Bioshock

Added August 28th, 2007 by EtherTwilight

Throughout human history, the deep reaches of the sea have captivated and terrified. Tales of gargantuan sea creatures and deities are prolific all over the globe. From the Kraken and Behemoth, to the lost city of Atlantis and the imaginative worlds created by Jules Verne, there is much mystery in those vast oceans. But the biggest marine mystery and the most terrifying oceanic tale has only just been told.

2K's BioShock begins like many first-person shooters. Your protagonist, named Jack as seen in a letter in this brief opening segment, is in a plane flying over the ocean in 1960. Soon the plane crashes, leaving a roiling inferno over the waters of the Atlantic. Lights in the near distance catch your attention, swimming over to them the only plausible course of action. A strange structure looms out of the watery depths. Entrance into its metallic womb promises safety. Or does it?

Welcome to Rapture, an underwater city of dreams and ideals, constructed by visionary Andrew Ryan. This aquatic Utopia brought together great minds in science, industry, writing, and other fields away from the claws of oppressive governments and the talons of theocracy. Like all dreams, however, Rapture is prone to nightmares.

After witnessing the quickly unsettling events following a bathysphere ride into the city, its time to venture into this unknown world. Picking up a radio links you with your contact, Atlas, who begins to guide you through the nightmare in the hopes of saving his family. With little more to go on, you grab a wrench and hope for the best.

With the obligatory non-informative opening sequence over and melee weapon in hand, BioShock can commence formulating the rest of its world. Its seemingly run-of-the-mill beginnings work to create a sense of comfort, giving us a world where we start in control and aware of our surroundings. The controls are intuitive and perfectly laid out; the melee weapon is a must; we know nothing about our hapless protagonist. From here on out, BioShock begins to weave its web of mystery and captivation, and the similarities between other shooters quickly diminishes.

What quickly strikes about BioShock is its atmosphere. The entirety of the game evokes feelings of uneasiness, black humor, paranoia, and outright terror. Ambient lighting is used with an artisan's touch, painting all the game's light over wonderfully designed environments. The futuristic yet retro vibe of Rapture speaks volumes of the talent and care put into the art-design. The result is a world that feels very familiar from science-fiction books and movies, and yet is also entirely alien and foreboding. Epic's Unreal Engine is utilized extremely well in creating these detailed environments, with next to no frame-rate issues. From the market district to medical and even a self-contained forest, there's always something new right around the corner.

Rapture is littered with blood and corpses, and its hallways are filled with deadly creatures. These humanoid creatures, known as Splicers, come in different forms and capabilities. They roam the expanse of Rapture, and seem oblivious to anything except your appearance and the bodies of the dead. The difference in Splicers works to create intense combat. They can attack with a variety of weapons and tactics, be it a pipe at close range or a firearm from across a hallway, or possibly even lobbing grenades. Splicers can also come from any direction, or seem to disappear into any direction as well. However, Splicers are not the only creatures roaming the halls of this underwater tomb.

Booming footsteps. A groan that sounds like a whale. The voice of a little girl. Big Daddy and Little Sister. This co-dependent tandem is one that can be heard from rooms away, and one that always creates tension. The Little Sisters are small girls, wandering with a strange hypodermic gun with an attached vial, filled with a mysterious liquid. Their motives quickly become clear as they approach a dead body, and put the needle to work. It becomes apparent early on that these Little Sisters collect ADAM,which you'll also need if you're to survive Rapture's horrors. Getting to the girls, however, isn't as easy as it sounds. A large robotic creature stands beside the Little Sister, vigilant of the surrounding area. To get to the Little Sister, Big Daddy must first be dealt with.

The tag-team will continue roaming freely, ignoring all around them in their quest. That is until something gets too close. Big Daddy will quickly raise its means of dispatching foes, showing it off as a wolf flashes its toothy maw. This warning sign and other touches of the companionship are equal parts astounding and unnerving. The Little Sister will carry on one-sided conversations with the metallic brutes, and hide behind them if danger appears. At times, she'll grow weary and hitch a piggyback ride on Daddy. If a situation gets too out of control, she may run off and hide. Once alone, you must decide whether to free her from the poison that has spread throughout her body, or harvest her for the full potential of ADAM, killing the girl in the process.

In BioShock, you'll have a wide array of means with which to defend yourself. The weaponry at first seems familiar, running the gamut from a pistol, machine gun, and shotgun, to a chemical-thrower and even a crossbow. Each weapon in BioShock is beautifully detailed and designed, evocative of the same Vernesque setting that the rest of the city has been molded to. Each weapon has three different ammunition types, and lend themselves to all sorts of combat. Different ammunition types are more effective on different enemies, and the array becomes very useful. With antipersonnel and armor-piercing rounds, proximity mines and heat-seeking RPGs, and even an electric tripwire crossbow bolt, there will be many chances to experiment with different types of ammunition against certain enemies for the best results.

