fabien who is very much into competitive multiplayer games doesn't quite agree with you on multiplayer Gears, which he rarely plays. He seems to prefer Rainbow Six Vegas. Did you check this one out?

re: Is Bioshock perfect game design?

Bertrand Le Roy — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 17:11:59 GMT

Gregor, I disagree. I think it's doing what it does perfectly. That doesn't mean that you couldn't add to it and make it even better but the online component for example is something that would be great for some people (me I couldn't care less, I don't have fun with competitive multiplayer) but not having it doesn't make the solo campaign (what it is) worse. What I'm trying to say is that the point of the article was to determine if and how Bioshock does what it does badly, well or perfectly. Perfect doesn't mean it can't be improved or added to :) It means that nothing gets in the way of the fun.

If you asked me, what I would add to Bioshock first would be cooperative multiplayer.

re: Is Bioshock perfect game design?

Gregor Suttie — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 07:45:25 GMT

The one ommission from perfect game design in my opinion is online multiplayer - my xbox live friends have been asking me lately what is bioshock like, I tell them its fabulous and the first and only question that they really wanna know is - "can you play it against others?" - for me this is what makes a game more complete - playing Gears for example online throws up a different type of animal every single time you play it - even playing against the the same friends every night Gears is still fantastic.

Imagine playing Bioshock online with the ability to take each other on with plasmids and download new maps and potentially different tasks to take on.

Gears as a 1 player game does have a few minor annoyances but online its da bomb and will continue to be number 1 game on xbox live for a while (until halo 3 of course).

re: Is Bioshock perfect game design?

Bertrand Le Roy — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 19:50:26 GMT

Richard: I run it on Xbox.

Collin: the ads do look very much like the Fallout ones, yes.

re: Is Bioshock perfect game design?

Gregor Suttie — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 14:05:04 GMT

Bioshock is just such a great game - Arcadia with the Lost style violin music is quite scary and when the kid on dead guys jumped up I literally jumped off my seat - that'll teach me not to play it up at a high volume.

The visuals in the games are getter better and better. Setting your foe on fire then shot gunning them, setting a swarm of bees on them and then clubbing them with a spanner is just great fun.

re: Is Bioshock perfect game design?

Collin — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 04:02:19 GMT

OK, I checked it out. I have plenty of opinions. So far the game play is great. It's lacking the frustration factor for sure.

Gears of War was just too darn easy and seemed way to short.. But then maybe I was just too into it to let up till I was done with it. Either way the cut scenes were no where near as bad or frustrating as they are in COD3.

Bioshock does have plenty of redeeming factors and is certainly on my top list of single player games. Gears is also up there. COD3 is the better multi-player game with Gears sucking ass and losing big points for 3rd person view which is NOT EVER good for multi-player. Bioshock has no multi-player (that I am aware of) which is a shame but they beat out the competition for playability while stoned and or drunk.

Perfect game design is a long way off and while I agree Bioshock is terrific game design I worry that it's because we have been so used to poor game design . It's to the point where so much attention is given to the look that they forget the feel.

I will give Bioshock big time props for how much they packed into the game without overloading us too much. Nothing is worse than taking a winning game like Ghost Recon and turning it into a pile of crap with GRAW.

I love Bioshock's story line also.. that is just a great idea of a submerged city. I can't wait to see where the story is going to lead me.

Is it just me or did they steal a bit of the beel of this game from Fallout 2? That is an old game that has a post-apocalyptic feel and very similar 50's style advertisements and such.. very different games but similar feel.

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