So I bought Bioshock now that it's cheap. I wasn't expecting it to be my cup of tea, and I'm disappointed to say that my instinct seems to have been pretty spot on. Compared to its predecessor, System Shock 2 - which I have never played beyond the beginning, to my great chagrin - the set up just seems weak.
I don't understand why everyone I meet wants to kill me. I don't understand why when they do kill me I just respawn in a vita-chamber, but when I kill them they stay dead. I don't understand how you can hack a computer using little squares to re-route water. And most criminally of all: this game just isn't scaring me.
There was one bit that did give me chills, where you know there's someone or something around the corner, and when you turn around the corner the lights go out. But that's it. System Shock 2 didn't even need set pieces to frighten you. Just surviving was scary, crouching in a shadowed corner with a half broken pistol, waiting for one of the Many to pass you by while it lamented pathetically about its lost humanity.
By contrast, I can't help but think that Bioshock is just another shooter. Especially in the sense that you spend most of the time shooting bad guys, with very little tension or suspense. And where in System Shock 2 the absence of character interaction nurtured a desperate sense of isolation, here - where there are plenty of people around, and they just all want to kill me - it makes me think that Bioshock is something of a step backwards.
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