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The player does not directly see any of the coup of Rapture in BioShock, instead, arriving sometime afterward in the year 1960, discovering a desolate city filled with insane, drug-addled citizens. The player hears about Rapture's golden era--and the events that led to its demise--through a series of audio logs that serve as diary entries for the past inhabitants of the city. Touted by 2K as an "FPS-RPG" and a " spiritual sequel" to Irrational's highly revered System Shock 2, it has gameplay similarities to both System Shock games as well as Deus Ex. It is possibly an indictment of the current gaming generation that BioShock has been lauded as such an original game, when in fact it copies so many structural elements from said predecessors' gameplay (such as non-linear player-character development, moral choice in plot progression, immersive setting and story).
To its credit, however, BioShock is more of an exploration-focused first-person shooter that makes streamlined, simplified use of some of its predecessors' mechanics, such as the use of audio logs as a storytelling device, a hacking minigame (reminiscent of the classic puzzler Pipe Dream), and special abilities. While being primarily built on Unreal Engine 2.5, BioShock is also one of the first games to be produced using features from Epic's Unreal Engine 3 and appeared on both the Xbox 360 and the PC. On October 17, 2008 Bioshock was released for the PlayStation 3. This version of the game features a new 'Survivor' difficulty mode as well as other in-game add-on content. Downloadable "challenge rooms" are also available; these put the player in a race against the clock while working through brief, puzzle-oriented levels. The Playstation 3 version ships with Trophy Support, just as the Xbox 360 version, of course, contains Achievements.
Plot Synopsis
Set in 1960, BioShock begins with a plane crash, with the player character, named Jack, being the only survivor. The player takes refuge in a lone lighthouse in the middle of the ocean. A bathysphere leads down into the bowels of the underwater city of Rapture. A message from the city's creator, Andrew Ryan, talks of his vision for Rapture, a utopia without ethical or moral barriers. However, from the looks of things, Ryan has failed in realizing his vision.
A man named Atlas contacts Jack in the bathysphere and helps to lead him through the city, which is filled with genetically modified Splicers, Little Sisters, and their guardians, the Big Daddies. Atlas also tells Jack about ADAM, stem cells harvested to enhance the abilities of the human body. The abuse of ADAM has driven the Splicers mad and the material is what the Little Sisters constantly search for throughout Rapture.
Atlas instructs Jack to kill the Little Sisters and take the ADAM from them in order to use special abilities called Plasmids. However, another ally in Rapture, Dr. Tenenbaum, tells Jack to save the Little Sisters and promises to reward him if he obeys.
Atlas soon tells Jack of his wife and child, who are hiding from Splicers in a submarine. When Jack reaches them, however, Andrew Ryan destroys it, supposedly killing Atlas' family. Atlas, enraged, asks Jack to kill Andrew Ryan.
Jack reaches Andrew Ryan, who reveals that Jack is actually his son and was born in rapture two years prior. Genetic modification allowed for him to age rapidly. One of Rapture's pioneers, Frank Fontaine, "programmed" Jack to obey any order uttered with the phrase "Would you kindly", a phrase that Atlas has repeated many times. Jack was the one who crashed the plane and was brought to Rapture on purpose, with the goal of killing Andrew Ryan.
Ryan orders Jack to kill him, using the phrase "Would you kindly." Forced to obey, Jack kills Ryan with a golf club. Shortly after, Atlas reveals himself to be Frank Fontaine and leaves Jack to die in the city. Dr. Tenenbaum saves him, though, and deactivates the "Would you kindly" trigger phrase control Fontaine has over him. Jack then proceeds to Olympus Heights and finds Lot 192 which reverses a heart stopping mental control Fontaine was attempting to kill Jack with. Tenenbaum then instructs Jack to don a Big Daddy suit so the Little Sisters can lead him to Fontaine. When he reaches him, Fontaine, pumped up by massive quantities of ADAM, has acquired almost superhuman abilities.
