So Bioshock is finally here, after months of anticipation it has arrived.
Ever since I saw the first trailer I’ve been needing to get my hands on this game and I know I’m not the only one. So did it deliver what was promised?
Yes, it did. It delivered more then I expected.
The game hardly has any weak points, and the once it does have aren’t enough to ruin the incredible game play, beautiful graphics, the compelling storyline and the eerie atmosphere.
I think Bioshock’s greatest shortcomings are with how lenient dying is. When you die you revive in the closest vita chamber to your location and all the damage you inflicted on your enemies is still there so you can basically kill a tough enemy just by going in full force against him and get his health down to zero even if you die a couple of times since there is hardly any death penalty, you start off with a little bit less health, that’s about it.
The graphics are simply stunning. The Unreal 3 engine really shines in this game delivering photo realistic graphics in some cases, it is most evident in Water, as it looks and act like real water, it makes the other effects in the game look bad in comparison. . There is water located throughout Rapture which makes sense as Bioshock happens in a undersea city. The architecture is beautifully sculptured and no two places look the same and there are never any generic empty hallways, Instead there are decorations all over the place, paintings, posters, text written in blood, you name it and it all blends together to produce a believable wrecked undersea city.
Bioshock’s atmosphere is incredible, you really feel like you’re actually there while playing this game and it has scared the shit out of me on more then one occasion so it’s clearly not a game intended for squeamish people.
The story is told with short videos that appear throughout the game and ghostly images that appear and audio tapes scattered throughout rapture and dialog Splicers tell . Going through the game without listening to the tapes will make people confused because they serve the function of filling in the blanks on what went wrong in Rapture and turned most of it’s population into psychopathic gene splicers that are out to get you.
The voice acting is really good and it really adds a lot of to the atmosphere of the game. The guy who does the voice for Andrew Ryan does a excellent job of portraying the xenophobic and insane Mastermind behind Rapture.
The gameplay is pretty standard FPS action style on the surface but underneath it lies a whole new system that I’ve never experienced in another game. You start out with a typical selection of weapons such as a wrench, pistol, shotgun and tommy gun. Since this is takes place in the 1960s the weapons are appropriate for that time.
After you travel a little bit further into the game you come across something called plasmid. These are fundamental to your survival in Rapture and are also necessary at more then one occasion to be able to get past certain obstacles. There are over 70 plasmid to collect and each one gives you different abilities, such as the ability to freeze people, shock them or use telekineses to catch things or pick them up and much more.
Since are a limited number of slots available for plasmid at any given time you are given the freedom to customize your character to fit how you want him to be. This is what makes Bioshock great, being able to control which abilities your character has while advancing through the game so everyones take on the game will be different and you can go through it many times trying out different sets of plasmid you decide to focus on.
Now a few of these plasmids are offered to you as a part of the ongoing storyline but most are bought at a plasmid store. In order to be able to afford those you are going to have to harvest or save a Little Sister.
Little Sisters are girls that have been corrupted by ADAM which is the what everyone wants and everyone needs in Rapture. Little Sisters are gatherers, they roam the hallways of Rapture looking for dead bodies so they can extract ADAM from them. Now you’d think it would be like taking candy from a baby but you’d be wrong since Little sisters are protected by gigantic armored creatures called Big daddy. You will have to defeat them prior to getting ADAM. Now after you have dispose of Big daddy, You’ll have to make a difficult decision, whether to harvest or save the little sister. If you harvest her, she will not survive the process but if you save her she will turn into a normal little girl. Both options have story impact so choose wisely. Now harvesting her gives you more ADAM which will allow you to upgrade faster but saving the girls will make it harder for you since you can’t upgrade as fast but Dr. Bridgette Tenenbaum that created the little sister tells you that she will make it worthwhile for you if you don’t hurt them.
This freedom to choose really adds something to this game and also one of the things that make it so great.
This game promised to do something new and unique and it delivered, lets just hope that Bioshock is a look at things to come from the video game industry.
Only time will tell.
- X
