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There we go; I know, dirty cyberpunk Untermensch, off too the camps with me.
Okay, first of TLDRers, this review isn't for you. I don't know if you'll like the game or not. The shooting bits are fun but actual challenge is few and far between. But it is pretty, so if you like shooty fun with pretty vistas and stuff, buy it.
If you're like me and need a bit of meat; it's there, but not in the places all the reviews are saying. Still it's got my recommendation, if only so you can add your voice to mine.
From here on in, anything with a spoiler tag is heavy spoilers, like ridiculously so. Don't click them if you haven't played the game.
Alright, so its a good game; but is it ten outta fukken ten? Hell no. The amount of praise that this has gotten around the industry feels more like the quality starved pleas rather than legitimate praise.
I have played it, before we start. I've pretty much denied myself the hype so I went into it blind.
From a mechanical stand point I know that we all hate escort missions; but the fact that Elizabeth is completely ignored by the enemy is a bit off putting. It's a bit like she wasn't there. we could attribute to her abilities but still; it felt off. I'd rather not have one long escort mission but it would be nice if the enemy NPCs would at least acknowledge her existence and give one or two shots in her direction once in a while; Then I could at least pretend that I was protecting her. But, as it was, Elizabeth's existence in the world felt a little disjointed.
The problem escort missions isn't that you have to worry about someone; its more that that someone has poor AI, is unhelpful, or we don't care about them at all and the escort mission has no emotional weight. Or some combination of the three. Now I didn't care about Elizabeth, that's another issue entirely, but the fact that the combat AI ignored her broke the immersion. This is a shame as the game play has some really solid, unique ideas in it too.
This took most of the tension out of the game, and created a disjoint between game play and narrative, which, again, is such a shame as they nailed it in other places. I know, "shitty escort mission", but it would have been a lot more tense if you had to keep her in your peripheral vision. The way you do a good escort mission is make us care about the character we're protecting and don't make them stupid. If Tell Tail's The Walking Dead had been in a similar format I don't think any of us would mind escorting Clementine around; 'specially if she chucked us ammo when we needed it.
This took most of the tension out of the game, and created a disjoint between game play and narrative, which, again, is such a shame as they nailed it in other places. I know, "shitty escort mission", but it would have been a lot more tense if you had to keep her in your peripheral vision. The way you do a good escort mission is make us care about the character we're protecting and don't make them stupid. If Tell Tail's The Walking Dead had been in a similar format I don't think any of us would mind escorting Clementine around; 'specially if she chucked us ammo when we needed it.
I felt there was a bit of a peculiar pacing when it came to Character Arcs that really dropped me out of the game.
Dewitt get's Liz to follow him by finding out she has "Dreams of seeing Paris", bit cliche, but okay, its 1912 and all naive educated young girls from 1912 want to run away to Paris. Then over the course of a few chapters Dewitt does actually explain that he's in debt with some people, he explains that these people have hired him to get her out. Now, Elizabeth is not stupid; in fact they go out of their way to make this quite clear. She's naive but she's a fast learner. Was she really surprised when Dewitt set a course for New York?
I did like the crocodile tear bit; "wow, stellar voice acting!" I said as Dewitt moved over to comfort Elizabeth... and then she smacks Dewitt with a wrench, "huh, so it was meant to sound fake, there you go!".
Now we could write it off as she did know and was playing Dewitt the whole time, but the issue that you have there is that you've characterised this person as naive and for good reason, she's had little contact with any other human being. There should have been little signs if nothing else that she was doubting Dewitt's intentions because she'd be a poor liar, you've got the VA talent to pull it off, you've put half your animation budget into Elizabeth's eyes... you know? Considering how subtle you are (that's sarcasm) with the themes of the game, you could of helped us out any more if that was you intent.
Whatever the reason the character shift seemed so jarring, be it failure to show it in the animations and voice over or because the writers can't write a rational character arc it seemed it was contrived all for one cliche line of dialogue.
"You are a thug Mr Dewitt"
At that moment my immersion was irrevocably dropped, and because Elizabeth was now a tool for cliche set pieces and combat I just stopped caring about her as a person and started thinking of her as something akin to the motion tracker in Halo.
