BioShock review!

[Mehen]

On the 360, but both PC and 360 versions are set to be released on the 21st. There is supposed to be a PC demo out even sooner.

List of reviews (found this list on a gamespy forum)

OXM UK - 10/10
Alternative Press - 5/5
Game Informer - 10/10
Gamer.tv - 5/5
Playboy - 4/4 Bunnies
GamesRadar - 10/10
PC Gamer UK - 9.5/10
Xbox World - 9.4/10
Eurogamer - 10/10
PC Zone - 96%
Gamers - 98%
GameArena - 5/5
GameSpy - 5/5
Console Game World - 99%
1up - 10/10
Metacritic - 100%
IGN - 9.7/10
TeamXbox - 9.5/10
X-360 - 10/10

from the ign review: "On our gaming PC running a Core 2 Quad processor with a GeForce 8800 GTX, and 4 GB of RAM, it ran very well" - I should hope so!

[Mehen]

Downloading the demo now, one of the biggest demos I've seen, weighing in at 1.84gb.

[Evildead666]

Holy crap!
Thats gonna take forever on my 512Kbps line....

TIme to call a friend with a 10Mbit connection...

[Mehen]

http://www.fileplanet.com/180035/180...ndows-XP-32bit)

new nvidia drivers - fixed for bioshock

[Mehen]

Just played through the demo - VERY COOL (and very short)

Looks great, runs quite well too, even 1280x1024 at high settings. (see sig for my comp specs).

edit: I am buying this game tomorrow.

[lowlifecat]

downloading via steam atm, 82% complete. it's quite a hefty downsquirt

[Marshmallowman]

Be a bit of cautious, I am hearing the software protection is pretty much a rootkit

[Evildead666]

I got home from Paris yesterday to find that I had preordered on Amazon a while back, and forgotten about it...Nearly bought it via steam!!!

I had read about all the DRM crap on the DVD before installing, but just thought, Feck it, if it all goes pear shaped, i'l just reinstall Windows, and I found a website that indicates how to fully remove SecuROM after uninstall of the game...

People have been complaining about incompatibilities with AVG Antivirus. I run the free version, and had NO PRobs whatsoever. It was running during the install, and while I was playing.

I managed to make an .nrg image with nero, and installed the game with Daemon tools.
Then the securom message appeared. Bugger.
Reinstalled with original DVD, activated, OK.

If you run the .nrg game with the original DVD in the physical drive, once the DRM check has been done, you can take the Original out, and let the image do the rest. Its only verified on loadup of the game.

Other than that, the game is fine and dandy, and i'm enjoying it. Last time I buy a retail package tho, all of my next purchases are through Steam.
I personally like the idea of being able to get all my software back after a reinstall, with no scratched DVD's a bonus.

Oh, and during the install, Daemon tools was running also. No probs.

I love the Art Deco world, its just sooooo 1930's/1920's...great!!

just my experience.

What about yours ?

edit : Running at 1680x1050 max settings, 16xAF, no V-synch. Its fluid as hell

[Evildead666]

Hmmmm, just finished it.

A tad short for my liking, even though the Art Deco styling more than makes up for it in my personal view.

Story's OK, here's waiting for the sequel...I hope it keeps with the Art Deco

[Mehen]

Running 1280x1024 at high settings. Some slow down here and there but plenty playable (would be too slow for a hardcore twitch shooter methinks).

Long live AGP!

I also run AVG Free - no problems with it at all.

[Evildead666]

I had a couple of problems where it 'forgot' what I had set as screen resolution, and it defaulted back to 1024x768...a bit annoying, but easily remedied.

A couple of times it crashed to desktop, with a Windows 'Send to M$...' message, but that was after staying on the 'Esc' menu for a few hours whilst cleaning...

Very stable, very pretty, and very fast on my machine.
I WAS expecting a sort of slideshow, it being a new game and all that, but I expect it would work on even a 7600GT or around that...

I would suspect that on your machine Mehen, its the single core thats pulling you back.
I'm pretty sure that dual core is recommended for this one, and will be even more in the future...they offload some of the sound processing and stuff to the other core...

[Mehen]

No crashes for me, yet.
It's pulling me back, yes, but honestly I am completely content with the performance right now. It's hard to complain about 1280x1024 at high. I could raise my CPU voltage and put my CPU up closer to 4GHz, it runs fine, but I don't like how hot it makes my room
I've been suprised at how long this computer has lasted, the X1950 has given it some real legs.

Out of all the taxing games I've played on it recently (including FEAR, BioShock, QuakeWARS, NWN2), the only one I've had problems with is Supreme Commander.

I'm waiting to see how UE3 and Hellgate London run before I upgrade. And I'm definitely going Quadcore.

[Nowhere]

So...I wonder what would be the low limit to CPU speed when it comes to playing this game (when having powerfull enough GFX card of course). In lower res of course (800x600 would be fine) and ~medium details...

BTW - creators of Hellgate seem to insist that the game will be playeable on 4-year old hardware...

[Mehen]

Well the Hellgate guys are ex-blizzard - and blizzard has always been good about system reqs. I remember playing WC3 on my G400.

For BioShock;
for video cards I think the big thing to have is SM3.0.

As for cpu - maybe even and old overclocked Barton would do the trick. I wouldn't want to go much below a 2500+/2.5ishGhz. I'm thinking 1gb of ram is a must though.


btw - really excited about Hellgate - especially the way pay to play will work.

[Evildead666]

Probably be trying out Bioshock on a Barton 2800+ with 1Gb RAM and a 7800GS (16 pipe AGP).
Tomorrow actually, will post what the playable settings are....