BioShock

"An amazing sensual experience, but more importantly: the best game on the 360."

After being greeted with a short cutscene, I almost immediately found myself half-dead, in the middle of the ocean, with the airliner I was just riding in burning to ashes not too far from me. It was…strangely enough…as beautiful as it was devastating. I scanned my surroundings. Everything around me was burning, like a ballet of flames shimmering in the beautifully rendered ocean water. It was so realistic, I could almost feel the fire burning around me. As I made my way forward in a seemingly aimless manner, I noticed how reminiscent of the beginning scenes of Far Cry: Instincts this place really was. But the beauty didn't end there. After discovering what appeared to be a lighthouse of some sort (and straight from Batman, no less), I made my upstairs, and opened the huge metal doors. Darkness. After panicking a bit in the pitch blackness, the lights turned on, and immediately the 40s-inspired design became apparent: it's pretty accurate to say it like a trip back in time. I glanced up only to gawk at a huge (and eerie) statue, carrying the words “No gods or kings. Only man.” I knew right away what I was in for.

I once again studied my surroundings: beautiful. The classic music that have become the symbol of the 40s just added realism to this wonderfully-done room. As I made my way through the building, I discovered a bathysphere. I entered it, and descended. A bright light flashed, nearly startling me, but I realized it was a film…an incredibly believable one, at that. As the contraption made its way down, the film gave me an introduction of the place I was about to enter. A utopia built to be free of government, free of issues of morality, the freedom to truly express yourself. Then an amazing thing happened: the film stopped, along with my heart. As an epic number played, my senses were introduced to “Rapture”. I was absolutely stunned. This underwater metropolis…was beautiful. It's almost everything you'd imagine a modern underwater city to be. As the submerged contraption made its way through the city, I gawked at the surroundings. It's comparable to those old pictures of New York. Absolutely stunning. The bodies of water in-between the buildings were abundant with wildlife, I could see schools of fish, even a whale. But as beautiful as this underwater paradise seemed I sensed something wrong…something was not right. The city itself…felt devoid of life. Even after the amazing presentation, I kind of felt…alienated: I didn't want to be here. But it was too late: the contraption was making its way up a building. Once at the top, my suspicions were correct...something was definitely wrong. Pitch blackness once more, with only a flickering light …and then I saw a horrid creature…and a man begging for forgiveness. As the man fell to this…thing…it noticed me hiding inside the bathysphere and began to investigate…needless to say, I was scared ****less.

And that's just the first ten minutes of this game. Though I'd love to delve more into just how atmospheric BioShock really is, I'm afraid I've spoiled a bit more than I should. It's really something you should experience for yourself. The absolute beauty of this game alone is worth the $60 I paid for this masterpiece. The visuals themselves were a huge factor into the anticipation of this title, and I can honestly it was totally worth the wait. Much like Shadow of the Colossus, BioShock attempts to impress you with atmosphere and art style rather than state-of-the-art graphics and technical prowess. Of course, that isn't to say the graphics themselves aren't impressive: it's one of the best looking next-generation games I've ever seen. What really impressed me is how realistic some models “morph”. Burning or shocking the hell out of your enemies burns them to a crisp. Burning Big Daddies causes their armor to melt, and blowing them up makes their air tanks to burst, causing them to spew out steam. The way your character wields his weapons can look a bit awkward at first, and character models vary greatly in terms of quality, but it's really not all that big a deal.

Unfortunately, as much as this game tries to scare the hell out of you, the overall “scare-factor” came as a bit of a disappointment. It went from “Fatal Frame” to “Scooby-Doo” at an amazing rate. The initial two or three hours had me cowering behind corners and in crawlspaces, but soon after, the fear began to leave me. The overall game had become no more fear-worthy than most of the sad excuses for horror flicks that are being dumped into theatres in this day and age. Well, it's not without it's moments, of course, but throughout the course of the game, I wasn't exactly shivering at the edge of my seat. So much effort was put into scaring you during the first two stages, it seemed the developers had run out of ideas. However, the audio is absolutely amazing. What didn't scare me visually, almost definitely got to me audibly. The classic pair of creepy music and psychos talking in the background works beautifully. The circus music that plays every time I pass a vending machine believe it or not, actually works in tandem with these elements to give you one hell of an experience. In fact, any noise in this game seems to do nothing but add to the atmosphere, everything from the conversations the denizens of Rapture have with each other to the low bellowing moans of the Big Daddies.

