Product Details
 | BioShock |
| List Price: | $19.99 |
| Price: | $16.86 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details |
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Product Description
BioShock lets you do the impossible as you explore a mysterious underwater city. When your plane crashes, you discover Rapture - an underwater Utopia torn apart by civil war. Caught between powerful forces and hunted down by genetically modified "splicers" and deadly security systems, you have to come to grips with a deadly, mysterious world filled with powerful technology and fascinating characters. As little girls loot the dead, and biologically mutated citizens ambush you at every turn. Now you're trapped, caught in the middle of a genetic war that will challenge both your capacity to survive and your moral allegiance to your own humanity. Make meaningful and mature decisions that culminate in the grand question - do you exploit the innocent survivors of Rapture to save yourself - or risk all to become their savior?Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #2179 in Video Games
- Brand: 2K Games
- Released on: 2007-08-21
- ESRB Rating: Mature
- Platform: Windows XP
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: .75" h x 5.00" w x 7.50" l, .20 pounds
Features
- Biologically mod your body with plasmids - genetic augmentations that empower you with dozens of fantastic abilities
- Take control of your world by hacking devices and systems
- Upgrade your weapons at Fire-For-Effect stations located through Rapture
- Pick up materials in the city to modify them at U-Invent kiosks
- Explore an incredible and unique art deco world hidden deep under the ocean, vividly illustrated with realistic water effects
Customer Reviews
THIS IS THE REVIEW 2K Games DOES NOT WANT YOU TO SEE (REDUX)
Let's keep this sweet,
organized and fair.
UNDISPUTED FACT:
BIOSHOCK will only
install for a limited number of times (it was 3 but - after a deluge of
eMails and bad reviews - it was upped to 5). So, if you install it you
will be reluctant to uninstall once finished and will have to carry
those 9GB on your HardDrive for a long time. On top of that, its resale
value is down the drain the moment one pops the box open...
Even
after the patch that removed the activation limit, uninstalling still
leaves behind certain irremovable folders that will make sure it can be
re-established in the future.
So one has to ask: even after paying
$50 for it, WHO ACTUALLY OWNS MY COPY?
UNDISPUTED FACT:
The
game utilizes an overzealous version of SecuROM 7+. They either
activated all its available options or had a special version custom
made. No other game company dared behaving in such heavy-handed way.
This means that if your computer has more than one disc drive (or even
one but non-DRM certified) it may block them, whereas the game may not
even install if you are running virtual drives or have certain
media-burning software installed (even NERO has been known to be
considered ..."pirate-ware"!)
DISPUTED FACT :
It has been
widely reported that BIOSHOCK installs a RootKit. Both MICROSOFT's
ROOTKIT DETECTION TOOL and AVG ANTI-VIRUS detected either the RootKit or
its actions. Recently, AVG was made to release a special update (just
for BIOSHOCK) to ignore this alert.
In hacker lingo, to "take
someone's Root" means to insert a procedure that "will allow the
intruders to maintain root access (highest privilege) on the system
without the system administrator even seeing them".
Official BIOSHOCK
announcements (and their "unofficial" reviewers here at AMAZON) will
try to persuade everyone who would listen that there is nothing there,
so stop looking and don't even mention it.
Understandable reaction
since, the existence of a RootKit would be a solid basis for
class-action litigation.
Weight the facts and judge for yourself.
UNDISPUTED
FACT:
BIOSHOCK effectively revokes our Administrator rights on our
own computers. Here is what happens: even after completely uninstalling
the game there is a mystery folder that canNOT be removed, no matter
what!
On WinXP it is located here:
"C:\Documents and
Settings\[User Name]\Application Data\SecuRom"
As administrators, we
could (unwisely) delete even Windows System folders - yet BIOSHOCK's
mystery folder apparently claims a higher authority level? What this
folder does and why should it get placed into OUR computers so that we
cannot remove it even as Administrators, is beyond me. And I, for one,
do NOT appreciate it one bit. (A quick internet search revealed a number
of suggestions on how to get rid of it, ranging from clearly unsafe to
catastrophic...)
