Friday, June 20, 2008

Bioshock back on the menu

Activation limits have been removed from BioShock.

Unfortunately, the DRM is still there. However, as I have said many times before, I am willing to put up with DRM as long as it isn't too draconian or too intrusive. With the activation limits removed, BioShock has just wandered into the "willing to put up with" category.

To be fair, at this point, I don't know if I will buy BioShock. This is a decision I will make when I finish with GTA IV and are looking out for my next game. Unfortunately for 2k, my eagerness for this game has long passed and it is entirely possible that by the time I buy a new game, there will be something newer which is getting all the press. However, the removal of the activation limits means that at the very least, I will consider buying it.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Move along, there's nothing to see here, move along...

Not worth it in my opinion - I've not finished the game yet, and not having much inclination to do so. Reasons why:
1. I've got an older graphics card that doesn't handle shader 3 - therefore the only way I played the game was through a fan-developed shader 2 patch. This requires a long long load time, so puts me off starting up the game in the first place - not something which should affect you though
2. The game is too easy - the regen booths just suck any intensity out of the game - who cares how bad-ass some of the enemies are, when you can just spam-death them to submission?
3. The weapons suck - they have absolutely no feeling of power - by the latter half of the game, enemies seem to have so much health that I feel like I'm firing a pea-shooter at them - it takes so much damn ammo to take them down that I can't be bothered and end up bludgeoning them to death with my wrench all the time. As such, combat becomes a chore rather than fun. Not good for a FPS.

So, yes the environment is pretty cool, and yes the graphics are nice, and yes the plasmids are quite cool (for a while, until you bore of them because they are just as weak as the weapons). But all in all, think there will be better games to try next. Sorry Bioshock, you had promise but your developer f*cked up with its DRM and left you high and dry with their poor game balance.

Jokemeister said...

Hmm - maybe this game isn't on the menu after all.

I guess this is a perfect illustration of the dangers of draconian DRM.

When this game first came out, I was so eager to buy based on the demo. The only reason I didn't was the draconian DRM. And now that the DRM has been lifted slightly?

Shame isn't it.