I did like the crocodile tear bit; "wow, stellar voice acting!" I said as Dewitt moved over to comfort Elizabeth... and then she smacks Dewitt with a wrench, "huh, so it was meant to sound fake, there you go!".
Now we could write it off as she did know and was playing Dewitt the whole time, but the issue that you have there is that you've characterised this person as naive and for good reason, she's had little contact with any other human being. There should have been little signs if nothing else that she was doubting Dewitt's intentions because she'd be a poor liar, you've got the VA talent to pull it off, you've put half your animation budget into Elizabeth's eyes... you know? Considering how subtle you are (that's sarcasm) with the themes of the game, you could of helped us out any more if that was you intent.
Whatever the reason the character shift seemed so jarring, be it failure to show it in the animations and voice over or because the writers can't write a rational character arc it seemed it was contrived all for one cliche line of dialogue.
"You are a thug Mr Dewitt"
At that moment my immersion was irrevocably dropped, and because Elizabeth was now a tool for cliche set pieces and combat I just stopped caring about her as a person and started thinking of her as something akin to the motion tracker in Halo.
What initially seemed like "subtle"(I use the word losely) symbolism, like in the original Bio Shock, became insultingly overt. I'll admit that the Objectivist Libertarian Dystopia of the original Bio Shock went over my head because I was doing Lit and was sick of plot analysis at the time, but who's the target audience of this? A lot of the exposition about the symbolism happens when you hang around an area as well, so its like the designers of these exposition pieces were like.
Focus Tester: "Hey rather than let the player come to his own conclusion about what we're alluding to, lets just tell them!"
World Builder: "Well, what if they just move on? I mean we can't break gameplay for my metaphorical self gratification."
FT: "Then he's probably just into the gameplay and not into the themes we're trying to explain."
WB: "But the guy who's hanging around gets exposition, the guy who's trying to take this world I've created, and soak it all up?"
FT: "Well we have to make sure they all get your message!"
WB: "By telling them what to think about what we're showing them? Do you get the subtext? Are you being meta or something?"
Character Writer: "Hey, we could make Elizabeth make the observations! It would re-enforce that she's educated hey!"
The Ubermensch: "You get out, I've already explained why you're a failure. Just go"
WB: "Do what you think, you have my notes, just give me my money."
My example is the Battle Bay chapter. First warning sign was when tweedledee and tweedledum offer you the choice of broach Elizabeth puts on her collar, "The bird or the cage?". Why I do say chaps; how subtle and deep! Elizabeth then says "Which one Mr Dewitt? I like the bird but there's something about the cage I really like!". Elizabeth's dialogue wasn't that bad; it showed that while she was glad to get out, she was already nostalgic for that gilded cage. I do like the couple lost in space time too, they were one of the highlights of the game. And by it's self it wasn't that bad, it was quite overt but it wasn't spelt out.
I chose bird, and granted given there could be an in game metaphor about caging the metal bird, but at that stage the robot bird hadn't been established enough, and while I haven't seen what happens if you pick "Cage" if the argument is that some dialogue changes and Elizabeth doesn't ask you to kill her if she's about to be taken again... well that's a bit of a poor position.
But you know what would be good; if the dialogue during that scene changes depending on whether or not you kill the captain guy. If you killed him; Dewitt says "yes" with out any hesitation, if you spared him Dewitt avoids giving a solid answer.
Later, when Fink power orb fails just after the lock picking tutorial, you're wandering around an exhibit and there is a little mock up display of Columbia. Elizabeth says something along the lines of "Teach the children war and duty and even in their old age they will fight for you". It felt like the writers were going "LOOK, LOOK AT THIS! THIS IS FASCISM! FUKKEN 'MURICA! LOOK HOW DEEP WE'RE BEING!"
