Where are my Satellite Guy's gamers at?

[yourbeliefs]

I LOVED the Prototype games (both were part of my GOTY in their respective years.) They're not really big on plot or character development but they're just damn fun. They're great fun in that it's great to be a character with super hero powers but not having to be bound by super hero morals, kinda like being Spawn. You can probably get them each for under $20 if you know where to look (definitely the first one can be got for about $15 if you don't mind used games.)

FYI, Sleeping Dogs is also available now on Steam for $9.99. I tried it out a while ago. If you're big into GTA style games like GTA and Saints Row then you'll likely have fun with it.

Myself I've FINALLY got into Torchlight 2. So far enjoying it. Already it seems more "epic" than the original, which all took place in ONE dungeon. Haven't delved into multiplayer as I'm having plenty of fun with single player. Trying to get back into Skyrim and knocking that off my "to do" list with mixed results. Halo 4 is also providing me with quite a bit of multiplayer fun. After playing Call of Duty so much in the last 2 years I forgot how much fun a FPS can be that gives you more than 2 seconds of life after getting shot by someone.

 

[meStevo]

I've got a pretty high level character in Torchlight 2, my steam started running out when my friends lost interest beyond a couple of playthroughs. We had a LAN this past weekend and played it, and for those who don't game as much it was too much for them. They just wanted to go around and kill stuff, not bother with quests and whatnot, and within the first dozen levels they were behind a few levels and stuff started hitting them pretty hard. Once the deaths started becoming pretty common that was the end of TF2 at the LAN.

Don't play much of the COD-style games, and haven't played Halo since 3. Enjoy their (brief) single player stories though, and have tinkered with Planetside 2 a bit, which is definitely not for everyone, even free.

 

[yourbeliefs]

After an EMBARRASSINGLY long time (I believe it took at least 3 years) I finally got around to beating Painkiller. For those of you wondering what the hell it is, Painkiller is an FPS from 2004 from Polish developers People Can Fly. The best way I can describe it is that it's a balls to the wall, kill everything in front of you old school style FPS. It is more in the pool of games like the original Dooms (1+2) and Serious Sam. For a game that is nearly 10 years old overall it holds up well. The levels run the gambit of a military base, a city, a sub base, a church, etc etc, and each one has their own types of enemies to kill, which adds to the variety quite a bit. Finally the variety of weapons is pretty cool, such as the tree shooter which basically fires half a tree at enemies and can pin them to the walls, or the "Painkiller" which is a short range spinning blade that can rip enemies into confetti. And the music rocks as well. Whenever enemies come up, appropriate death metal music starts playing to get you in the mood to start killing.

Of course the game isn't perfect, but the complaints are rather minor. The biggest one is with the story. The basic plot of the game is that the main character Daniel and his wife Catherine get into a car accident and die. Catherine goes to heaven while Daniel goes to Purgatory. Heaven tells Daniel that if he joins them in their fight against Lucifer that he can cleanse his soul and get his wife back in heaven, and then Daniel goes around killing everything between him and hell to try and kill Lucifer. There is more to it than that but I think that like me, you won't care. The whole story is told through cutscenes that come up in between the game's 5 chapters and I have to say that watching them is like trying to eat cement. Said story does not affect gameplay and thus after chapter 3 I stopped caring and just skipped through it. The ending is disappointing as well, but given that the other cutscenes didn't inspire me enough to care I suppose the ending can be credited for keeping things consistent. Other complaints are that the enemy AI is pathetic, with guys just charging at you and firing as opposed to using real strategies. Don't expect even Half-Life or Halo 1 levels of sophistication, but rather that of Duke Nukem 3D. And finally when enemies die they release soul power ups that you can collect to heal yourself and also temporarily enter a "super mode" but it takes more than 5 seconds for these things to come out and they don't hang around for long, so if you're trying to collect them it messes up the game's pace quite a bit. Oh yeah, and the bosses are annoying, but I'd prefer the bosses be that way as opposed to being easy, which is a rather disturbing trend I've noticed occurring nowadays

Overall Painkiller is a nice departure from the overly "sophisticated modern FPS" genre that we have grown accustomed to. It's a nice reminder that sometimes you just want to kill everything in front of you by yourself and then be rewarded for it. The game is currently available on GOG and Steam for $10, which I think is a more than fair price, although if you want to hold out it'll probably be on sale eventually. Oh, and there is an HD re-release of the game but it's double the price and has fewer levels (supposedly this was done to remove the "bad levels".) I'd recommend just getting the original Painkiller:Black Edition for the best overall experience. I give it a B+.

