It's the 1960s. A plane crash leaves you stranded in the middle of the ocean. You struggle with the currents to get to the surface. A plane rotor barely misses you. It looks like you aren't going to make it even if you reached the surface now.

It's night and dark, but you can see fires all over from what is left of the plane. As you swim desperately towards a floating door, the plane reservoir ignites just in front of you. You can feel the incredible heat as you instinctively try to cover your eyes.

You keep swimming towards something that appears... like... wait! It really is a lighthouse! It's your only escape. You catch a breath and go inside. A bathysphere submersible awaits you there. So you decide to take it and see where it leads you. This is where your story begins.

Irrational Games, now renamed 2K Boston, managed to create an intense-action big universe out of their really anticipated title BioShock, filled with dark and horror to last in your heart for a long time. So you'd better put your kids to bed or have them watch cartoons, and then quickly get back to the game.

Rapture, the world from BioShock is initially a successful experiment created by Andrew Ryan - a soviet scientist who ran in the United States after his whole family was slaughtered. There he became a wealthy and respected inventor. After an economic disaster and the two nukes launched on Japan in the Second World War, Ryan withdrew from the world and started to build his own underwater city. Thus, Rapture was created deep underwater, a perfect society to insure the evolution of human kind.

Unfortunately, a recent discovery compromised everything in this utopist society. A species of sea slug that secretes pure stem cells was the "bringer of chaos". A young entrepreneur named Tenebaum gained control over the precious substance called "ADAM". With the monopoly over ADAM, a war started between Tenebaum and Ryan. A war that meant the end of Rapture. Now its inhabitants became altered so much they are not human anymore, fighting to the death, everyone for himself and for survival.

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As all natural resources were destroyed during the war, ADAM has now become the most sought after substance. The little girls you might have seen in trailers or screenshots are called "Little Sisters", and they can be seen harvesting ADAM out of dead bodies. However, each sister has her own protector, the "Big Daddie", killing everyone who gets close to her protégée.

So you enter this mad world that can really be described as "hell on earth" in order to survive, and that is what you do the whole game basically.

With superb graphics, powered by a customized version of the Unreal Engine 3, and are inspired by Art Deco, a late 1920 art style which merges the futuristic and archaic, BioShock puts you right into the middle of a strong game story.

The game was quite a bit influenced by some elements from Fallout and Half Life, but that doesn't mean it isn't one of the most original games ever made.

Along with the "standard" arsenal of weapons including the classic wrench and the "popular" Tommy gun, the player finds genetic augments, probably leftovers from the war, that bring him the power of fire, lighting , ice and more - all at his fingertips.

The AI is smart, enemies work in groups as well as alone, burning monsters for example seek the nearest water zone and jump in; they also dialog with each other and interact with objects around. This brings me to the sound part, also well done. Discrete background sounds combined with powerful action and shooting ones, all bringing that underwater feeling.

There's no point in saying more really, (except when the Review comes) - this is a game worth playing and worth having for your collection. When you see it, give it a shot!