Oh, but the really bit problem was it messed up the immersion set up by the tutorial level; which was amazing and I'll get to that. But one part in particular, just after you get out of the monastery theirs a large statue of the antagonist. In it's shade a mother was sitting with her boy and she says "It's not about whether or not you like it, it's your duty to go". It keeps building; you get a sense that these people are being dehumanised, living in a Steampunk Orwellian Dystopia. The fact that they outright had to say it I felt was an insult to my intelligence and I stopped paying attention to a lot of the world building. If they were just going to spell everything out for me why should I waste the effort?
Which was a real shame considering the world building was one of the best parts.
And I was right too.
The part at Fink industries? I called the ghetto the instant I saw that the animations on the men scrubbing the deck were in unison, and almost called word for word what one of Finks announcements were.
"If anyone tells you 'You're being taken for a ride' you turn around and you tell him; I ain't no fool! I'm a Fink man!"
Yes, I get it, this society is dehumanising people, thank you! You know what would work better? Like if everyone felt a little off, like they were all just a bit robotic, but not quite, firmly in the uncanny valley. You know, like you did in the TUTORIAL LEVEL. Who ever was in charge of that level, PUT THAT ON YOUR RESUME. You put the rest of the game to shame
I chose bird, and granted given there could be an in game metaphor about caging the metal bird, but at that stage the robot bird hadn't been established enough, and while I haven't seen what happens if you pick "Cage" if the argument is that some dialogue changes and Elizabeth doesn't ask you to kill her if she's about to be taken again... well that's a bit of a poor position.
But you know what would be good; if the dialogue during that scene changes depending on whether or not you kill the captain guy. If you killed him; Dewitt says "yes" with out any hesitation, if you spared him Dewitt avoids giving a solid answer.
Later, when Fink power orb fails just after the lock picking tutorial, you're wandering around an exhibit and there is a little mock up display of Columbia. Elizabeth says something along the lines of "Teach the children war and duty and even in their old age they will fight for you". It felt like the writers were going "LOOK, LOOK AT THIS! THIS IS FASCISM! FUKKEN 'MURICA! LOOK HOW DEEP WE'RE BEING!"
Oh, but the really bit problem was it messed up the immersion set up by the tutorial level; which was amazing and I'll get to that. But one part in particular, just after you get out of the monastery theirs a large statue of the antagonist. In it's shade a mother was sitting with her boy and she says "It's not about whether or not you like it, it's your duty to go". It keeps building; you get a sense that these people are being dehumanised, living in a Steampunk Orwellian Dystopia. The fact that they outright had to say it I felt was an insult to my intelligence and I stopped paying attention to a lot of the world building. If they were just going to spell everything out for me why should I waste the effort?
Which was a real shame considering the world building was one of the best parts.
And I was right too.
The part at Fink industries? I called the ghetto the instant I saw that the animations on the men scrubbing the deck were in unison, and almost called word for word what one of Finks announcements were.
"If anyone tells you 'You're being taken for a ride' you turn around and you tell him; I ain't no fool! I'm a Fink man!"
Yes, I get it, this society is dehumanising people, thank you! You know what would work better? Like if everyone felt a little off, like they were all just a bit robotic, but not quite, firmly in the uncanny valley. You know, like you did in the TUTORIAL LEVEL. Who ever was in charge of that level, PUT THAT ON YOUR RESUME. You put the rest of the game to shame
Now on to the ending. Yes it was a Gainax ending, but Evangelion is my second favourite anime. Yes; the time shenanigans were a bit messy and it is my belief that Andrew Hussie should be the only one allowed to use aforementioned time shenanigans but they weren't that bad; I was a little peeved about how the time loop wasn't completed properly and the entire game's events became meaningless, but I'm to used to Hussie. There was also a bit of postmodernist meta philosophy there to, so I'd appreciate it if the writers had proved they had the right to wield it, like Hussie.
Have I told you about Homestuck?
Let me tell you about Homestuck;
BACK WHEN I PLAYED SGRUB, I SMOKED WEED ERRY DAY
I CHEATED EVERY QUEST
AND SNORTED ALL THE YAY
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Thing is I had called what was going on, I knew Dewitt and Comstock were the same. After Dewitt smashed Comstocks head against the bird feeder, you know what the first thing I did after I got control back? Checked his hands for the AD scar. Now you could say that he had a robot hand or time shenanigans fixed it, but we're not told that and there is no precedence for realistic looking mechanical limbs so that really messed up the ending for me.
