BioShock

Coming in kind of late to the Bioshock phenomenon, I felt it rather difficult to go in with a mind clear of any preconceived notions or prejudices (we've seen a lot of FPS in the last two generations). When the game released, it was greeted with staggering fanfare and showered with critical applause; ultimately culminating in Game of the Year honors and millions in sales. Naturally then, there was an almost irrepressible sense of expectation that came along with entering Rapture for the very first time. Of course, by the time I popped the game in, the dust had long since settled, and everyone had gone onto other things(okay I was really late to the phenomenon). All said, I am happy to state the obvious: Bioshock, whether you go in with an open mind or no, is an utterly brilliant production on every level.


It is 1960, and you play Jack, a man we know very little about aside the fact that he's just crash landed into the middle of the ocean. Seemingly the only survivor, Jack ascends from the depths and gasps for air. The glow of firey wreckage illuminates his surroundings as he swims forward to the only refuge in sight - an inordinately placed tower. Convenient, hmm? Well, as Jack descends into the underwater city he will come to know as "Rapture", you the player are given a brief glimpse into the ideology that inspired its creation. Yes, Rapture was envisioned as a placed separated from the failed political systems of the outside world. A place free of the moral quandaries created by religions that have apparently held man back from his true potential. Clearly the city of Rapture borrows strongly from fictional works of the past by employing the classical Utopia turned Dystopia archetype. Yes, as soon as you leave the elevator that tours past the beautiful city lights, you are immediately made aware of the failure and decay of this city beneath the surface. Before this, however, you meet a man called Atlas, who rose to prominence as the underground voice of the people. Throughout the game Atlas contacts you via radio frequency and acts as a source of insight into the inner workings of Rapture. But primarily he gives you objectives to complete, promising that if you help him, you will help yourself.

Rapture's creator, Andrew Ryan, brought with him some of the best and brightest of the scientific community. Since there were no ethical or moral qualms to get in the way, scientists were able to advance in their knowledge and employment of "ADAM", stem cells derived from a species of sea slug. ADAM gave Rapture's scientists the ability to alter the human genome and ultimately create what are known as "plasmids" - biophysical enhancements that give their users superhuman abilities. Dr. Bridget Tennenbaum, a key player in the development of plasmid technology, discovered a way to mass produce ADAM by placing the sea slugs in the stomachs of what you will come to know as "Little Sisters." But as Rapture sunk into conflict, the production of ADAM was disrupted, causing devastating shortages. As a result, the populace of Rapture became murderously insane. By the time you come into the picture, the fallout is essentially complete.

As such, Bioshock is what I refer to as an after-the-fact experience. Rarely do you interact with the sane, as they are more or less extinct. As the story unfolds, the player carries with them a distinct sense of emotional weight that is sometimes overwhelming, often harrowing, and always humbling. The gravity of tragedy expressed through the suffering and decay of Rapture's various locales and inhabitants will make you feel like very few games can. The story in Bioshock captures the true essence of humanity at his best and his worst, and even gives you the ability to show where you stand on the moral compass. Will you kill the Little Sisters? Or will you save them from their mental prison and give them a chance to truly live for something?

Beyond that, you will question your perception of reality. Are you really in control of your own actions? Who are your allies, really? Who is working in your interest and who isn't? All of these questions will be answered as you make your way through Rapture. The story is not overly complex (there are three possible endings; two more or less the same as each other) but it does what it sets out to do, and it ends beautifully.

When you strip Bioshock down to its vitals, you will find that it is really a linear first person shooting experience with a very focused objective based gameplay structure. There's not much in the way of "alternate routes" as the environments in the game world are rather small and enclosed. Anyone looking for an RPG experience will be sorely disappointed, as Bioshock offers very little in the way of choice. But there are a number of customization options. Scattered throughout the city are vending machines of various types. These vending machines allow you to purchase new slots and plasmids which you can then swap out and upgrade as you wish. Vending machines also serve as a quick and easy way of purchasing ammo and other weapons such as grenades. You can also invent various items like security hacking tools, which take the work out of hacking machines and robots (but if you wish to manually hack something, you can buy upgrades to improve that skill aswell) Don't be fooled though, "inventing" essentially comes down to the press of a button, as the game automatically combines your collected items and turns them into whatever you requested. Somehow a piece of rope and a hotdog creates a complex security hacking tool...Don't ask me.

As in any first person shooter, Jack also finds new guns, which are also upgradeable. The weapons list seems pretty short on the surface, but once you fully upgrade them, I think you will find you have more than enough to keep your combat experience fresh and rewarding. Especially when balancing their use with the additional employment of plasmids. In fact, this is one aspect of the game that I felt was rather unbalanced. Why in a game that is 8-12 hours long (depending on how you play) do you have this smorgasbord of options laid out in front of you, only to have the game end long before you can fully upgrade (much less fully take advantage of) them? While you will rarely if ever catch me complaining about length in a game, I do take issue with the balance of options versus potential playtime. But I suppose it's better to jam pack a short game, rather than strip it down and give you less options. It is a standout achievement in Bioshock that players are afforded so many options to suit their play style. Maybe you want to combine your shotgun with a plasmid to find the best one-two-punch for each enemy type. For example, Big Daddies (who protect Little Sisters as they harvest scarce ADAM from the dead) are effectively dispatched using a combination of Winter Blast (which freezes them) and electrical buckshot rounds. Alternatively, the Electrobolt power (which sends electricity coursing through the body and temporarily stuns enemies) combined with exploding buckshot renders an equal degree of effectiveness. The arsenal in Bioshock is superior to that of most other games in the genre because it gives you a few upgradeable guns to cycle through and focus on, instead of the hit and miss kitchen sink approach that is so often seen in the genre.

