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Verbinski has directed films such as Pirates of the Caribbean and The Ring.
Hit the Link for more details…
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117985365.html?categoryid=13&cs=1
For those unaware, Bioshaock drops you right in the thick of things after a brief game intro. The world is hauntingly enthralling, with a strong 1950s charm to the design of the architecture, art and music. Bioshock feels like the “kissing cousin” to the Fallout game-world in a way, a franchise I hold dear to my heart, and has a number common flourishes in its execution. The experience is pitch-perfect, with the world unfolding with a true sense of wonder, while simultaneously intensely dire.
With a background in mouse & keyboard control schemes when playing 1st-person-shooters, the controls still felt comfortable using just the PS3 controller (Not a common occurrence). The learning curve using the various weapons & abilities if pretty forgiving, with the education method on how to play blended into the story perfectly. You have a number of ways you can evolve your character, directed by how you want to progress through the story; And story there is, with abundance…
Which brings me to what really makes Bioshock shine, where other games simply stay “solid”. The story path gives the player choices that have pretty heavy consequences. You will be playing along, making certain “gut decisions” only to see an avalanche of consequences result that you probably weren’t expecting. While many games offer different path choices, there is something about how Bioshock implements the moral conundrums, in a way that envelops the player into the story, making you really feel the weight of your choices till the very end of the game.
This has been an outstanding year for survival horror gaming, and Bioshock is one of the games that helped make it so. It offers something unique in so many different ways, and is truly a living-breathing-nightmare that, ironically given certain game elements, works its way “into your blood”.
Choices and consequences – Make meaningful choices and mature decisions, ultimately culminating in the grand question – do you exploit the innocent survivors of Rapture. or save them?
The world is your weapon – Take control of your world by hacking mechanical devices, commandeering security turrets and crafting unique items critical to your survival.
Weapon upgrades provide ammunition for every situation – Upgrade your weapons with ionic gels, explosives and toxins to customize them to take advantage of your enemies’ weaknesses.
Gameplay that evolves around your playing style – Customize your experience by genetically modifying your body through dozens of Plasmid Stations scattered throughout the city and turn your body into the ultimate weapon.
Okay, so I’m about 2 hours into the game as of this post and it’s a beautiful experience! The first thing that really warms my heart is how much work is being put into the sound, both in soundtrack as well as environmental elements that makes this game breathe with real soul! The learning curve seems to be forgiving (on medium difficulty mode), the controls all make sense and respond pretty well and the options for upgrading the protagonist’s equipment is impressive. Though the voice acting is decent, I found the plot is a little derivative and predictable so far…maybe it is because of how much I’ve been following the games development. While that one element doesn’t take away from the experience, I’m hoping for some plot twists to really draw me into the story.
One thing of note that other game developers should take note of is the inventory system being accessible in-game, as well as things like ammo and health meter being worked into / onto the character model itself in real-time. It really is innovative and makes the game-play considerably more immersive, even more than I imagined. Also of note is the navigation “helper” that shows you the path to your next objective.
If the game can manage to hold up this level of tension and throw in some good story elements then we will have a real benchmark in survival horror gaming! I will have a much more thorough review coming in the near future, one I get through it once or twice and see what secrets Dead Space holds.
Overall, it’s incredibly fun to play and I haven’t seen anything like it outside of film!
-R
I have enjoyed all of the past installments of the Silent Hill series, to varying degrees, yet there have always been issues revolving around the storytelling and the pacing that have left each installment short of brilliance. Silent Hill 2 was the closest thing to the landmark experience I’m talking about, and each succeeding chapter in the franchise is held up to that standard in hopes of one day surpassing it. With Silent Hill: Homecoming (SH:HC) I once again find the game approaching a new level of excellence, only to fall short by a few key weaknesses in execution.
When following the development of SH:HC over the last year or so, the fact that it was being made by a group of Americans – as there first game ever – gave me a lot mixed feelings. On the plus side, I could see the pacing and storytelling issues being resolved via a more accessible cultural commonality. American creators making a game, using a familiar language and story structure, that a fellow American can understand would surely be easy…On the fearful side, to hand a series with such an impressive pedigree over to a new game company as their first product ever? Quite a risk considering it has ended in disaster with other franchises on more than one occasion.
One a side note worth mentioning, the music for the game was provided once again by Akira Yamaoka, a man who is deeply cherished for giving us magnificent scores on past Silent Hill journeys. I would go so far as to say that with him, the world of Silent Hill would just not feel “right.” (Or so “wrong” – in a good way – as the case may be…)
After playing through SH:HC I can say that, while I once again misses the realm of brilliance, it still is a modestly successful chapter in the game’s universe that I plan on playing through a number of times. The game beautifully immerses the player in ways that previously was only possible via pre-rendered cut-scenes, the music and sound effects really sell the atmosphere and the journey never gets confusing or ever leaves the player feeling lost.
If you have journeyed to Silent Hill before, then you will feel right at home here…almost to a fault. I can only speculate as to the game maker’s reasoning, but it was as if they decided they needed to “play it safe” when adding game elements, and picked from things we’ve seen before. This goes beyond locations and falls into the area of plot as well. Much of the games settings were inspired by the Silent Hill film as much as past games, and the whole experience tends to give a consistent sense of “been there – saw that.” I can understand the intimidation of playing in Silent Hill’s “sandbox” but if you are going to make the next installment you had better be able to “up the ante” and build solidly on what has come before.
I will say that the storytelling and pacing was solid, if a little shallow – again, we have been down this road before – And I think the creators played it safe and gave us something a little too straight forward. I really enjoyed Alex Shepard’s journey, despite having it be (again) derivative, and I think there was more that could have been fleshed-out if they approached his quest a little differently. (If I’m being consistently vague, it’s only to ensure that anyone wanting to go into this game “fresh” will be able to do so.)
Also, the main point of what exactly is going in the story on is a bit misleading at certain points, and I’m not sure if this is to provide the story with a “red herring” or not. I didn’t think there were many clues indicating what actually was going on, at least, not enough to justify needing to add any misdirection. Again – shallow content hurts the final product.
The one thing that the makers of SH:HC DID radically change was the combat system…and it does provide “a first” for the silent Hill franchise: You can easily hold your own against each and every monster you encounter. After long consideration I think the combat system returns to the consistent problem with the game: shallow content. If you beat one monster in the game using a certain weapon / technique, then you can use that exact same technique for every single other monster (bosses included) in the game.
Remember these words and you will be able to chop all the way to the end: Fire Axe – Dodge, then attack and then repeat.
The problem really isn’t the combat system itself; it’s the fact that each and every adversary has the same vulnerabilities to your skills.
This unfortunate realization does a lot to kill the sense of dread and tension in the game, and I found myself moving toward monsters aggressively as opposed to being wary. If you know the world of Silent Hill then you know that “that kind” of player reaction is practically unheard of up until this game. If fits more in line with how one would play Resident Evil, where the characters are much less potential-victims of the situation, and it makes Silent Hill something less menacing as a result.
Overall, this game was a hard one to review. It does have a serious amount of charm to it, and the graphical power of the PS3 is not wasted. But in the end, the shallow story and ease of combat make it just another episode in the world, a vignette, and not the magnum opus I was hoping for.
-R