Aside from the standard first-person arsenal, you'll be able to equip yourself with a number of Plasmids and Gene Tonics. These enhancements can be found throughout Rapture, or purchased at Gatherer's Garden stations with ADAM garnered from the Little Sisters. There are four total lines of plasmids and tonics that can be equipped, with six total slots available. Only two are initially available in each row and more must be purchased at the Garden with ADAM.

Plasmids work most akin to magic, and you'll have an EVE meter that determines how often you can use these powers. Plasmids are quite varied and lend themselves well to different situations and play-styles. You can shoot bolts of electricity from your fingertips, all but killing opponents that happen to be in water. A gout of flame can appear from seemingly nowhere, igniting oil spills and catching enemies in a deadly conflagration. Out of reach corpses and items can be pulled from afar with Telekinesis, and either searched for loot, flung at an enemy or even held on to as a shield. These are just the three earliest examples of Plasmids, and the repertoire continually grows throughout the game. Certain Plasmids are specifically engineered towards specific opponents, giving you particular advantage while fighting Splicers, the Big Daddies, or even both.

The other three rows are available for Gene Tonics, with one row each for Physical, Engineering, and Combat Tonics. These lend themselves even more to pushing your character to adapt to the surrounding environment, and have a wide variety of effects. You can make health packs more efficient, take less damage, emit a blast of electricity when struck, be more effective at a hacking mini-game when trying to unlock safes or turn sentry guns and security cameras to your side, or even be able to become invisible while standing still. There are a number of other effects, and each one has their uses.

With guns, Plasmids, and Gene Tonics, your hands will already be full, but there will be yet another imperative task before you upon finding a camera. Pictures can be taken of enemies to research them, granting you particular bonuses against that enemy from that point on, or acquiring even more abilities for your use. Using the camera will, of course, leave you exposed, so it's imperative to take your snapshots as quickly as possible in order to safely deal with enemies. Though it's certainly not mandatory, the bonuses gained from taking the time to commit to those Kodak moments definitely make it worth the danger.

In keeping with the truest fashion of commerce, Rapture is littered with different resources that must be paid for with money, acquired from the dead and all over the city. From"regular" vending machines - at least as regular as a vending machine bursting with potato chips, shotgun shells, health packs, and grenades can be - to Ammo Bandito vending machines to stock up on munitions, health stations that can be paid to fill your life back up, and security deactivation switches, you'll have plenty of places to spend all that hard earned cash. Other than the Gatherer's Garden, the only two other machines that don't accept your crisp green are Power to the People Stations, which are a one time upgrade to one of your weapons, with two available upgrades for each weapon, furthering their capabilities in battle. The other is a U-Invent station, wherein materials looted from the city, such as glue, rubber hoses and brass cases can be used to fashion a number of items, from ammunition to more Gene Tonics.

The game's story progresses through a number of audio diaries that are strewn all over, which serve to provide much background into the people and key players in Rapture, as well as to help slowly feed information on what exactly happened to cause the city to crumble as it has. Your radio will also allow others in Rapture to interact with you, giving you information, tips or your next destination. The voice acting in BioShock is surprisingly good, and each character truly comes to life during the course of the twelve to twenty hour long adventure. Of course, for even more information, one could always read the posters and billboards all over Rapture, or even the messages scribbled in blood on the floors and walls...

Unfortunately, no game is absolutely perfect, but thankfully BioShock's blemishes are so minor they're hardly worth mentioning. Blood effects often look strange or downright goofy, with large clouds of blood exploding in a balloon from enemies. The Havok Physics Engine, while often reacting rather well, at times is prone to reactions that break every law of physics known to mankind. Items will go flying across the room with almost no inertia. Recently dispatched enemies may go soaring through the air despite only having been shot with a .38 caliber pistol - and other peculiarities, though thankfully it's not enough to completely mire the gaming experience. The only major problem is that enemies will at times stand still despite being well aware of your presence and looking right in your direction. This can quite ruin all the effort put into the game's atmosphere, but for the most part the enemy AI is reactive in ways it should be; and frantic action is certainly not in short supply. Finally, though it may not be a flaw, some players may find the advent of Vita-Chambers, which you will automatically respawn at upon death to take away from the game's challenge or overall tension. Ultimately, the Vita-Chamber should serve that end more by keeping you directly involved in the game, rather than kicking you to a load screen with a YOU DIED or GAME OVER plastered across the screen. It's definitely a step in the right direction, but it could rub some players the wrong way.

With strong voice acting, a solid array of weapons and abilities at your disposal, a great score, wonderfully creepy atmosphere, beautifully detailed environments, nearly unparalleled art-design, solid game-play and an engine that runs smooth as silk, BioShock stands testament to just what the term "next-generation" should mean. The amount of care and innovation put into 2K's gem make it a truly remarkable and one of a kind game, and it stands proudly as one of the best single-player experiences that can be found not only on the XBox 360, but pretty much anywhere. So enhance your gaming and get the genetically enhanced shooter!