BioShock

WARNING: LOTS OF SPOILERS

I heard of Bioshock and was monitoring it all the way from day 1 back when it was announced to the public on E3 2006. I was really impressed by the unusual setting, stunning graphics, and interesting concepts. I watched all the trailers and I was pretty sure I had an idea of what Bioshock will be like when released. However, I had NO IDEA just how amazing it would be when it came out. The moment I came up from the depths of the ocean gasping for air, surrounded in burning airplane wrecks, this game captured me. I beat Bioshock the first time wihin 2 days and left feeling great satisfaction from the interesting and experimental gameplay and from the beautiful (though ruined) city of Rapture. However, Bioshock is a game that expect a great deal of attention from the player and I only managed to understand just how great and deep Bioshock is after the 2nd time I played it. The 1st time I ran through it, I didn't search for audio diaries and didn't pay much attention to the side stories. I just knew that there was a bad guy called Andrew Ryan who ran the city and the good guy Atlas that was trying to help me. That's why I felt genuine confusion when Atlas turned out to be Fontaine and he immediately tried to kill me. The questions circling in my head were mostly like "Who is this? Why is he trying to kill me?". Thus, after the second time I played it, I finally realized who Fontaine is and what actually happened to Rapture before we ended up there. Even the moment I ran into Suchong's corpse, I had 2 entirely different reactions from the 2 times I played it. First time I just thought it was some random corpse, of which there are many on the streets of Rapture. The second time I felt awe at the realization of who is before me and what happened to him. However, Bioshock isn't just great for its story, it's great for its gameplay. Aside from the standard array of shotguns, pistols, machine guns, and the slightly strange-looking rocket launcher, there is the crossbow and a great flamethrower. While (apart from the crossbow and flamethrower) these weapons are all quite average and were seen in a lot of shooters, the ability to upgrade them and change their ammo types (incinerary, piercing, etc.) makes using them a great lot more entertaining. And, the main innovation in gameplay is, of course the plasmid. While not only do these let you kill enemies in a lot of new interesting (and messed up) ways, they also let you experiment with the environment. The plasmid "Rage" hurles enemies against each other and lets you watch the process from the side. Setting an enemy on fire and then electocuting the puddle he jumped into to put out the fire is all very fun. Finally, there is the whole interaction of the player with the Big Daddy/Little Sister duo. While I agree that the whole idea of moral choice is pretty pointless (being good ends up still being more benefitial than bad; while you do initially have less Adam than from being bad, Tennenbaum sends you gifts that not only contain Adam, but various upgrades as well), it is still very interesting to interract with them and watch them from the side. The only other negative side of the game is actually very closely related to the moral system: the ending. I was greatly disappointed by both endings, since they were both too generic and too simple for such a complicated story as the one told in Bioshock, However, all these negative sides are too small to notice and won't leave you disappointed by the game. Leaving aside the great atmosphere and music of the actual city, all the reasons above alone are a great excuse for you to go into a store and buy the game right now, would you kindly.