Upon defeating Fontaine, three endings are possible. If the player rescues all the Little Sisters, the game ends with Jack and the Little Sisters leaving Rapture and the girls growing up to live their lives. If the player harvested two or more, but not all the Little Sisters, Jack kills the Little Sisters and takes their ADAM. If the player harvests all of the Little Sisters, the same ending is shown but with Tenenbaum's narration being angrier.
Weapons
The game features an array of traditional weapons that can be acquired throughout the game. The player carries all of the weapons at once, so all of the weapons are available at any time. Each weapon can be upgraded twice, using special kiosks called " Power to the People" machines. Each weapon can also carry three types of ammunition. The weapons in the game are as follows:
Hacking
Performing hacks on various machines in the game can make things a lot easier. Everything from security bots to safes can be hacked. Hacking machines can help you evade security systems, supply you with hidden items, and give you discounts on items at vending machines.
Hacking is done with the hacking mini-game, which is highly reminiscent of the classic computer game Pipe Mania (Pipe Dream in the United States). The goal is to successfully move fluid through a tube set on a grid of tiles from a starting location to and ending location, both of which are just outside the grid and, thus, not modifiable by the player. The player reveals pieces of the tube one at a time and may swaps tiles to continue the tube and keep the fluid moving. If the fluid is hindered in its progress either due to player error or by hitting certain tiles such as overload tiles and security tiles, the mini-game is failed and, depending on the gravity of the failure, security bots may be deployed to eliminate the player. An auto-hack tool can allow for a hack without using the mini-game. Hacking ability is greatly enhanced and simplified through the strategic equipment of certain engineering tonics. Also, The Winter Blast plasmid used on a machine just before hacking will slow the progress of the fluid considerably.
Vending Machines/Kiosks
Various vending machines and kiosks are found throughout the game. The different types are as follows:
Vita-Chambers
Whenever your HP reaches zero, you "respawn" at the nearest vita-chamber, large man-sized tubes scattered throughout Rapture. Vita-Chambers serve as a checkpoint of sorts, even though the game can also be saved at any time through the start menu. Unlike traditional checkpoints, enemies injured or killed since reaching the Vita-Chamber will remain so when the player is respawned. However, weapon ammunition will remain at the same level as when the player was killed and the player is also given only a fraction of his maximum health. Since there is seemingly no penalty for using Vita-Chambers (unless you are trying to unlock certain achievements on the Xbox 360) many players have bemoaned this design decision for making the game too easy — given enough time and patience, a player wielding only the wrench can slog his or her way through even the toughest battles.
Moral Choice
BioShock is unusual in that it offers players a moral choice. Near the beginning of the game, the player is given the choice of either harvesting the Little Sisters (effectively killing them) to gain a large amount of ADAM, or rescuing the Little Sisters for a significantly smaller amount of ADAM. Rescuing Little Sisters will, however, allow the player to access certain plasmids and Xbox 360 achievements unavailable through the "evil" method of play, and for each 3 that you rescue you will receive a gift from Dr. Tenebuam. Depending on exactly how many Little Sisters you harvest or rescue, the game's ending is affected. If you save all the Little Sisters you get a one hundred point achievement.
Patch/title update:
Downloadable content:
20th November 2008 patch:
The patch was released by accident on 13th of November 2008, but was quickly pulled off.
Downloadable content - Challenge Rooms:
The Challenge Rooms are three levels intended to test the knowledge and skills players have learned while playing through the main game.
In addition to these three Challenge Rooms, two other additions are included in the package.
2K Games released a soundtrack for BioShock online it featured 12 of the 22 tracks in the game
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BioShock DLC Walkthrough
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BioShock PS3 Trailer
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Would you kindly venture into the mysterious, Utopian city of Rapture and discover what exactly has gone wrong in this thrilling first-person epic?
