Bioshock, in pieces, was a fantastic game. It included a simple but interesting skill tree, classic FPS mechanics, and creative weapons. It featured a sectoral but open level design. It had interesting and intriguing characters and back story. It’s narrative was well presented. But for all these nice touches, they didn’t mesh. Maybe I’m over thinking it, but I believe being critical of anything exposes why it was so good in the first place. Bioshock does not come together as a single whole or as one work. First of all, it was a lackluster RPG. Some people argue it was never an RPG to begin with, They say it was a Shooter. So why were the guns so arduous to shoot? Why was the game 25 hours? The reason a Shooter lasts at most 13 hours is because shooting for another ten is boring. If it was a Shooter, it was poorly paced. Another problem would be, why did we have free form character building, considering the ‘twist’ at the end? If I was a slave, I would be more concerned with kindly doing what I was asked, not wandering around for ADAM. And if I really was a slave all along, why did I do so much wandering? Now, I don’t know how you played the game, but me, I got into an area and the first thing I did was loot and kill everything I could. I even waited for respawns so I could get more. The only reason I ever progressed in the game was because the loading screen was the last door I hadn’t checked. For a slave, I do a piss poor job.

This was my biggest qualm with the game. They throw this dumb plot twist at you completely out of nowhere, like they were arguing with you, got you to swear and shouted “ha I made you swear!”. You walk through the last door in the area, which get’s blocked off once you do, and Fontaine comes on your comm shouting (in a very bad accent) “You were a slave”. Seriously? I couldn’t tell, I’ve been farming ADAM, I wanted to shoot bees, when did I become your slave? Maybe the RPG/Character Building stuff was too add a bit of irony to the situation. Hey, check out our customizable game experience, but wait! You were a slave all along! Maybe that was the case, but I don’t think so. I think Bioshock was trying to hard to be what people wanted it to be, instead of what IT wanted to be. They wanted to be like System Shock, because people loved System Shock. But they wanted it to be like Halo, because people love Halo. How do we combine the two? Keep the open-ish world and RPG elements, introduce the straightforward gunplay and level progression from Halo, 9.0s here I come! Obviously, and this is true with all products, there were compromises. They needed to sell the game, after all. But the game betrayed it’s own ideas. It’s own design. The game was not that intriguing to me. The only reason I made progress was because I was looking for more ADAM. I wanted to make Big Daddies kick other Big Daddy ass… Eventually I made it to the end, but not because I was being compelled by Fontaine’s nasty voice. Because I was trying to do something for me. Max out my stats.

The ability to choose to kill or let live the Little Sisters also betrayed the concept of the game. Just because Fontaine never said “would you kindly kill her” that doesn’t mean it fits right in. Fact is, giving me a dilemma like that (and so many times) contrasts the fact that I’m supposed to be going forward, following orders. I shouldn’t be stopping to choose to help or unhelp anyone. Why am I given a choice if I am a slave? The irony? On top of all this, the ADAM and plasmid system makes it most obvious. Why is my person being turned into whatever I’d like, at whatever points I’d like if I was just told to go to ______ or to collect ______? Why am I not following orders if I really am a slave? I think all this was poorly delivered. You could argue, “well the type of game they wanted to make wouldn’t guarantee the player followed the tracks we set so you have to take it with a grain of salt. Make a huge bottle, but ultimately come out at one narrow end”. Or you could design the game to play the way the story and characters develop. Linear. Tied to a goal without the choice to do other wise. Narrow paths, blocked exits, obvious directions and markings showing where you need to be. Then, you could unlock everything at the end, make it completely open when you stop taking Fontaine’s orders. That way the gameplay would mirror the design of the narrative.

