Tl dr: System Shock ruined Bioshock for me. Corridor shooters with terrible shooting don't usually work that well. This wouldn't normally be an issue, but among the only things not changed from SS is the rather clunky combat with bullet-sponge enemies. Seriously, the game loves to lock you in rooms while waves of Splicers come at you.

The dungeon-crawler level design is replaced by disappointingly linear corridors that shuffle you from combat arena to combat arena. But it feels like they streamlined it so much that they wound up removing everything fun. The story is fantastic and the setting is cool. I still run through the System games regularly, but Bioshock just feels so dull in comparison.īioshock definitely does a lot right. I enjoyed it enough to go back and play its predecessors, the System Shock games, which now rank among my favorite games of all time.īut now, when I try to go back and play Bioshock again, I simply can't run through it without getting bored and stopping. Context: I played Bioshock when it first came out and loved it.

Bioshock vs system shock 2