I got Bioshock a couple of weeks ago from my local rental store, I have heard a lot about the game and the series so I decided to try it. Bioshock is an interesting look at horror but puts in some history, sci-fi and political morality debate into it.

Story.
You play has a man named Jack who is in an airplane that crashes in the 1960’s. Being the lone survivor in the middle of the ocean he sees a strange tower and approaches it. Inside is a strange pod with a leaver pulling it the pod starts to move underneath the ocean to the city of Rapture and he hears advertisement for it. It’s an ultra-capitalistic- but completely secular with no moral codes (never a good mix) utopia. However when Jack lands he finds something terrible has happen in this paradise under the sea seems like there was a civil war, most people have turned themselves into insane splicers, and if he wants to survive he is going to have to team up with a man named Atlas to take down the man who build the place Andrew Ryan.

While I have never read Atlas Shrugged I have heard enough about it to get the gist and the game obviously is going on its themes with names like Ryan and Atlas being the two side that are fighting. Other than a plot turn in the middle of the game there is not much of actual story. Rather the story is told through either hearing the radio, or more importantly collecting audio diary from the people of Rapture before the war began. It seems it has to do with too much of a good thing when it comes to splicing, people got addicted, and the stuff they used turned them crazy.

Graphics.
Rapture is pretty great embracing a lot of 1940’s sci fi movies (note: the game happens in the 60 but Rapture was built in the 40’s) and its arcatecture and looks and feels. This nostalgic bent on the horror and sci fi is a nice touch. However I can’t say much about the enemies. Yeah there all genetically mutated people but there not that much above typical Zombie in a zombie game when it comes to their looks. It’s too bad the enemies don’t match the environments. Also when you unlock a new power up a little movie plays like it’s out of the 1950’s telling you how to use it, it’s a nice touch.

Sound.
Any good horror games take sound and music into account. It’s got to be more then generic music having the zombies speak helps. In bioshock were not dealing with Zombie but escapes from the institution and hearing them ramble on like drug addicts helps with the feel. But there is more to it Bioshock takes its soundtrack with heavy hit of irony. You get the 1950 feel good songs like how much is that doggy in the window or papa loves mambo playing in the background. Also over the intercoms you might hear recordings insisting rapture is doing fine and to destroy the parasite. It all helps the mood perfectly. After playing this game I’ll never listen to how much is that doggy in the window without shivers.
Still the creepiest thing is the little sisters and big daddy. Whenever you hear a whale moaning followed by a little girl talking about angels you know it’s time to lock and load and be ready for fights that can be harder than most of the boss fights in the game.

Gameplay.
Bioshock is more horror game then FPS, but it takes its roots from pre Halo FPS. So you get your hands a short list of weapons but you can hold more than two. And watch that health bar. The game for the most part is linear mission based. Atlas gives you a mission that must be accomplished to unlock the next bathosphere pod to get to the next area. But you’re free to explore the area you’re in to your liking.

While the game is a shooter and most of the time you will be shooting enemies with pistols, machine guns, shot guns, and cross bows (unlock with a few other nice weapons) there are also plasmids you can unlock and use through eve shots. These plasmids attacks on their own aren’t has powerful has weapons but in the right situations you might find them more useful (like if a whole bunch of enemies are standing in a pool of water you can use the electricity plasmid to zap them). They contain things like electricity, fire balls, planting traps that turn into tornados, and freezing blasts.


But splicing does more than that you can equip things that give you special effects at Gathers Gardens, but to get those you need to collect Adam, and for that you need to find Little sisters. From time to time in the game you will stumble on to big daddies and little sisters. Little sisters are girls that Ryan and is enemy Fontaine both experimented on to produce Adam (needed for all that splicing stuff), and to protect them they have Big Daddy’s experimenting on them. Most of the time big daddy’s won’t attack you unless attacked but once they come after you they can kill you quickly. But Big Daddy’s have to be taken down if you want to get the Adam little sisters have. They can take a beating and will require a lot of fire power to take down. But once taken down you can grab the little sisters and you will be presented with a choice. To save them or to harvest them. Harvesting gives you a lot more Adam then saving them but saving them does have its rewards too especially when you get to the end of the game. I got the good ending sorry but even this harden gamer isn’t in to killing little girls in a video game for a few power ups.

The last thing the game offers up is the ability to hack into machines and security cameras. Automatic turrets and security cameras can lead to easy kills if you’re not careful. But freezing them or zapping them gives you a chance to hack them. This pipe dream mini game basically has you connecting pipes so the ooze can get to the start and to the finish. Once hacked these machines will kill bad guys.

The game isen’t all good. First the enemy AI isn’t that great nor is it there any variety, the trusty wrench melee or a shot gun blast will be sufficient to get rid of the average bad guy.  Also death isn’t anything to be afraid of it’s more annoying. Dying sends you back to the nearest check point pod but all the enemies you killed will stay dead and any boss or big daddy will stay damaged. So even though big daddy’s will kill you a lot, when you find them again in their area they will still have the same damage you did to them the last time, it’s more of a matter of time then skill that they will go down and you will get your hands on some Adam.

Final Recommendation.
Bioshock has some solid gameplay but it’s not the best FPS I have ever played. But what it does do great at is the atmosphere Rapture is an interesting to place to visit and the sight and sounds are enthralling. It’s too bad the games not that hard or the enemies that smart.


Recommended: Yes