Let’s look at Half Life 1 and 2. People say the plot of these games are not nearly as good as other people have made them out to be. What people do not realize is that Half Life is not just another shooter with a line stolen from every 1970s sci-fi book. It’s a First Person game. Not just a First Person Shooter, but a First Person game. Want to know why the story is so confusing? Because you don’t know what Breen and the slugs have been talking about, what Alyx and Eli and Kleiner have been up to for the last 10 or so years, what Judith does in secret, or what the Vortigaunts can see. You don’t know because you only have a pair of eyes. No ability to travel outside of your body and magically see what everyone else is talking about. The gameplay mirrored the narrative. It was a first person narrative. You got from the story exactly what Gordon had experienced. The gameplay was linear and the story farfetched because there were holes. You weren’t around to see or find out what happened, because you were in a vent instead of floating behind some Commanding Officer in a plane telling his men to kill everyone in Black Mesa. That’s why you don’t understand why the military is out to kill you. The game was designed superbly, and because Bioshock couldn’t take a hint, Half Life not only remains as one of the only games to do this, but probably the best game that’s done this, and to this day, is groundbreaking.

Now take a look at Shadow Of The Colossus. Everything about SotC was designed to push certain feelings and ellicit certain reactions. Why was the world so big? So you would feel small. Why were the Colossi so colossal? So you would feel helpless. Why was their no music outside of the fights? So you would feel lonely. Why was the colour so monotonous? So you would feel sad. Despite having an open world, there was next to nothing to do besides go to the next colossus. Why was there a never a direct route to getting to them (besides the first)? So you could see how much landscape there was, so you could see how insignificant you are. This game featured 3 story cinematics. The starting, the middle, and the end. Somehow, this game pushed more story, more consistently and more powerfully than any game I can think of before it and after it. Players who weren’t paying attention and who didn’t finish it passed it off as being empty and lacking any story at all. How does that explain the wikipages? The discussion that go on every night on some forum about it’s plot and it’s meaning? The game had a very healthy amount of plot considering dialogue was at a minimum and the only two conversations are between the main character and Dormin, and the shaman and his gaurds. The world and the experience and visuals told the story. Wanders deteriorating through out the game, the doves appearing by Mono, the statues counting down, the ruins strewn about the world, all of it told a story, thousands and thousands of years in the making. SotC is the perfect example of design and focus. Made with a purpose and it achieved so much more then people give it credit.

But for whatever reason, the broken Bioshock is selling millions and topping the rankings. I had fun turning the Big Daddies on eachother, I won’t lie. Hacking sentries was cool. The propaganda was funny. But, like I said earlier, seen in pieces the game is fantastic, but as a whole, it failed. Bioshock looked nice. It was well dressed in it’s novelty world. But deep inside it, where it all began on paper, it’s design failed.

The Survivors (from left: Francis, Bill, Zoey, Louis)

So Left 4 Dead has been out for a while now and I’ve noticed that there’s a severe lack of teamwork and skill amongst the XBOX LIVE! community. Every game I have entered I have won. It’s a good feeling to win constantly but sometimes I just feel bad for the other team. Therefore this article will be about all the dos and don’ts of Left 4 Dead’s versus mode.

Let’s start by learning about versus mode. Versus mode is essentially a campaign with a few modified details in the maps and human players taking the roles of the boss infected. The goal of versus is not which team kills the most zombies, but rather which team makes it farther in each campaign map. The score is tallied as such: Average Distance % + Health Bonus x Survival Multiplier x Difficulty Modifier. Average distance % is determined by taking the distances of each individual survivor, adding them up, and dividing by four. For example: Bill traveled with the team 24% of the way and died, so his avg. distance % is 24; Zoey made it 56% of the way; but Louis and Francis reached the safe house so they both get 100%. The team’s average would be 70%. Health bonus is determined by the the team’s collected health at the end of the round divided by two. For example a perfect health bonus would be 200 with each member having 100% health. Survival multiplier is on a scale of 0-4 and is determined by how many survivors made it to the safe house. The difficulty modifier changes depending on the level; starting at x1 on the first chapter and ending at x2 on chapter five. If your team doesn’t reach the safe house then your score would be calculated as such: Average Distance %  x Difficulty Modifier. Whether you make or not you will still be scored.

