So the demo for Bioshock came out last night. I can’t say I wasn’t expecting it but it was still a very pleasant surprise. It took us a bitch and a half to download it, but their servers were probably being pounded but a few million ravenous gamers. Hell, it was probably just one server.
In either case, we got it at around four in the morning. After marinading it in anticipation for hours we hungrily set it upon the TV and stared in wonder. For some reason Alex asked me to play first and I wasn’t one to argue.
I remember one of the first things I said right after the intro cinematic (Thinking it was still part of a cinematic) while staring at a beautifully wrecked plane floating in an unblemished ocean, “Oh man, I would so splooge my pants if it just said this was in-game.”
I stared at it for a second more and, looking back at Alex, moved the right thumbstick.
The Camera moved.
And I was splooging.
Nothing can really be said about the game itself that hasn’t been said already but, braving redundancy, I’ll give you a rundown. Of course one of the first things that could be said about the game is the immersion that the setting is able to achieve just by the mere miracle of being what it is. If there’s one word that, to me, to exemplify the setting it would be tension. There’s so much tension and pressure stressed in the environs from the creaks and groans to the breaking glass windows keeping the Ocean from barging in. Yea, that’s right, Capitalized. It’s the Fucking Ocean.
There’s also plenty of tension and pressure in the setting aside from just the environment. The people of Rapture are at an end and they know it. Around every corner you can literally hear people begging for help or at least someone who would answer. Once again, as in the System Shocks before it, the use of audio in this game is quintessential.
The graphics are amazing. Everything else I already knew from reading previews and such and this was one of the things that I just had to see for myself. No matter how much anyone goes on about it it’s just one of those things that just hits you when you actually see it. The graphics are amazing. Everything from the concepts of the design to the water is just great. No matter how long I go on or how many videos I link to, this is just one point that can’t come through unless you’re playing it for yourself.
This is definitely a game that I’m going to be playing at two in the morning with the lights off and my headphones on full blast. The only thing that I could complain about was the length of the demo but that’s not anything to do with the actual game. Keeping that in mind, they made excellent use of the time they had, putting in tons of atmosphere and creepiness factor to each room. The action wasn’t too bad though as they show off two plasmids and two weapons not including the default melee weapon.
Overall it was a very good demo and I’m fiending for this game worse than I ever have.