Once you get beyond the activation issues, BioShock really becomes a treat. The game sports very good graphics with a fully interactive environment, while the plot really redefines the genre: if you thought Half-Life 2 had an engaging story, you’ll be absolutely thrilled with BioShock’s. Like a good RPG, your actions will affect the game’s ultimate outcome, so you may want to play it different ways to see how things pan out at the end.
In terms of hardware requirements, the game isn’t quite as demanding as we initially thought it would be. Sure, you will want a nice dual-core processor for best performance, but graphically, it doesn’t look like you’ll have to shell out the big bucks for an SLI setup or GeForce 8800 Ultra if you want to play the game with full DX10 graphics. In fact, we noted little difference in performance between DX9 and DX10, and with the exception of soft particles, little or no difference between the two visually either. If you plan on gaming at 1920x1200 or higher with the graphics settings cranked up to max and want the game to run in the 30-40 FPS range you will want a GeForce 8800 card however.
In terms of performance, NVIDIA’s GeForce 8800 Ultra obviously delivers the best performance in BioShock, although a bone stock GeForce 8800 GTX doesn’t trail by much 6-12% depending on resolution in our testing. If you’ve got a factory overclocked GeForce 8800 GTX, your performance will obviously be even better.
With fewer stream processors and less onboard memory, the GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB and 320MB trail the GTX by over 25%, but still deliver very playable frame rates in the game up to 1920x1200. At 2560x1600 the GeForce 8800 GTX and Ultra pull even further away from the GTS cards, running about 1.5 times faster in our testing. AMD’s Radeon HD 2900 XT trails NVIDIA’s GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB by over 20% at 1600x1200 in DX10, but as the resolution increases the gap slowly closes until the 2900 XT is practically even with the GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB by 2560x1600. Considering that the GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB has less memory and a narrower memory interface, not to mention fewer stream processors, this has got to be disappointing to Radeon enthusiasts, but we wouldn’t be surprised if AMD has more driver tweaks in the works to improve BioShock’s performance (adding CrossFire support to BioShock is likely in the works as well, the current hotfix driver doesn't support CrossFire). As it stands now though the Radeon HD 2900 XT isn’t that much faster than an X1950 Pro running under DX9 with the same graphics settings.
UPDATE 8/30/07: With DX9 properly enabled in BioShock, the Radeon HD 2900 XT turns into a screamer, outperforming the GeForce 8800 GTS and GeForce 8800 GTX and giving the GeForce 8800 Ultra a run for its money. This indicates that AMD has got a lot of work to do to get their DX10 driver up to the level of DX9 in this game. If you crave performance, we recommend Radeon HD 2900 XT owners run the game in DX9 mode, the only downside is you will lose DX10 water ripples.
We’ll be taking a look at BioShock’s performance with today’s latest mainstream cards next. We’ve already read reports from GeForce 8600 GTS users seeing decent frame rates in BioShock, so we’re hoping for good things. All indications are that the game should be quite playable under DX10 as well, so that should be a nice bonus as well…
Batman: Arkham City PC Review Batman: Arkham City is the sequel to 2009’s smash-hit action game Batman: Arkham Asylum. As the name suggests, you will be reprising your role as the Caped Crusader and going against an even larger 'prison' filled with Gotham's criminals and villains. A textbook example on how to do a proper sequel, Arkham City takes what worked in the original, excised or improved upon what didn’t, and elevated everything to an even greater scope. The PC version suffered from a few months of delay, but in that time, Rocksteady worked closely to NVIDIA to implement some familiar technologies from the last game, such as PhysX and 3D Vision, along with new DirectX 11 optimizations. But how well was the whole package executed? Read on to find out!
Saints Row: The Third PC Review Saints Row is one of most unique series of games to build upon the open-world action template forged by Grand Theft Auto, and has met with plenty of critical and commercial success since it began on consoles back in 2006. This latest iteration, titled Saints Row: The Third promises the most outlandish fun and freedom of customization of them all, and in a much more PC-friendly package than its predecessor. Does it live up to those expectations and, more importantly, is it worth the price of admission? Find out in Will's latest review!
