Bioshock Review Score Discussion

[James]

Played the Bioshock demo.....meh

I started downloading that. Just to show how popular the demo must be - It's been downloading for about an hour and a half and it's at 6% of 1.35GB. The servers must be under a heavy load. Other 1GB+ Demos have taken around 30 minutes to finish for me.

I found an old CD of DOS games at my aunts on Friday and I got round to playing it today in DOSBox 0.71. I could load the menu to choose which game to play but it wouldn't load the game. It turned out I wasn't mounting the CD properly. I started Titus The Fox and it came up with the message "Yeeeeah! You're still playing Titus in 2007!"


Edit: Another hour and a half later it's up to 18%. This is really slow.


Edit 2: It's now been 4 hours and I'm up to 25%.


Edit 3: I started the download at about 4:00pm. It's now 9:30pm and it's at 34%.

[phoenix1967]

Played the Bioshock demo.....meh

What!!!     I was looking forward to this one! Was it too short of a demo maybe? Too easy? Details please.

[James]

The Bioshock Demo was at 64% after 10 hours so I stopped and went to bed. I turned it on this morning and it jumped back to 46% but it was much quicker today.

Having played it, I was really impressed. It's overhyped but it is good. The graphics are great. I got to a room near the end and kept dying as soon as I got out of the Vita Chamber.

[phoenix1967]

Bioshock demo. OMG! 

First off. This game is a work of art for the next gen in the way Ico was for the last gen. The atmosphere of the game is outstanding. Graphics are gorgeous! Gameplay is smooth as silk. I've taken down some "splicers" (mutated human beings that inhabit Rapture, the city of Bioshock) and have gotten to the point of needing to sneak past a security bot before getting wiped out. There's definitely a puzzle factor to getting through certain areas.

The game starts in cinematic style, but doesn't break perspectives when you start playing. Cutscenes are interspersed into the general context of the game. The early-game atmosphere does wonders for immersing you into the action and clues laying around reveal that there's a mystery to unravel. So far, this is shaping up to be one awesome game.

@Tan, were you jaded by something before you played this demo? Did it seem too much like something else you played previously?

[Tan]

@Tan, were you jaded by something before you played this demo? Did it seem too much like something else you played previously?

Read around the forum and other places on the net, you'll find opinions of this game vary. This won't be the big GOTY everyone thought it would. By the time December rolls around everyone will be like "Bio what?" with all these great games coming this year. Once you get past it's pretty eye candy and sound it's another cookie-cutter FPS. It's almost Prey with all the WTF moments, wrench beatings and dark atmosphere, but without the Art Bell, portals and puzzles.

But yes I have played a dark game with a nice atmosphere and gameplay meant to keep you on your toes. It was called Doom3 and it came out 3 years ago LOL. Like I mentioned in my blog it'll probably be a solid game good for a bargain bin purchase. Spiritual Successor to System Shock? I can't beleive they had the gall to even compare it or associate it's name.

But that's my opinion so it shouldn't matter. I don't buy games based on anyone's word or reviews and I don't imagine you do either.

[phoenix1967]

This won't be the big GOTY everyone thought it would. By the time December rolls around everyone will be like "Bio what?" with all these great games coming this year. Once you get past it's pretty eye candy and sound it's another cookie-cutter FPS.
...I don't buy games based on anyone's word or reviews and I don't imagine you do either.

I know I've been wrong about demos before. For example, I was totally geeked about Lost Planet's demo, but when the game actually was released, I returned my copy and put a reserve on Crackdown (which was an excellent choice, btw!). I'll probably pick up LP again when it's a budget title, though, because it still does seem entertaining enough to be worth it...just not at full prices.

So while I can empathize with your "meh" when it comes to playing the Bioshock demo, I just happen to disagree...wholeheartedly.

Hopefully, the complete game is as good as it's being made out to be and I won't have another Lost Planet to have to return. As far as the ratings go on gamerankings.com, so far the lowest score it's received from the major review sites is a 9.5! So I view that as a good sign.

[Tan]

As far as the ratings go on gamerankings.com, so far the lowest score it's received from the major review sites is a 9.5! So I view that as a good sign.

Yes and that's why many reviewers have locked themselves into a corner and have become unreliable. IGN gave it a 9.7, 1up gave it a 10/10. So for the rest of the 360's lifespan, every game better than Bioshock now has to get a 10/10, otherwise Bioshock will be listed as the highest scoring and best game on the 360 ever. Not much room for them to move within that 0.3 or 0.0 margin.

