Somewhere beyond the sea
She's there watchin' for me
If I could fly like birds on high
Then straight to her arms I'd go sailin'"

It was really hard for me for some reason to start writing on this. I really don’t know why, because it’s a really good game. Perhaps I wanted to play it more instead of writing. Anyway, I’ll just go with “lazy” for now… One of the reasons would be I wrote a lot of stuff about the game in the preview (which you certainly have read, right?). Buuuut, because I am a nice lazy guy, I will remind you a bit about this world of Rapture that Bioshock revolves around.

Sick of all the wars, pain and dictators in powerful places in 1946, Andrew Ryan was so upset on the world that he decided to create his own. A perfect, utopia society at the bottom of the sea he called Rapture.

Irrational Games, now 2K Australia/Boston did an incredible job with the architecture of this "living breathing" and functional world under the sea. Influenced by the 1920 architectural style called Art Deco that combines old and futuristic design, Rapture looks impressive and unique - helped of course by "the little engine that could": the Unreal 3 engine that powers Bioshock.

All was great until... it wasn't anymore... Dr. Bridgette Tenenbaum (French or German? Vote now!) discovered a unique species of sea slug. She was able to extract pure stem cells that propelled genetic engineering research to new heights. Called "ADAM", this material made everything possible: from curing diseases to enhancing a person with powers like telekinesis, combustion or bolts of electric energy.

As Ryan became more of a dictator, he cut off any contact with the outside world. Smugglers appeared in Rapture, and consequently very powerful and rich mobsters like Fontaine.

On 1959's New Year's Eve tension raise up to the point of civil war. The rebellion was started by Atlas who led the riots against Ryan. The city was left in a state of social collapse. While many have turned into "Splicers" - ADAM addicted people who got insane, the few remaining normal people were forced to barricade themselves inside their homes.

"Would you kindly..."

These are the circumstances under which our hero, Jack, arrives in 1960 in the city of Rapture. You survive a plane crash only to find yourself in the middle of the Pacific. Luckily you see a nearby lighthouse. Inside, a bathysphere takes you into... well... the adventure of your life...

Atlas is the first to find you, and you are guided by him through this underwater world, via radio. Rapture is now a devastated world with crazy Splicers attacking everyone for a little ADAM, with automated defenses everywhere and on top of that with Little Girls and Big Daddies. Yes, in order to get as much ADAM as possible, the Little Girls were created. They harvest ADAM from the dead. And the big Big Daddies are the bodyguards of these poor girls.

You learn from Atlas that in order to survive in this God forsaken underwater city, your only chance is to use the ADAM on you (trough the form of "Plasmids" - the "magic powers" in Bioshock). The problem is that this precious substance has to be harvested from the Little Girls. Thus, you have to fight as many Big Daddies as possible...

Once you kill a Big Daddy, you have two options: rescue the Little Girl by using a plasmid Dr. Tenenbaum gave you at the beginning, or kill her. If you decide to kill her you will get double the amount of ADAM than if you save her, but if you are kind Dr. Tenenbaum promises other rewards...

Tip: Just so that you know, you get 160 ADAM for every Little Girl and only 80 if you rescue her. However, every three Little Girls you rescue, Dr. Tenenbaum will send you 200 ADAM a new plasmid and some ammo inside a teddy bear. Oh, and also, this will influence the outcome of the game (three possible endings) - choose wisely.

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Money is the second important currency after ADAM, because you can buy ammo and medkits/hypos and other useful stuff. Yes, you heard right, there is an arsenal of weapons that you can use in Bioshock. Starting from the classic wrench and ending up with a precision crossbow, flamethrower or RPG launcher, just to name a few. For each weapon there are three ammo types to satisfy every need for combat you may have. You can even upgrade your weapons at (rarely found) special-purpose machines called "Power To The People stations ".

Of course, you get ammo from your victims. But you can also buy ammo at an "El Ammo Bandito station", or invent it by combining items you found at a "U-Invent station". You can also hack these stations, and everything that has technology in it in general. The hacking mini-game is sort of like "Pipe-Mania" - if some of you old gamers remember... You have random pieces of pipes that you move around in order to get the water flowing from point A to point B - before the water starts flowing. It's fun at the beginning but can be a bit repetitive and time consuming in the endgame...