Overview
Bioshock is inspired by themes in Ayn Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged. At the time of its release, Bioshock was lauded by critics for its peerless storytelling and fascinating story. To enhance the story beyond what is directly experienced by the player, Bioshock uses audio diaries. These diaries follow different characters through the rise and fall of the city of Rapture. At times, ghosts will also appear in the city showing very brief fragments of the actions of certain citizens of Rapture. Bioshock is also well known for not taking player control away during scripted events, allowing the player to experience literally everything through the eyes of the protagonist.The player does not directly see any of the coup of Rapture in BioShock, instead, arriving sometime afterward in the year 1960, discovering a desolate city filled with insane, drug-addled citizens. The player hears about Rapture's golden era--and the events that led to its demise--through a series of audio logs that serve as diary entries for the past inhabitants of the city. Touted by 2K as an "FPS-RPG" and a " spiritual sequel" to Irrational's highly revered System Shock 2, it has gameplay similarities to both System Shock games as well as Deus Ex. It is possibly an indictment of the current gaming generation that BioShock has been lauded as such an original game, when in fact it copies so many structural elements from said predecessors' gameplay (such as non-linear player-character development, moral choice in plot progression, immersive setting and story).
To its credit, however, BioShock is more of an exploration-focused first-person shooter that makes streamlined, simplified use of some of its predecessors' mechanics, such as the use of audio logs as a storytelling device, a hacking minigame (reminiscent of the classic puzzler Pipe Dream), and special abilities. While being primarily built on Unreal Engine 2.5, BioShock is also one of the first games to be produced using features from Epic's Unreal Engine 3 and appeared on both the Xbox 360 and the PC. On October 17, 2008 Bioshock was released for the PlayStation 3. This version of the game features a new 'Survivor' difficulty mode as well as other in-game add-on content. Downloadable "challenge rooms" are also available; these put the player in a race against the clock while working through brief, puzzle-oriented levels. The Playstation 3 version ships with Trophy Support, just as the Xbox 360 version, of course, contains Achievements.
Plot Synopsis
No Gods or Kings. Only Man.
A man named Atlas contacts Jack in the bathysphere and helps to lead him through the city, which is filled with genetically modified Splicers, Little Sisters, and their guardians, the Big Daddies. Atlas also tells Jack about ADAM, stem cells harvested to enhance the abilities of the human body. The abuse of ADAM has driven the Splicers mad and the material is what the Little Sisters constantly search for throughout Rapture.
Atlas instructs Jack to kill the Little Sisters and take the ADAM from them in order to use special abilities called Plasmids. However, another ally in Rapture, Dr. Tenenbaum, tells Jack to save the Little Sisters and promises to reward him if he obeys.
Atlas soon tells Jack of his wife and child, who are hiding from Splicers in a submarine. When Jack reaches them, however, Andrew Ryan destroys it, supposedly killing Atlas' family. Atlas, enraged, asks Jack to kill Andrew Ryan.
Jack reaches Andrew Ryan, who reveals that Jack is actually his son and was born in rapture two years prior. Genetic modification allowed for him to age rapidly. One of Rapture's pioneers, Frank Fontaine, "programmed" Jack to obey any order uttered with the phrase "Would you kindly", a phrase that Atlas has repeated many times. Jack was the one who crashed the plane and was brought to Rapture on purpose, with the goal of killing Andrew Ryan.
Ryan orders Jack to kill him, using the phrase "Would you kindly." Forced to obey, Jack kills Ryan with a golf club. Shortly after, Atlas reveals himself to be Frank Fontaine and leaves Jack to die in the city. Dr. Tenenbaum saves him, though, and deactivates the "Would you kindly" trigger phrase control Fontaine has over him. Jack then proceeds to Olympus Heights and finds Lot 192 which reverses a heart stopping mental control Fontaine was attempting to kill Jack with. Tenenbaum then instructs Jack to don a Big Daddy suit so the Little Sisters can lead him to Fontaine. When he reaches him, Fontaine, pumped up by massive quantities of ADAM, has acquired almost superhuman abilities.
Upon defeating Fontaine, three endings are possible. If the player rescues all the Little Sisters, the game ends with Jack and the Little Sisters leaving Rapture and the girls growing up to live their lives. If the player harvested two or more, but not all the Little Sisters, Jack kills the Little Sisters and takes their ADAM. If the player harvests all of the Little Sisters, the same ending is shown but with Tenenbaum's narration being angrier.
Gameplay
Weapons 
Gunning it with a Big Daddy.
