For a while now I wanted to give the BioShock: The Collection a go on PC. In case you don’t know what this is, it’s a remastered re-release of all BioShock games with visual updates, with the exception of Infinite, which remains unchanged on PC, while modern consoles got a port from PC. Now, I’ve talked about all the games and DLCs, with the exception of Minerva’s Den, before, so I won’t delve deep into analyzing each game or DLC, but instead I wanted to just share some thoughts on The Collection as a whole and do a quick look back at each game.
I have a rather unpopular opinion about BioShock 1 – I find it mostly boring and wasn’t, and still isn’t, impressed by it as much as some. That said, it is somewhat ironic and telling that for a game I don’t care much about, I return to it this often to write about it for a fourth time or so. And while it did grow on me, and I have always respected it and how it made a very simplified version of “FPS with special abilities” immersive sim and built a very interesting world, it still takes a complete nose-dive after a fantastic opening and becomes a rather average FPS at best after it’s famous (if predictable) plot twist.
Remastered version of the game on paper seems like the best way to go. It does look better, with nicer lighting, less muddy textures, better higher than 1080p resolution support and extra features, even if a few scenes look a bit simpler with less contrasting tones with the new lighting. But the main issue of this version seems to be its general instability. While the original game has its share of tech issues (audio can be a problem), it’s mostly crash-free, while this version crashed for me at least 5 times and some report even worse performance. Some of the “Remastered” things are also a bit lacking. The long interview you can unlock is interesting, if a bit less in-depth than I hoped it would be, and it also shows Ken Levine’s complete lack of respect for BioShock 2 and unhealthy waifu love for Elizabeth from Infinite, rivaled only by Lightning Returns. Museum of unused/cut content is just a tiny room with few models and concepts. And the characters that didn’t have unique 3D models in the original just because the team ran out of time and have since gotten ones in later games still have their generic slicer models (despite not being slicers). Luckily, you get both versions of the game on PC, so you can always play the original if you get the Remastered version, but I’d suggest trying the Remastered first and seeing if it’s more or less stable for you, because it is a better way to experience/re-experience BioShock.
BioShock 2 is my favorite title in the series. It improved everything that could be improved and told an actually good story – so good, in fact, that a lot of the story beats have been outright reused in Infinite, except worse. And the only big fault of the game, I feel, is its high dependence on the original to understand the world and some of the character motives and the fact that some of the concepts and ideas are a bit simplified or underdeveloped compared to what they could’ve been (and were planned to be earlier in the development).
Minerva’s Den is a DLC to the game that I’ve experienced for the first time due to its very late release on PC, but was very curious about due to all the praise it originally got (with the developers of it moving on to create Fullbright and make several acclaimed narrative indie games). And got to be honest – I was very disappointed. The DLC feels like a completely unnecessary addition to 2 and the story beats and concepts it covers are covered in a rather simplistic and primitive way to the point they are not particularly interesting. Putting the DLC into perspective, it being a narrative tiny team made DLC in 2010, when the narrative-driven titles were not mainstream, I suppose it explains the praise. But I found the DLC to be rather poorly written at times and not really worth the time.
Remastered version of the game is less visually impressive than the remaster of the original simply because BioShock 2 was already amazing in terms of visuals and art design, so the main benefits of the Remaster lie in other areas. The most important one is the fact that you can now adjust the FOV, which was nauseating in the original version. Another benefit that I’ve experienced was an almost complete lack of crashes, but I might be lucky here, since a lot of people reported same instability as the original game even after all the recent patches. That said, the original version, which is also available for you if you purchase the Remastered version, was incredibly unstable even before the dreaded GFWL was removed, and after got even worse, which was the main reason I’ve never checked the DLC – it just crashed all the time I tried. Sadly, the DLC is still sold separately, but as mentioned you might as well skip it as it’s not worth the time. Oh and the multiplayer was cut in the Remastered version, but I doubt anyone even noticed.
And finally, we get to BioShock Infinite and Burial at Sea DLCs of which I’ve talked before a few years ago. Returning to them has been curious, especially to the main game after experiencing the dreadful DLCs. I still feel that a lot of the main game is very fun in terms of its amazing visual presentation and the curious storytelling that you just have to think of metaphorically because taken scientifically at face value it falls apart so quickly. There’s some magic (and magic realism) in it that is not often found in videogame storytelling and Ken Levine’s fascination with Coen’s The Hudsucker Proxy is especially obvious. It does become extremely tedious in its action bits, lacking a lot of small nuances of the first two games, and, as such, becomes a chore closer to the end of the game when one action scene is followed by another. But it’s an enjoyable and beautiful game still worth checking out today.
Unlike the Burial at Sea DLCs. As mentioned already, the story of Infinite is best experienced as more of a metaphor about storytelling, infinite possibilities, with the events resembling something closer to the constantly shifting dream, rather than a proper narrative. Burial at Sea goes full on serious and with a full on hard on on Elizabeth as a character and self-praise to BioShock 1 (completely discarding 2 in the process). The story, the character motivations, the narrative are thrown out of the window, with the DLCs focusing just on genuinely beautiful visuals of a better thought out and written story of Rapture and memorable scenes that look good, even if they make little sense. Stealth focus of the second episode is at least a curious attempt at returning closer to the roots of immersive sim games, but it’s not particularly fun and is even worse nowadays, when we had so many more well made stealth titles released since then.
Is BioShock: The Collection worth playing? Absolutely. They’re not my first choice for the type of game, of course, but are great examples of interesting worlds and engaging gameplay. It should be a very good choice if you own a modern console. If you play on your PC, though, you might want to check if buying the whole collection is a cheaper option or if it’s better to purchase just the separate games. DLCs, as mentioned, can be ignored, but all three main games are something to experience or re-experience.