I realise looking over my last couple of posts that it may seem that I have nothing but complaints about Bioshock. In actual fact I am really enjoying the game and the further I get into it the better it gets. The story is very good and intriguing, the gameplay is rich and complex. The system of upgrades allows you to customise the way you play to a very large extent. Earlier I complained about the lack of stealth in the game. It turns out there are stealth upgrades which allow for just the type of stealthy game play I love.
On the issue of high system requirements and low frame-rate I should point out that after all my deliberations about resolution and framerate I have finally settled on 1024x768 high quality mode. In fact I am using the default out of the box settings and the game looks great and plays smoothly. Yes my humble 7600GT cannot stay above my desired goal of 30 fps at these settings but the game still feels very smooth and playable.
I am still a bit sceptical about the resurrection system but as long as you don't abuse it it doesn't really spoil the game. There is plenty of depth elsewhere to make up for it.
One final observation I will make is that I have swapped my normal wireless mouse (Logitech MX600) for an old wired mouse (microsoft wheel mouse optical). The wireless mouse was giving very bad mouse lage and jerky control. I have played other shooters with that mouse so I don't know if it is a problem with the mouse or the game but swapping to a wired mouse has solved everything.
On the issue of high system requirements and low frame-rate I should point out that after all my deliberations about resolution and framerate I have finally settled on 1024x768 high quality mode. In fact I am using the default out of the box settings and the game looks great and plays smoothly. Yes my humble 7600GT cannot stay above my desired goal of 30 fps at these settings but the game still feels very smooth and playable.
I am still a bit sceptical about the resurrection system but as long as you don't abuse it it doesn't really spoil the game. There is plenty of depth elsewhere to make up for it.
One final observation I will make is that I have swapped my normal wireless mouse (Logitech MX600) for an old wired mouse (microsoft wheel mouse optical). The wireless mouse was giving very bad mouse lage and jerky control. I have played other shooters with that mouse so I don't know if it is a problem with the mouse or the game but swapping to a wired mouse has solved everything.
Comments
Having played further through the game I am inclined to tone down my rant about resurrection. Some of the enemies are just too tough (for me anyway) to get through the game without dying. However I do still think that there should be some cost for dying - rather than a reward. System Shock 2 had an almost identical resurrection system but it cost nanites (money) to use. It made all the difference in terms of game tension and fear of dying.