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Thoran · 09-01-2007, 11:06 AM

I think that this game (and a fair number of shooters in general) is starting to blur the line between gaming and cinema type storytelling. Personally I think game designers should choose the path they'd like to take and focus on that. If the game is really a movie where you're playing a major character... the focus should be on getting the plot and character development to be good enough that at the end you think "WOW, they should make this into a movie!". If the game is going to be a shooter they should keep the plot simple but very open and emphasize the combat, strategy and tactics.

I think Half Life 2 did a wonderful job of telling a very compelling story while having gameplay that was challenging enough to keep you interested.

This game has a LOT of storytelling elements... but at this point I don't think the story is particularly coherent, and I get the feeling that they've introduced a LOT of plot elements that they're just not going to do much with (making the story seem a bit disjointed).

As a shooter the game APPEARS very complex, with standard weapons and magic (plasmid) elements, but in their balancing work they've ended up turning it into a basic resource management game. Conserve ammo, conserve energy, conserve conserve conserve because while there's not a ton of enemies (even on hard) it takes a LOT of ammo to kill them. I find I'm having less fun as the game drags on because of the repetitive nature of the combat.

IMO with their strong graphics they should have DE-emphasized combat and cleaned up/streamlined and emphasized the story aspects.

09-01-2007, 11:06 AM	#48
Thoran Galvatron Join Date: January 10, 2002 Location: Upstate NY Age: 56 Posts: 2,109	Re: Bioshock! I think that this game (and a fair number of shooters in general) is starting to blur the line between gaming and cinema type storytelling. Personally I think game designers should choose the path they'd like to take and focus on that. If the game is really a movie where you're playing a major character... the focus should be on getting the plot and character development to be good enough that at the end you think "WOW, they should make this into a movie!". If the game is going to be a shooter they should keep the plot simple but very open and emphasize the combat, strategy and tactics. I think Half Life 2 did a wonderful job of telling a very compelling story while having gameplay that was challenging enough to keep you interested. This game has a LOT of storytelling elements... but at this point I don't think the story is particularly coherent, and I get the feeling that they've introduced a LOT of plot elements that they're just not going to do much with (making the story seem a bit disjointed). As a shooter the game APPEARS very complex, with standard weapons and magic (plasmid) elements, but in their balancing work they've ended up turning it into a basic resource management game. Conserve ammo, conserve energy, conserve conserve conserve because while there's not a ton of enemies (even on hard) it takes a LOT of ammo to kill them. I find I'm having less fun as the game drags on because of the repetitive nature of the combat. IMO with their strong graphics they should have DE-emphasized combat and cleaned up/streamlined and emphasized the story aspects.