My PC gaming kick has been continuing on. Thanks to some sales I've picked up X-Com: Enemy Unknown, Faster Than Light (FTL) and To the Moon. X-Com seems somewhat overwhelming but considering how many GOTY awards it won I figured I owed it to give it a shot. To the Moon I bought on a sales whim and while I've only played it for about an hour I'm already intrigued. It's an indie game in retro style, meaning that it looks like it could run on the SNES. I've read that it is more of an interactive story as opposed to a true game, similar to Tell Tale's "The Walking Dead," which is something I'm always up for. One thing I can say already is that the game deserves praise if for nothing else it's soundtrack. Hell even the opening theme is enough to make you tear up with feelings of inspiration and hope. I'll probably delve into that one first before I dig into X-Com, and FTL still needs to be installed. In any case it looks like my 360 and PS3 will continue their current roles as dust magnets until Bioshock: Infinite is released, or the new Metal Gear arrives in my mailbox.

 

[Zookster]

The past couple of months, I've been taking advantage of some good PS Plus discounts and freebees:

Spec Ops: The Line — Never played a military-style shooter before and would've passed on this one as well (even as a free game for PS Plus members) if not for yourbeliefs's recommendation. I'm now nearing the end of my second consecutive playthrough so I can make different choices. Overall, Spec Ops is a quality game with a compelling, thought-provoking story. And with Nolan North's voice work and ME3-style controls, this n00b feels right at home (though the game keeps suggesting I lower the difficulty after a few deaths in the same area -- lol)

The Unfinished Swan — A beautiful well-made game with a unique, original concept and engaging story, in spite of it being rather juvenile (the game plays like a children's book come to life). Unfortunately it runs a bit short (3-4 hours), can be tedious and dull in a few spots, and doesn't have much replay value, so I'm glad I was able to pick this up for only $3.75 with the Plus discount (definitely not worth the regular $15 price).

The Walking Dead — I got the first two episodes free with Plus last summer, held out for the remainder to be offered free, and then settled for buying the full "season pass" at a discounted price of $9.79 two weeks ago. As an avid fan of the TV series, I'm pretty happy to finally have all the episodes (though I still have yet to play the last one). Really not much more I can say about this GOTY other than, I can't wait for the sequel.

LittleBigPlanet Karting — I actually had this pre-ordered until I was invited into last summer's private beta and was disappointed with the controls and weapon/shielding mechanics, so I cancelled. Much of that was improved in the final version (or maybe I just understand it better), but the AI still feels a bit unbalanced. At any rate, LBP fans, like me, will still enjoy the great music, charm, and the remixing of their favorite themes from past LBP games in the clever, well-designed story-mode tracks. Most of the challenge levels are pretty fun, too. Unfortunately, the online community is somewhat sparse, and there are issues with online connectivity and the racing lobby system. But for $10, I'm not complaining (too much).

 

[yourbeliefs]

Well, I just finished "To the Moon," and once again I wish that all these politicians and people like Roger Ebert could see games like this so they can finally understand that the statement "Games are art" is real and not something that we say to defend games like "Call of Duty" and "Halo."

It's hard to describe a game like "To the Moon" because it is so story driven, even more so than "The Walking Dead," and any criticisms I may have towards it can only be addressed based on said story, which would spoil it for those who haven't played it. I'll do the best that I can though. It describes itself as an "Adventure RPG," but honestly the best way to describe the experience would be like playing Final Fantasy 1-6 without any battles. You play as 2 doctors who are hired to go into the memories of a dying man to fulfill his final wish, which is to go to the moon (hence the title.) Since actually doing said act would be impossible, the doctors' job is to manipulate the patients' memories to the point where he believes he has gone there. Sadly that's about all I can say about the plot. The gameplay is minimal. The player is only there to drive the characters to the next part of the story. Luckily said characters are dynamic and interesting, not to mention they exhibit at times some morbid sense of humor which helps keep the tone from going stale.

