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I'm not ordinarily a big fan of first-person shooters. I generally find them a bit tedious and splatter-oriented. I also have shied away from survival horror games like Left 4 Dead or Resident Evil. I'm fond of real-time strategy games like Command and Conquer and more puzzle-oriented shooters like Metroid or Ratchet & Clank. I'm also a big fan of old-school adventures like Myst, Obsidian, Syberia.
So, it was with some trepidation that I popped Bioshock into my Mac, after all these years of waiting for it to be ported to this platform.
Bottom line: Bioshock isn't the usual tired FPS/survival horror retread. It is atmospheric, exhilarating, creepy, and deserves all of its accolades as a ground-breaking gaming landmark. I would recommend this to anyone wishing to experience one of the most enthralling games of the last decade.
In terms of performance, by the way, this game runs exceptionally-well on my 27" iMac (3 GHz Core 2 Duo, 4GB RAM, ATI Radeon HD 4670+256 MB VRAM) on Snow Leopard in the game's default modes. Cranking up the resolution to the maximum screen resolution (2560x1440) and graphics details maxed out on all possible settings (shadows, water, etc) does result in a some choppiness. It's playable in that mode, but things get hairy in melee encounters with multiple splicers attacking simultaneously. For the best performance on a display this size, dropping the resolution and graphical options down a tick or two will improve display smoothness.
All in all, I'd give this game the highest rating I've ever given a game. Now, on to Bioshock 2!
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Many people have already extensively discussed BioShock's story, features, and gameplay in reviews of the console versions of the game, so I'm just going to talk about a few things I've noticed as a long-time fan of first-person shooters.*BioShock is one of the most well-written games ever. Even if you aren't familiar with Ayn Rand, the story is rich, moving, and deeply satisfying. The voice acting, character development, and cutscenes are all of very high quality.
*The underwater setting is unique (finally, a game not set on a distant planet, a tropical island, a military base, or some combination of those) and beautifully realized. The music, environmental sounds and Art Deco graphics are all well done and add a lot to the playing experience.
*Each level is designed well and contains a fair amount of territory to explore. You are on rails more or less, as in all FPS games, but there is enough freedom to avoid making the game feel oppressively linear.
*Overall, the game is not terribly difficult. Boss battles are only slightly harder than fights with generic enemies, for the most part, and there aren't any ridiculously difficult puzzles to solve. The developers focused more on the story and on making all aspects of the game fit together holistically, rather than on trying to come up with mega-challenges for diehard gamers.
*Replayability is high, due to the way weapons and powers are earned as well as to the ability to follow different strategies throughout the game. Having said that, BioShock isn't as chock full of hidden features, secret abilities, and obscure actions as Japanese games (the Metal Gear Solid, Silent Hill, and Resident Evil series all come to mind here. And yes, I know SH and RE are survival horror games, not FPS's).
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Bottom line: despite being a port to the Mac, BioShock is still one of the best games currently available. Anybody who enjoys FPS and action games will dig BioShock. Judged on gameplay mechanics alone, BioShock is a four star game but the stunning graphics, high production values, and outstanding storyline push it to five stars.I bought this game direct from Feral Interactive. Love the game and they have great customer support. They are fast and courteous. If you needed 'em, feel free to contact them. They are friendly like Amazon.com.
PROs: Great game play. Nice port for the MAC (exception for the driver NVIDIA driver issue). The XBOX 360 Wireless Controller is fully supported. I have the PC version of this game and the MAC version looks almost exactly like the PC version. The water rendering is different on the MAC side. Overall this game is a must have.
Only problem that I have is Apple has some NVIDA graphic card driver issues. This interferes with this game's performance, see below.
CONs: NVIDIA graphic card driver issues! NVIDIA graphic card driver issues! NVIDIA graphic card driver issues! I stated this three times because this game only plays for about 5-7 minutes till the game freezes. This is not Feral's problem. Apple needs to get their act together with NVIDIA and create a patch to update the existing driver.
I contacted Feral Technical Support (fast and courteous) and they acknowledged the NVIDIA driver issue immediately. Snow Leopard broke something within the NVIDIA graphic card driver. They've stated that they can't do much until Apple and NVIDIA corrects the Snow Leopard NVIDIA driver. I have Snow Leopard (disappointed in it) and Feral Interactive stated that they hope OS 10.6.2 update will resolve the freezing issue. Let's hope Apple gets it together. Also, Feral has issued an interim patch to help with the stuttering issue.
I have utilized BootCamp for the PC version of this game. This game plays beautifully on my Windows XP partition. I use the same graphic card (NVIDIA 8800) on both Operating Systems. So I know it's not a RAM and Graphic card issue.
Read Best Reviews of Bioshock - Mac Here
It's difficult to put into words in any sort of new way the accolades of compliments this game received from professional publications whereas I wouldn't come across as sophomoric. I'll begin, then, with something small that sets me apart from those publications; personal computer specs!MacPro (Early 2009 Edition)
Mac OS X 10.6.2/Quad-Core Xeon W3520 2.66GHz
3GB RAM/640GB HDD/2 SuperDrives (DVD-RW)/ATI Radeon HD 4870 512MB
My intention is not to gloat I hope, I get a new computer every few years and this is the latestI had an MDD G4 1GHz/1GB RAM/Radeon 9800Pro for years.
If you've played the console editions as I have the one noticeable lower quality is in the introduction where your character is on the planeon the console versions, if I am not mistaken, this is rendered in real time using Bioshock's [Unreal 3] engine... here, it is videountil you crash, which is quite a short amount of time from when you click New Game anyway, and here's where the computer version shines (read; outshines).
The graphics are amazingyou have to *see* the water effects to really appreciate it. Almost every little detail of the game's locales has a very deliberately unique feel to it and the storyline will suck you in as it is tightly wound up in your actions. For a really good, visual review of this game I'd hunt down the Bioshock review on the GameTrailers com website.
As an extra note: This game takes advantage of multiple core CPUs and hunting down the INI located at "~/Library/Preferences/Feral Interactive/Bioshock/MacInit/Bioshock.ini" look for "HavokNumThreads=2" and change the "2" to the number of CPU cores you have. In my case this is "4". The game will not recognize a number higher than the amount of PHYSICAL CORES you have so forget about the hypothetical Hyperthreading number, FYI. The fluidity of the game was immediately noticeable after changing this value. For more on tweaking check out TweakGuides com's Bioshock pagejust about anything applicable to the PC version is applicable to the Mac version.
My Dell monitor's maximum resolution is 1680x1050 and Bioshock runs quite well at this resolution with all settings at maximum... the consoles max out at 1080p with the optimum set-up and can't compare to the computer version's resolution or textures/graphics.
Now, utilizing flip-flop politics, I digress to the storyline. Again I can't go into much detail because I won't regurgitate what's already been said, but as was the aphorism of Reading Rainbow(tm); "...but don't just take my word for it!" Even if you don't like first person shootersand I've read a handful of people comment agreeably from that campyou will very likely enjoy this game.
Get it.WOW! What am amazing game! After hearing about this game for the longest time and seeing what a monster hit Bioshock 2 became, I had to try this out. I'm the to say that I am NOT a first person shooter person, I suck at it and I just don't get very involved in most of the FPS stories. But Bioshock changed the way I look at FPS, the story is complex and involving, it grabs you. And the way the stories are told is extremely creative and different from all the other games.
In conclusion, if you haven't played it, I highly recommend!!
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