BioShock

"A man chooses, a slave obeys. Bioshock? It commands."

Very rarely does there come a game along that can completely captivate you. A rich and engrossing backstory; an actual story thats not only compelling but twist littered; a gameplay which hooks you with its choices.

I have been playing games for about 10 years and I have only seen a handful of games that have achieved this amount of... awesomeness.

You might see the score I have given the game and you might think that a 10 is too high a score to give a game. You may say that no game is perfect. Indeed, Bioshock is NOT perfect. What it does is, is that it excels at everything it tries to do. It is innovative and it is solid. It is thought out, it is as near perfection as any game can ever be.

The story of Bioshock is set during the 1950's. A magical time if there ever was one but the whole scenario becomes even more magical once you see where the actual game takes place: In a art deco city set at the bottom of the sea. Rapture, it is called. Rapture is no "ordinary" underwater sea though, it is a city wracked by civil war and a genetically enhanced population, capable of shooting electricity out of their hands and vanishing into thin air. Magical? I dare say so.

You play the game as "Jack", a seemingly completely normal man that happens to stumble into Rapture.

Your first task in Rapture is to survive. The second task? To help Atlas, a friendly Irish man you meet down there. The story does start off seemingly innocent but soon, before your very eyes, twists upon twists will unfold that will not only leave your mind boggled but also amazed at the intrinsic web that 2K has been able to wound.

The story unfolds mostly through radio communications between you and your allies/foes. A second layer of, somewhat optional, story is applied through cassette tapes you can pick up through out the levels. Each of these optional tapes tells a small tale of what Rapture went through and is currently going through. Its construction, its division... Raptures slow decent into madness.

These tapes and all the communication that you trudge through is delivered by some of the best voice acting this side of the Legacy of Kain series. You could say that all the accents are extremely caricatured with very thick Irish, southern, German accents and so on but they are all so well delivered that you just cant blame them.

Foregoing the excellent voice acting, the music played throughout the game can send chills through your body. Hearing "Papa Loves Mambo" while a massive man in a diving suit is trying to kill you is just... astonishing. The entire soundtrack is taken from the actual time era and the songs are delivered at, mostly, exactly the right time.

The songs are set to match the scenery. And the scenery... well, everything you see around you in the game is artificial. It has to be, there is nothing natural about a city at the bottom of the sea. That is reflected all throughout - you rely on electricity to light up you way via bulbs (lights can go out), you rely on corridors to take you to your destination. That means that the game is not open ended, a la Far Cry 2 or GTAIV.

Even though Bioshock definitely falls under the corridor shooter category, that fact doesnt play against it. Because it ISNT truly a corridor shooter. Hell, using your abilities and your environment will get you much better results.

Bioshock uses an amalgamation of different genres to create its gameplay. You have your general guns; pistols, grenade launchers, crossbows, wrenches and so on. Each comes loaded with 3 different ammo types which is useful in different situations. For example anti-armour ammo and liquid nitrogen. If the game had come with its gun alone, it would have been a good game, but it has oh so much more.

The second main attribute of Bioshocks gameplay resides in plasmids. These are... well, genetically enhancements that give you unique abilities. You can create target dummies, freeze enemies by pointing at them, send swarms of wasps against enemies and so on. These abilities give you exceptional versatility against combating the forces of the deranged.

You have the abilities to set enemies of fire, then watch them seek out water so they can douse the flames and then electrocute the water to terminally.. vacate the enemy from his body.

Even THIS would have meant that the game would be better than good, it would be a great and fun game to play. But of course, 2K added even more.

Adding in, you have tonics - special slots you can incorporate into the player. Each tonic creates a unique, beneficial effect. Some tonics allow you to hack easier (yes, this game also allows you to hack systems), some tonics make you shoot electricity when you're hit, while one tonic makes you invisible if you stand still.

Something thats a bit old-school is the way Bioshock has bosses. These days, most FPS's refrain from using bosses because it doesnt usually fit with the style. In this game though, every boss fight will be unique.

It also has mini-bosses, so called Big Daddies that you can fight any time you choose to (or if you accidentally anger them by ... shooting them in the face). They can be very difficult if you chose the typical FPS mentality of shooting until they die. Bioshock excels in its secondary approaches, mining the corridors, setting up traps and making enemies (even Big Daddies) fight each other is well - You are given the choice.

All of these plasmids and tonics and bosses are all shown in beautiful graphics. Reflective water which only falls short from Uncharted and the architectural design; absolutely amazing. You dont see many games that incorporate art deco and in this game you can kinda see why; it takes too much effort to make it so beautiful.

A few small niggling discrepancies still exist though. Certain corpses will have pixelated parts protruding, acting like eye sores. Sometimes, you may experience extreme framerate drops as well. When I say extreme, I mean extreme, frames moving about twice every second. This is somewhat redeemed by 2K promising a patch to fix these discrepancies though, so you may not even end up experiencing them when (and if) you buy it.

Another weakness that many gamers of today might give the game is that it is singleplayer only. No multi-player, not even any co-op. You must realize that not every game benefits from multi-player. Bioshock focuses on single-player and it excels at it. You have an amazing production value and immensely fun gameplay. You have multiple difficulty settings with curves steeper than Everest.

The greatest enjoyment in Bioshock comes from all the choices you get. We all make choices... but in the end, our choices make us. Another tenet from the creator of Rapture, Andrew Ryan. Most FPS's give you the choice of either shooting your enemy OR, shooting your enemy. This game allows you to actually play around, make choices that fit your play styles and the ways that work the best arent always the ones you'll end up liking.

If you can appreciate that games may be art, and that choices coupled with fun abilities make a game "fun" - I suggest you pick this game up immediately. You will not be disappointed.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 10/29/08

Game Release: BioShock (EU, 10/17/08)