I usually don't buy Early Access games. Reasons are plenty and some of you have probably exprerienced some of them yourself, so I'm not going to go deep into that.
This game however (I'm happy to admit), proved me wrong.
As always, for those who like their reviews short - TL;DR is at the bottom
[h1] Let's dive in to positives: [/h1]
[h1] 1. [/h1] BIOS is as simple as a brick yet very deep at the same time. It tries to be a 90's old school hardcore no ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ shooter and it plays and feels like one. It's very easy to pick up and play but quite hard to really master.
[h1] 2. [/h1] There is no story to speak of, just you, Finish line, enemies in between and a timer. Based on your success, you'll be rewarded with one of the 4 possible medals be it bronze or platinum. Devs are talking about implementing some kind of narrative elements to it, so some kind of story could be available later. #storymodeconfirmed (ha ha)
[h1] 3. [/h1] There are 21 challenges and 3 anomalies spread across 8 different environments to run & gun through. Environments vary from industrial complex, training facility, subway tunnels, ports and parking spots. Maps are short in length but highly replayable, well made and balanced.
Enemy placement is great. You actually have to learn and memorize their placements and attacks to succeed, so when you die, it's usually your own fault and not some cheap enemy spawn behind your back.
[h1] 4. [/h1] To counter this, BIOS needs tight and responsible controls, and they are. Mouse controls felt weird to begin with, but some fiddling in settings helped. Keys are few, and completely rebindable to your preference.
[h1] 5. [/h1] Graphics are nothing groundbreaking but they do their job pretty well. Lighting and explosions looks great and some environments are destructible, even though I can honestly say that you'll probably be too busy to notice since game is so fast paced. I know I was. There is a lot of graphic settings you can fiddle with to make it work.
[h1] 6. [/h1] Sounds and music are superb. Guns sounds really great and punchy, while music is kickass and fits the setting and theme well in my opinion.
[h1] 7. [/h1] BIOS is also surprisingly very well optimized and runs smooth as butter on my relatively old PC. I have played it for a few hours and except for a few FPS drops on 1 anomaly map, haven't experienced any bugs or glitches.
[h1] Now with the negatives, but remember, this is Early Access, so things could be changed in the next update: [/h1]
[h1] 1. [/h1] There are only 3 guns (SCAR, M4 and AK with some variations) in this game and they feel completely the same (except SCAR have 20 round mag while M4/AK has 30). At least they did for me.
You also can't change your loadout since guns are tied to specific maps. Like this M4? Can't have it, since this map only spawn you with AK!
[h1] 2. [/h1] Animations are simple and feels a bit unfinished.
[h1] 3. [/h1] As said before, maps are small, short and can be completed in 2- max 10 min each, with heavy emphasis on replayability.
If you're not into that kind of thing, you'll run through it in 1 hour flat and be disappointed.
[h1] 4. [/h1] This game is also pretty challenging, as in you die really fast if you stay in one place for more than 2 seconds. To be honest, this game is built for mostly hardcore players, so it's not for everyone.
Yet I personally think that some enemies need few damage tweaks, since some places are extremely hard, because enemies melt you before you even can react to their presence.
[h1] TL;DR and/or conclusion: [/h1]
BIOS is a very fun and addictive game, and I'm having a blast playing it.
It's fast, it's challenging and it runs extremely well for an Early Access title. It is at the moment a little bit low on features but, developers seem dedicated and more content is in the works, like progression system, guns, maps, coop etc.
Hopefully, full release will be even better, more action packed and even more enjoyable. I almost can't wait :)
