I played the demo several times waiting to be blown away since everyone has heaped so much praise on this game.  However, I found it merely good, not great.  The atmosphere is very well done and the graphics are really nice, but I really didn't dig the gameplay much at all.  The guns weren't very effective and provided little ammo despite searching every dead body.  It seems like the only effective way to play the game is to hit an enemy with a elemental plasmid and then with a traditional weapon and lather, rinse, repeat.  Does it get more shooter-like later on, cause that's what I'm into?

I think there should be a distinction between games like this and traditional FPS.  IMO, games like this and Half-Life 2 would be better referred to as First-Person Adventure games (FPA) rather than FPS.  I prefer the individual level based game progression of a Call of Duty for example where I can play a level and stop rather than the persistent, one continuous world game progression of Bioshock or Half-Life.  The only exception I've found was Metroid Prime 3 which was AMAZING!

Unless someone is adequately able to convince me that Bioshock gets better later, it's gonna be a rental at best for me.  That really bums me out, cause I soooo wanted to be blown away.

i heard it does

You haven't even fought a Big Daddy yet--those fights are some of the defining moments of this generation for me!

Also, mucking about with all the insane plasmids you can get later on, and figuring out how to best use them in your current situation, is GREAT fun.

It does get better but if your not into using the plasmids you wont enjoy the game as they are the best weapons. There is level progression but its hidden in sub rides.  Did you mean chapters? Theres no real break up between levels like the chapters in COD games.

Sounds like Bioshock might not be your bag.

Yeah, I guess "chapter" is a better word.  I like being able to sit down with the goal of playing a chapter and then quitting.

 The plasmids were neat, but I don't want to be forced to use them all the time.  The demo made it feel like you always need to hit someone with a plasmid and then finish them off with a traditional weapon.  I like the idea of the plasmids supplementing the more traditional shooting weapons, not the idea of them being a necessity for every single enemy I face.

I somewhat agree, Bioshock seems like a good game but a little overhyped.

This and Mass Effect were the games I really wanted to see on the PS3 when they were released on the 360 (both Unreal engine based games, so relatively easy to port). Meanwhile having played Mass Effect, that was a huge disappointment to me, Bioshock however IMO seems not to be. Sad I already watched too much youtube footage.

It gets a bit better after the plot thickens and once you start fighting Big Daddies but the fetch quest, final boss battle and lame endings sour the last couple hours of the game. I don't think it's nearly as good as its predecessors.

I'll definitely play it in some form. The question is purchase or rental? Initially reading about this game, it felt like a definite purchase and something I would play through multiple times over. The demo is making me feel like I need to rent it just so I can say I played it and once is gonna be more than enough.

 Good synopsis. The ending really is a let down but the vast majority of the game is fun overall. The big daddy fights are a lot of fun. I cant compare to system shock cause I never played it.

In all honesty if you can rent it for a week you've got plenty of time to beat it. It did not hold much replay value for me and I ended up trading it in after a couple of months.