Bioshock (2007)

I've been avoiding Big Daddy (and creepy hypodermic girl) for years, trying not to get spoiled on what I hear is one of the best games ever, and something I must play. This game is one of the reasons I went all the way back to System Shock 1 and 2, because I kept hearing that they were at least spiritual predecessors.

I bought this game so long ago its got a bargain bin sticker on it, not to mention its actual physical media. I put the DVD in the drive. There's a small paper manual in here, I turn a few pages, some immediate spoilers about a city called Rapture and a quote from somebody name Andrew. I stop at a page of keyboard commands. Even that is a bit spoilery, telling what kind of weapons and actions there are.

I've delayed playing this game so long there are two sequels, and the series seems to be done. All three are available on Steam, so I can probably continue there, but for now I'm sticking with this DVD which has been waiting in the attic for a long time.

G:\setup.exe.
Custom
It will install to \Program Files (x86), so screenshots and saves will probably be in a shadow directory.
There's an nVidia logo; I'm OK with that.
Nothing much else to look at during the InstallShield session.
I feel confident that this game will run just fine with little to no graphics problems, and after dealing with 1990s software, I'm OK with that too.
Long install, I hope the DVD is not accessed ever again.
Some of the map names going by during the install are spoilery.
It's checking for a patch all by itself, downloaded and installed.

I need a serial number, its on the back of the manual. How much longer could I have delayed before there was no server out their to register with? There's still a lot to be said for old games (not that they don't have some weird copy protection, but at least they've all been cracked years ago).

Load main menu screen. Version is 1.0 - I thought this game already updated itself. Options -> Graphics. Resolution is 1024x768, crank it up to 1920x1200. I alt-tab out to take a screen shot; not only did it not work (alt-print screen), it got stuck  and windowed itself. Close and restart.

Nothing left to do now but New Game.

Lately when I play a game and blog about it, I've written pre, post, and game notes; I'll continue with that.