Review: Bioshock

Rapture.

A city where the artist would not fear the censor,
where the scientist would not be bound by petty morality,
where the great would not be constrained by the small.

And with the sweat of your brow, Rapture can become your city, as well."

―Andrew Ryan​

Bioshock is an action packed shooter which takes place in the great city of Rapture, a city built so that men could thrive and prosper without the interference of religion, government, and morals. This proves to be an interesting place to fight.​

You start out in a plane crashing into the Atlantic. You swim to the only thing in sight; a small island with a lighthouse. You suddenly find yourself floating down small spherical submarine. You look out the glass and see Rapture. From there you're hooked. No doubt about it. You pick up a radio and a man promises you freedom if you help his family and him get out as well. His name's Atlas.​

At first it seems like your goal is to escape, it seems very simple. But as you progress through the story you realize it's not as simple as you may believe. You find yourself immersed in a complex and deep plot, the motives of your enemies; and yourself are never completely clear. You'll think you have it all worked out, and the plot completely twists in a better direction than before.​

The combat is amazing, and nothing less. Plasmids spice up the game and add a wonderful twist. Sick of just using that boring old gun? Freeze your enemies in place with the Winter Blast Plasmid and then break them apart with your wrench! One of the best things about Bioshock is that they slowly introduce new weapons, gives you a wide selection of Plasmids and Tonics to buy, and say "Do your own thing."​

If you don't experiment with your Plasmids, if you stick to one Plasmid, your not immersing yourself in the game and might not be getting enough enjoyment out of it! Try using the Cyclone trap Plasmid to send your enemies flying into the air when they step over the cyclones you created with your own hands. You can change your tonics to match your play style as well.​

One thing I like is the variety in weapons. No weapon becomes useless throughout the whole game. At "Power to the People" stations you can upgrade a weapon, each weapon can have 3 different upgrades normally to the power, ammo consumption or clip size, and reloading speed. Even the wrench, the very first melee weapon you get is extremely useful all throughout the game. There are a lot of tonics focused on increasing wrench power.​

One of my favorite features are the Big Daddies. These brutes are on every level, guarding Little Sisters. Little Sisters are small 6-8 year old girls who walk around the city, taking ADAM from dead bodies. There are a few Little Sisters in each area. What I like about this is the challenge that Big Daddy's challenge and how you can fight them anytime in that level. After you kill the Big Daddy you are given a choice. You can harvest the little sister and you get hefty payday of 180 ADAM, when you harvest the Little Sisters they don't survive but you gain more ADAM. You can be a good guy and rescue the Little Sisters as well! This turns them into normal girls and they escape through the vents, but the penalty is that you only get 80 ADAM. It may sound like an easy choice to make, Harvest them right? Wrong. The Little Sisters repay you after every 3 you save. Trust me, You do get more ADAM for rescuing them but it may take an area or two to get it all. Little Sisters also gift you with some very useful Plasmids you can't get anywhere else! Worth it if you ask me!​

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The graphics on this game are perfect. Of course they're not Crysis graphics or top of the line graphics but the water looks amazing, something that's important when the setting is an underwater city. When you walk under places where the water pours down your screen blurs in a beautiful way. The graphics capture the eerie atmosphere. The sound is wonderful and you can hear the splicers echoing from around the corner. They may be singing, or screaming to nobody. Either way the sound is amazing. The footsteps are realistic and you can hear Big Daddies lumbering around as well.​

Graphics: 9.5/10
Sound: 10/10
Gameplay: 10/10

Pros: Wonderful Story | Big Daddies are a good challenge | Good replay-ability (three endings)
Cons: Ammo can be hard to come by | The three endings are very alike and don't change much

 

I meant it to be the only real difference is a different cut-scene. What would have been much better would be different game-play in the last level or so.