BioShock DLC/patch released

By Tom Bramwell Published 4 December, 2007

New plasmids/tonics, many fixes.

The promised BioShock patch for both Xbox 360 and PC has landed along with free downloadable content consisting of new plasmids, gene tonics and - in the case of 360 owners - an additional unlockable Achievement worth 100 gamerpoints.

The latter is rewarded for beating the game on Hard without resurrecting once at a Vita Chamber. You are permitted to reload using an earlier save-game file, just not to resurrect. A new "Disable Vita Chamber" option is also included for added difficulty, but it doesn't need to be toggled on to unlock the above Achievement - the game will know whether you've resurrected or not.

The new plasmids and gene tonics, meanwhile, are Sonic Boom, Sonic Boom 2, Eve Saver, Machine Buster, Machine Buster 2, Vending Expert, Vending Expert 2, and all are available on both formats as part of the downloadable update.

According to a press release issued this afternoon, Sonic Boom "hurls creatures and objects back with a blast of force", EVE Saver "enables plasmids to use less EVE", Vending Expert "reduces prices in the vending machines", Machine Buster "increases the amount of damage players deal to cameras, bots and turrets" and your humble correspondent wonders, "is this the best they could come up with?"

Additionally, amongst the bug-fixes and changes listed in the official website's changelog are the ability to adjust field-of-view, rebind keys where previously it didn't work, walk as well as run and use mouse acceleration properly.

PC owners can download the 1.1 patch from 2K Games' support site for people who bought a retail version, but those who purchased a digital distribution copy (through Steam, etc) should not install this patch. Xbox 360 owners will be prompted to download the patch next time they fire up the game.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (30) Latest comment 4 years ago

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  • LHH #1 4 years ago

    So do the new tonics affect the achievement for upgrading yourself to max?

  • morriss #2 4 years ago

    So if I die, respawn but then pause the game and reload from a previous savepoint, does the game will forget I respawned?

  • gogobaka #3 4 years ago

    Oooh nice, might try to get the recording acheivement while I'm at it.

  • the_sas_man #4 4 years ago

    Congrats for making it free - major Kudos.

    We should all sing their praises for it, because I'm the first to moan when it costs money so this is great of them.

  • asphaltcowboy #5 4 years ago

    Might as well just switch off Vita Chambers if you're going for the no Vita Chambers achievement!

  • Bulbatron #6 4 years ago

    Not very happy about the new Achievement. The only three non-XBLA games I had all the Achievements for were Condemned, Oblivion - and BioShock. Cheers, 2K, for taking that small victory away from me. I struggled with completing it on hard as it is, and was really pleased when I finally got that last Achievement for doing so.

    The new plasmids and tonics should be good though, and I'm certainly up for playing it through again to check them out. But this new hyper-hardocre Achievement has soured it a bit for me.

    It'll be interesting to hear how many people who bitched about the vita-chambers will try for this Achievement.

  • andromeda #7 4 years ago

    very good that its free. nice one

    but even with a few different powers, incentives etc, i'm, not tempted to run back over what will be essentially the very same game

  • muscleblade #8 4 years ago

    The new achievement is really boring and tedious. Instead the achievement should be about using all the new plasmids.

  • Tenaflyviper #9 4 years ago

    How did you struggle to beat it on hard Bulbatron?

    Weeeeeak

  • Olemak #10 4 years ago

    Sound like pretty weak tea to me. Sugarcoated bug-fix, way too late after release.

    Bioshock is still a great game, of course, don't get me wrong. However, bugs prevented me from finishising it; I guess I'll go back now, hoping that Big Daddys are no longer eerily green (weird bug, that) and that textures and lighting, in general, work, making it possible to see what I'm shooting at.

    Or maybe it's ATI I should be cross with. Anyway: I don't think this list of features is all that impressive - although it is nice of them to give it out for free and all. Jolly good show, etc.

  • Darren #11 4 years ago

    Interested in the new FOV option so it'll give me another excuse to play through this superb game again, not that I really needed one but it'll be nice to see it in a slightly different way nevertheless.

  • MrWonderstuff #12 4 years ago

    The new FOV is an improvement IMHO. Fortunately in the options it provides a before and after of how it affects the screen. You realise how contracted everything was before and now it all seems natural. It actually makes the image better on my SDTV as well.

  • viper_h #13 4 years ago

    You're playing a 360 on a standard TV? For shame.

  • agparrot #14 4 years ago

    the_sas_man wrote:
    Congrats for making it free - major Kudos.

    We should all sing their praises for it, because I'm the first to moan when it costs money so this is great of them.

    I absolutely +1 this - with the new Halo 3 stuff that I frankly refuse to pay for so soon after game release (I'm fundamentally mean), it is nice to see that the Bioshock Boys and Girls have gone the extra half-mile here and put this stuff out for free.

    Totally enjoyed Bioshock the first time through - beat it on Hard, but just got too much other stuff to be playing, so it has already gone to the big trade-in pile in the sky. Not sure these extra bits are quite enough to tempt me back.

  • sharpfish #15 4 years ago

    @Mr Wonderstuff, it will be intersting to see how many former 'FOV IS NOT A PROBLEM' types actually start using the NEW FOV and preferring it, it may be the only way some of them can come to realise that folks like me (a heavy poster in the 2k thread and lobbiest for 'correct' FOV for widescreen) were right and doing it for the good of everyone (choice is good right?)

