BioShock Review: Would You Kindly?
Quick Summary
Quick Summary
Pros:
* Amazing story
* Stunning visuals
* Immersing environment and atmosphere
* Frightening enemies
* Excellently fitting music
Cons:
* Too short for this great of a game!
* Very straightforward, linear story
Available Platforms: XBOX 360, PS3, PC
Genre: First-person Shooter, Action-Adventure, Survival Horror
ESRB Rating: M for Mature
Release Date: August 21, 200
Publisher/Developer: 2K Games/2K Boston/2K Australia, 2K Marin (PlayStation 3), Feral Interactive (Mac OS X)
Story: 10 /10
From the very first moment, BioShock is shrouded in mystery. You are a man only known as Jack and after your plane crashes into icy uncharted waters, you discover a rusted bathysphere of Rapture, a city hidden beneath the sea. Rapture is a city thought and built up by a man named Andrew Ryan. He built this underwater dystopian/anti-utopian city to escape "the censor" and "petty morality" (as he puts it). After your decent into the great city of Rapture you are attacked by your first "Splicer". Splicer's are the general name's of the enemies you will face in Rapture. Atlas, a Rapture Irishman, contacts you through a radio and he is your guide throughout the game. You discover bits and pieces of Rapture's past through Atlas, other characters, and audio recordings left by Rapture's now-gone residents.
Scientific progress flourished in Rapture, leading to rapid developments in engineering and biotechnology, thanks in part to the brilliant scientists that Ryan brought to the city. One such advancement was ADAM, stem cells harvested from a previously unknown species of sea slug having the ability to regenerate damaged tissue and rewrite the human genome. ADAM was then used to created plasmids, which offered superhuman physical enhancements to its customers. Plasmid users became addicted to their superhuman drugs and the plasmid industry began to boom while ADAM was running low. They found ADAM could be mass-produced by implanting the slugs in the stomachs of young girls ("Little Sisters"), taken from orphanages. These Little Sisters are protected by "Big Daddies" (enhanced and mentally sterilized humans in giant armored diving suits) while the Little Sisters do their work collecting ADAM. Even this didn't help and soon the ADAM-infused citizens revolted against Ryan and his iron fisted regime. Upon your arrival the great city of Rapture is in shambles and you are now caught up in the middle of it, fighting for survival while unraveling the mystery that surrounds you.
Gameplay: 9 /10
BioShock is a first-person shooter with role-playing game customizations like upgrading your weapons and getting more powerful by using more plasmids. Using both weapons and your ADAM-induced genetic alterations (like shooting fire, ice, or electricity from your fingertips) you make your way through the game completing objectives. You collect money from searching dead bodies and trashcans and can use it in buying ammunition, health, and additional equipment. Collecting ADAM to use to upgrade your powers is a bit different method of obtaining.
View article Images hereWhen you come across a Little Sister it will undoubtedly be accompanied by a hulking Big Daddy. You can choose to leave them alone, but if you are in need of some ADAM to power yourself up, you can choose to take down these lumbering giants to then get close enough to the Little Sister. When you have done this you have a choice to either kill the Little Sister to harvest a great deal of ADAM, or to save the Little Sister and gain a smaller amount with hopes that your good deed will pay off later. The decisions to save or harvest Little Sisters ultimately change the ending you will see at the end of the game. You will receive one of three available endings.
Graphics: 8 /10
Graphics in BioShock are done in a very innovative way. They are not quite cartoonish but are also not quite super realistic either. This is done for the reason of making this underwater city to have its own unique look and feel to it. When you see a screenshot or a video, without even knowing what its from, you will be able to distinguish that its Rapture all right! This is not to say that they are sloppy or bad, because that would be the exact opposite of what I am trying to portray. The graphics in BioShock are superb! They submerse you in with its exquisite water, fire, and electricity effects and puts the nail in the coffin with their wonderful ragdoll physics.
Challenge/Difficulty: 9 /10
On its second hardest difficulty settings can be a challenging game. The challenge comes into the game when you are low on ammunition and health and have constant waves of bad guys around each corner. Usually Splicers will be found in a group and will try to overthrow you that way. They can be a burden to handle when low on health and ammo. Plus, its not like you can just stop what you are doing and search around for more when the game is basically pushing you to move onward with your missions. It is not a "frustrating difficulty", but rather it is a challenge that is fun andwell, challenging!
Replay Value: 8 /10
The replay value of BioShock is a high one. Yes, it is only a single player campaign mode. But the way you can go about playing the game is where its replay value comes in. You can decide early on in the game to power up your player and your weapons in much different ways then you did the first or second time through. It is also fun to go through the game making different moral decisions with what to do with the Little Sisters to get all three different endings. It would be nice to have a multiplayer of some sort, but thankfully the sequel will have this feature!
Overall Score: 9/10
BioShock is a very, very well done game. It has an amazingly intricate story, great gameplay, phenomenal graphics, immersing environments, everything! This game is a definite buy on PS3, 360, or PC. Would you kindly play this game ASAP so we can all play the sequel and enjoy it together! BioShock 2 releases February 9th, 2010 for PS3, XBOX 360, and PC.
BioShock Review: Would You Kindly?
By: gamepodunk
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