As I said they and the story keep the game going and to say I was intrigued and glued to my computer would be an understatement. It is one of those rare games where the plot actually makes you think and want to analyze it as though it were a book. Hell, there is one major plot twist that completely changes the path of the story that is so deep that you could easily write a 20 page thesis trying to analyze it. Finally, the soundtrack is stellar, one of the best I've heard in years. Definitely helps provoke an emotional response. I honestly can't listen to the theme anymore without getting a little misty-eyed.

As is also typical of indie, story driven games, this is quite short. It clocks in at about 4.5 hours and costs $10 (although I got my copy when it was on sale.) Whether or not it's worth $10 to you all depends on how much you value story quality over quantity and gameplay. Had I known I would enjoy the story as much as I did I would probably have thrown down the $10, but YMMV. Luckily there is a 1 hour demo you can download for free, which, if you're intrigued at all by what I've written, you will check it out. Don't worry about your computer specs. Like I said, this thing looks like it could run on a 16-bit system.

Overall "To the Moon" is a great achievement in storytelling in a game and will definitely be one of the best arguments for the "Game are art!" debate. I highly recommend that you check it out. I give it a B+.

Got the new Metal Gear game in. So far it's fun, although I'm still withholding some judgement as I've heard the ending is a tad of the f-ed up side.

 

[yourbeliefs]

Thanks to the Steam Indie Sale I've picked up a number of new cheap games. Here's my verdict on some of them:

Hotline Miami: This is my favorite so far. To call this game a little f-ed up would be like saying that Carnival Cruiselines has had a little bad press lately. It's a cross between Dream Web, GTA: Vice City and Super Meat Boy presented in a top down floor plan view. The game is split up among about 16 chapters with multifloor levels that basically boil down to "kill everything then leave." The game is very bloody and the violence is ludicrously over the top. The action is quick and intense, as you can only get hit once before you die. It has a very addictive quality to it as the quick respawn time makes it easy to jump back into the action and try again. I'm about 4+ hours in and I can't wait to get back to it. The story is more than a little messed up but honestly you can avoid it and just go on with the action. If you want more info I suggest you watch this NSFW (due to language) review and fast forward to 2:42 in

The Binding of Issac: Yet another profoundly f-ed up game (I didn't look for such games; it was recommended by many.) You play as Isaac, a confused child hiding in a cellar trying to escape from his murderous mother. It's a dungeon crawler like the original Legend of Zelda, except your weapons are tears that you throw at enemies, many of which are rather disturbing to say the least. The levels are randomly generated, and this includes the items, which can cause your games to either be really easy or really difficult depending on what items you happen to find on that particular run through. As I said it is rather disturbing to look at but it is also fun, although I don't see myself throwing 40+ hours into it like many other people have claimed to.

 

[king3pj]

Thanks to the Steam Indie Sale I've picked up a number of new cheap games. Here's my verdict on some of them:

Hotline Miami: This is my favorite so far. To call this game a little f-ed up would be like saying that Carnival Cruiselines has had a little bad press lately. It's a cross between Dream Web, GTA: Vice City and Super Meat Boy presented in a top down floor plan view. The game is split up among about 16 chapters with multifloor levels that basically boil down to "kill everything then leave." The game is very bloody and the violence is ludicrously over the top. The action is quick and intense, as you can only get hit once before you die. It has a very addictive quality to it as the quick respawn time makes it easy to jump back into the action and try again. I'm about 4+ hours in and I can't wait to get back to it. The story is more than a little messed up but honestly you can avoid it and just go on with the action. If you want more info I suggest you watch this NSFW (due to language) review and fast forward to 2:42 in

The Binding of Issac: Yet another profoundly f-ed up game (I didn't look for such games; it was recommended by many.) You play as Isaac, a confused child hiding in a cellar trying to escape from his murderous mother. It's a dungeon crawler like the original Legend of Zelda, except your weapons are tears that you throw at enemies, many of which are rather disturbing to say the least. The levels are randomly generated, and this includes the items, which can cause your games to either be really easy or really difficult depending on what items you happen to find on that particular run through. As I said it is rather disturbing to look at but it is also fun, although I don't see myself throwing 40+ hours into it like many other people have claimed to.

Both of those games sound interesting to me. I have heard lots of praise for both of them but I haven't checked out a review or read any specifics about them until now. I think I'll pick up Hotline Miami while it is still on sale. I will probably skip The Binding of Issac because it doesn't look like it has controller support.