The game features an array of traditional weapons that can be acquired throughout the game. The player carries all of the weapons at once, so all of the weapons are available at any time. Each weapon can be upgraded twice, using special kiosks called " Power to the People" machines. Each weapon can also carry three types of ammunition. The weapons in the game are as follows:
Gunning it with a Big Daddy.
- Wrench: A simple melee weapon acquired at the beginning of the game.
- Pistol: A standard six-shooter, it is the first firearm acquired.
- Machine Gun: An automatic weapon that holds a large number of bullets.
- Shotgun: A close-range weapon that packs quite a punch.
- Grenade Launcher: A large weapon that can be upgraded to fire different kinds of explosives such as heat seeking rpgs.
- Chemical Thrower: A device that fires various substances like napalm, liquid nitrogen, and electrical gel.
- Crossbow: A long-range weapon best used against single opponents.
- Research Camera: This "weapon" allows the player to research various enemies and gain bonuses on damage and acquire various tonics.
Plasmids
Plasmids change your character's genetic information and provide him with specific abilities. A substance called EVE is needed to use these abilities. EVE is found in hypodermic needles, called Hypos in the game, carried by the character and it can be acquired from enemies and bought. Plasmids are both found throughout the game and bought from the Gatherer's Garden Kiosk. The Plasmids in the game are as follows:- Cyclone: Places a cyclone on the floor. Used as a trap for enemies.
- Electro Bolt: Shoots electricity at enemies. Can also be used to disable security cameras, turrets, and bots.
- Enrage: Turns a Splicer near you on other Splicers.
- Hypnotize Big Daddy: Turns a Big Daddy into an ally.
- Incinerate: Shoots fire at enemies.
- Insect Swarm: Shoots a swarm of bees at enemies.
- Security Bullseye: Alerts security to the presence of your enemies.
- Targeting Dummy: Creates a decoy for your enemies to attack.
- Telekinesis: Allows you to use movable objects as weapons by flinging them through the air (such as an enemy grenade).
- Winter Blast: Shoots a blast of ice that freezes enemies, and can be used on turrets, cameras, and bots to slow down the water for hacking.
- Sonic Boom: Added in the downloadable content release, Sonic Boom allows the player to shoot a large blast of wind at enemies.
Tonics
Tonics upgrade your character and his abilities. Tonics are placed into slots, of which there are three types: Combat, Engineering, and Physical. The Gene Bank machine is used to place tonics into various slots. Hacking 
Hacking in BioShock.
Performing hacks on various machines in the game can make things a lot easier. Everything from security bots to safes can be hacked. Hacking machines can help you evade security systems, supply you with hidden items, and give you discounts on items at vending machines. 
Hacking in BioShock.
Hacking is done with the hacking mini-game, which is highly reminiscent of the classic computer game Pipe Mania (Pipe Dream in the United States). The goal is to successfully move fluid through a tube set on a grid of tiles from a starting location to and ending location, both of which are just outside the grid and, thus, not modifiable by the player. The player reveals pieces of the tube one at a time and may swaps tiles to continue the tube and keep the fluid moving. If the fluid is hindered in its progress either due to player error or by hitting certain tiles such as overload tiles and security tiles, the mini-game is failed and, depending on the gravity of the failure, security bots may be deployed to eliminate the player. An auto-hack tool can allow for a hack without using the mini-game. Hacking ability is greatly enhanced and simplified through the strategic equipment of certain engineering tonics. Also, The Winter Blast plasmid used on a machine just before hacking will slow the progress of the fluid considerably.
Vending Machines/Kiosks
Various vending machines and kiosks are found throughout the game. The different types are as follows:- Circus of Value: A place to purchase a variety of items. Ammo, first aid kits, and EVE Hypos are all available here.
- Ammo Bandito: A vending machine that supplies ammunition.
- Gatherer's Garden: This vending machine allows you to use collected ADAM to purchase Plasmids and Tonics.
- Gene Bank: This machine allows you to customize your character, switching Plasmids and Tonics.
- Power to the People: This machine allows you customize weapons. Each individual machine can only be used once.
- U-Invent: This machine allows you to combine different items to create more helpful ones.