So without further ado, here are my tips on being a better survivor:

• Always have a mic and always have a team full of mic users. Communication is the key to survival, a silent team will always be a dead team.
• Be willing to listen to what your fellow teammates tell you. If you cooperate you WILL have a better chance of survival
• ALWAYS watch each others’ backs. There’s no I in team but there is in meat pie, which is what you’ll become without them. It’s also very helpful to have someone walk backwards occasionally to make sure there aren’t any rear ambushes.
• Try to make it through the level as fast as you can, but always stick together. If you find a slow spot in the map it is OK to take a rest and heal there since you might not have another chance.
• Start with at least two people with the Uzi and two with the shotgun, that way you can clear out close zombies with the shotgun and the more spread out ones with the Uzi without wasting a lot ammo.
• Heal other teammates when they need it. Your team will live longer the healthier they are.
• Try not to look everywhere for supplies, this just slows down the team and gives the enemy more time to prepare and respawn.
• Always melee in big crowds to conserve ammo. There’s a little trick where if you press the left trigger and Y really fast you will melee faster. The only downside to fast melee is there won’t be any reloading. If you need to reload when you’re being crowded then melee as you reload; since melee doesn’t stop your reloading you can protect yourself while doing it. Also, if one of your teammates is being pounced or smoked ALWAYS MELEE THEM. Melee has a no risk of friendly fire and it will knock the Hunter off and let the strangled loose. Two against a Hunter or Smoker is always better than one.
• DO NOT GO CHASING AFTER THE BOSS INFECTED ALONE. DO NOT ENCOUNTER THE WITCH WITHOUT TEAMMATES NEARBY TO KILL HER IF YOU MESS UP. DO NOT BE ALONE FOR ANY REASON.
• When there’s a Tank I find the best weapon is the auto-shotty. About a clip and a half from one person can take it down up close. With four people pumping a Tank with it, he should go down no problem.
• Know your weapon and what it does: an Assault Rifle takes down a crowd of zombies with more headshots; an Automatic Shotgun will take out a close crowd of zombies no problem; and a Hunting Rifle’s bullets do not stop until they hit a wall, ideal for taking out very close zombies since it kills the zombie behind the zombie you shoot. Even though the Hunting Rifle has a scope, it is by no means a sniper rifle; so do your team a favor and don’t pretend you’re a sniper, you’re only gonna get pounced or smoked.
• Always shove a Boomer before you shoot it, and if you still get vomited on then run to a corner and MELEE. If you try to shoot you run the risk of friendly fire. If one of your teammates has been vomited on then stick close, the other team will take this opportunity to attack whoever is farthest from the blinded.
• Try to be in a team of your friends. This improves things a whole lot and you WILL stand more of a chance at victory than you would with strangers.
• Always remember that you ONLY HAVE ONE LIFE. So try to keep yourself and your team alive no matter what, and if you make it to the safe house then heal before you close the door for extra points.
• One more thing, BE CAREFUL! If you see a boss infected standing in front of a Witch or car, you know what they’re trying to make you do. They tend to not move until you shoot at them so try your best to move around them and ignore it.

My my, that is a lot for the survivors to take in, and I’m still not done yet. Stay tuned if you want to know what makes a good infected player.