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim PC Review The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is Bethesda Softworks’ latest offering in their series of epic fantasy RPGs, as well as one of the most highly-anticipated PC titles of 2011. As the Dovahkiin, or Dragonborn, prepare to take the fight to the mythical beasts that have returned to the realm after centuries of slumber, all the while exploring a huge and highly-detailed open world.
The PC version of the game promises enhanced graphical fidelity, standard RPG trimmings such as hotkeys and quick-save, as well as unbridled mod support, something we’ll all be thankful for once they release that SDK. Skyrim has already sold millions of copies and set records for play-time on Steam... Find out why in today's review, which happens to be one of the biggest and most in-depth articles on the subject out there!
L.A. Noire Complete Edition PC Review L.A. Noire, as the name clearly states, is a video game built on the tropes of one of the greatest periods of American cinema: film noir. Developed by the now defunct Australian developer Team Bondi and published by Rockstar Games, this title has been out on consoles for a full six months before finally making its way to the PC. This “Complete Edition” of the game features improved graphics, keyboard/mouse controls, and every bit of previously-released DLC for free. But was it truly worth the wait? Read on and find out!
Intel Core i7-3960X Sandy Bridge-E Performance Review
Today marks the launch date for Intel’s Sandy Bridge-E line of processors, a new family of high-end Core i7 products based on the LGA 2011 platform. This new socket is poised to replace the existing LGA 1366 specification used by the more powerful Nehalem and Westmere parts from the past couple years, specifically Bloomfield and Gulftown, the Core i7-9xx+ line of CPUs.
With 6 cores, 15MB of cache, and support for quad-channel DDR3-1600 memory, the Core i7-3960X sounds like quite a catch. Want to know more about it and how it performs? Read on!
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Xbox 360 Review
The self-appointed "most anticipated game in history" launched worldwide this past Tuesday. Why, it's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, of course (of course), what else? Unsurprisingly, the military FPS debate between this and Battlefield 3 rages on, but now that both have been released, surely we can take a look and objectively evaluate them both? Luke's taken the Xbox version of MW3 for a spin this week, so to find out what he thinks of it in today's review!
Stronghold 3 Review
The latest sequel in the long-running real-time strategy franchise from FireFly Studios, Stronghold 3 is all about building your dream castle and defending it against sieging enemies. Almost exactly one decade after the first game was released, this new title promises a return to the classic and well-received gameplay that has been strayed so far from in more recent iterations. Does it live up to those expectations? Will (AKA Synchronous Failure) tells us all about it in his first official FiringSquad review, so read on!
Battlefield 3 PC Review - Single-player Impressions
One of the most highly-anticipated PC games of the year is upon us; Battlefield 3 is now available in North America! EA/DICE have finally delivered a sequel to the core Battlefield franchise, a proper follow-up to BF2. Having played through the game's single-player campaign already, ahead of the multiplayer festivities kicking off around midnight, I figured I'd share my impressions ASAP. Is it really a worthy addition to the core Battlefield series, or just another bullet point on the back of the box? Read on and find out!
Wrecked: Revenge Revisited Supersonic Software Interview
Following up on our hands-on preview from earlier this month, here's an interview with Supersonic Software, creators of Wrecked: Revenge Revisited. The game's coming out on XBLA and PSN in a matter of weeks, but for now, Luke chats with the developer about its predecessors Mashed and Micro Machines, how difficult it can be to get an indie game published, the closure of Codemasters' Guildford branch, and more!
Orcs Must Die! PC Review Orcs Must Die! is the first release from an independent developer named Robot Entertainment. Fans of classic real-time strategy games may have heard that name before, as the outfit is comprised of many veterans from Ensemble Studios, creators of the Age of Empires series.
Equal parts action and strategy, this is a tower defense game that not only puts you in command, but on the front lines of combat, as well. Slaughter thousands of orcs, ogres and other vile creatures of fantasy that invade your fortresses through 24 levels of the story-based campaign. With high levels of replayability thanks to its scoring and leaderboard functionality, multiple difficulty levels, and various styles of play, it sounds a steal at only $15. Does it deliver on all that’s promised, though? Read on and find out!
So how did the cards perform?
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