I know everyone says you get greater control from a mouse and keyboard but I grew up on console gaming so the 360 controller is what feels natural to me. I have tried using the keyboard and mouse for various shooters and action games but I am so bad without my controller. I can handle games that don't require frantic button pressing like Civ 5 or Starcraft 2 but that is about the limit of my comfort level.

 

[yourbeliefs]

Both of those games sound interesting to me. I have heard lots of praise for both of them but I haven't checked out a review or read any specifics about them until now. I think I'll pick up Hotline Miami while it is still on sale. I will probably skip The Binding of Issac because it doesn't look like it has controller support.

I know everyone says you get greater control from a mouse and keyboard but I grew up on console gaming so the 360 controller is what feels natural to me. I have tried using the keyboard and mouse for various shooters and action games but I am so bad without my controller. I can handle games that don't require frantic button pressing like Civ 5 or Starcraft 2 but that is about the limit of my comfort level.

Binding of Isaac can use a controller but it isn't natively supported because it was built in Flash. You can use Joy2Key to get it to work (the game even tells you to do that.)
http://www.electracode.com/4/joy2key/JoyToKey English Version.htm

I have no problem with using mouse and keyboard even though I grew up with joysticks via consoles. Ironically I know of people who hate playing games on consoles because of the joypads but all their friends use consoles so they feel compelled to use them. I know one guy who got an adapter so he'd be able to play CoD and BF on his 360 with a mouse and keyboard. And it is true that PC gamers do have an automatic advantage over console players, because years ago they planned on making Crackdown one of the first interplay games, where 360 players could play PC players, but MS abandoned the idea when they did testing and saw that console players were being decimated by PC players due to their superior controls.

I also downloaded Amnesia: The Dark Descent and Lone Survivor. I've been looking for a good survival horror experience and people have praised both as being such. I haven't had a chance to play them yet but will soon.

 

[stanleyjohn]

I have been a big PC video gamer since the days of the Commodore 64 (1980s) and still very active in it.Just upgraded to a new gaming computer (cyberpower)last year and use it on my samsung 42" flat screen HDTV.I'm i big RPG gamer but will play other types at times!Started out with dungeons and dragon games in the 80s and some of the other games i have played include the Baldur gate series,Wizardry series,fallout,heroes of might and magic,neverwinter nights and countless others.Current games i an playing now are Gothic3,stalker,kingdoms of amular and borderlands.These day i download most of my bames from amazon or GOG.I guess i will always be a kid in heart when it comes to playing video games.

 

[yourbeliefs]

Recently I beat Bioshock: Infinite..

First off I have to say that the original Bioshock ranks as one of my favorite games of all time. I've beat it multiple times on multiple systems and I even liked Bioshock 2 even though it was a very unnecessary sequel in terms of story and got unjustly lambasted IMO. I've been waiting anxiously for this sequel since it was announced 3 years ago, and overall I am very satisfied with the 15+ hours I put into the adventure. I'm not sure I can say I liked it more than Bioshock, as such a straight line comparison is impossible. Some things I liked better, while others I did not like as much.

For one I did like the artistic work and environmental elements of Columbia, the city in the sky that Infinite is set in. If you have a good PC like I do you will have plenty of eye candy to enjoy. Subsequently, if you also have a PC that is rather old/outdated, there will be plenty for you to abhor at. I tried running this on my 3 year old i5 laptop with antiquated drivers (because why would HP bother supporting their devices) and even with the lowest settings the game ran as bad as it looked. So if your PC can handle it I recommend that version as it has more customization than the consoles.

The game also continues with high production values both visual and auditory, with good voice acting strewn everywhere, and luckily on the main characters Booker and Elizabeth. Speaking of Elizabeth, anyone worried that the game is one long escort quest will be happy to know that while yes technically it is, it is done very well and isn't the typical burden style of escort we are accustomed to. Liz never gets in the way of your shots (and will yell at you if you intentionally try to hit her) and will find and throw you health, salts (think plasma from Bioshock) and ammo when things get really heated in combat. She'll also find cash and throw you some in between combat as well. While I do like the interaction between Liz and Booker, it is a little annoying that you are unable to initiate any sort of conversation with Liz. Nearly all the times you interact with her are done through scripted sequences, making things feel a little artificial. Still, her whole dynamic with Booker is a welcome change from the silent protagonist we've had to deal with for Bioshock 1 + 2.

