Rafiki wrote:

Great game, one of the best I've played, but still flawed. I'm apparently the only non-pussy on the internet. Other forums contain posts from people getting all teary-eyed over the Little Sisters, and having to turn the game off because it made them sad. I harvested every Little Sister until I got to the orphanage, where I figured there would be huge consequences if I continued harvesting what with Tenenbaum helping me. NOPE! I still got the world domination ending. I should have just kept on harvesting to see the reaction. At least I got to hear the girls in the orphanage say, "Who's he?" "He's the one that hurts us."

Every review ever probably talks about the graphics, the atmosphere, the sound, the acting, etc. Yes, it's all good. Let's talk about other stuff, in a handy list format because I don't feel like writing complete paragraphs.

-The game actually rewards you for exploring every little area on the map. I was up to my ass in ammo and health kits and EVE needles almost all the time.

-The game starts out with a startling amount of detail with all the posters and signs and shit scrawled on the floors, ceilings, and walls in blood and did I miss anything? I better go back and check. But like every game that starts out this way, it loses its momentum by the second level and you focus in on killing stuff.

-Hacking almost seemed overpowered. The first thing I did in any area with turrets and cameras was bolt straight for them and hack them, ignoring any enemies. Then I'd just stand back and let them mow down all the enemies. It was fun for the normal splicers, but it seems kind of cheap when a security camera can take down a Big Daddy with infinite flying bots. And when enemies respawned in areas behind me, I'd just leisurely finish my objective while a firefight was going on and then walk back and loot the pile of bodies. In the lab level, I was constantly hearing the rocket turret firing off and would return to find bodies all over the place.

-Bioshock wins where Half-Life 2 loses with the gravity gun telekinesis: objects you pick up turn transparent so you can see in front of you. Half-Life should copy this immediately.

-Early on in the game I thought to myself, "At least the enemies don't ever pretend to play dead." Lo and behold...

-Hephaestus was the worst area in the entire game, and commited multiple video game sins.

• The first time I moused over one of the quarts of gel, I knew I was going to have to pick them up for something. But, of course, you can't until the game tells you you need to. Then you have to backtrack through respawns.


• Ditto for the parts off of the Big Daddies. I killed 3 of them before the game told me I needed parts off of them (which aren't available to loot beforehand), and naturally the corpses disappeared. I shouldn't be penalized for doing things early.


• Respawns were out of control, particularly when assembling the EMP bomb. Collect a set of parts, run back to the workshop and, HEY!, 2 enemies playing dead. Add the part to the bomb and run upstairs, and LOOK! 2 new splicers in a room I cleared. Repeat EVERY FUCKING TIME I got a new set of parts. Why didn't they just say, "don't come back until you have all the parts."

-After Hephaestus, respawns became way too predictable. Every time you entered a new area on the map, respawns are triggered. Gay.

-The best plasmid in the game was Enrage. Always a good time to see enemies beating the shit out of each other, especially if it's two Big Daddies.

-Was the bee swarm plasmid worth anything at all? Like everyone I'm sure, I picked it up just so I could create reenactments of Nicholas Cage in Wickerman, but it seemed to not really doing anything except annoy enemies until I shot them too many times. I stopped using it the second time a Big Daddy walked too close to a splicer being attacked and picked up bees too.

-Stealth plus wrench tonics were beastly.

-Why is it I could stand 10 inches from someone and hit them with the upgraded damage shotgun, but it would only knock off a tiny fraction of their health?

Anyway, good game. Going to replay it again without harvesting this time.