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Bioshock Review

1/11/07 | Michael Loder (Loads)

Under the Sea…you can see all kinds of places and friendly crustaceans??

Now hear is one reason to get your hands on an Xbox 360 or a kick ass computer with a graphics card that can pack a lot of punch. It’s Gems like this that makes the Xbox 360 a machine to be reckoned with! Ladies and gentleman I give you Bioshock one of the latest and most imaginative First Person Shooters to hit the market in a long time. We’ve all seen good first person shooter games before (Halo anyone?) but this one sets the bar that much higher. This game provides players with a unique storyline, creative characters and a game that’s so in depth and exiting it will have you with a smile on your face from start to finish. That is assuming you aren’t afraid of the dark…

Bioshock is definantely one of my favourite games, it brings a new meaning to the analogy FPS, in Bioshock you will find yourself fighting for your life during the 1960’s in a deep sea city, trying to work out what has happened to this underwater utopia inspired by a man named “Andrew Ryan” the city itself known as Rapture, the city is vast and the enemies many it will require some skill to navigate your way through the city. Bioshock eases you into the story with a quick opening cut scene that throws you into the shoes of a character named jack who is introduced to the city of rapture unexpectedly…or was it, another thing in the game you are working to find out apart from what happened to the city but what Is jacks story? Who is he and where did he come from.

This is all revealed to you slowly throughout the game; with many twists and turns your enemy isn’t always your enemy and things like that. Another exiting fact about this game is the introduction of plasmids, what are plasmids you question eagerly? Well these are a somewhat novelty steroid, I guess you could call it, that changes the characters genetic code causing them to attain certain powers and abilities (depending on the plasmid you obtain) things like lightning bolts and freeze blast are but two of the many plasmids at your disposal throughout the game. These are used along side your standard firearms things like: the Shotgun, Machinegun and Pistol and a few not so standard firearms that you will find at later stages. The combination of guns and plasmids is nothing to be taken lightly, it is a powerful combination that can cause harm to the biggest of foes. For instant if and enemy happens to be standing in a pool of water and is unlucky enough to get in the way of your lighting bolt plasmid then the damage he receives doubles! This goes for a variety of different plasmid affected environments things like Oil and the Fireball plasmid (need I say more).

The games enemies include an array of deranged creatures called splicers that have over used the plasmid steroids they have gone insane and are seeking what is know in the world of Rapture as ADAM “The genetic material that keeps the wheels of Rapture turning, everybody wants it everybody needs it” and that’s what makes the game interesting …more so, in order to upgrade your plasmids and in fact gain more plasmids you must harvest ADAM from what is know as a “little sister” these are deranged versions of what used to be little girls and in order for you to gain ADAM you must harvest the little sisters. But as always this isn’t as easy as it may first seem these little girls have friends those friends are known as Big Daddies these are protectors rather than fighters. With that said you can walk around freely and not worry about being attacked by the hardest enemy in the game but in order to get to the little sister you must do battle with the big daddy so lock and load and have charged plasmids.

Turning a little away from the storyline and more to the game play side of things, Bioshock offers amazingly tight controller scheme on the XBOX 360 but is apparently a little sharper on PC, with that said I couldn’t notice the difference apart from the fact I was playing on a key board instead of a handheld controller. The graphics and environments are stunning; the art and design used for Bioshock was an Art Deco design that worked amazingly well. So expect to see a lot of old juke boxes and weird looking fonts from the late 40s. the idea, story line and game play all work so well and the classic soundtrack just makes it that much more tense and exiting to play. However the length of this game does depends on your skill level and the difficulty you set it on but overall shouldn’t take over 25 hours, a little sad for a game of this quality but most games these days seem to be going for Quality over Length which at times is a little annoying. But alas, wont put many people off this great shooter.

Honestly if there is a game you get this year on your XBOX 360 make it this one this is a step up from your standard shoot em up, make use of your plasmids, discover the secrets of rapture, save lives or take them, fight or flee it is up to you to find out what happened and why such a wonderful and prosperous city has fallen into darkness…

All in All

Sound:

(Great! Keeps in time with what is happening sticks with the overall theme of the game)

Story:

(interesting and exiting better than any crappy soap opera)

Graphics:

(lovely looking environments and gory looking enemies)

Gameplay:

(great however somewhat easy at times, length could become an issue)

OVERALL:

(A great game that will have you intrigued, exited and horrified at times wanting to learn more about Rapture)

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