Bioshock - Review

When Bioshock first hit the scene this time last year, reviewers hailed the game as one of the greatest experiences ever made, so you can imagine my disappointment when this was an Xbox 360 only game. Now, a year later, the PS3 version has hit the shelves, but does this game truly deserve the accolade of 2007’s Game of the Year?

Having now completed the game once, I can certainly say yes, it does. Even though the game may be a year old, it’s still as good as (and indeed better than) most of 2008’s big games. Bioshock is set in the fictional underwater city of Rapture (deep in the Mid-Atlantic), created by the sole imagination of it’s grand architect, Andrew Ryan. You’re character, Jack, survives a plane crash and enters a mysterious lighthouse which transports him down to the city via a Bathysphere (the main mode of transport across the city). Upon reaching the city you are greeted by Atlas via radio, who acts as your guide for the game. It is apparent almost immediately that something is severly wrong with Rapture, with its inhabitants boosting up on Plasmids and ransacking the city clean. Not only that but it seems as though the city itself is falling apart. The game’s approximately 20 hour experience takes you around several key areas such as a Medical Pavilion, an Oxygen forest, the Central Core and a shopping district to name but a few.

Each level is perfect in design. It’s clear the designers put a lot of thought into both the architecture and planning of each zone, creating an incredible atmosphere, making you feel like you are truly exploring a new world, though still making it feel familiar with the 1960’s art style. The atmosphere is consistent throughout, enhancing the experience on the whole. The audio diaries which you can pick give you a taste of the events leading up to whatever it is that happened to Rapture, and answers several questions you may have been asking yourself as you progress through the story.

While the game ultimately forces you down a particular route in the grand scheme of things, the areas are so massive that you will spend a lot of time exploring, especially if you want to find all the radio diaries, plasmids and gene tonics. What’s more, you’re free to return to these areas if you wish later on. This non-linear design keeps the gameplay interesting, which can be a problem in some first person shooters. Fortunately Bioshock manages to keep the first person shooter experience interesting from start to finish by the use of plasmids, gene tonics, weapon upgrades and enemies.

Plasmids are special abilities that rewrite your DNA, and thus allow you to unleash spectacular powers like shocking someone with a bolt of electricity, freezing them where they stand with a blast of ice or even swarm them with a horde of bees. The variety of these plasmids allows for different playstyles, and given that you can equip a maximum of 6 at a time means that no two players will use the same plasmids for the whole game. In addition to these are the gene tonics, which enhance your abilities, such as being able to resist fire based attacks, or allow you to turn invisible when standing still. With 3 gene tonic tracks – Physical, Engineering and Combat – and 6 slots in each, the game allows a whole host of different combinations, further dispersing the likelihood that any two people will progress through the game in the same manner.

In order to expand your plasmid and tonic slots, you need to collect ADAM. As it so happens, collecting ADAM is easier said than done. The Little Sisters harvest the DNA of the dead, and convert it into ADAM. But these girls are protected by the Big Daddies, and as their name suggests, they’re quite a handful to take down. When you do take down the Daddies though, you’re then faced with the binary choice of harvesting or rescuing the Little Sisters. Harvesting gives you maximum ADAM but the girl dies, Resucing gives you a reduced amount of ADAM but the girl lives. This choice tests the players morality, something which isn’t done that frequently in video games and makes a huge difference in the course of the game. While collecting ADAM from the Little Sisters isn’t mandatory save for one or two occasions throughout the game, not collecting ADAM will make the game very difficult.

Throughout the game you will encounter a variety of enemies, including automated turrets and security bots as well as Raptures inhabitants which could be anything from the ranged combat Lead Splicers to the vanishing teleporting Houdini Splicers. Naturally when you enter an area it will be populated, but just because you killed them first time round doesn’t mean the room will be empty should you return. Rapture is a living city, and the movement of its inhabitants keeps you on your toes, and ensures that moving through any one particular area is neither uneventful or labourious, regardless of the amount of times you pass though it.

The game does help you on the way to taking down your enemies. During the progress of the game, you receive a research camera, which you use to take photos of your enemies. A little bar at the bottom of the photo indicates how far along your research is. The quality of the photo determines how much the bar moves, and of course there are a bonuses and penalities which will either add or subtract from the score your photo receives. Researching your enemies grants you damage bonuses when attacking them or may even unlock gene tonics which are specific to that class of enemy.

There really is a lot to Bioshock to fully experience the game. The story, the atmosphere and gameplay is so fantastic; it’s hard to imagine how its sequel could do any better. With the addition of Playstation 3 exclusive downloadable content coming in November and the inclusion of Trophies to the mix, you will certainly have more than one reason to keep making that fateful trip to 400 fathoms below.

Graphics: 10
Gameplay: 10
Sound: 10
Longevity: 10
Presentation: 10

Overall: 10

One you don't want to miss!

~The Damo