True, almost every game leaves one or two folders
behind after uninstalled - but this NEVER REVOKES OUR ADMINISTRATOR
RIGHTS to delete them!
I do understand that there are production
and publishing costs to get recovered as well as profit projections to
be reached. Companies that wish to protect their investment will always
try to fight piracy. This is only reasonable and expected.
However,
with BIOSHOCK, as it is currently available by 2K GAMES, it gets WAY OUT
OF HAND & WELL BEYOND RIDICULOUS!!
No one in the
game-publishing industry seems to learn from past mistakes: every
security system eventually gets cracked and every "OnLine activation
requirement" eventually gets bypassed. So, utilizing an overly
intrusive, inconvenient and possibly dangerous security kit only serves
in penalizing the people who actually paid good money for their product -
and manage to shoot their sales in the foot at the same time.
Look
what happened with HALF-LIFE 2: legitimate buyers still have to put up
with activating the game every time we want to play - and of course
VALVE paid the price: unprotected HL1 had sold TWICE as many units as
STEAM-"secured" HL2 ever did (8million and 4million respectively,
Source: THE WASHINGHTON POST)
Since I would NEVER install a
contraption such as BIOSHOCK onto my computer and wished to have
hands-on experience before I reviewed the game, I asked around and a
colleague of mine had already made the mistake of purchasing it and
installing on his laptop.
THIS IS NOT A BAD GAME.
The environments
are well designed and have a pleasant retro patina; the graphics are
very nice, even though they do not meet the hype. They are comparble to
older games such as HL2 (not to mention STALKER).
You see, dark is
not always moody, and blurry cannot always be mistaken for dreamy.
I
did love the music though! Both the collection of happy-go-lucky and
Big-Band romantic 1940's songs (contrasting with the bleak environment)
as well as their smart timing, added to the overall experience.
It
was the gameplay I was the least impressed.
Totally linear - as it
is has come to be expected from any FPS today I am afraid. To be fair, I
cannot imagine a Single Player holding a storyline without being more
or less linear (even "free"-roaming FAR CRY did not escape this curse) -
but then again, that is why I am not a game designer. And unless the
publishers release their creative suffocation of the true game artists,
there is no hope for a worthy successor to SYSTEM SHOCK 2.
The
controls are not hard to get used to; if not, they are completely
remapable; nevertheless, I would love to have an real inventory: cycling
between which plasmid and which ammo for which gun can get pretty
frustrating. Fast.
Not that hitting your enemies does any good. For a
game that is based on an alternative reality scenario and counts in
immersing you into that world, the damage dealt by the guns is pretty
unrealistic. A double-barreled full blast with the (augmented!) shotgun
in the head of a generic splicer will NOT take him down.
And what's
with the scarce ammo!? I ended up using the 1-2 combo (electric plasmid
shock followed by quick ...wrench hits) one picks up in the first 10
minutes of the game throughout because the ammo was either of the wrong
type or too expensive or nowhere to be found. Only at the very end was
there an abundance of both money and ammo but by then they were pretty
useless: a fully charged electric plasma gun and some propelled grenades
is all one needs.
And, finally: dying. Regeneration chambers
turn the game into a check-point one - and I hate checkpoint-games. Most
often than not, they are chosen in order to artificially augment the
gameplay duration (having us replay the same segments over and over -
instead of saving wherever we feel like it). Moreover, when progressing,
you usually end up getting killed just before the next regeneration
chamber (and having to repeat quite a distance from the previous one)
whereas, when facing a Boss, regeneration takes away all the suspense.
Keep respawning, you will eventually get him, his health does not
increase if you do.
So, all in all, BIOSHOCK is a good game BUT
NOT GOOD ENOUGH TO BE WORTH ITS EXCESSIVE DRM TROUBLE.
It is only a
slightly above-average game; and if 2K GAMES did not have the guts to
publish it for PCs (and is hiding it within an intrusive security Kit)
it should have stuck with Xbox.
Even BIOSHOCK designers
acknowledge there is a serious issue with the security measures forced
upon them by the publisher. These measures are hurting their game and,
so, THERE IS AN UPDATED VERSION COMING IN THE NEAR FUTURE TO FIX THIS!
