Name: BioShock
Genre: First Person Shooter
Platform: Xbox 360, PC (Reviewed on Xbox 360)

 

“I am Andrew Ryan and I am here to ask you a question. Is a man not entitled to the sweat of his brow? No, says the man in Washington, it belongs to the poor. No, says the man in Vatican, it belongs to God. No, says the man in Moscow, it belongs to everyone. I rejected those answers. Instead I chose something different. I chose the impossible. I chose: Rapture…” – Andrew Ryan

Some games grab you and refuse to let go. Their grip over your mind expands past the lure to play them and manifests itself as part of your psyche. To call it an obsession would be tame - it is more of a life changing experience: one to be compared to witnessing a death or, in turn, witnessing a birth. BioShock is a game of this magnitude.

BiosShock has more then one plot. The main storyline involves the unnamed protagonist helping a man named Atlas after crash landing into a mysterious underwater city. This is just the bread of the game, the butter is in what happened before you arrived in the city. Littering the halls of Rapture are voice-recorded journals. These journals detail the rise of the great city and its terrible fall.

When Andrew Ryan created the underwater utopia of Rapture he envisioned a world where science had no bounds and morals were not a factor. This led to several medical breakthroughs and the discovery of a substance called Adam. Adam could be equated to pure stem cells that can be used to fuse anything to the human body. The uses are limitless ranging from curing diseases and wounds to creating amazing powers.

Adam isn’t just important to the people of Rapture but to you as well. Using it you are able to genetically enhance your DNA to accept more Plasmids. Plasmids are genetic enhancements that were made possible due to the genetic breakthroughs of Adam. Throughout the game you find many different types of plasmid that you inject to your arm. Being able to shoot Lightning (“There’s nothing like a fist full of lightning,” as Atlas says) and being able to enrage enemies to attack each other are just two of the long list of enhancements you can find. There are also passive plasmids that you can equip. These all require Adam to work and there is only one sure-fire way to get Adam: Little Sisters.

Ah, the moral dilemma of BioShock. This is where the game will keep you up at night. It is not that the Little Sisters are remarkably creepy or dangerous; on the contrary, they are harmless and adorable. The problem is that these Little Sisters are the keepers of Adam so “dealing with them” becomes necessary. The first step is to take out their bodyguard: The Big Daddy.

Aptly named, the Big Daddies follow the Little Sisters and protect them from angry residents bent on harvesting Adam. These roaming boss battles are one of the more innovative steps that BioShock takes. After taking them out you have two options: harvest the Adam from the Little Sister or free her from the curse and receive significantly less. Before I actually was confronted with the situation the answer was clear: Daddy needs his Adam! But once you sit there with the squirming child in your hands it becomes much different.

As soon as you step foot into Rapture you know it is a city unlike you have ever seen. Graphically, BioShock is fantastic. A passerby may not think it is visually the best game ever made – but artistically it blows any competition out of the water. I can honestly say I have never in my life been as immersed in a game as I was for the hours I spent in Rapture.

I feel the need to complain about the length of the game but I am not sure if this is because the game is too short or too good. A completed game takes over twenty hours and from what I have been told the game has at least two endings. Playing through BioShock two times does not even do the game justice and it deserves more time for many reasons.

There are so many things to do. Every piece of machinery can be hacked (which is portrayed as a hacking mini game which gets progressively harder as the game moves on) and turned from an enemy sentry to a friend. Hacking security cameras or turrets have them doing your bidding. This becomes a necessary evil once you find yourself defending a room from hordes of enemies or trying to kill a Big Daddy. Hacking vendors gives cheaper products or even unlocks ones previously unavailable.

Every weapon can be upgraded twice at the "Power to the People" stations. The upgrades are both visual and powerful. The fully upgraded shotgun has a different feel and look from the regular one. Every enemy can be photographed with the camera you obtain to learn new abilities and ways to damage them. If you take enough pictures of the allusive Houdini Splicers you unlock the chameleon ability - rendering you invisible if you stand still.

There are also crafting stations, which allow you to use looted items to create powerful ammunition and other useful tools. This game feels like so much more than a typical first person shooter. It has elements of RPGs and adventure games built in and will have you exploring Rapture as much as you are killing its deformed and powerful inhabitants.

No game is without faults just as no film is without a mistake and no book is without error. Some minor problems that exist are a graphical glitch from time to time (my only noticeable one had the screen seemingly shatter with ice in the middle of a hallway but to say it did anything but scare me is a lie) and the protagonist never casting a shadow. The ending also leaves much to be desired but, as I said earlier, it could just be my ending.

While the game is not perfect I can bring myself to give it a perfect score. It is easily one of the best games ever made. The plot rivals great novels and the voice acting and animation trump some of the best movies. BioShock will forever be the proof we point to in the “games as art” debate as one of the best in its class. This is our Casablanca, our Ulysses and our Mona Lisa folks. It may never get any better than this.