I do agree about the wrench. I mean, you've got hard wrench, fast wrench, sneaky wrench, freeze wrench, and not even one other weapon modifier, not even a generic 'bullets do more damage' or something. Sure, there are the Power to the Peoples, but 2 upgrades per weapon does not a System Shock 2 Spiritual Successor make.
(
gronkpan https://twitter.com/VomitingLarry,
Sat 8 Sep 2007, 18:26,
archived)
Don't forget that there's also Bloodlust, which actually gives you health back when you use the wrench! I kept hoping that there would be some way to improve the machine gun, but even with both upgrades it's probably the most worthless gun I've seen in a shooter in a long, long time. People complain about the SMG in Half-life 2, but Bioshock's machine gun is terrible as anything other than a last resort.
( gronkpan https://twitter.com/VomitingLarry,
Sat 8 Sep 2007, 18:31,
archived)
I really would have liked to see more tonics that improve or change your plasmids too and it would've been nice if Wrench Lurker had been split into two separate tonics - one to make you sneakier and one to improve wrench damage against unaware Slicers. At least that would have made it a little bit more difficult to pile on wrench bonuses and it would've provided an option to be sneaky without going down the homicidal plumber route.
( gronkpan https://twitter.com/VomitingLarry,
Sat 8 Sep 2007, 18:34,
archived)
Oh well. I think the reason this is bugging me so much is because I ignored the wrench for the first half of the game and switching over to primarily wrench tonics is when the magic wore off. The game changed completely with the wrench tonics slotted and I never once missed my old tonics, or even really noticed that they were gone. It did a great job of ruining the illusion that character customization actually matters all that much in Bioshock. :(
( gronkpan https://twitter.com/VomitingLarry,
Sat 8 Sep 2007, 18:35,
archived)