The obligatory Bioshock post.

Big Daddy I finished up Bioshock about a week ago but I feel I really should post about it. I don’t want to make a habit out of posting everytime I beat a new game because that would be extremely mundane for any readers I have I’m sure, but for Bioshock I have to make an exception. Bioshock was a game that I’d been passively anticipating since I first heard about it. I was a huge fan of both the System Shock and Deus Ex games, so I figured the next game from the same group couldn’t miss – and I was absolutely correct. Bioshock is the best game I’ve played since Half-Life 2, and that’s saying a lot since HL2 is my all-time favorite.

The game excels in many different areas, so I’ll just highlight a few of them. First off, it’s beautiful. Easily the best looking game I’ve played in my life (up to this point). That’s not to say that the graphics are just really really good (which they are) but the environments are so incredibly detailed that it’s easy to get lost just walking around exploring in the world of Rapture. The game, in case you don’t know, takes place in 1960 and all of the art design is art-deco. It’s a unique and fascinating setting that would be interesting on its own but did I mention you’re in an underwater city? Yeah, there’s that…

So the game looks unbelievably great, but graphics don’t make a game good. Bioshock’s gameplay is its next strong suit, it’s multi-faceted and designed to keep the player interested and excited throughout the 15+ hours it will take to beat. Bioshock’s a first person shooter on the surface, but it truly is a first person shooter/platformer/strategy/RPG game all rolled up into one. Sure there’s a great arsenal of guns, but there are also special powers called plasmids that are extremely numerous (I used about 20 when I played through but I know there are many more). The plasmids range from fire to telekinesis, and effectively make the environment a weapon. That means that the combat options are basically infinite. Should you use a gun to kill this enemy, or set them on fire? Maybe wait until they step in some water and shock them, or hack a sentry gun so it guns them down for you? Of course there’s also the ever popular melee wrench option as well. The combat is so varied that – even with multiple play throughs – you’ll never get bored.

Another honorable mention that should be noted is Bioshock’s rich crafting-like Invention system, wherein the player can use things they find in the environment to create new types of ammo or even design a plasmid or tonic to make their character strong. Like plasmids, there is a huge amount of tonics that enhance your physical ability, your hacking ability, or your offensive ability (among other things). The next neat gameplay element is the hacking system itself. Like I said you can use tonics to boost your hacking performance, but just being able to hack so many in-game items is almost a game in of itself. The hacking system is basically just an intricate mini-game that, if completed, gives you a successful hack. You can hack things like sentries, security cameras, and safes all with benefits to your character. For example, hacking a security camera will make it spot enemies and send out bots to kill them for you, hacking a sentry gun will make it target your enemies whenever they walk in front of it, and hacking a safe will give you access to the goodies held within.

bioshock 1959 The best part about bioshck though, is absolutely the story and everything that is found within. Without spoiling too much, your character is in a plane crash somewhere in the ocean and, while trying to save himself from the crash, stumbles upon a small island that has a bathosphere leading down to an underwater city-gone-bad called Rapture. The city was built in the ’30s and so traveling to Rapture is like traveling back in time. Just the thought of being transported back in time like that gives me chills. I really hate to spoil anything more but let’s just things in Rapture went downhill quickly, and the inhabitants are noticing some side effects from all of those plasmids they use. The man who created the city – Andrew Ryan – is battling another up and comer Fontaine, and you learn all about the struggle along the way. There are many twists and turns thoughout and, well, you just cannot miss this game. It’s a must play.