So, what can be said about BioShock? BioShock is a first-person-shooter, it has elements of role playing and it has a nifty environment to do this all in. But really, BioShock is so much more then this. At its heart BioShock is a mystery game with all of these elements thrown into it, and it comes together to make a game that will suck you in and keep you there.BioShock opens with you on a transatlantic flight in the 1960s when tragedy strikes. The plane goes down in a fireball and crash lands in the middle of the ocean. What caused this crash you might ask? Well that is the first story element that really starts to get you thinking about the game. As you are swimming in the water, being the lone survivor that you are, you come across a lighthouse. But who would build a lighthouse in the middle of the ocean? As you enter it, a bathysphere, a small submersible, waits to take you down below the water where you discover the city of Rapture, presumably built around the 1940s. A prerecorded message, from Rapture’s creator Andrew Ryan, explains that the city was built to enable complete scientific and evolutionary freedom. Freedom that is taken away on the surface world by politics and religion. Seems like a paradise city. Once you actually arrive in the cities gates, you realize that something has gone terribly wrong, and it is up to you to figure out what has caused the city to take a dive. The story manages to make the gamer emotionally involved in the game which really makes for an experience unlike any other game.
When you enter the city and begin game play, you will notice your enemies are these mutated freaks called Splicers. These splicers behave in a way you would expect a drug addict to act, just running around in need of a fix, and willing to kill you or anyone else who stands in their way. Now the splicers are after a substance called Adam. Adam is the building block used by the scientists to modify and alter a human genetic code. Plasmids are the materials. Adam and Plasmids are scattered throughout the city of Rapture but you can also purchase them from vending machines. The plasmids will enable your character to do a lot of cool and interesting things ranging from being able to freeze opponents where they stand; to shooting bees from your hand and having them swarm your enemy. Aside from the plasmids, there are also things called tonics. Tonics have more of a passive effect where as plasmids have the active effect. Tonics are used to almost level up your character. Effects of tonics will include doing more damage with certain weapons, being able to bypass security measures and so on. These plasmids and tonics really factor into the role playing element of the game which really makes BioShock so much more then just an ordinary FPS game.While you will want to be using the plasmids as much as possible because of their cool effects, you will also have more conventional weapons such as a hand gun, machine gun, grenade launcher. The weapons in this game are probably one of the biggest draw backs to the game. Although they look graphically impressive, they are really just unsatisfactory to use, and seems like they do a lot less damage then what would be expected. Even though you would think a shotgun from close range would just rip a guy apart, it will still take a few shots to take him down. Not to mention that you only have about 8 or 9 weapons to ever use in the game, and the fact that you will have seen almost all of them at the half way point, it just makes the combat feel a little weak at times.
To be able to purchase the plasmids from the vending machines, which will be your primary way to obtain such items, you will need Adam. You acquire Adam from these little girls call Little Sisters. These girls have been genetically altered to seek out and harvest Adam throughout Rapture. Since every single thing in Rapture needs Adam to evolve itself, these little sisters become very sought after targets. Good thing they have the Big Daddy to protect them. The big daddies are basically just these lumbering giants who are really one of the toughest foes you will encounter in a game, and in order to get to the little sister and her Adam, you have to deal with these guys first. The big daddies will do anything it takes to protect these girls. If you are good enough to take a big daddy out, you get to deal with the little sister, and this is really the part of the game where you have to choose to be selfish or selfless. You have two options when dealing with the little sisters, you can essentially kill these little girls and harvest all the Adam they posses, or you can save them and release them from there hellish state. If you choose to release the girls they will reward you with a bit of Adam which will leave you with less then had you killed them, but it also leaves you feeling good about yourself and your actions. This sense of morality comes into effect with ever single little sister you encounter and really makes you become emotionally involved in the game.
To get through Rapture you will encounter many, many security measures that have been taken to keep people from causing trouble, which is exactly what you are doing. To bypass certain things such as security cameras or security bots, you will need to engage yourself in a mini game. This mini game brings back the old days of Dream Pipe, in which a substance will flow through connected pipes and your job is to arrange the pipes so that the substance can make it to the exit. At first this mini game will be a nice change in pace to the action, but as you progress through the game you will become more and more annoyed with it, using whatever money you have to do an auto hack. This element to the game play started out as a good idea, but could have been toned down, especially later in the game.In the game’s focus, it has a linear goal structure and list of tasks you must complete. However, if you just follow these tasks you will really miss out on what Rapture really has to offer you. Every single level you visit has exploration possibilities. Every where you go, every thing you look in, everything will reward you for your exploration, whether it be money you pull from dead bodies, or audio logs left behind form the population of Rapture that help unlock the mystery of what really went on down there.
While you are on your adventurous romp through Rapture, your nerves, especially at the beginning of the game, will always be kept on end. The atmosphere of Rapture is absolutely amazing. You will feel as though you are actually in the game, and that sense of bringing you into the experience is a really powerful thing. All of this is possibly because every environment, every bit of voice acting, the suspense in the air, it really is convincing to the gamer. The environments in this game are exceptionally well done. All levels have their own unique style to them, while still staying true to the formula Rapture puts forth. The only draw back from the environments in Rapture is that for a game based on a city in the water, the water mechanics are very scripted, so don’t expect to see interactive water that you can splash through or make waves in.
Some gamers might be offended that this game is strictly single player meaning that there is no multiplayer component to its game. This however seems down played because of the fact that it presents such an amazing story and single player experience. However, that little nasty fact is still sitting there buried beneath a great experience.
So in the end, what really makes BioShock such a great game to play? Is it the atmosphere? Is it the sense of moral choice? Is it the game play mechanics? Is it the outstanding story telling? Really it is all of the above. Everything in Rapture comes together so well and fits perfectly with one another, that it really makes this game one of the year’s best and a must buy for any gamer.______________
OVERALL: 9.1/10
Game Play: 8.4/10
Graphics: 9.2/10
Sound: 9.5/10
Presentation: 9.6/10
Value: 8.4/10
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