Still, all is not peaches and cream with this game, but luckily my complaints are minor but still valid. For one, this game has the same issues that the other Bioshock games had, which is the difficulty, which is to say there hardly is any. I played on Medium and I only died 3 times, and the first time occurred in the first battle when I was still adjusting to the gameplay style. I can't imagine how much of a cakewalk the easy mode is. Speaking of the combat, it has definitely changed since the other games, and I'm not particularly sure it was for the better. Gone is the previous games' system of multiple weapons/plasmids and having to heal yourself during intense battles to make sure you don't die. Perplexingly, this game has adopted the old "Halo" style of combat, where you are given a shield to protect you and then once that runs out you better get out of the way before you lose your life and wait for your shield to regenerate. Speaking of "adopting" things, you can only carry 2 weapons at a time now, and since this game takes place in the early 20th century, the weapons are older, and when swapping between a carbine and a sniper rifle I couldn't help but think I was playing Call of Duty. Not the "Modern" ones, but the original one that came out in 2003. There are a few other atypical weapons you can pick up but once I got a shotgun/hand cannon along with the sniper rifle I felt little need for anything else. I may try and force myself to have more variety next time. Also speaking of variety, the Vigors (or plasmids) are so-so IMO. I don't know what it is, but it didn't feel as fun or necessary to use them this time around, and I even had times where the game would yell at me for not using them in various battles. Oh, and on that topic, I wish the game would not assume that everytime I load a game up that I forgot what everything does. You know how when you first play a game, they often will guide you through and give you hints on what certain things do? Well Infinite tells you EVERY SINGLE TIME you start up your game. Hey Infinite, I've been playing this game for over 10 hours. I realize that Dollar merchants will sell me stuff and that Elizabeth will occasionally throw me some cash. Finally, the game's ending has been the subject of some controversy. While I thought it was a very good ending, I do feel it leaves a number of rather important questions unanswered, but I suppose they may leave that for the upcoming DLC that is coming out.

Overall the complaints I've listed are very minor and just are more proof that the perfect game has yet to be released, but Bioshock: Infinite is a damn good effort to try and make the best game in terms of both action as well as narrative. If you are a fan of either of these things, there is NO reason why you should not pick this game up. I definitely see this in my GOTY list and hopefully you will find it in yours as well. I give it an A-.

 

[king3pj]

I'm only about 3 hours in to Infinite so far. I have all settings maxed out and I'm still getting between 112 and 120 FPS on my PC. It looks beautiful but it must not be as demanding as Tomb Raider or Far Cry 3 which both range from 45-60 FPS on my PC. I am running all three games at 1920x1080 resolution on my HDTV.

With out giving any story details away I am about 30 minutes past meeting Elizabeth. I am loving the game so far but I'm pretty early in to it and I'm sure I still haven't even seen how many of the gameplay mechanics work. It feels like a full world which is something very different than the original Bioshock. This is one I can see myself playing through multiple times but I just haven't had as much time to sink into it as I would like so far.

 

[king3pj]

I just received a pretty sweet email from AMD. I bought a AMD 7850 graphics card for my first gaming PC which I built a few months ago. They were doing a promotion at the time where they were giving out free steam download codes for Tomb Raider and Bioshock infinite with the purchase of certain AMD cards. These are both very good games that I knew I wanted so it was great to have them both preloaded on my brand new machine before they were released.

This was already a great deal on a graphics card I only paid about $200 for. Today, a few months after my purchase, they sweetened the deal. They are adding the Far Cry 3 expansion Blood Dragon to the bundle for people purchasing those select cards from today forward. Better yet they are giving it out retroactively for people who already redeemed the other games in the original promotion. I think it was really cool of AMD to continue to give me free content even though they already had my money and no real reason to do so. My code is sitting in my email and ready to download from the Ubisoft online store.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[yourbeliefs]

I'm only about 3 hours in to Infinite so far. I have all settings maxed out and I'm still getting between 112 and 120 FPS on my PC. It looks beautiful but it must not be as demanding as Tomb Raider or Far Cry 3 which both range from 45-60 FPS on my PC. I am running all three games at 1920x1080 resolution on my HDTV.