• Communication is just as important as infected. Try to have a mic and be in a team consisting of mic users. Being in a team of friends is bonus points as well.
• Your goal as infected is to prevent the survivors from going as far as you did or plan to. If you can stop the other team from getting to the safe house then you’ll have it easier.
• Always try to slow them down no matter what. Unlike the survivors, the infected can respawn. So it’s OK to die as long as you get a few good hits in.
• Try to make the survivors waste their med kits as fast as you can. This assures you that they will go down faster if they can’t heal themselves later on.
• Confusing the survivors and making them panic is the best thing you can do, it’ll raise the chance of friendly fire and if you’re good enough you could pounce or grab one without the others noticing.
• Always target survivors in the red since they will go down faster.
• If you see a Witch or car that’s not immediately in their way then try to stand behind or on top of it. There’s always a high chance that a survivor will shoot you without giving it a thought, alerting the Witch or a horde. Try to protect the Witch while she kills her victim since you only get one shot at using her. If a horde is alerted then try to separate the survivors so they’ll have a lower chance of killing zombies alone than together.

A Boomer

• As a Boomer you should try to ambush the survivors as soon as the game starts. This prevents them from getting a head start on your team and gives you a HUGE chance at causing some big damage. Don’t be scared to die as a Boomer either, if you see that the survivors are close together then try to get in the middle of them and either vomit on them or die in the middle of them. This way you can get more of them blinded and delay their advance. There are also some good hiding places around the maps if you want to hit & run. This can be anywhere that there’s a hole or a rooftop that you can vomit from.

• 

  A Hunter

  As a Hunter, try to ambush the person who’s farthest ahead or behind. This will give you a lot of time to do damage and possibly incap the player. If the survivors are sticking close together then do not wait for them to split; instead you should pounce on them while they’re close together. If you can coordinate with your team then you can confuse them with another Hunter pouncing or a Smoker grabbing someone else. As long as you can get some damage in then you did a good job. Always remember that if you pounce a survivor from high up then you will immediately do damage to them upon landing. If there’s an area that the survivors cannot get back to then pounce the survivor farthest back from their team so that they cannot be rescued. NEVER pounce the person that the Smoker has grabbed, this will only increase the number of guns pointed at your team and the charge time for the Smoker’s tongue. Try to pounce targets that aren’t being attacked by other team members. Try to pounce on survivors that are surrounded by normal infected, this will give you a body shield and more damage will be done to the survivor.

• 

  A Smoker

  As a Smoker, try to drag the person furthest ahead FORWARD into the zombies. Since the survivors probably cleared the area behind them you will be a sitting duck from behind, but ahead you will receive backup in the form of normal infected. If you’re behind the survivors then drag one of them as far back as possible. Make the survivors back track as much as you can so that you can have more time to kill them. If the map you are playing on has areas that the survivors can fall from then try to drag them off those areas. A survivor that’s hanging cannot fight back and there’s a high chance that the person who tries to help them will fall off as well. If there’s an area that the survivors cannot get back to then drag the survivor farthest back away from their team so that they cannot be rescued. Try to spawn in areas higher than where the survivors are, this will give you more time to hide and charge as well as choose a target that’s far ahead or behind. Always hide if you’re not immediately attacking somebody.

• 

  A Tank

  As a Tank you should ALWAYS hit the survivors with objects. Cars, broken trees, and dumpsters are some of the things that you can punch and send flying towards the survivors. If you hit a survivor with one of the objects it is an instant incap. NEVER let the survivors run circles around you, try to intercept their path and punch them. If they’re too far away then throw a rock at the survivors. Always target one survivor at a time since you can take out the whole team faster one by one than by switching targets mid-run. NEVER target a survivor pinned by a Hunter or choked by a Smoker, go for the ones trying to help their friends. If the area you’re in has places where the survivors can fall off then try to hit the survivors off. Remember, if you don’t do anything as a Tank then you will lose your turn and he’ll be passed to the next player.

That about does it for the infected side of things. A few more in general tips and we’ll be about done.

• Always vote-kick a trouble maker no matter what.
• ALWAYS HAVE A MIC (you really cannot stress that enough).
• Try to always play with friends.
• Always be willing to cooperate and listen.
• Don’t be selfish, alone, or a jerk.

I hope this guide helps you do better on Left 4 Dead. Who knows, maybe we’ll run into each other online and have a fair fight.