Bioforge was one of the earliest "movie-games", that is, a game created to immerse the player into a storyline like that of a movie. Like most movie games this was a flop. Aside from the excellent graphics used in the game, BioForge has no other redeeming qualities. It almost makes it as a puzzle game, and almost as an action game. But the extreme difficulty of finding every datapad hidden in the game and the utterly incompetent enemies make the game highly unbalanced and quite a drag.
Bioforge was one of the earliest "movie-games", that is, a game created to immerse the player into a storyline like that of a movie. Like most movie games this was a flop. Aside from the excellent graphics used in the game, BioForge has no other redeeming qualities. It almost makes it as a puzzle game, and almost as an action game. But the extreme difficulty of finding every datapad hidden in the game and the utterly incompetent enemies make the game highly unbalanced and quite a drag. But again, the graphics were revolutionary for the time, and playing for the visual appeal might keep your interest for a while.
Bioforge was the model for later games like the Dinocrisis series of the late 90's. For its time
the game was quite revolutionary, and the look alikes it produced have had a share of successes.
The cut-scenes and live voice acting are the best of any game of that era, and still hold a high rank in my view. Most voice-over games are bogged down by poor lines and acting by the avatars on screen, BioForge managed to avoid this, perhaps the only redeeming quality of the game outside of the outstanding graphics.
The game is very rich in detail, too rich by most accounts. Much of the gameplay is lost in searching for clues to your amesiatic character's past. If any of the datapads along the way (and there are many) the unfolding plot (which has most subplots and twists that Tolkien's Lord of the Rings) becomes confused and frustrating. It was considerate for the scientists in charge of the facility to leave the history of the facility along with your own biography lying around the place.
Another point, the game’s plot is on the low end of the spectrum, even for movie games. Your character starts the game in a cell, where you beat your cellmate to death WITH HIS OWN ARM. You are a genetically enhanced human, apparently some secret DARPA project gone amuck. The storyline, if it isn't bad enough there, goes downhill. Aliens are introduced, of which you only get to fight one (who happens to be the last boss). The humans best troops are mere ants compared to your fearsome fighting abilities, in fact, no opponent poses a challenge once you understand the fighting controls. All in all, BioForge is a quite dissatisfying game, though visionary.
