The Real Beginning
I’ve been at BioShock for about an hour, now. I have noticed plenty of points to write about, so I’m going to go ahead and write out my entry now so that I can go back to bed.
First: BioShock is a serious game. I’m used to playing Mario Bros. And Ratchet and Clank. And Katamari Damacy. Perhaps some tower defense-type games. But BioShock isn’t cartoonish. It’s not brightly colored, doesn’t have clean, smooth lines, doesn’t have light, happy music playing. I’m used to enemies that, when you defeat them, magically disappear, often leaving shiny rewards behind; in BioShock, your defeated enemies turn into corpses that stay where they were felled. And you have to go up and search them to get things from them.
The game is dark, both literally and figuratively. It makes for a much more unsettling atmosphere. There is no question that the tale we’ll be uncovering and continuing will be sordid and creepy.
More than anything, right now, I’m hung up on the control scheme; it’s not an illogical configuration, but I’ve been playing Ratchet and Clank: Going Commando for most of the week. The camera not being at liberty to pan around and switch angles in BioShock (what with it being first person and all), along with weapon selection, jumping, and crouching all being tied to completely different buttons in this game, I’ve had some trouble moving and defending myself.
Less of a problem, but a noticeable thing, is that, in this game, health restoring implements can be stored for later. I’m used to only regaining health when I find it lying around in mysterious boxes. It’s interesting to see how various items have an effect on your health and eve (in any traditional game, ‘eve’ would be called MP, I believe). Pep bars, as you might expect, increase both. Alcohol (you find wine and such lying around) improves health but decreases eve, and smoking cigarettes has the opposite effect. If you’re low on, say, health, and you find cigarettes, it’s wise not to smoke them, but if you need a power boost, perhaps it’s worth the health hit.
Kay. Back to bed.