    Far too many 2k sheep/Bioshock fanboys bought that bullshit about it being by design and if you now A/B it with the patch the problem is obvious, anyone who prefers playing it like they are looking through binoculars still has the choice, for the rest (the sane players) we can now 'breathe' a little visually. (though I used Racer_S fix for PC version anyway)

  • DaveT #16 4 years ago

    New achievement? Load/Save hell. Great. There I was hoping it was going to be something fun too, which Bioshock on hard certainly wasn't, and there's no way I'm doing that again.

  • Johnson #17 4 years ago

    >> does anyone know if the little sisters dying at the end part where you have to escort one count as being killed?

    I lost a couple and still got the mega-happy ending so I guess not.

  • Skeptopotamus #18 4 years ago

    Speaking of Bioshock, has anyone heard the rumblings that everyone at 2k is sick of Ken Levine and want to get rid of him for the sequel? Or is that just crazy internet/teletext rumouring?

  • Yossarian #19 4 years ago

    who cares about vita-chambers anyway, the game economy is so broken and the combat so easy that you should never have to use one if you have a smidgeon of shooter talent, even on Hard.

  • muscleblade #20 4 years ago

    BTW - Originally there was an achievement about completing the game without setting off any alarms. Glad they decided to change it.

  • MrWonderstuff #21 4 years ago

    "You're playing a 360 on a standard TV? For shame."

    Indeed...but actually it looks good on my top of the range crt through component (Toshiba 32zp48). I ran it through my widescreen monitor via VGA (Dell 2407-HC) and, whilst nice, wasnt so different that I wanted to play on it.

  • ParanoidZombie #22 4 years ago

    Achievements are not supposed to be easy... Bioshock was a bit too easy IMO, this new update fixes that issue, that's great and warrants a 3rd playthrough for me. If you don't like that achievement, then don't bother with it. It's like the horrendous 7 day survivor achievement in dead rising, it was super-hardcore and out of my league, so i'm happy with my 960pts for this game.

    Kudos to 2K for the free DLC, BTW.

  • dfunked #23 4 years ago

    "Re-added the Human Inferno tonic which was missing from the retail release."
    Hmmm, I thought that was already in the full version?
    Gonna have to play through it again to refresh my memory methinks :D

  • Inquisitor #24 4 years ago

    Having another achievement worth 100 points is pretty fucking annoying to be honest.

    By all means, add extra achievements but at least make them worthwhile or interesting. Completing the game for a third time just seems pointless, especially as it'll be pretty hard without the chambers and you'll end up ruining the game for yourself by saving every 2 minutes.

  • muscleblade #25 4 years ago

    ParanoidZombie@

    Its not a case wether the achievement is hard or not. Its just stupid cause most people trying to get it will load and save alot instead of enjoying the game. Dont tell me you completed Bioshock on hard without dying at least 30 times.

  • DFawkes #26 4 years ago

    So everything is exactly as rumoured - the achievement, and even the DLC. Yet I bet no-one who flamed the kind people who revealed hat stuff months ago will apologise.

    Still, any excuse to play again is fine with me :)

  • samadriel #27 4 years ago

    ""Re-added the Human Inferno tonic which was missing from the retail release."
    Hmmm, I thought that was already in the full version?""

    I'd imagine 'Human Inferno' is a tonic like Electric Flesh -- ie, you take less damage from fire, and deal more damage with fire attacks. Sounds a lot handier than EF.

    Personally, I'm not wowed that this was free; to charge anything for a couple of plasmids and a bugfix (plus an Achievement if you're on the 360... *shrug*) would be downright criminal anyway.

  • Sorb #28 4 years ago

    Apparently Human Inferno was missing only in the PC version:

    [link url=http://b ioshock.wikia.com/wiki/Human_Inferno
    ]http://bi oshock.wikia.com/wiki/Human_Inf...[/link]

  • kangarootoo #29 4 years ago

    I loved Bioshock. My second playthrough ran out of steam, and yeah it had a few issues the firtst time through, but overall I enojyed it too much to worry.

    Plus I hate to whine about free stuff, 'cos its free and if I don't want it I don't need to bother.

    But..... its a bit of a lame update in all honesty. I feel bad complaining, 'cos its free, which means it cost them money to make from the mouths of their own children. Its not enough to take me back to the game though, and surely that is what DLC is all about, added replay value. Isn't it?

    Roll on their next project. I'll buy it no doubt. They are a skilled team indeed and should focus their energies on their next title.

    Edit: I'm not suggesting they feed their children money. That would be wrong, if perhaps darkly entertaining to watch (warning, coins can be a choking hazard).
    Edited by 1 at 04/12/07 @ 23:14

  • Darren #30 4 years ago

    Patch is mostly good... hitching is finally sorted, texture pop-in is reduced and the FOV option is most welcome; you realise how zoomed in your view was when you use it. What I've less impressed with is the subtitles which are still out of synch with the dialogue... they start more or less in the right place (sometimes a little late or early though) but they disappear often before the dialogue has finished now and some parts, like the cutscene after you've injected your first Plasmid, is way out of synch. How come most games can do subtitles perfectly but this game's made a total balls up of them? :?