[phoenix1967]

As far as the ratings go on gamerankings.com, so far the lowest score it's received from the major review sites is a 9.5! So I view that as a good sign.

Yes and that's why many reviewers have locked themselves into a corner and have become unreliable. IGN gave it a 9.7, 1up gave it a 10/10. So for the rest of the 360's lifespan, every game better than Bioshock now has to get a 10/10, otherwise Bioshock will be listed as the highest scoring and best game on the 360 ever. Not much room for them to move within that 0.3 or 0.0 margin.

All that means is that Bioshock is setting the standard for this generation of gaming. From the last gen, the frontrunner was RE4. The generation before that, LoZ-OOT. We'll see if the scores hold up.

But do you notice someting? All 3 of those games are single player. No multiplayer.

[Tan]

As far as the ratings go on gamerankings.com, so far the lowest score it's received from the major review sites is a 9.5! So I view that as a good sign.

Yes and that's why many reviewers have locked themselves into a corner and have become unreliable. IGN gave it a 9.7, 1up gave it a 10/10. So for the rest of the 360's lifespan, every game better than Bioshock now has to get a 10/10, otherwise Bioshock will be listed as the highest scoring and best game on the 360 ever. Not much room for them to move within that 0.3 or 0.0 margin.

All that means is that Bioshock is setting the standard for this generation of gaming. From the last gen, the frontrunner was RE4. The generation before that, LoZ-OOT. We'll see if the scores hold up.

But do you notice someting? All 3 of those games are single player. No multiplayer.

It means if Halo 3 and Mass Effect aren't absolutely perfect beyond all reasoning they'll get equal or lower scores than Bioshock.

Settings the standard? No, even the reviewers take note that Bioshock isn't on the bleeding edge on any front, graphics, sound, gameplay etc. But yet it's a perfect game? Hardly makes much sense. Makes the whole point of review scores redundant and meaningless now doesn't it?

[lackofselfcontrol]

They are probably forced to pull off such score after hyping the hell out of every game.

[phoenix1967]

If the argument is that there's no such thing as a "perfect" game, then I'm likely to agree. There's always "something" that could be improved. However, that would mean that no game should get higher than a 9.5 on a scale of 10...ever! Or no higher than a 9 out of 10 if the scale doesn't use decimals. Like you suggest, it does put review scoring in a quandry. That being said, though, to reflect the difference of a Bioshock to something like Tomb Raider: Legend, a grading scale of some kind is necessary.

A review is basically just an opinion anyway. It's just interesting that there's been so little variation surrounding the reviews of this particular game.  

[Tan]

Seriously though, 10/10? How starved for games are these people?

Mass Effect, Mario Galaxy, Smash Bros., Metroid, Halo 3, LittleBigPlanet, MGS4, Killzone, Phantom Hourglass are guaranteed to not score any higher now, that or there will be over a dozen 10/10 games by the end of the 4th quarter.

This really is a symptom of a problem that reached new heights last year. When reviews become contradictory, "Best Zelda ever" scores lower than WindWaker, Neverwinter Nights review gets pulled and re-scored, etc etc. It's a good thing only a small minority of gamers read these sites.

Perhaps Bioshock is a great game, tastes vary, but no one in their right mind would think that it belongs in the top all-time video games lists as it's now dominating score among new systems would seem to suggest.

Super Mario bros. Sonic 2, Ocarina of Time, Super Mario 64, Metal Gear Solid, Bioshock...... nope just doesn't sound right no matter how you list it. And no I'm not being a fanboy, of those games I listed only Sonic 2 gets played in my house. But that doesn't mean a bit of common sense can't prevail and see what a classic game is, whether you like it or not.

I can assure you, As good as Bioshock is, revive this thread a year from now and try to tell me it's among the greatest of games ever made. You'll come around.

[The Metamorphosing Leon]

People's tastes vary and thus the reviewer should tell his readers what the game delivers. Then you add in the reviewer's own biases, his editors goals, the console his magazine/website is aligned too, and on and on and on.

Hell, I stopped reading gampro since it never seemed to give anything but the worst games at least a 6.5-7...Perhaps they receive more gifts from game devs when they bump their mediocre range up.

Ah well I'm slightly inebriated so don't mind this.

[Tynstar]

but without the Art Bell

+1 for the Art Bell reference.

[phoenix1967]

Art Bell? Who or what is Art Bell?

Anyway, I played through the demo twice this weekend and am looking forward to picking up my copy today.