With out giving any story details away I am about 30 minutes past meeting Elizabeth. I am loving the game so far but I'm pretty early in to it and I'm sure I still haven't even seen how many of the gameplay mechanics work. It feels like a full world which is something very different than the original Bioshock. This is one I can see myself playing through multiple times but I just haven't had as much time to sink into it as I would like so far.

You'll definitely want to play it again, after the big "twist" is revealed. I'm only about 70 minutes into my second playthrough and already it feels very different.

 

[king3pj]

You'll definitely want to play it again, after the big "twist" is revealed. I'm only about 70 minutes into my second playthrough and already it feels very different.

Well I finally finished infinite. It was a truly amazing game. It was a very deep story and world. Without giving away any spoilers I have to say that I still don't fully understand everything. I'm still just sitting here trying to digest everything. How many games can make you do that? This is right at the top with any game I have ever played.

According to steam it took me about 15 hours and I only got 45% of the achievements. I have seen it listed at about 12 hours for average player online but I really took my time looking for every voxophone and piece of loot I could find plus I'm not the fastest player to begin with. On my next play though I'm going to try to unlock the rest of the achievements if I can.

I immediately want to go back through it in 1999 mode and then play through the original Bioshock again. I still need to find time to finish Tomb Raider and Far Cry 3 and finally get started on Dishonored but right now I think I'd rather run through Infinite again.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[yourbeliefs]

I might hold off on the 1999 mode. I'm playing it again on Hard and it is quite a boost up in difficulty. 1999 mode is meant to reference "System Shock 2" difficulty, which was NOTORIOUSLY hard. Don't forget also that if you want the achievement tied to 1999, you have to win without buying any items from the dollar shops. Finally, don't forget you have to deal with checkpoints and penalties for dying, which doesn't help either. Unless you really want to put your feet to the flames I'd suggest just doing it on Hard so you get an added challenge but also get to experience the game in a whole new way knowing what you know this time.

 

[king3pj]

I might hold off on the 1999 mode. I'm playing it again on Hard and it is quite a boost up in difficulty. 1999 mode is meant to reference "System Shock 2" difficulty, which was NOTORIOUSLY hard. Don't forget also that if you want the achievement tied to 1999, you have to win without buying any items from the dollar shops. Finally, don't forget you have to deal with checkpoints and penalties for dying, which doesn't help either. Unless you really want to put your feet to the flames I'd suggest just doing it on Hard so you get an added challenge but also get to experience the game in a whole new way knowing what you know this time.

I did decide to hold off on 1999 mode and play through the original Bioshock again first. I think I'm only about an hour and a half to two hours in. One thing I can clearly see even early into the game is how much harder Bioshock 1 is than Infinite on normal difficulty.

The difficulty in Infinite ramps up a lot at the very end of the game but I thought most of it was pretty easy. I only died 1 or two times before the last hour of Infinite. In Bioshock 1 I have already died 3 or 4 time in the first 2 hours. Getting hit by 1 or 2 bullets in Bioshock 1 will drain most of your health. In infinite you have a shield and you can take more bullets even when it is depleted than you can in Bioshock 1. The Big Daddies are very tough too.

Bioshock 1 also has the Dead Space horror feel to it. Infinite had a couple creepy parts but for the most part it's not a horror game.


Posted Using The New SatelliteGuys Reader App!

 

[yourbeliefs]

I did decide to hold off on 1999 mode and play through the original Bioshock again first. I think I'm only about an hour and a half to two hours in. One thing I can clearly see even early into the game is how much harder Bioshock 1 is than Infinite on normal difficulty.

The difficulty in Infinite ramps up a lot at the very end of the game but I thought most of it was pretty easy. I only died 1 or two times before the last hour of Infinite. In Bioshock 1 I have already died 3 or 4 time in the first 2 hours. Getting hit by 1 or 2 bullets in Bioshock 1 will drain most of your health. In infinite you have a shield and you can take more bullets even when it is depleted than you can in Bioshock 1. The Big Daddies are very tough too.

Bioshock 1 also has the Dead Space horror feel to it. Infinite had a couple creepy parts but for the most part it's not a horror game.


Posted Using The New SatelliteGuys Reader App!

