Xbox 360: Bioshock Review

When Bioshock was announced, I wasn't creaming my pants like others were. I had heard the connections between Bioshock and the System Shock games which caused most of the excitement. While I only played a bit of the System Shock games, I knew about them and how they revolutionized the FPS RPG genre. Even knowing this, I still was not excited by the game. It was this lack of excitement over the game that made the game so much more of a surprise when I started playing the game and enjoyed every single aspect of the game.

The story starts simple enough when the main character, Jack, crash lands in the Atlantic Ocean. With only one place to go, Jack swims to the nearby lighthouse. There he sees an ominous statue of Andrew Ryan. Behind the statue, there is a bathysphere(round capsule for underwater travel thingy) and here you learn the story of the underground "paradise" known as Rapture. What follows is a variety of twists and turns that rival any movie script. Screw that, it rivals any good book. What are not typical of a movie script are the philosophical questions that are brought up time and time again. The designer of the game, Ken Levine, used both George Orwell's views on utopian society, and Ayn Rand's Objectivism philosophy. To put it simply, the game makes you think. Not in a way that convoluted or pretentious way, but rather reminding the gamer that not everything is black and white.

While the game takes place in the year 1960, the setting of the game, the underwater city Rapture, was built in 1946. What Bioshock does is take that 1940s style of art and architecture to produce this beautiful yet dystrophic city. Filled with charming Art Deco, from the buildings to the vending machines, every little detail is designed to give you the feel of being thrown back into the past. The sheer amount of detail is remarkable, to say the least, and will have you spending a bit of your time enjoying the sights.

As expected for a game that takes place in 1960, the music in the game consists of many songs from the 30s, 40, and 50s. Bobby Darin, Bing Crosby, Perry Como and other artists that your parents or grandparents may know, help add to the style of the game. Along with this batch of licensed classics, there is a top notch score that helps set the mood of the game. To my surprise, the voice acting is of high caliber but lacks any star power. This may sound ridiculous when you factor how many times voice acting in games was handled by non-Hollywood voices, but the fact remains that quality actors produce quality voice acting. Even without Hollywood actors, the voice acting is superb. Adding to the whole experience is the array of sound effects from the creepy sounds of the "Big Daddy" to the amusing jingles played by the vending machines.

At its heart, the game is a FPS but the inclusion of RPG elements gives the game a bit more depth. Being that it's mainly a FPG game, you control your character in first person mode and you kill the bad guys. Your choice of weapons comes in two forms. The first being the traditional weapons for the times: pistols, machine gun, shotgun, crossbow, and grenade launcher. What non-traditional about these weapons is that they are upgradeable at special vending machines to improve them in different ways, and that there are a variety of ammo for each weapon. This special ammo for each weapon is very limited and should be preserved for bosses. The second form of offense comes in the form of plasmids. Plasmids are genetic special powers that you receive or buy throughout the game. To use these plasmids, you need to use EVE, which is similar to a power/magic bar that other games have. Plasmids vary from a basic electric shock from your hand to some more unique and strategic functions. One plasmid that offers the most fun is the Hypnotize Big Daddy plasmid. With this plasmid, you can confuse a Big Daddy to protect you and destroy any enemies that assault you.

Speaking of the Big Daddy, these hulks of 1950s science have become the mascot of the Bioshock game. In a giant metal diving suit, these former humans protect the Little Sisters destroying anything that comes in contact with them taking huge amounts of damage before they can be brought down. The Little Sisters, although not enemies, are creepy little girls that possess the prized ADAM. In the story, you learn how ADAM was created, its use, and why it's so sought after. For you, ADAM acts as currency to purchase plasmids and upgrades. To the Splicers, the psychotic dwellers of Rapture, they are the reason for killing. Splicers come in variety of shapes, garb, and weapons, and you'll be seeing them all throughout the game. Also found throughout the game is a variety of turrets and security bots that normally will target you but through plasmids and hacking (that is done via a mini-game), you can have these turrets and bots focus on the enemies instead. Rounding out the enemies are the bosses who vary from powered-up Splicers to big inhuman brutes.

Playing time is a good 10-15 hours with two endings available. There's of course a ton of achievements available but don't expect much more than that to make you want to play the game again. What this game does have in the form of replay value is a compelling storyline that is woven so perfectly that you want to play just see what you missed. Nothing shows the quality of a game more than a willingness to play through the game again for the sake of just wanting to experience the game all over again.

Score - 9.5/10.0

- O.G.