If I'm looking for these details and all you had to do was make it so Comstock wore gloves, you sir, are a strange man who doesn't want to be taken seriously. It is again, a shame because the game does a lot to put you in to Dewitt's head, and Dewitt is a man who looks for the truth in things. They could of had a moment where he's about to take off the glove but turns to cowardice; not wanting to know. It would have been obvious but its better than omitting that detail, and I have to think it was an on purpose omission, because as I said the world building has phenomenal detail, something like this would not be missed.
Perhaps it was a metaphor thing? Dewitt is responsible for Comstock's existence and they are connected ala Cloud Atlas/butterfly effect? If so murdering Comstock as a child would still end everything; Yes it's a bit morbid but you can't make the argument "There will be another!". Comstock was a special kind of lunatic.
Unfortunately that kind of lunatic has the seat of power in the western world, so again, Dewitts death in either case is futile.
Also the fact that your memories aren't actually your memories trope in Bioshock... It was good the first time; don't get me started on how much I love the scene where kill Ryan "A Man Chooses, A Slave Obeys!"... But it's over done now.
Have I told you about Homestuck?
Let me tell you about Homestuck;
BACK WHEN I PLAYED SGRUB, I SMOKED WEED ERRY DAY
I CHEATED EVERY QUEST
AND SNORTED ALL THE YAY
http://i2.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/517/604/377.gif
Thing is I had called what was going on, I knew Dewitt and Comstock were the same. After Dewitt smashed Comstocks head against the bird feeder, you know what the first thing I did after I got control back? Checked his hands for the AD scar. Now you could say that he had a robot hand or time shenanigans fixed it, but we're not told that and there is no precedence for realistic looking mechanical limbs so that really messed up the ending for me.
If I'm looking for these details and all you had to do was make it so Comstock wore gloves, you sir, are a strange man who doesn't want to be taken seriously. It is again, a shame because the game does a lot to put you in to Dewitt's head, and Dewitt is a man who looks for the truth in things. They could of had a moment where he's about to take off the glove but turns to cowardice; not wanting to know. It would have been obvious but its better than omitting that detail, and I have to think it was an on purpose omission, because as I said the world building has phenomenal detail, something like this would not be missed.
Perhaps it was a metaphor thing? Dewitt is responsible for Comstock's existence and they are connected ala Cloud Atlas/butterfly effect? If so murdering Comstock as a child would still end everything; Yes it's a bit morbid but you can't make the argument "There will be another!". Comstock was a special kind of lunatic.
Unfortunately that kind of lunatic has the seat of power in the western world, so again, Dewitts death in either case is futile.
Also the fact that your memories aren't actually your memories trope in Bioshock... It was good the first time; don't get me started on how much I love the scene where kill Ryan "A Man Chooses, A Slave Obeys!"... But it's over done now.
Now thats out of the way... the good things:
The gameplay is fun, AI's pretty smart, it's not as difficult as the escapist reviewer say's it is and the tension is dropped away because of the Bioshocks trademarked revive system.
Infact most tension I had was the fear of being dropped out of the game and having to sit through the symbolic exposition again! Yes, say what you want about my rig; 20 AI on the screen with DX 11 effects, running at ultra settings and getting 100 FPS, while walking down an empty corridor with about 20 assets on the screen it drops down to about 3 FPS? Yes, my rig, okay.
Wait, this was supposed to be the good part!
Gameplay's good! It's accessible! Even though it would still be accessible if people played it on easy but hey!
World building is phenomenal; you can tell the team that did it loved what they were doing.
As I've said, the tutorial is perfect. So well designed I didn't even realise I was in a tutorial until I was just about done and said "Hang on, I just learnt the basics of combat and how Plasmids work in this game, good thing; it's been a while since I played Bioshock" (didn't know they were called vigors yet, well I did from the snake oil man, but hadn't made the connection).
