Who else loves the 1940's/50's style of the game?
I do, I've always liked that neat 40s/50s style, and I also like the enemy design too, which reminds me of the first time I saw this game, I was on gamespot looking at the news and it was when bioshock was first announced, and when I read the info, I started to go crazy, and was constantly checking for updates.
Anyways, enough of my ramblings what do you think about the art style?
definitely love the art-deco style they have. it fits very well into the game.
I love the old cartoon people of the 1940s. All happy, animated, always going somewhere... and then there are dead bodies littering the floor around them...
Absolutely. It kind of has a Call of Cthulhu feel to it, which is really cool.
Agreed,the designs are just beautiful,I love all the period detail,especially the posters for the various plasmids,shame they ditched the Plasmi-Quick though!
i like how your like just wow if only our people could have done this(creating the plasmids that is)then you could use the ice plasmid for putting out fires in real life, the fire plasmid for creating fires if you are stranded on an island somehow, telekinises in construction ,oh and the vortex trap plasmid to throw your brother up in the air as a joke
I've always loved retrofuturism, especially when it's done with today's effects (Hell, I even LIKED the Wild Wild West movie). I always get excited when games that use either steampunk or other types of combining the futuristic and the archaic. The last game that got me this way was Rise Of Legends (which demo unfortunately wouldn't run on my PC not even in the minimum settings). Luckily this one is going to a console that I'm considering buying.
It looks amazing and very different from all those future setting shooters.
I think by and large, this is the best draw of the game. I absolutely love the style. It's so cinematically uplifting. The moment I began to read about this game, that was what smacked me over the head the most... the unusual choice of style and theme. How do you do a complete turnaround on the isolated feel of "space, the final frontier", which has now been absolutely beaten to death? Very clever. And on top of that, extremely atmospheric. The forties were so distinct, and a lot of people have forgotten that era's magic, not having been born into it. Those old movies... the video for Pulp's "This is Hardcore"... the mystery novels... the taste of the forties has always captured my imagination. Everyone's hard into cold industrial settings these days; it gets really... boring. I think they knew that and chose, unlike 90% of other developers, to try beating a horse that isn't dead. (You know, in the totally figurative and non-icky sense, of course.)
I love anything retro, so it's all good gotta love it.
Welcome Wynne
and i agree the art deco theme was one of the major draws for me THAT and the AI relationships
i like it, its a good change from what im currently playing
(battlefeild 2142)
It's honestly the thing that really suckered me into the concept of Bx in general. Art deco, retro-futuristic style is one of my favorite things ever. I didn't think Rapture would be this orgasmic of a city with it's insane attention to detail in the period deco styling. It didn't seem possible. But they pulled it off so well. It's amazing.
Last edited by Bioshock_FTW!; 06-04-2007 at 08:51 AM.
i think that its cool
I think that both retro-future settings and techno-future settings can be equally cool - I mean, an evil computer that tries to take over the world? Nanobots that can redesign your cell tissue? Molecular-based hairdryers? There's nothing uncool about sci-fi with space, and robots and... stuff. But, I completely agree that it has been used far too much!SHODAN is one of the coolest villains ever, showing it can be done, but there's so much more rubbishy sci-fi stuff around that the genre as a whole is often a little rubbishy itself.
So, to break the boredom, I think any non-conformist game is cool. Call of Cthulhu was made in the 1930s, and although it's set in the USA (a hugely overused setting in films, books, films etc.) it's nice because it's interesting. And it's based on Hp Lovecraft's writing.Begin the ritual, Sebastien... Muahahaha!
I think probably the game that takes this "new world that's not been done before" theme right to the top is Grim Fandango. It's an adventure game, set in the land of the dead. So, everybody is a skeleton. It's based on Mexican folklore, is kind of a tribute to film noir and has a sort of art deco type style in some places. If that's not original, I don't know what is. If you like interesting games, play it. Don't worry, you get over the clunky interface eventually.
OK, I'm going to stop talking now, because I've almost forgotten what I'm talking about.
I think the retro atmosphere/ art direction in this game perfectly matches the overall tone of the story. In a way I think BioShock is as much of ghost story as it is a sci-fi/ utopia story. So the use of a retro art style contrasted with the decaying derelict that is Rapture really makes those two elements come together.
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b5...h/Plasmids.jpg
I would have to say, that the Art-Deco theme is definately something that attracted me to Bioshock.
That and the setting of course, I mean, who hasn't dreamed of living in an underwater city before? Ok maybe I'm a little off, but I've always found the idea of living underwater to be fantastic... that is until the ocean starts to... get in... then I become a hydro/claustrophobic and need to get to dry land before I drown.
I also have fallen in love with the entire premise of the Utopia that is Bioshock. Humanity has discovered how to give itself the ability to create fire from one's hands... or electricity... or even ice! The power to levitate objects, and run at high speeds! Who has never imagined a world where everyone is an X-man?
I dunno, these things just made me go nuts over this game, and I ordered the Limited Edition of course. I know I'll be playing this game a long time to come.
I'm pretty excited about the style of the environments. I think that after I play through it once on normal, I'll go through again on very easy just so I can admire the surroundings. Afterall, my idea of heaven is a maltshop in the sky.
I've seen 40s art-deco used in a couple WW2 games before, but only in very minimal ways (i.e. a couple of posters). Bioshock is the first time I've seen the style used to such an all encompassing way. I love it and like many others have said, it is one of the biggest factors that drew me to Bioshock, that and its a sequal to System Shock 2.
a sequel set in the past? its really only a spiritual sequel to SS2Originally Posted by Oceansama
Yeah your right, my error. I really meant "spirtual sequal" but considering how often the term is thrown around I figured people would get my meaning anyway.
Yes, its really interesting, seeing as how it is a futuristic city under the water, but is decked out in a 50s look, the did this for Stubbs the Zombie too.
If you like those kinds of games you MUST play Fallout and Fallout 2.
Art-Deco (not directly equated to 1940's-50's) IMO is the most dramatic architectural style still around today. It evokes a sense of popular history more than anything else I can imagine. The flair for the dramatic vibes the front pieces tend to give off feel so enticing, and makes me think in the back of my mind that the designers are complex, interesting and probably a little insane, a combination worthy of many interesting party conversations.
It blends perfectly with the Randian philosophy being touted in Rapture. Its the closest match (Man as a Heroic figure along with his Man and his Heroic structures).
The whole underwater thing I view as a narrative explanation used to contain the game's fictional environment. Many games use it and there's nothing good or bad about it, as long as it's delivered successfully. Same with the chronological setting. The 50's are a simpler time, allowing Irrational to build their environment easily, then they use "alternate history" to let them build snazzy and offbeat gadgetry and change the pop-culture & social schemes ever so slightly. Stubbs did this to great effect, Bioshock to even greater IMO
Then, having made that decision, they decided to exploit it for all it was worth.
That remains to be seen. I can only wonder if the underwater setting was utilized, or if in the end the game would feel like it could have been set within a cloaked desert city, or biodome in Antarctica, or *insert desolate location for contained city*Then, having made that decision, they decided to exploit it for all it was worth.
I guess it depends how effectively the leagues of water are used to create its own character, and not just placed there as an excuse to show off the engines water effects.
Gaming aside, if you find yourself really enjoying Art-Deco check out the amazingly beautiful, clean Prairie style created by Frank L. Wright. When ever I read the Dune books this is what I envision that far future (past?) would look like.
This guy was designing buildings in the late 1800's that look they were built in the 1960's... he was a true visionary.
Yea, I agree, it's really nice to see a game set in this time period that isn't a WWII game.
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