The game is objective based, with Jack visiting different parts of the city searching for components, characters, and various items like key codes and the like. The gameplay is rather straightforward in the sense that you never really get sidetracked by an expanse. In fact, while the focused approach that Bioshock takes is rather fitting considering the keen sense of urgency expressed through the narrative, there really is no such thing as "off the beaten path". It's one of the most hemmed in first person shooters I've played, and that could be perceived as somewhat of a con on the list for anyone who thought this was Deus Ex or an RPG of that ilk. The way I look at it though is that there wouldn't be anyone to talk to because 99.9% of the populace are murderous hobos. Speaking of the murderous hobos, they are dubbed "Splicers", and there are a few kinds. Some crawl on ceilings, throw fire, or use melee weapons and guns. There isn't a lot of variety, and I thought that, beyond some interesting personality, they were pretty generic insane hobo fare, and if it weren't for the Big Daddies and turrets, it'd become rather monotonous having to mow them down around every corner. I actually have a theory that Irrational borrowed directly from Condemned. Maiming and whacking the crap out of insane hobos, shocking them, it all looks and sounds relatively the same. We can only hope that the Insane Hobo Killing Simulator genre lives on. Speaking of the wrench, I found it of rather limited use to be honest with you. Unless you want to play the game stealthily (which wasn't really my bag of tea) you best not bring a wrench into a plasmid/Tommy Gun fight.

Gunplay, ah yes! The staple of the first person shooter to be sure. Well, I'm happy to say that Bioshock nails it. It absolutely nails the feel with unique touches for every weapon, ensuring players a different experience with each weapon (compounded further by upgrades no less!). The game has a strong sense of what it wants to be, and it makes no apologies for its linearity and emphasis on fetch quest activites. Yes, it leads you on a wild goose chase, but it just feels so good collecting all of the items stashed away in various nooks and crannies in the game. You can even take research photos with your camera, allowing you to actually improve your effectiveness against your enemies. Every gameplay mechanic has a well defined purpose, and this serves to create a very tight, cohesive experience as opposed to a bunch of ideas that were never fleshed out. It's sad when a good concept meets the cutting room floor, but even sadder when it's thrown in underdeveloped. Thankfully Irrational never made that mistake in Bioshock. The design flaws are certainly present, but they rarely detract from the overall gameplay experience. All considered, the gameplay in Bioshock is extremely satisfying.

In the visual department, Bioshock dresses to impress. For a game that came out in mid 2007, this still sets the bar for first person shooters on the console. Irrational utilized Epic's Unreal 3 technology to bring Rapture to life. Water plays a large role in the game, and the team spared no expense, hiring both a water artist and a water programmer to make certain that every animation, every reflection, and every environmental interaction looked perfect. The result is probably the best looking water I've seen on any platform ever. Beyond that, the game is packed full of next-gen mapping and lighting effects. And while the game is rather dark atmospherically, it really only serves to bring out the true splendor of Rapture. From the way fire reflects onto nearby objects, to the eerie shadow of a skulking Splicer, most all of the popular graphical tricks are out of the bag.

Rapture has a very ornate, classical decorum. Irrational nailed the Art Deco style of the 1930's, setting Bioshock's universe apart from the lifeless, random corridor, random military structure style environments used in most first person shooters. You really feel as though you are in a real fallen city, a city in turmoil and ruin.


Sound production in games is often brushed over by the gaming community, but in Bioshock, you will want to take in the ghostly ambience. From the haunting echoes of crazed Splicers, to the crackling fires and dripping aqua; the sound design in Bioshock is layered and pinpoint precise. Guns sound awesome, with each surface reacting appropriately to the impact of your bullets. The voice acting is superb, with authentic sounding accents, beautiful inflection, and true to life urgency. Most all of this is filtered through distorted wire recorder sounding radios, so you get a scratchy, static accent layered onto voice work. The game also borrows from the Great American Songbook to add to the already finely crafted atmosphere, with old classics that most anyone who plays the game will recognize and appreciate. There's nothing like walking down a dark, menacing hallway to the sound of "How Much Is that Doggie In The Window" by Patti Page. Funny enough, you can silence any music playing by shooting the radios that are scattered across Rapture. There are even pianos and guitars that you can create music on. All of these little details bring the audio experience into a cohesive whole. There was a time when I didn't appreciate sound in games, but the truth is that sound is just as important as any other facet of a game because we are creatures of sound as much as we are visual. With Bioshock, Irrational has set the audio bar insanely high for their peers. Superb.


Bioshock demonstrates videogames at their most artistic, and shows how capable we are, utilizing the latest technology and the brightest most passionate minds, to touch players and give them an emotional journey worth remembering. From the hopelessness, disorientation, tragedy, anger, and ultimately the strength that it takes to rise above it all and forge new beginnings; Bioshock runs the gamut. Above all things, I hope Bioshock will send a positive message that resonates beyond the television screen. This is mankind at his best, and at his worst. Bioshock's unfailing devotion to quality design at every level has earned it many accolades - and you can add me to the list of fans who eagerly anticipate a followup.