All of this comes down to one thing: presentation. Namely, story. BioShock takes a very unique approach and lets you…experience the story for yourself, rather than relying on cutscenes to do all the story-telling. Which brings me to another point: this game is almost completely devoid of cutscenes. Instead, much like BioShock's spiritual predecessors System Shock and System Shock 2 did with e-mail logs, audio recordings (called “diaries”) serve to tell you just what the hell happened in this God-forbidden hellhole. These personal logs serve to show you both the personal journeys of the people who recorded these diaries and the cause of Rapture's downfall. But what of our unnamed hero? Once you enter Rapture, a man named Atlas greets you over the radio. He promises to help you find a way out of this unholy city, but on one condition: aid him save his family. As you make your way through Rapture, he'll guide you via radio transmissions, in which, BioShock's other story unfolds.

But I've been rambling on far too much on BioShock's sensual experience and not enough on the actual gameplay. At first glance, it looks like any other first-person shooter. There are the guns, the explosions, and the freakish enemies. But never mind that: It's one of the most original games I have ever played. Role-playing games, first-person shooters, adventures, puzzles, survival horror: all rolled up in into a flour tortilla of epic proportions and served with a heaping side of stealth. And besides, shootings things is always fun.

BioShock revolves around the use of “Plasmids”: a genetically-altering substances that can give anybody superhuman powers ranging from spontaneously combusting your foes to quite literally becoming light on your feet. There are several types of Plasmids, each serving it's own purpose: special ranged attacks such as bolts of electricity and the ability to summon bees, offensive capability, defensive capability, special abilities. All this is moderated with “ADAM”: a type of currency used exclusively towards Plasmids; and “EVE”: a term used to describe BioShock's “MP” or “mana” system. Though EVE can be easily recharged by directly injecting Plasmids into your body, ADAM is far more difficult to obtain. This is where “Big Daddies” and “Little Sisters” come into play. Your main target is the Little Sisters, however, those huge ghoulish beasts stand in the way of your getting to them. Once you find a way to kill Big Daddy, you must either directly harvest the “ADAM” from their bodies (thereby killing them), or rescue them from their ghastly fates through the use of a tonic (which results in half the ADAM obtained, but in return, are given rewards for their safe rescue).

Though for the trigger-happy, you're primary weapon is still, of course, hot lead. Though you initially start with a wrench (a big one, at that), as you make your way through the city, you'll find a plethora of weapons for all your killing needs. Ranging from revolvers to chemical throwers, each weapon serves it's own purpose, and each does a damn good job at it. Of course, you're Tommy Gun isn't going to save your ass by itself, and that's why you can upgrade your babies. Though difficult to find, single-use “Power to the People” machines serve to upgrade your weapons, thereby increasing their usability. These free upgrades can quickly upgrade your weapon from a boring old hunk of metal to a beast straight from the Ratchet & Clank universe.

Unfortunately, BioShock really isn't one for replayability. The first playthrough--as you've probably already guessed--is absolutely amazing. But by the second playthrough, it loses quite a bit of luster. The original scares--gone. Surprises are no longer--well--surprising. As much as the game advertises how each and every experience is different, it...feels the same. I lost any incentive to venture into the game's Hard mode, and I don't feel the need to complete what few Achievements I have left. Needless to say: don't expect to play this nonetheless amazing game for too long.

Regardless of the...less than marvelous replay value: BioShock truly is a masterpiece to be marveled at. You'd be committing a sin if you own a 360 and still haven't purchased it. All-in-all, it's one of the best games I have ever played, and arguably the best gaming experience I've had since Resident Evil 4. 2K was definitely going in the right direction with BioShock and I applaud them and the fruit of their efforts. So many first-person shooters try so hard to be “hardcore” with their run-and-gun action, cheesy one-liners, and man vs. alien plotlines, but not BioShock: it truly is worthy of the title “first-person adventure”. Metroid Prime: watch out.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 08/26/07, Updated 09/14/07

Game Release: BioShock (US, 08/21/07)