From a standalone single player standpoint BioShock will blow you out of the proverbial game water. This game can only be described in one word. Amazing. The game will suck you in so much that you actually feel like your there and you wont want to leave.
Story: You are a nameless person on an airplane that unexpectedly crash lands into the middle of the ocean. You gain consciousness and swim to a lone structure in the distance. You walk down a flight of steps and step into a submarine like vessel. You are sucked down into the water and exposed to a giant metropolis. Welcome to Rapture! You emerge and are greeted with a man’s voice via radio and he will lead you along the way. Your mission is to escape the failing Rapture while trying to save the family of the man on the radio. Along the way you will encounter numerous villains and you will try to uncover the secret of the big daddies and the little sisters.
Presentation: The game is set in the 1920’s and it really makes you feel like it. You will hear old fashion music and you will see all kinds of cool architecture of that time. The game has amazing production values and the detailed graphics really make you feel like your there. The game succeeds in every way to really pull you into the experience.
Graphics: Simply amazing. Some of the most artistic and powerful graphics ever witnessed on a 360 system. It may not be at the level of gears of war. But it has such a style and smoothness it really is unrivaled on its playing field. The elemental effects are incredible and unsurpassed in my mind. The animation is also superb. The characters move like they should and the little sisters will hide behind the big daddies when scared. Everything just feels very real
Sound: astonishing. From the music to the voice acting. It is just perfect. It really just sucks you into the experience and never lets you go. The gun shots are so authentic that you almost feel like that pistol has a kickback or that shotgun has just blown a person across a room. It is just that powerful. The voices of the villains are done so well and it adds to their maniacal sense. The music will heighten in aggressive parts and lower in the downtime.
Gameplay: Revolutionary is a good word to describe it. Bioshock gives you so many different kinds of gameplay elements it’s incredible. From gun fights, to elemental puzzles. To becoming a big daddy. To hacking systems. To inventing items. It’s incredible how much this game expands the first person shooter genre. All the elemental effects are so interesting and all can be used to dispatch your foes. They also work in combination with your customizable guns to the point where there are endless ways to torture your attackers. Throw some bees on the and then light them on fire. Then freeze them and smack them with a wrench. Then blow them away with a shotgun blast. Set traps with electricity bolts or the cyclone spins. You can literally take the combat as far as you can imagine. The hacking system works well and provides challenging puzzle elements. The ability to upgrade everything is so cool and works well. You will never see the same environment twice which is great for the pacing. You will never be doing the same objective and this really keeps your interest. The good or evil element plays a big part because if you harvest them they will fear you by the end and call you the bad man. If you help them they will love you and help you along the way. The big daddy is a great element. It’s like a separate boss from the games story and it lets you show your skills. They provide a great challenge and test your skills. They also provide a great pay off so it is to your benefit to combat with them. What I am trying to get at is how much variety is jammed into this game. There is so many things to do within this single player experience that it’s amazing.
Tilt: being a new and original IP I had my skepticism with this game, but all that was put to shame when the final product was released. The game it so fun that it receives a perfect ten when it comes to just how much enjoyment you will get out of it. The game is so good you could replay the same thing again and have a completely different experience and you will have fun doing so.
Lasting Appeal: Oh my god this game has great value. If you try to find everything in the game and explore every nook and cranny you can spend upwards to 25 hours. Especially if you try to get the achievements. There are multiple difficulties so that adds some replayablitiy. Also since the game is so great you will want to try the different difficulties. For a single player experience the game is well worth your money.
Complaints: They are very minimal but they do hold the game back from being perfect. There is no online function in the game which is kind of a downer. I am not talking about multiplayer I’m just talking about any online function. Sure there was a game update for it but nothing that really utilizes online. It would have been cool to see a video capturing component that lets you take video of the traps you set up or something of that degree. The gameplay despite it being so great does get a little thin at times. It is such a long game that at a point near the end you do get the feeling of doing the same thing over and over. This can be overlooked just because it is so fun. Hacking also gets a little boring because it is always the same. The AI while being very intelligent doesn’t offer a lot of variety. They basically do the same things and become a bit tiresome. It would have been cool to see a bigger variety.
Summary: Play this game!!! Rent it or buy it, you just need to experience it. It is so good in every aspect that it has to be one of my favorite games and it is definitely a contender for game of the year. The game succeeds in drawing you into the experience and making you enjoy it along the way. Do yourself a favor and play this game.
EDIT: Review originally for Gamespot, so if this was on a ten scale it would get a 9.5. But on this grading scale it gets a 5. It's not perfect, but it is about as good as it gets.