BioShock might be the very first game to prove exactly to me what next
gen is really capable of. There have been plenty of other titles that
have "wowed" me on the 360 and Wii, but not to the extent of this. What
has gone on as a long wait, has ultimately proved to be well worth
every dying second of patience. This is the world of Rapture, and it's
not letting go of your grubby hands anytime soon.
You start the game off as a presumebly lonely guy, traveling on board
an airplane. It crashes in the middle of the ocean, and you are left
for bait in the blue depths. You stumble upon a lighthouse, taking a
ride right into damnation. What starts out as a simple coastal air
ride, turns to be the defining tale of the century. What this game does
so well, first and formost, is pulling off its story. I don't think
I've seen a single FPS pace you with such care, leaving you, and only
you, to figure out what the hell is going on. There are audio diaries
scattered throughout this vast city, just waiting for you to press down
on the play button. You might be walking down a hallway, catching a
glimpse of a body absolutely decimated in the corner, wondering what
happened. In a very creepy fashion, you are treated to little snibbits
of that person's final moments in this forsaken place, leaving you
feeling that much more paranoid than you already were. These cassets
aren't meant for a means of trash, though. What the developers have
taken their time doing is making each entry play out like short
autobiographies. Playing every diary I found, I was never left with a
sour taste in my mouth. If you want to learn the most of the current
situation, you'll treasure these snibbits to no end. They further the
already excellent story, exceeding it in so many ways.
Now what would an immersive experience be with half assed, Resident
Evil 1 styl3d voice acting? Luckily, BioShock provides the best of the
best. Those who were meant to make you leave a nice surprise in your
pants, do their job well. The voiceovers in this game are flawless.
Yes, I just said it. Whether you are interacting with these people via
in game, or audio diaries, they all have individual personalities. No
one is one dimensional, no one butchers a single line spoken.
Audio cues are satisfyingly varied, I noticed. I remember one time
walking through a fisher's dock, paying close attention to a dip in the
side. While roaming underneath the wooden planks onto the other side of
the hallway, I heard voices of incoming splicers above me. I got up and
out and turned around to complete bewilderment. Both baddies were
crouching over the planks, one spurting to the other that he could have
sworn he had seen me. I threw an explosive tank their way, sure, but
that attention to detail was overwhelming. I know for sure that you as
the player, will whitness something that hardly anybody playing this
same game will ever see.
So one of the key elements to the success, immersion, and excitement of
BioShock, is its combat. You are first introduced to the game with one
"Plasmid", an instant genetic modifyer, which eventually builds you
into a rampant machine. This first plasmid is simply a pre-cursor to
what you will become as you power up, allowing you to do things such as
set enemies on fire, freeze them with ice, throw objects at them with
your mind, etc. Those are only a few of course, but you will be pleased
with what you can accomplish. I was afraid, watching trailers of
developers zip through a horde of enemies before BioShock's launch. How
one person can innovate like that on the spot made me dizzy. You get
PLENTY of practice, though. Trust me when I say this, you can do what
the videos show you. Even though I just completed the game today, I
still am trying to find new ways of using the environment around me to
dispose of them.
One of the small complaints I do have, is the impact of your fire arms
in the second half of the experience. Some of the ammo types feel a bit
unbalanced, coming in with as much bang as throwing pebbles. This might
be because I only upgraded the weapons I used the most, leaving the
whimpy guns in the dust.
Here's the thing. One tiny flaw like that, actually makes the
experience that much more rewarding. You can go in, guns blazing,
completely forgetting about powering up your character with Tonics and
Plasmids, and fall short pretty quickly. Or, you can wise up and use
the smallest things to your advantage to triumph. I know I'm
emphasizing combat a lot, but hearing people complain about it being
lame or uninspiring is unacceptable. I can't tell you how proud if feel
knowing that I took down a breathing foe. It never grows old. Due to
the Vita-Chambers, you can toy around as much as you want. Some might
say that the lack of death penalty really hinders the immersion, but
for me, it couldn't be further from the truth. This chamber never
distracted me once from the game. It just drove me to deal that much
more vengeance on those who had thrown me to the gutter.
For those who are just getting familiar to FPS's, don't be scared to
try BioShock out. There is an option to put on an objective arrow,
acting as a navigation system to help you out in rough spots. Bundled
along with that nudge is a hint system, which I believe is located on
the D-Pad. I really believe that they toned down the difficulty a
smidge to let everyone experience what Rapture has to offer. I didn't
use the hints myself, but left the arrow on for the last third of the
game. You can choose to ignore it completely and roam around to other
locations. In fact I'd encourage that, for it gives you tons of loot,
kits, ammo, etc. This feels like a city, and you aren't restrained to
view it in its entirety; and what a gorgeous sight it truly is.
This might be the prettiest title in existence, and I'm playing on a
standard definition TV! What makes this game so appealing to the eye,
is its core art design. This takes place in the late 50's-early 60's,
never letting you forget that. I give the biggest round of applause to
the 2K staff for pulling off such superb visuals. Everything doesn't
feel like a card board cut-out. Instead, Rapture comes off as the most
genuine environment ever seen in a video game. They get the time era
down just right. Enemies don't hold much wealth to their outfits, rooms
showing their wear and tear. Neon lights glimmer and shine forth signs
you'd whitness at an old fashioned movie theater.
The musical score, something that fits with this time period perfectly,
will give you goosebumps. When you picture a game like BioShock, you
would naturally hear a grainy ochestral tune loop in the background.
They take this premise to a whole new dimension, making each track sear
into your skin as you helplessly wander around. This level of musical
implementation is simply not seen in game today. It is an element that
ultimately pieces together everything into such a rich package.
You shouldn't need my advice when it comes to BioShock. I am writing
this review because I want everybody to know what potential is shown
here. I want everybody to realize that we have a serious contender for
game of the year, if not game of a lifetime at our fingertips. Whether
or not you feel as if the ending is as anti-climatic as people are
making it out to be, is up to you. I did feel strongly about it up
until this article. But reflecting on what great memories I've had with
BioShock, I've learned that that in itself doesn't ruin the single
player campaign for me at all.
When you plop down your money, you are entering greatness. This is the standard, this IS what gaming is all about.
