Bioshock is often brought up as an example of excellent world-building and storytelling. Its beautifully eerie atmosphere hooked me in from the start. The first time you come across a Big Daddy is both frightening and surreal. I for one, was expecting many more tense encounters like this throughout the game. However, I quickly realized something. This was a shooter first, and a horror game second; but not in an overtly scary, diabolical sort of way. The horror here is subtle, mainly drawing on the story's dark themes and its gloomy ambience.
After a couple of hours exploring, its initial sense of dread started to dissipate for me, as new abilities and weapons started to become available. No longer did I feel as vulnerable, and the game became more of a standard shooter but with the inclusion of some really cool superhuman abilities (called plasmids). At first, these abilities felt more like "all flash and no substance," but after experimenting a bit, I realized it can be quite fun to take down enemies by mixing up your arsenal of weapons and plasmids. Though, I would be lying if I said switching between guns and plasmids was intuitive. Using KB+M, I found myself having constant brain farts trying to string good combinations. But when I manage to pull them off, it's pretty neat. To be fair, the gameplay itself isn't what kept me playing. It all goes back to how the game keeps up its sense of mystery.
The way most of the story is presented is pretty non-linear. There are collectible tapes you can find scattered around the environment, and there are plenty of these that help keep you up to date with the lore and provide a better understanding of character motivations and plot details. Only thing I didn't really like about this is that I would often find these in the middle of action, and it's very hard to focus on them while you're trying not to get killed. It's a bit chaotic is all.
The game has its fair share of annoying fetch quests and such, but there aren't too many of these, and they did provide an excuse to better explore new areas. I think the worst thing about the gameplay are the hacking minigames, which for me at least, sort of broke the immersion, and you have to do plenty of these if you want to find goodies or freely move around without fear of accidentally triggering an alarm. These complaints, while minor, did make certain sections a bit of a slog, and I can assure you that without a great story backing this game up, I would have found the whole experience mediocre at best.
That said, I really enjoyed unveiling the mysteries that Rapture had to offer and exploring its haunting domain. I completely understand the love people have for it. Personally, I could have done with a bit more polish in certain areas; particularly the combat. As a general tip, I highly recommend rescuing all the little sisters to get the good ending. It provides one of the most heartwarming endings I've ever witnessed in a videogame and made the effort feel worthwhile.
After a couple of hours exploring, its initial sense of dread started to dissipate for me, as new abilities and weapons started to become available. No longer did I feel as vulnerable, and the game became more of a standard shooter but with the inclusion of some really cool superhuman abilities (called plasmids). At first, these abilities felt more like "all flash and no substance," but after experimenting a bit, I realized it can be quite fun to take down enemies by mixing up your arsenal of weapons and plasmids. Though, I would be lying if I said switching between guns and plasmids was intuitive. Using KB+M, I found myself having constant brain farts trying to string good combinations. But when I manage to pull them off, it's pretty neat. To be fair, the gameplay itself isn't what kept me playing. It all goes back to how the game keeps up its sense of mystery.
The way most of the story is presented is pretty non-linear. There are collectible tapes you can find scattered around the environment, and there are plenty of these that help keep you up to date with the lore and provide a better understanding of character motivations and plot details. Only thing I didn't really like about this is that I would often find these in the middle of action, and it's very hard to focus on them while you're trying not to get killed. It's a bit chaotic is all.
The game has its fair share of annoying fetch quests and such, but there aren't too many of these, and they did provide an excuse to better explore new areas. I think the worst thing about the gameplay are the hacking minigames, which for me at least, sort of broke the immersion, and you have to do plenty of these if you want to find goodies or freely move around without fear of accidentally triggering an alarm. These complaints, while minor, did make certain sections a bit of a slog, and I can assure you that without a great story backing this game up, I would have found the whole experience mediocre at best.
That said, I really enjoyed unveiling the mysteries that Rapture had to offer and exploring its haunting domain. I completely understand the love people have for it. Personally, I could have done with a bit more polish in certain areas; particularly the combat. As a general tip, I highly recommend rescuing all the little sisters to get the good ending. It provides one of the most heartwarming endings I've ever witnessed in a videogame and made the effort feel worthwhile.