Rather than review these games (it's just too late for that, they're both
amazing and both must own games if you have a 360) I thought we'd do a bit of
the old compare and contrast. I'll be picking up The Orange Box pretty soon, so
there may be some three way action going down soon. Let's see how these
masterpieces match up. Oh and there will be some Spoilers, so watch yourself.
Graphics:
Bioshock takes place in mostly claustrophobic enclosed areas. There are a
few exceptions, but the fact that the game takes place underwater kinda limits
the environments. Halo 3 is far more wide open and many of the area's are
simply enormous. Because of this, Halo 3 isn't the graphical stunner that
Bioshock is. The map design in Halo 3 is better, but with so much area to cover
it's hard to concentrate on every little detail. The game still looks very
good, especially the weapons and explosions, but there are a few problem areas
like the human faces and some of the textures indoors. Bioshock is so
detailed it's nasty. Every corner of the game is painstakingly detailed, the
human faces and lighting affects are incredible and the weapon and plasmid
effects continue to impress even after 10 hours of play. I've got to give
a pretty substantial edge to Bioshock in this department.
Winner: Bioshock
Sound:
This is the toughest decision of all, but I swear I’m not going to puss out
and declare a tie. This here is a death-match and I plan for blood to spill.
Let's start with Bioshock's sound design, which is arguably the most impressive
aspect of the entire game. The soundtrack is filled with 50's classics
ringing through crackling speakers and burned out radios, hollowed footsteps
giving your position as well as those of your enemies away, you're haunted by
that terrifying yell of the Big Daddy, electricity crackles from your
fingertips, explosions rip across channels and even the transmissions on your
handheld radio have an air of authenticity. The only negative is how
frequently certain lines are repeated by some of the enemies. Halo 3 has
the best soundtrack of the Halo series, which says quite a bit. The
soundtrack ebbs and flows perfectly with the story and swells at just the right
times to really heighten the tension during a few enormous battles. The
weapon effects and explosions are familiar but clearly improved. The
chatter of the marines and covenant doesn't get old. There are far fewer
repeats in what seems like thousands of lines of dialogue. Bungie really
went to town in that aspect. It's hard to choose but I'm going to have to
go with Bioshock here. Bungie did some fantastic work here, especially
with the soundtrack and in game chatter, but Bioshock managed to really push
the envelope when it comes to the atmospheric sounds of Bioshock. This is a
game that sets the standard for sound mixing and editing, and the choice of
songs is amazing despite claims that they couldn't get most of the songs they
wanted.
Winner: Bioshock
Story:
This one is not so tough to pick. Halo 3 does a great job of closing out the
story lines haphazardly laid out in the first two games. It's a
satisfying and compelling storyline if you've followed the series to this
point. Someone who's picking up Halo 3 as their first Halo game will be pretty
lost, but still mildly entertained. Bioshock's storyline destroys Halo 3. Equal
Parts Ayn Rand and the Shining, the story is crazy compelling, densely laired
and perfectly paced. The ending to both games leave something to be desired
though.
Winner Bioshock
Gameplay:
Bioshock controls like a typical FPS, but the shooting is not exactly
tight. Most people I've talked to used the wrench more often than any
other weapon and honestly, that aspect got a bit old. The plasmids add
quite a bit of variety to the gameplay, but many of them don't require much more
than pointing in one general direction and firing away while the plasmids do
all the work. The AI is pretty good, but prone to blindly rushing at you
when injured and repeating the same acts over and over again at certain
points. Halo 3 is the pinnacle of FPS controls on a console system.
Be sure to adjust the sensitivity to your liking, then marvel at the fine
tuning that Bungie put into the way this game controls. The A.I. is also
the best of the series. The Grunts act like typical dumb enemies while they're
being protected by a Brute, but if you fell the Brute, these guys will often
retreat and take strategic positions or just plain hide. The enemies work
together well and your allies (when being controlled by the computer) are
helpful most of the time. The companion AI suffers a bit when it comes to
vehicles, as they often drive in circles until enemies are defeated and are
insanely good when on the turret.
Winner: Halo 3
Replay Value:
To put it bluntly, Bioshock's single player experience is way better than
Halo 3's. But Bioshock is meant to be played about twice (Unless they come
through with some of that promised Downloadable Content). Halo 3 will probably
never die. The Single player experience is fun, and it demands to be
replayed in coop modes. Then there's the Multi player. There is just no
touching the Halo 3 multiplayer experience right now. (Call of Duty 4
promises to be a contender in the field later this year). Aside from the
typical deathmatch, capture the flag and king of the hill scenarios and
variations, the newest addition is The Forge, a sort of map editor where you
don't edit the structure of the map, only the placement of objects, spawnable
weapons, grenades and ect. Very deep system and will add an unlimited
amount of replay on even the most familiar maps. Then the custom games
allow you to change the speed, gravity and other effects. Then there's clan
battles, saved film editing and sharing etc etc etc. Halo 3 will easily
top the most played list on Xbox live for the foreseeable future. Quite
possibly until Halo 4 comes out.
Winner: Halo 3
Overall:
Let's pretend you only have $75 in your budget and have to choose only one
of these games. Which to choose? Well if you're stuck in the stone ages
and can't get online or refuse to drop the money for Gold membership after the
free time (Included with Halo 3) is up, then Bioshock is the way to go.
It's a better single player experience, longer and meatier than Halo 3. But if
you have the ability to go online with your 360, Halo 3 represents the much
better value. The single player can be played a couple times with online co op,
and the multiplayer is endless. Even if you're getting slaughtered in the
ranked matches, hop over to the social matches and find a few friends who are
on your level, link up (just tap X after the match) and play to your heart's
content. Halo 3 is playable for the next year at least, Bioshock is good
for a few playthroughs at best.
Winner: Halo 3
That about wraps it up. You really can't go wrong picking up either of these
games and it should be a pretty tight race for Game of The Year. I had to
give the edge to Halo 3 because of the Multiplayer. IF Bungie didn't do such an
amazing job with their online multiplayer system, the choice would have been Bioshock
easily. However, lack of sustained replay value brings Bioshock down a
couple tenths of a point.
Lazy Reviews in a Score:
Bioshock: 9.6
Halo 3: 9.8
Mahalo,
Duke