BIOSHOCK

For XBOX 360, PC, PS3 From 2K

Remember playing System Shock 2? 2K’s Bioshock will remind it to you anyway. Let’s take a look at the game which started as a not so promising game and turned out to be one of the greatest games of 2007.

            Jack, flying over the Atlantic Ocean, remembers his parents telling him; “Son you were born for great things”. Moments later the plane crashes and Jack -the only survivor- finds himself in a lighthouse in the middle of the ocean. While riding the submarine, which he finds inside the lighthouse, Jack watches a video introducing him to a city born from a man’s vision, meant to be the perfect place for artist and scientist to work away from the public censor. The video ends end “Rapture”, a city build entirely underwater, is revealed through the sub’s window. Jack disembarks at one of the city docks and he starts exploring the town. A person guides him though the city via a radio. It soon becomes obvious that the idyllic town of Rapture is far less idyllic that its founder’s vision. “Adam”, the substance that made rapture go round, drove almost every citizen insane. But the abuse of Adam lead to mutations. Jack finds himself in a city filled with “Splicers”, terrifying and deformed creatures trying desperately to get hold of Adam. Finally, he finds out everything about his family as well as the reason that lead to the downfall of Rapture. Maybe he was truly intended for great things… In his attempt to escape, Jack will have to face the paranoid deformed-beyond-any-recognition true leader of Rapture.

            Moving on to the gameplay sector, first of all the player will encounter a dilemma. Jack can either harvest or rescue the possessed “little sisters”. The choice you make will affect the game ending. But be warned; to get to the little ones you have to get past their protectors, the homing brutes in diver suits, “big daddies”. Of course you won’t encounter them unarmed. An extensively weaponry (from a revolver to a grenade launcher) along with your Adam modified arm are your “tools” of survival. Yes, Jack also uses Adam, turning his own hand into a death machine. You will come across different types of plasmids, which will turn Jack’s arm into a bee nest (used for unleashing a swarm of bees at your enemies), a fiery monster (used for burning enemies alive) and many more… Also, Jack’s lost health -apart from the first aid kits- can also be regained by consuming food and drinks he finds scattered around in Rapture. Some vending machine hacking minigames are also a nice and fitting addition to the game gameplay. The controls are OK in general but they needed some improvements. Continue reading to find out about them.

            The technological parts of the game manage to create such a beautiful atmosphere that will make you finish the game at least twice. The graphics nice, sharp and often dark are excellent. Pus the water effects are some of the best around. The true strong point of the game though, is its sound. Apart from a wonderful composed score, listening to Bobby Darin's “Beyond the sea” during the game will be marked in your memory forever. Finally, perhaps the element that keeps the game atmosphere at so high standards is the voice acting. From Splicer dialogues to the big daddy grunts, everything is wonderful. If you are lucky enough and possess a Dolby surround, then you’ll feel like a big daddy is walking outside your door while two Splicers pillage your house searching for Adam.

            Bioshock isn’t perfect though. The controls are a bit frustrating at times especially when you will have to quickly switch between you weapon arm and the plasmid one. As a result you‘ll see very often the “game over” screen but fear not! The game allows you to revive in numerous spots in each location called “Vita Chambers”. You can choose to dissemble them but then the game becomes much harder. So think twice about deactivating them. Some texture animations are bad and there are some bugs spoiling the overall magnificent experience. Finally it should be noted that even if the starships are replaced by submarines, the hybrids by Splicers and the psi powers with plasmids, playing Bioshock feels like playing the underwater technological-advance version of System Shock 2.

            Bioshock is a dusty treasure. But it is a treasure nevertheless. And a really precious one too! If a sequel manages to remove the dust then we will have the best game ever. Now Bioshock is just one of the best games ever.                   

