BioShock for noobs

So I finally got around to play the BioShock demo. It's not very long, but manages to give you a good impression what the game is about. Good news first: There is an "easy" difficulty level, even with a helpful hint that this is what you should choose if you don't play shooters otherwise. And at least in the demo I had no problems surviving in easy mode. Graphically BioShock is stunning. The game starts with you in the water, fire all around, and I've never seen water looking so real before on my screen. And that was at standard graphics settings, and running smoothly, albeit on my relatively high-end machine (GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB, 4 GB RAM, E6600 CPU).

The gameplay is first-person-shooter meets Diablo, because you not only have weapons, ammo, and a red health bar, but also spells (called "plasmids" and supposed to be some genetical enhancement) and a blue mana bar (called "Eve"). Thus you can for example stun your enemy with a lightning bolt before clobbering him with a wrench or shooting him with a pistol. The game is atmospherically dense, telling a grim tale of an utopia gone wrong, styled in images from the 1950's.

But in the end it's just a shooter. A good one, as far as I can tell, but nevertheless you need to like the gameplay of shooters to enjoy it. And I don't. Monsters jumping at me from dark corners, forcing me into frantic action with spells and weapons isn't exactly my thing. I prefer slower games that require more strategic thinking. Nevertheless I don't regret having downloaded the demo, it is always good to know what the others are playing.