All these elements help adding a roleplaying depth to the game. The fact that you have to loot the dead bodies manually, upgrade yourself or your weapons and fight your way through a complex story help making Bioshock more than a simple first-person shooter. It's probably why it was such an anticipated and critically acclaimed game after all.

There are a few downsides of course: even though the story is good you feel that there is nothing you can do eventually to stop or change in some way what is happening. I'm not saying a game isn't more interactive than a movie - you have so many choices, but trying to give a cinematic experience to it has reduced a bit the freedom I think...

Gameplay time is also greatly increased by this RPG element: having to explore every corner, search every body and find every important power-up will take you quite some time - wandering around the same level.

While you are sent from place to place with quests and objectives, Rapture is a living breathing world, and you can explore it fully. It's not big, but it's not small either, and you can go back to previous levels any time you want. Monsters (or "Splicers") respawn so it's always a challenge, and if you have unfinished businesses with - let's say a Big Daddy, you can comeback when you are ready.

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Graphics are breathtaking for sure, but to be honest every game I saw with Unreal Engine 3 is absolutely amazing. I don't want to take any credit away Irrational/2K don't get me wrong, hiring a water artist was one of the best decisions ever made. And it's not just the water! The tones and the art style are really unique, and never seen before. If I were to look on a monitor in a room I just entered I could immediately tell if that game is Bioshock.

The AI has been praised a lot, and it's good indeed (as I look to my right I see the new Medal of Honor, and even though it looks great and is really dynamic it really "hurts" me that every single enemy there either stands in one place or is 100% scripted) but there is always room for improvement. Splicers are smart to go for the nearest water when they are on fire and chase you down almost everywhere, and to react normally when they don't see you. You could however outsmart them by going around a pillar easily. I guess if they make them to brainy it wouldn't be this much fun.

These Splicers look good but come to think of it, there aren't that many monsters in the game. Basically, all you'll find is several types of Splicers a bit changed physically, male or females, along with Big Daddies and Little Sisters of course and a few bosses. Oh and some mechanical devices like security bots and turrets.

Hey I'm not being negative - just saying... Bioshock is a smart game: they knew where to work and how to do it so the experience is the best it can be.

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Conclusion

One of the best first person-shooters ever, no doubt, Bioshock succeeds in creating a unique universe and atmosphere that could push the genre a bit farther. Smart combination with some RPG elements and the design of a world rather than separate levels increase gameplay time and experience by a lot.

The game also arrives on a calm period - no real competition on the market and I think everyone got tired bored of waiting for a decent game. That's possibly why it got even more positive feedback from all the reviews and gamers.

Gameplay: 95

Something new and fresh, as it was promised. It's certainly a game worth trying and I can see it bring new players that even didn't previously liked the FPS genre. Bioshock has all the right things - it's pointless to say anything more.

Graphics: 96

Unreal 3 Engine + Art Deco Style + water artists + stylized graphics and level design = teh win...

Multiplayer: N/A

No. But I don't hold it against them, the game is a rich and powerful singleplayer experience, and it wouldn't be this great probably if they invested some time into multiplayer as well... Or at least it wouldn't be out this soon...

Sound: 91

One thing I didn't talk much about. The sounds are exactly what to expect and help the atmosphere a lot. Splicer voices are how they should be - like junkies, tech stuff and radios are like the ones back in the 60s and there's this echo/reverb effect present that creates a perfect "underwater" feeling.

Music is a combination of famous 1940s and 1950 song with some orchestral arrangements. We have some of them available for download on our site by the way (downloads section) - they were made available free by 2K Games.

Bioshock supports EAX Advanced HD 4.0 and 5.0 and is optimized for Sound Blaster X-Fi.

Hardware: 93

It requires Pixes Shader 3.0. That means GeForce 6600/ATI X1300 or higher. Its high but what else would you expect from a next-gen shooter? The whole gameplay experience is smooth and I haven't seen any problems or bugs at all...

"And in the end what is your reward? You never said. But I think I know... A family."