BioShock

Going into BioShock..
You can skip this if you wish, it is just a small introduction into why I'm interested in this game and what I expected going into it. I've been keeping an eye on this game ever since it's release, but due to not having a Xbox 360 at the time I never had a chance to play it and eventually lost interest in it. Fast forward months ahead when I do have the Xbox 360. I was at a local game retailer and I saw BioShock on the shelf for $39.99 used. Since I had the cash on me and still interesting in playing it, I purchased it. I was expecting a few hours long campaign, and low replay value since there was no multiplayer or anything to keep you interested after wards. Now let's start the review and you'll see what I saw as it's high points and what are it's lows.

BioShock starts you off in the shoes of the protagonist who was mysteriously involved in a plane crash over the ocean, strangely over the magnificent underwater city known as Rapture. Slowly the pieces of the story form over the time you play the game, which come together as a great story that is one of the reasons you should play this game.

First off, BioShock is a graphically amazing game. No one can really deny this fact. Rapture and it's inhabitants are visually appealing. Even though you are in the deepest depth of the ocean the environments are clean, spooky, and above all stunning. Just looking out the windows around the city you'll see other parts of the city in the distance which are worth the few seconds of time you could be using to smash a splicer's head in with a wrench.

One of my personal favorite aspects of the game is the use of plasmids that make up one side of your arsenal. From lightening strikes to setting cyclone traps to telekinesis to even shooting hornets towards the enemies, you can customize your arsenal of plasmids to fit your style. Besides plasmids there's conventional weaponry such as: a pistol, shotgun, machine gun, grenade launcher, and a few others to make your stroll through Rapture a bit more fun. Ammunition is never scarce in BioShock. With the ammunition vending machines and general supplies vending machine, combined with spread out drops, and enemy drops you should have enough ammo at all times. Plasmids on the other hand use EVE as the fuel to work. EVE is found through out the game in syringe-type vials, and also in vending machines.

Besides plasmids and weaponry, there's these things called tonics. They are equipped same was plasmids, but aren't used in direct combat. Tonics are categorized in categories such as: engineering, physical, and so on. Some tonics are used for making hacking safes, security bots, vending machines, and those types of things faster and easier, others are used to increase strength with the wrench, or even give you camouflage when standing still. There's a lot of tonics to collect, so you can switch them around and test them out as you see fit.

When decide to purchase some tonics or plasmids you'll notice normal cash doesn't do it. To buy plasmids and tonics you'll need the heavily sought after ADAM. ADAM is what these little girls called Little Sisters harvest from dead bodies and such around Rapture. To get the ADAM you can't simply ask for it, or kill her to get it. Big Daddies, the hardest enemies in the game, are their protectors. Big Daddies are heavily armored and usually equipped with a huge drill or grenade launcher weapon. All in all they're not the hardest thing in the world to kill if you know how to handle them using various types of ammunition, such as the electro-buck, anti-personnel bullets, etc. After you take down the Little Sister's Big Daddy, you can choose to harvest her for 160 ADAM, or rescue her for 80 ADAM. For rescuing Little Sister's you do get a reward from it, woman you meet along the way will send you rewards after saving so many. Also harvesting/rescuing has some ending game differences.

The characters in this game also make the game seem even more real. When you pick up a recorder in BioShock, it's similar to files in a game like Resident Evil, but these are all audio records, no reading in this game! The audio recordings will fill you in on background characters, and their little bit of input on the story. Audio records can also give you codes to locked doors, and information for certain parts of the game. The voice acting in this game is spot on, every character seems real and most are all insane.

Andrew Ryan is the man you will hear the most crap from throughout the game. He will tell you how you're making no difference and why he's so right. He built that city with no religion or government to get in the way of science. He got his city, but something went wrong and it's no more than an underwater tomb. Andrew Ryan tries his best to kill you or stop you along the way, he makes a great antagonist, the kind that makes your trip to him worth the long walk and time.

There is much more to this game I could tell you, but I don't want to completely spoil the experience of the game. This is a game that a vast audience will enjoy. First person shooter and survival horror fans will find this to be a great time, and you will enjoy the ride that is BioShock.