Forgetting the light house, that wasn't all that special, aside from the notes probably being written by Tweeledee and Tweedledum. No the part is when you enter the monastery, the fact that the water covered steps were a bit unsafe looking did little... Basically, due to the themes of the game they used the fact that NPCs haven't left the uncanny valley quite well; it was all off putting and had a very Orwellian feel to it. Then you exit the river and after your baptismal, everyone's praying, chanting words. As a former Christian I found this very creepy. Pagan, before you start. You can blame the odd weather on me american's, I forgot to sacrifice a goat on the equinox.
You go out of the monastery and over hear a few conversations and you subtly get a feel for the politics in the world, the mother talking to her son; telling him it's his duty to serve, the guy talking about the state of affairs in Columbia.
Dewitt also has a bit of a monologue where he tells us he's an atheist, or rather doesn't worship god. Splendid, we're character building.
Then you come across a shop with some health items in it; there's a basket with a note saying "Honour system". This was brilliant because you have an opportunity to decide what kind of man Dewitt is. He's already noticed how dehumanised the inhabitants of Columbia are, does he accept this and steal from the basket? Does he just take what he needs and leave the basket? Or, and I tripped out when I saw this, does he put some money back in the basket? It was such a small thing but did a lot to attach me to the character, and helped me forget about Nathan Drake. Gold Star who ever decided to include that. Unfortunately; I ended up stealing out of the basket anyway because my new mouse wasn't set up properly, but that's my fault, not the games.
Companies that make their money off story, Bioware, Bethesda, Square Enix, I'm looking at you, this thing, detail, it's important.
Then we go to a fair; where you have the option of using guns and vigors to play games. There's even a tent that explains how record mechanic of exposition works, and for foreshadows one of the most annoying enemy's in the game. What I said about the tension being low is true aside from when a handy man was on the field.
You just taught me how to shoot, how the shooting mechanics work, and how vigors work; all while building the world and giving it character. Well done, I can't tell you how perfect this was.
Forgetting the light house, that wasn't all that special, aside from the notes probably being written by Tweeledee and Tweedledum. No the part is when you enter the monastery, the fact that the water covered steps were a bit unsafe looking did little... Basically, due to the themes of the game they used the fact that NPCs haven't left the uncanny valley quite well; it was all off putting and had a very Orwellian feel to it. Then you exit the river and after your baptismal, everyone's praying, chanting words. As a former Christian I found this very creepy. Pagan, before you start. You can blame the odd weather on me american's, I forgot to sacrifice a goat on the equinox.
You go out of the monastery and over hear a few conversations and you subtly get a feel for the politics in the world, the mother talking to her son; telling him it's his duty to serve, the guy talking about the state of affairs in Columbia.
Dewitt also has a bit of a monologue where he tells us he's an atheist, or rather doesn't worship god. Splendid, we're character building.
Then you come across a shop with some health items in it; there's a basket with a note saying "Honour system". This was brilliant because you have an opportunity to decide what kind of man Dewitt is. He's already noticed how dehumanised the inhabitants of Columbia are, does he accept this and steal from the basket? Does he just take what he needs and leave the basket? Or, and I tripped out when I saw this, does he put some money back in the basket? It was such a small thing but did a lot to attach me to the character, and helped me forget about Nathan Drake. Gold Star who ever decided to include that. Unfortunately; I ended up stealing out of the basket anyway because my new mouse wasn't set up properly, but that's my fault, not the games.
Companies that make their money off story, Bioware, Bethesda, Square Enix, I'm looking at you, this thing, detail, it's important.
Then we go to a fair; where you have the option of using guns and vigors to play games. There's even a tent that explains how record mechanic of exposition works, and for foreshadows one of the most annoying enemy's in the game. What I said about the tension being low is true aside from when a handy man was on the field.
You just taught me how to shoot, how the shooting mechanics work, and how vigors work; all while building the world and giving it character. Well done, I can't tell you how perfect this was.
Now the moral choices have gotten a bit of flak, mainly because they don't do anything in the game. I cannot stress that they are good BECAUSE of this. We're beyond binary interpretations of good and evil. There is a part where you throw the ball at the mixed race couple no matter what you choose a guard grabs you hand and points you out as the "False Shepard".
