A fantasy-horror that is nothing short of brilliant (Bioshock PS3)

Bioshock is a game that kind of came out of nowhere from a company I hadn't heard of, who had made games way off my radar. So needless to say when I bought it I had no idea what to expect.

So let me get this out of the way now, Bioshocks strong point is it's story, and the fictional world in which it's set. Your character starts off having survived a plane crash in the atlantic ocean. The crash just happens to have taken place right next to a lighthouse, located inside is a bathysphere that leads your character into a giant underwater city known as Rapture.
This city was built in the 1940's and has an art nouveau style in the buildings architecture. However the year is now 1960, And things in the city seem to have gone worse for wear in the last 20 years. As you travel through it, you find out just why...

Bioshock,at it's hard is a fps, with a few twists thrown in. As you get out of the bathysphere you get attacked by a strange humanoid known as a splicer. These enemies are everywhere in Rapture, and come in about half a dozen different types, largely the difference is just the type of weapon they use. So to defend yourself you start off with a wrench used to melee attack, but then move onto shotguns, pistols, and machine guns (not the safest weapons to use in an underwater city...) However, to stand out from the crowd as a game Bioshock has some other tricks up it's sleeve. Plasmids. They are DNA changing injection shots that allow you to use telekinesis, shoot fire from yours hands, use mind control etc. They are also what made the splicers what they are.

The only other enemies featured in Bioshock are "Big daddy's". These guys are big, dressed in what looks like modified, armoured 1940's diving gear, carry a drill, and are very tough. They are bodyguards so to speak, to "little sisters". These little girls have been genetically modified to collect Adam (the genetic material in all of us). If you beat a big daddy you get to choose to either:

A) Harvest the little sister (take all her stored Adam and kill her.)

B) Rescue her, (get less Adam but turn her into a normal little girl again)

That is the extent of the moral choice in this game. It also is the only factor involved in the two endings you can get. This is not a very open ended title, though that didn't matter to me as the over whelming strengths of everything else in the game make that easy to over look.

The few characters you meet though this short journey that don't want to beat your head in, set you on fire, then harvest your genetic material are all either already dead, but left helpful tape recordings around with their picture on. Or are all suffering from Chiraptophobia, as even when near them they seal themselves in a room and will only talk to you though a hand held radio. Despite this though each characters personality is well defined and really makes the game an enjoyable ride with a fantastic story.

Other interesting things of note in the game play are money, hacking and tonics. As you kill and / or search random items you will find cash. This is used to either buy ammo or health kits / plasma kits (to replenish your plasmid power bar) from vending machines. However, if your cheap ( and I bet you are) then hacking them to get them cheaper is a good idea. This is done by a simple mini game in which you have to connect pipes from one point to another by taking pieces in and out of a grid. They start off simple, but get a lot harder as the game goes on. By this point however you will want to kill yourself as you will have performed 500 hacks. Vending machines are not the only things you can hack, security cameras and robots are also viable targets, in which if you succeed they will fight for you, if you fail then you get shocked and can then try again. Of course the entire time you are hacking something, nearby enemies will politely wait until you are finished before shooting you in the head. Razz

But why does an underwater city need to be full of vending machines that stock enough ammo to put the worlds military to it's knees? Razz

There are plenty of Plasmid vending machines around as well, for all your genetic killing needs. However they have to be paid for using the Adam gained from the little sisters. Money just isn't goon enough.

Lastly lets talk about tonics. They are like equipable items that have different effects. "Wrench +1" , better defense, improved hacking skills etc. However they can only be interchanged at certain vending machines around the city, as you get no menu. Which can get annoying if you need something else equiped other then what you have.

The city of Rapture is a beautiful, if not dark, environment. The textures are all well done, and the water effects are lovely (thank god, as it's everywhere.) The city has an excellent atmosphere due to blueish hue lighting that come through the many windows. The designs of each city area are also unique and varied, from orchards to fishing docks. Visually and atmospherically Bioshock excels with no problems.

The game also sounds very good, very very good. With some excellent voice acting all fitting into the era perfectly, especially Andrew Ryan (he reminded me of Vincent Price for some reason) Bioshock carries itself on it's interesting story and unique environment, with some unique and fun gameplay elements thrown in this is a game that any sci-fi or even horror fan should get if they own a PS3.

Brutal Game
Good Start
Great Story
Outstanding Visual Design
Technically Proficient Graphics
Terrific Voice Acting!

I give it a 9.3 out of 10

So GO GET IT NOW!!!

Gameplay:

Sounds great...wish I had something besides my comp right now....

» This is what a survivor horror game is all about- Dead Space