In retrospect, I feel that I should have played the original version instead of opting for the remaster on my first playthrough as there were two bugs which caused my game to stop running at numerous points - one which made the game randomly crash on occasion whenever I interacted with various machines in the game, and then another where the game would freeze frequently upon checking my map with the controller. The second issue was a huge hindrance as I tend to check my map in these sorts of games a lot, and the only fix I seemed to find was using the 'm' key on my keyboard to open up the map instead of using my controller, and even then it still froze a couple times which proved to be a mildly frustrating experience. Thankfully I saved generously so it wasn't too much of an issue, but there doesn't seem to be any kind of fix for these problems and it seems this isn't an uncommon issue for this version of the game. The only reason I didn't switch to the original despite having these issues with the remaster was because I had only noticed it once I had already cleared through a large portion of the first area of the game and I didn't particularly feel like starting back over from the beginning.
Regarding the game itself - I thought it was decent. Rapture is one of the most intriguing settings I've had the chance to explore within a video game and I like a lot of the ideas here as well as learning about how Rapture fell to ruin and anarchy through the various audio logs found throughout the game; the environmental design was nothing short of excellent (I really liked the Art Deco aesthetic) and I was a huge fan of how immersive the atmosphere was - especially during Fort Frolic, that area was awesome. Without giving too much away, I also liked how the first-person perspective was utilized in order to enhance the effect of its narrative.
The main things that dragged the experience down for me were the combat which was interesting in theory but ultimately wasn't my cup of tea in practice, no consequences for dying which meant I could use the vita-chambers as warp points, the hacking system which felt like an exercise in tedium, the morality mechanic which I felt could have been reworked entirely, and then I also felt that the game started to unravel a bit after the notorious twist of the game - especially the final fight and the entire section preceding it. I do feel as if this game was worth my time without a doubt, but I also don't feel completely satisfied with the experience. I will say though that despite my qualms with Bioshock, there is a lot that it brings to the table and I can easily see how it's acquired such a large fanbase, so would you kindly check this game out for yourself if you haven't already?
Regarding the game itself - I thought it was decent. Rapture is one of the most intriguing settings I've had the chance to explore within a video game and I like a lot of the ideas here as well as learning about how Rapture fell to ruin and anarchy through the various audio logs found throughout the game; the environmental design was nothing short of excellent (I really liked the Art Deco aesthetic) and I was a huge fan of how immersive the atmosphere was - especially during Fort Frolic, that area was awesome. Without giving too much away, I also liked how the first-person perspective was utilized in order to enhance the effect of its narrative.
The main things that dragged the experience down for me were the combat which was interesting in theory but ultimately wasn't my cup of tea in practice, no consequences for dying which meant I could use the vita-chambers as warp points, the hacking system which felt like an exercise in tedium, the morality mechanic which I felt could have been reworked entirely, and then I also felt that the game started to unravel a bit after the notorious twist of the game - especially the final fight and the entire section preceding it. I do feel as if this game was worth my time without a doubt, but I also don't feel completely satisfied with the experience. I will say though that despite my qualms with Bioshock, there is a lot that it brings to the table and I can easily see how it's acquired such a large fanbase, so would you kindly check this game out for yourself if you haven't already?