Sorry chaps, this was brilliant. They reinforced the fact that Dewitt had to blend in with the inhabitants through his monologue. There's about fifty brainwashed denizens surrounding you that, if you decide to go against their opinions, will descend upon you. In my very correct opinion, Dewitt was a logical man just wanting to get the job done. Yes, it was a little messy, but their fate was sealed; no point in risking myself.
So you decide to throw at the couple, and rationalise it quickly. As you pull back to throw a guard grabs you and accuses you of being the false "Shepard" by the scar on your hand and, as they say; shit goes tits up yo.
The way this happened was brilliant, because you knew that even if you chose differently the same thing was going to happen; it was the act of winding up for the throw that exposed you, not the throwing itself. This pulled the rational for throwing the ball at the couple from under your feet; and you have the potential for an intense moment of refection.
Let us move to the bird and the cage broach; you can decide, again, what kind of person Dewitt is. The cage pendant is made from gold and Liz expressed that she liked it, The bird is silver but symbolises freedom. Is Dewitt purely objective (By jobe, it's gold!) or does he have a sentimental side?
Shooting the Captain guy, again, is he Objective? What's his opinion on human life? We're also given a bit of context before this and we can take this into consideration if we choose.
Yes, you might only get a little bit of different dialogue out of it, and its undermined by A the choice in Voice Actor and B the sloppy character development, but who ever wrote the morality dilemmas, its not their fault. They did a very good job.
We're past light or dark side points now, we can make our own judgements about what's moral and what's not. Beyond Good and Evil.
Sorry chaps, this was brilliant. They reinforced the fact that Dewitt had to blend in with the inhabitants through his monologue. There's about fifty brainwashed denizens surrounding you that, if you decide to go against their opinions, will descend upon you. In my very correct opinion, Dewitt was a logical man just wanting to get the job done. Yes, it was a little messy, but their fate was sealed; no point in risking myself.
So you decide to throw at the couple, and rationalise it quickly. As you pull back to throw a guard grabs you and accuses you of being the false "Shepard" by the scar on your hand and, as they say; shit goes tits up yo.
The way this happened was brilliant, because you knew that even if you chose differently the same thing was going to happen; it was the act of winding up for the throw that exposed you, not the throwing itself. This pulled the rational for throwing the ball at the couple from under your feet; and you have the potential for an intense moment of refection.
Let us move to the bird and the cage broach; you can decide, again, what kind of person Dewitt is. The cage pendant is made from gold and Liz expressed that she liked it, The bird is silver but symbolises freedom. Is Dewitt purely objective (By jobe, it's gold!) or does he have a sentimental side?
Shooting the Captain guy, again, is he Objective? What's his opinion on human life? We're also given a bit of context before this and we can take this into consideration if we choose.
Yes, you might only get a little bit of different dialogue out of it, and its undermined by A the choice in Voice Actor and B the sloppy character development, but who ever wrote the morality dilemmas, its not their fault. They did a very good job.
We're past light or dark side points now, we can make our own judgements about what's moral and what's not. Beyond Good and Evil.
And that's it. In conclusion this is the bare minimum we should expect from a story driven game. You should buy it but please stop proclaiming it as the Citizen Kane of games. Yes it's the most coherent narrative we've seen in a while, but the Citizen Kane of gaming will always go to Star Trek Voyager; Elite Force, and don't say "Well then it's the god father", because no, that goes to GTA4. Sleeping Dogs gets God Father two if its is better, which admittedly I have yet to play, Half Life gets Star Trek the Motion Picture (from me that's a complement) and Half Life 2 gets The Wrath of Khan.
Please, consumers, buy it but demand more. Only that way will we get the equivalent of Neon Genesis Evangelion for games.
In the video gaming industry that I want, it would get a 7 out of 10
Let me know if you like this kind of thing too; I like plot analysis and wouldn't mind doing it for other story driven games.
Captcha: oh brother
Well I do say sir that was most uncalled for
Time Shenanigans