It's not so much that BS 1 is harder than Infinite, but rather the way you play them are quite different. I honestly found Infinite to be quite a bit harder, even though I didn't die a lot on normal. Once you get over not having a shield and use your health kits/plasma packs well (and also the fact that you can't use plasmids and weapons at the same time), it gets a lot easier, but also the difficulty will ramp up a bit, especially when it comes to the Big Daddies. Oh, and you'll learn to DESPISE the Big Sisters in Bioshock 2...

 

[king3pj]

It's not so much that BS 1 is harder than Infinite, but rather the way you play them are quite different. I honestly found Infinite to be quite a bit harder, even though I didn't die a lot on normal. Once you get over not having a shield and use your health kits/plasma packs well (and also the fact that you can't use plasmids and weapons at the same time), it gets a lot easier, but also the difficulty will ramp up a bit, especially when it comes to the Big Daddies. Oh, and you'll learn to DESPISE the Big Sisters in Bioshock 2...

I have played through Bioshock before but it has been a few years now. I do not remember thinking it was hard at the time so you may be right. I think coming directly off Infinite has trained me to play a certain way that doesn't really work in Bioshock.

The biggest thing is the lack of shield and how much faster my health drops. I pop out to shoot a few splicers and go down before I even realize I'm about to die because it feels like I haven't been out of cover long enough to be in trouble. You just can't take as much damage without using a health pack. This is another difference. Infinite didn't have health packs that you stored on you and could use in the middle of a battle so I die before I remember that I need to use them. Infinite trained me to get back into cover in these situations and wait until my shield recharges.

The other big thing that you mentioned is you can't have a weapon and plasmid equipped at the same time. I keep walking around the corner into a group of splicers. I go to shock the water they are standing in but I have the shotgun in my hand. Now instead of me getting the drop on them they are the ones shooting first.

One last big thing that is hurting me. I keep running out of ammo and having to rely on plasmids and my wrench only. Ammo is a much scarcer resource in Bioshock than it was in Infinite. There were only about 2 or 3 parts in the entire play through of Infinite that I had to worry about ammo. Every guy I killed dropped a gun and there was plenty of ammo to be found. Even in the most intense shootout sections where running out of cover for ammo would be a problem Elizabeth always threw me more when I was running low. In Bioshock even after I clear the room of splicers and search their bodies I might find 4 pistol rounds. This may clear itself up as I upgrade my character and find more powerful guns. I don't remember from my first play through.

Bioshock doesn't feel clunky at all. I wasn't sure if that would be the case coming off of Infinite and going back to a game I played in 2007. It doesn't look as stunning as Infinite but it is still a very pretty game for being 6 years old. All my problems are with the habits I formed in Infinite not translating back to Bioshock not with the game itself. Hopefully after a couple more hours of gameplay I will be able to break all those habits.

As for Bioshock 2, I never actually played this one. I never bought it because from what I heard at the time, it was still a fun game but the story didn't live up to BS 1. Now that I got it free from Playstation Plus I plan on playing through it soon.

 

[Zookster]

Bioshock 1 gets a lot easier after Neptune's Bounty, as by then you have a few more tonics and plasmids, you start upgrading your weapons, and you start researching the different enemy types for various bonuses.

If it wasn't for my backlog and the slew of games I'm getting free from PS Plus (right now I'm playing Sleeping Dogs), I'd be all over Infinite right now. :sigh: Just one more game to help me delay getting a PS4 in the fall, I guess.

 

[yourbeliefs]

As for Bioshock 2, I never actually played this one. I never bought it because from what I heard at the time, it was still a fun game but the story didn't live up to BS 1. Now that I got it free from Playstation Plus I plan on playing through it soon.

Bioshock 2 got a LOT of unjustified flack mainly because many people saw it as a quick cash in (even though it came out years after the original), Kevin Levine wasn't involved with it, it added unnecessary multiplayer, and the original didn't leave a lot of room for a sequel so it felt like an unnecessary story. While all those complaints are valid, it didn't mean the game wasn't fun. Yes the story was not up to par with the original, but that's like saying that Steve Young as a quarterback wasn't up to par with Joe Montana. It was still better than about 75% of other game stories, and the improvements in gameplay were greatly appreciated, such as refining the hacking minigames, and also adding the much desired weapons/plasmid functionality at the same time. The biggest knock against BS2 was that it came after BS1. If you liked BS1 and Infinite there's little reason to fear that you won't like BS2.