Don't
take my word for it. Google for "Ken Levin-Interview" and
"BIOSHOCK-Fixed-Version" and see for yourself. (I tried to add links but
Amazon, apparently, does not allow them)
BIOSHOCK has it all:
SecuROM 7, temperamental and Limited number of Installations,
overzealous Drive-Blockers, possible cloaked RootKits, irremovable
folders...NONE of which is Clearly marked on the product description!!
As
it is, it will come NOWHERE NEAR MY SYSTEM!
I would advise
waiting for 6 months, they will either clear it up or it will find its
way to the clearance bins...Just last week I bought RISE & FALL:
CIVILIZATIONS AT WAR for $2.99 (less than 8 months after its release) -
and that nugget featured STARFORCE of all things!
- -- --- -----
-------- ------------- --------------------- -------------------------
UPDATE:
By
now there are over...130(!) Comments on this Review (pages 1-2 &
9-10 are especially...informative). Over these weeks, there have been
numerous attempts to suppress my review with either negative votes (that
appear overnight in bursts - over...140 in the last three days alone!)
or overly insulting comments - with my replies to them "mysteriously"
receiving enough negative feedback to get folded as "not helpful" within
minutes. The same happened as well to supportive comments posted by
other customers.
When this was not enough, a "shady character" (who
constantly changes her nickname) managed to become enough of a nuisance
to have AMAZON REMOVE this review...TWICE(!).
Amazon decided to split
the baby in half: it restored but kept from the first page no matter
the customers' feedback. Not until the introduction of the Amazon's New
Rating system was this review fully restored.
Even after the
partial restoration of this Review, AMAZON's voting system is still
getting abused in order to hide as "not helpful" comments posted by
anyone else even remotely mentioning the serious issues of this game.
We
can only guess what affiliation this individual has with the game
publisher or SecuROM...
My special THANKS to: H.LE,
BIBLE&SWORD & SEGA-SLAYER - and to ALL OF YOU ANONYMOUS FRIENDS
who supported this review during the weeks the Dark side seemed to
prevail (and managed to bury it in the last pages) - and continue to do
so.
Do not hesitate to let them know what you think of their
methods...
2K games and their draconian
DRM
I purchased a used version of
this game. I did play it and thought the game was ok. However, what I
did not like is the Digital Rights Management (DRM) that they used for
the game. After what has happened, I will not buy anymore 2K games.
Information was kept hidden from (or simply not divulged to) consumers
that would have effected my decision to purchase the game. You will need
an Internet account to activate the game and be able to play it. You
are allowed only 5 activations before you can no longer install the game
anymore. If you do not uninstall the game, you will use up another
activation. "You are not warned about this anywhere". If the game files
become corrupt or you need to reformat your hard drive and you do not or
cannot uninstall the game, you lose an activation. The Digital Rights
Management (DRM) in this game is real draconian and bad enough that I
will not by any more 2K Games. I think if they are going to implement
this kind of DRM, it should say so on the box and fully explain your
limitations. It does not. That information is kept from you. I feel like
I got burned. No more 2K games for me.
Too
many problems
Beware if you have an overclocked system. This game will blue screen. Game also has very weak
support for Nvidia 7 series cards. In particular with High Detail
Shaders which also causes the game to blue screen. I can't speak for
everyone of course but I know that myself and many others have these
issues still (10/29/07) and there is still no patch. These problems are
highlighted on most tech forums including the 2k games forum.
Now
for the game.
My first impression was WOW! Graphics were
impressive albeit somewhat grainy as AA is not supported. Lots of very
cool water and blur effects. The atmosphere is somewhat original. Has a
1940s/50s art deco thing going. Victrola playing in the background, Nazi
scientists, surgical theaters... the whole shebang. That aspect of the
game was very well done. The rest of it though, I can only sum it up as
"sensory overload". Like many games of this sort (The Suffering 2 for
instance), all the "psycho-physics" eventually start to numb your senses
and the attempts at "shock" just become tiring. The swearing,
screaming, brutality, and sexuality, it all just gets boring after a
while.
When you couple all that with the really weird copy protection - this game is NOT worth the aggravation
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