BioShock

You are a man known as Jack, who finds himself drowning in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean after his plane crashes down. However, he is rescued from certain death by the appearance of some sort of lighthouse situated on the water itself. Too weary and desperate to consider this peculiarity for more than a moment, Jack swims to the towering building in a moment of pure introductory brilliance and finds himself in its 1960s-esque interior. Descending down after gathering himself properly, he discovers what will transport him to a city of wonders and unimaginable danger: a bathysphere.  This is undoubtedly where you will witness the unmatched presentation that Bioshock offers.

Eventually, he enters Rapture, an underwater utopia built by Andrew Ryan. Ryan, a brilliant man who sought to erect a paradise for the clever and highly talented, could not foresee the startling discovery that would soon tear his most remarkable creation apart: sea slugs able to secrete pure stem cells, later dubbed ADAM. A budding scientist who resided in Rapture, Dr. Tenenbaum, upset the balance further when she unveiled plasmids:  formidable powers made possible by using the cells, ranging from the ability to produce fireballs to hypnotism. Eventually, the struggle for power became too strong for even the city's leader to control, and an attack using biological weapons put the final stake in Rapture's marble coffin.

When Jack arrives, the city isn't quite functioning how it used to. Those fatally dependent on ADAM, Splicers, now roam the halls of the underwater megalopolis, while potent behemoths known as Big Daddies protect mutated Little Sisters as they harvest ADAM from corpses. Speaking to a man known as Atlas over a short-wave radio, a curious man who claims to have lost his wife and child, he must uncover the secrets of Rapture, gaining a deeper understanding of his own past in the process.  And let me tell you:  Rapture is chock full of hidden marvels to plumb, from radios peppered throughout each level to notes on the wall that divulge more secrets than you could possibly handle...

The area isn't without its distinct enemies, as the appearance of the first Little Sister presents a moral predicament: will you destroy her and obtain more satisfying reward, or liberate her from her slug parasite? Ultimately, what you decide to do will determine what sort of ending you receive upon completing the game.  Be mindful of the fact that each decision also results in a different Achievement or Trophy at the end.

Before you can reach the sister, it becomes clear that must first vanquish her protector: the mighty Big Daddy. Underestimating them is a fatal error: Daddies are fast and can down you in seconds, making it necessary to run around and do all that is within your power to bring it down. Once you obtain machine guns, however, they'll be pushovers.

When you die in Bioshock, you are revived in a Vita-Chamber. Unfortunately, these chambers simplify the majority of the game's encounters. There are several of them in each level, so you'll never have to travel far to reach the area of your death.  I don't advocate for infuriatingly punishing death systems in any game, but this simply made each encounter a walk in the park.  I never had to fear death due to the close proximity of a Vita-Chamber.

While the environments you battle in are dismal, colorful, and arguably some of the best the system has to offer, my one complaint with the graphics would be that some surfaces look a bit too much like plastic, and some of the characters oddly resemble polished dolls at times. Still, this is certainly not enough to detract from the quality of Bioshock's visuals, as you'll soon be wandering around Rapture with your mouth agape. It's a shame that for such a fantastic setting, you'll be following a strictly linear path most of the time.  Perhaps Sea of Dreams will remedy this issue.

The game, divided into chapters, is solid throughout. In the final chapter, however, it would appear that the developers were unable to think of much. Before confronting your main adversary, you need to fetch pieces of a Big Daddy suit in order to fool a Little Sister into escorting you. You'll also be collecting ingredients for a few other missions, where mediocrity abates the quality until Bioshock redeems itself at the very end of it all.

Fortunately, dozens of plasmids to choose from variegate the gameplay, making combat much more interesting (which is a fine addition, since guns aren't that exciting most of the time). The game also has a few RPG elements here and there, such as currency to spend on upgrades for Jack. Like its spiritual predecessor, System Shock 2, hacking machines is also an option when you want to bypass them without using force.

Bioshock isn't the most time-consuming adventure available on the 360, but considering that you're able to approach most combat situations with quite a bit of creativity, there's some moderate replay value here. The absence of multiplayer, I think, only strengthens the game; it unquestionably permitted the developers to focus on building a remarkable narrative and a truly marvelous world that delivers on all levels.

In the end, the stunning visuals, paired with a remarkable story and very memorable characters, make Bioshock a true beauty to behold. It proves that games do not need a multiplayer component to be successful; on the contrary, the average gamer simply wants a satisfying title that delivers. From its wet start to an explosive conclusion, the game exhibits the brilliance and remarkability of a classic in the making.