Vita-Chambers
Whenever your HP reaches zero, you "respawn" at the nearest vita-chamber, large man-sized tubes scattered throughout Rapture. Vita-Chambers serve as a checkpoint of sorts, even though the game can also be saved at any time through the start menu. Unlike traditional checkpoints, enemies injured or killed since reaching the Vita-Chamber will remain so when the player is respawned. However, weapon ammunition will remain at the same level as when the player was killed and the player is also given only a fraction of his maximum health. Since there is seemingly no penalty for using Vita-Chambers (unless you are trying to unlock certain achievements on the Xbox 360) many players have bemoaned this design decision for making the game too easy — given enough time and patience, a player wielding only the wrench can slog his or her way through even the toughest battles.Moral Choice 
Little Sister
BioShock is unusual in that it offers players a moral choice. Near the beginning of the game, the player is given the choice of either harvesting the Little Sisters (effectively killing them) to gain a large amount of ADAM, or rescuing the Little Sisters for a significantly smaller amount of ADAM. Rescuing Little Sisters will, however, allow the player to access certain plasmids and Xbox 360 achievements unavailable through the "evil" method of play, and for each 3 that you rescue you will receive a gift from Dr. Tenebuam. Depending on exactly how many Little Sisters you harvest or rescue, the game's ending is affected. If you save all the Little Sisters you get a one hundred point achievement.
Little Sister
System Requirements
As displayed on the back cover of the boxMinimum Requirements
- CPU (Processor): Pentium 4 2.4GHz Single Core processor
- System RAM: 1GB
- GPU (Video Card): Direct X 9.0c compliant video card with 128MB RAM (NVIDIA 6600 or better/ATI X1300 or better, excluding ATI X1550).
- Sound Card: 100% direct X 9.0c compatible sound card
- HDD (Hard Disc) space: 8GB free space
Recommended Requirements
- CPU (Processor): Intel Core 2 Duo processor
- System RAM: 2GB
- GPU (Video Card): DX9 - Direct X 9.0c compliant video card with 512MB RAM (NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GT or better) / DX10 - NVIDIA GeForce 8600 or better
- Sound Card: Sound Blaster X-Fi series (Optimized for use with Creative Labs EAX ADVANCED HD 4.0 or EAX ADVANCED HD 5.0 compatible sound cards)
Downloadable content:
Xbox 360:
On Dec 4th, 2K games released a patch as well as Downloadable content for Xbox 360 fixing some known bugs and adding some features:Patch/title update:
- Added widescreen option: Horizontal FOV
- Fix for rare case where a partial cache is not cleared
- Increased Atlas’ volume in German
- Fix for GUI sounds not playing during heavy action
Challenge room DLC - Fix for not being able to take picture of Cobb in Rec
- Possible fix for pauses or hangs when opening flash bink movies
- Fix for switching difficulty breaking achievement
- Fix for small texture streaming bug
- Fix for rare hang when a lot of things are going on at once
Downloadable content:
- Added Disable Vita Chamber option
- Plasmid Pack is included in this DLC (Machine Buster 1 & 2, Vending Expert 1 & 2, Sonic Boom 1 & 2, EVE Saver)
- 100 point achievement called "Brass Balls". A player will gain it after beating the game on Hard without using any Vita Chambers . The player can always roll back to an earlier save if a Vita Chamber was used. The Vita Chamber Disabled option can be on or off as long as the player doesn't resurrect.
PlayStation 3:
The PlayStation 3 contains all the updates of the Xbox 360 version.20th November 2008 patch:
- Enables Add On Content functionality for the Challenge Rooms and New Game Plus (Add-On Content required to use this functionality)
- Fix for an issue where large blocky pixels would show up whenever viewing the Bouncer and Elite Bouncer variants of the Big Daddy. Also fixes various other texture pixelation including weapons.
- Fix for an issue where white/discolored bars would show up at the right and bottom sides of the screen during the plane crash / water scene at the beginning of the game.
A battle in the challenge room
- Fix for an issue where Big Daddy would occasionally turn black after the player dies and is then resurrected.
- Fix for an issue where some fire particles would shrink every time they were retriggered.
