BioShock

by 2K Games

Product 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

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000MK694E
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5 x 0.8 inches ; 3.2 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: August 21, 2007
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (334 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,296 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #74 in Video Games > PC Games > Action

Product Description

Platform: PC

Take2 Games BioShock 21962 PC Games

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1,555 of 1,764 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars THIS IS THE REVIEW 2K Games DOES NOT WANT YOU TO SEE (REDUX), August 24, 2007

By 

NeuroSplicer (Freeside, in geosynchronous orbit) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

= Fun:2.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: BioShock (Video Game)

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...

255 of 293 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars 2K games and their draconian DRM, November 2, 2007

By 

Richard Jordan "RJ" (CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:2.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: BioShock (Video Game)

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.

105 of 124 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Too many problems, November 29, 2007

By 

Datus (Connecticut) - See all my reviews

= Fun:2.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: BioShock (Video Game)

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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