User blog comment:Willbachbakal/Singleplayer Gene Tonics/@comment-3567720-20110703141443/@comment-3567720-20110705181057

I know that the Bioshock was intended to be a survival horror. But, as far as I can see, the author did not manage to do it. At last, not in the measure as it was intended to be. Just think about the Big Daddies executed with Electric Gel or the Alpha Series on-hit-killed with the Spear Gun. The Bioshock games are too easy to can be properly called "survival" and, admittedly, lacking the scariness so much that they cannot be called "horror". (Still great games, though.) Of course, we now are speaking about your game, so you can reposition these measures, make the resources scarce, turn the enemies fearsome and scary, et cetera. However...

My actual problem with your change in this tonic, that you turned it from a slightly gatherer-subserving tonic to a totally hunter-subserving one (namely, the player are forced to seek fight if want to replenish his/her health and EVE bar). This makes the tonic the perfect bonus for the Hunter-type gamers: just go your way, massacre the enemies, occasionally walk through a puddle and boom, you get a health boost. As I can see, it would not really change you gamestyle, would it? So, in my opinion, if you really want to withhold the easing effect of the Fountain of Youth, then you should cut it out from your game. (Considering the fact that in New Rapture, being a dry-land city, the amount of the puddles and accidental waterfalls are far more less than its precedessor.)

And finally, the hunter-gatherer dichtonomy are not a Bioshock-only thing. These driving forces (among others) can be applied at any videogame-player's behavior (which is, in this case, his/her gamestyle) when he/she playing a videogame. However, certain features of the game and even the game itself subserve on of these driving forces*, therefore more suitable for the player who belong that certain driving force's type. For example, the Call of Duty series are classical hunter-type games.


 * I'm start to be sure that this is not the best expression for what I want to say.