More Than Just a Shock to the System

Originally posted on 7/2/10

BioShock - PS3 Game Review

I first saw a review for this in the Daily Record when it came out for the 360 and PC originally in 2007. It got 5 stars, and from seeing the picture alone, I wanted it. It was the only thing I would ever have considered buying a 360 for, and that shows you how glowing a recommendation i'm giving it.

Fortunately however, it made its way onto a real console a year later, with the demo alone captivating you and transporting you into an underwater world that both amazes you and terrifies you. The game itself I completed in a day. While not a glowing recommendation, that was playing it continuously for a day. Like anything with a good story, BioShock draws you in and makes you lose track of time. I seriously had no idea how long had went past as I was playing this, for all I knew it could have been 1970 when the game was set.

Graphically, it's faultless. It's nothing groundbreaking, but it does everything it has to in order to work. The water everywhere is particularly well done, and adds to the feeling that all that's separating you from an ocean is a single pane of glass, the majority of which is falling apart. These graphics help the enemies come to life, from splicers (genetically deformed folk who don't like the look of you) to Big Daddies (the large chaps in diving suits on the front of the box) each of them poses a challenge to defeat, the biggest one being getting over how terrified you are when you first see them. Or, in the case of stuff like Spider and Houdini splicers, who crawl along walls and teleport respectively, when you don't see them at all.

Rapture's insane inhabitants aren't the only thing that'll dampen (sorry) your day however, as the folk who strived to create a perfect haven of creativity and progress are even more mental than the splicers.

First, a backstory. You crashland in the middle of the ocean, find a lighthouse, and go down it to find yourself in an underwater world, called Rapture. You learn it was built in 1957 (don't ask how 50's technology could construct a full city in the Atlantic Ocean), as a way of shielding the worlds best minds from censorship, allowing them to fully realise their talents.

It went tits-up however, as there were nobody to clean the toilets. As such, there's very few people left in Rapture who can possess a rational thought, and as you progress through the city most of them die anyway. From Atlas the Oirishman to Sander Cohen the Tenneessee Williams lookalike, all the characters are well acted and believeable. You start to identify with them, you realise you know people who would be like them if they were in an underwater city that went down the tubes.

Naturally, with so many people wanting you dead, you'll need weapons. BioShock takes the GTA weapon route, allowing you to carry a spanner, a pistol, a machine gun, a shotgun, a rocket launcher, a crossbow and a camera with no discernable bulk on your person. That and there's 3 different types of ammo for all but the spanner and camera. But then again, you have no feet. Plasmids however add a different dimension to fighting folk, allowing you to set people on fire, freeze them, electrocute them and even pick them up and throw them around. Each different weapon, be it mechanical or biological, allows you to fight the battle through Rapture your way, doing it however you see fit.

Story-wise, BioShock has the best story of any game i've ever played. Everything contributes to it, from the characters, to the enemies, to the setting, to the music in the background and to the fate of your character. The highest accolade I can pay the story is that I managed to construct an essay for it for my Higher English exam if it was required. It wasn't, but I could've written a damn good one. As such, the game is being made into a film (hopefully), and as I mentioned in my games of the decade list, it deserves Oscars if it ever materialises.

BioShock does have DLC. 3 extra side quests, based around the Little Sisters (i'll come to them later), you have to fight various enemies, or find weapons to get the Little Sister to safety. They add a certain dimension to play that wasn't present in the full game, as it requires you to plan out what you're going to do a lot more. Planning was necessary in the full game, but very often you could get by by simply spamming the hell out of anything trying to kill you. The Challenge Rooms however need you to think, or if you're lazy, youtube them.

Now, the Little Sisters and the moral choice system present. Remember the Big Daddies? Well they were created to protect the Little Sisters. Little Sisters were kidnapped girls (much more prevalent in BioShock 2, check somethinginthesea.com) who were implanted by an ADAM slug. ADAM was something the scientists found, which allowed them to make plasmids, which rather imaginitvely run on EVE. Follow? When you kill a Big Daddy, you have the option to kill the Sister and get 160 ADAM, or rid her of the slug and get 80, but leaving her still alive. Now its up to you how you do it, but the moral choice system here only affects the end, and only has three outcomes (although 2 are basically the same). It's not exactly wonderful, although it's supposedly improved in the sequel (which to the best of my knowledge, my copy of which is yet to be sent out), so i'll wait to see how they take that.

To sum up, while BioShock never made the best game of the last decade, it fully deserves its place in the top 5, and I strongly implore you to go and buy it now if you haven't already, and prepare to be sucked into a world that wouldn't let you leave if it had its way.