J.Papadimitriou/Padazis

DLC(s); Challenge Rooms

                                                                     

                                                         A beautiful trailer;

                                                         A gameplay video;

                                                                   

ALAN WAKE

For XBOX 360 From Remedy 

When it was first announced back in 2001, Alan Wake seemed like a ground breaking game. But when it came out in 2010 it had undergone many changes. Is the final game a ground breaking one? Let’s find out…

Alan Wake, a famous best - selling author, visits the resort town of Bright Falls with his wife Alice, seeking relax from the stress of work. Settling down at “Bird Leg Cabin”, Alice gives Alan a typewriter to help him overcome his stress and write a new book. Alan gets mad at her and runs out leaving the nyctophobic Alice alone in the cabin. Lights black out, a scream echoes in the night and Alice finds herself dragged down the lake nearby by a mysterious force, with Alan diving after her. One week later Alan wakes up in his crashed car without being able to remember anything from the previous week. In a desperate search for Alice, Alan will face the mysterious force that took his wife, a terrifying dark presence. His agent Barry Wheeler along with some of the townsfolk will aid Wake in his search, offering assistance that will often prove lifesaving. Wake will also be aided by Thomas Zane who knows the secrets of the dark presence. Zane will put manuscript pages on Wakes way, pages written by Wake without him remembering writing them, pages which foretell the nightmares Alan encounters during his search… Finally Wake, with the secret of the dark presence revealed to him, will make his final stand against its core and attempt to save Alice. Will he make it? I don’t want to spoil anything so I won’t reveal this, but the ending holds some questions. Luckily, Remedy released two DLCs that provide some answers. If you want to understand the whole story, you’d better download them both. For more details, you can also read the “Alan Wake” novel by Rick Burroughs. 

The gameplay is amazing! Perhaps one of the best of it’s kind. It is unique and it adds to the game atmosphere (which is great by the way). The combat sequences are filled with agony. The dark presnce, devours the local townsfolk, crows and even inanimate objects (the "Taken") and turns everything against Wake. To survive, Alan has at his disposal revolvers, shotguns and hunting rifles. But bullets alone are no good against the Taken. In order to despose them, Wake must first "burn away" the darkness engulfing them. His trusty flashlight along with flares, are the tools he can count on to do so. Furthermore, he -in order to raise his chances of survival- must find any extra  light source  (light generators, street lamps etc.) so that he can keep away the forces of darkness when fighting is not a good idea. Exploring Bright Falls to find them is a frightening experience, which will make you keep the lights on and the desire to keep up with the story bind together a magnificent game. Furthermore there are parts of the game in which you can drive cars and the game is sandbox (kind of), giving you the ability to explore huge areas (something rarely seen in horror games) Of course this means that a lot of hidden objects and side quests are present in the game.  But which gameplay is good at its own? The controls of the game are excellent making the gameplay run smoothly… You may find them a bit strange at first but you‘ll get used to them before you can even realize it.

On the grounds of graphics, the game is stunning! It really pushes the 360 processor to its very limits. Every single detail (from a stone in the ground to the scars in Wake’s face) are beautifully presented although are some of the characters are badly animated. Still, the graphics are some of the best in the Xbox 360 console. The soundtrack is also magnificent! Apart from the game score -which is chilling, matching perfectly the game atmosphere- Alan Wake also features some songs from famous artists like Poe, Poets of the Fall and David Bowie. Especially Bowie’s “Space Oddity”, playing during the end credits, is one of the best and most moving moments in the entire gaming history. Finally, we have a beautiful voice acting and a wide variety of interesting (and surprisingly funny at times) spoken dialogues.

But nothing is perfect and Alan Wake is no exception. The story is a bit confusing especially if you play through the game for the first time, the environments are beautiful but kind of repetitive (the forest and the logging areas are seen again and again) and as I told before, some face animations are bad.

So is it a ground breaking game? Perhaps no, but it’s a magnificent one in general! A unique moving and scary game (as the box warns, it’s indeed a psychological action thriller)! If you are a fan of horror games then maybe you will feel that this is the best game you‘ve ever played. If, on the other hand, you are not, then you will at least feel that the money and time you’ve spent were worth it!

J.P.  

DLC(s); The Signal, The Writer

For the 2001 game trailer look here;

For the new trailer look here; 

And here we have a gameplay video;

For promotional reasons , Remedy released 4 episodes entitled "Bright Falls" which serve as prequel to the main game. 

Here we have the first episode, if you like it then you can watch the other 3 from YouTube.