- Fix for an issue where Big Daddies would gush abnormal amounts of blood after being killed by a critical hit while having more than 10% health (i.e., from another Big Daddy’s gun).
- Fix for an issue where the game would crash when PS button hit during hacking when vsync turned to off
- Fix for a rare issue where the game would hang caused by a deadlock between the renderer, havok, and the main game threads.
- Fix for an issue where reflective water would sometimes be rendered with incorrect fog colors.
- Fix for an issue where audio subtitles would occasionally not go away, even after the audio finished playing.
- Fix for an issue where menu sounds were too loud.
- Fix for an issue where the autosave message wasn’t localized.
- Fix for several issues where localized strings were too long. This includes the ‘Cannot Carry:’ message, ammo name lengths, weapon name lengths, and the Location in Fisheries ‘Upper Freezer’.
- Fix for an issue where the game would hang if the player dies while using a combination lock with the Vita-Chamber option off.
The patch was released by accident on 13th of November 2008, but was quickly pulled off.
Downloadable content - Challenge Rooms:
The Challenge Rooms are three levels intended to test the knowledge and skills players have learned while playing through the main game.
- A Shocking Turn of Events – A Little Sister is trapped atop a Ferris wheel in an undisclosed location in Rapture. Using only the tools and environment around them, players must use their wits to create electricity to power the Ferris wheel and bring the Little Sister to safety.
- The I in Team – Using limited resources, and an even more limited arsenal, players must negotiate traps and find a way to defeat a Big Daddy using their wits instead of raw firepower.
- Worlds of Hurt – Step up and take on the most grueling challenge offered in the world of Rapture. Players must battle through eight rooms of Big Daddies, Splicers and the worst that Rapture has to offer. Accumulate Adam, build an arsenal of Plasmids, Tonics and Weaponry, and fight through to rescue the Little Sister.
In addition to these three Challenge Rooms, two other additions are included in the package.
- The Official Premium BioShock Theme.
- A new feature, New Game Plus. This feature will give players who have beaten the main game the ability to start a new game with the character data (weapons, inventory, research, etc.) carried over from the end of the game (if you beat the game after the patch was installed) or from a saved game of your choosing (if you beat the game before the patch was installed). When you install the Add-On Content, a "New Game Plus" option will appear on the menu screen allowing you to use this feature.
Xbox 360 Game Installation
When installed on an Xbox 360 console running the current versions of the NXE, Bioshock requires only 4.7 GB of HDD space. However, if the game was installed under the preliminary (first release) version of the NXE, Bioshock takes up 6.1 GB of space. This is true even if the user has since updated their Xbox 360's dashboard to a newer version. The only way to take advantage of the smaller size is to delete the old installation and re-install the game.Soundtrack
BioShock: Sounds of Rapture
- Bioshock Main Theme (The Ocean on His Shoulders)
- Welcome to Rapture
- Dr. Steinman
- The Docks
- The Dash
- Step Into My Gardens
- Dancers of a String
- Cohen's Masterpiece
- The Engine City
- Empty Houses
- This Is Where They Sleep
- All Spliced Up
Artbook
On March 16, 2009 the Cult of Rapture website announced that a limited edition artbook for Bioshock called Breaking the Mold: Developer's Edition was available for pre-order on the 2K online store. The standard version can be found on the Cult of Rapture website for download as a PDF file.Trivia
- Originally 2K Designed a Teleportation Plasmid that teleported the player out of danger, by marking a location that the player would teleport to when they used the plasmid, the plasmid was ultimately removed due to the fact that it could be used to break story events.
| Game Name | BioShock |
| Platform(s) | |
| Publisher(s) | |
| Developer(s) | |
| Genres |
|
| Themes | |
| Original US Release |
Aug. 21, 2007
need a fuzzy date? |
| Original US Release |
know the real date? |
| Aliases | BS |
| OFLC |
OFLC: MA15+
|
| CERO |
CERO: D
|
| ESRB |
ESRB: M
|
| BBFC |
BBFC: 18
|
| Bioshock Achivement Guide | |
|
BioShock Trophies
BioShock Trophies
|
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