Bioshock (Xbox 360)

Until about a week or so ago I'd heard very little of Bioshock. I rarely follow the release dates of games, and prefer to experience a game than read about it online or in mags. However, I noticed it when browsing Amazon and decided I'd buy it as the Big Daddy grabbed my attention.
Now, it's my most played game on the 360.

I'm not going to talk about how much hype this game got as I was honestly not aware of it and don't know the limits. But what I will say is that Bioshock is amazing. And not just amazing - as most games are described - this is THE game for 360 owners.

If you're reading about this game then you know already what the basic plot of the game is, and I won't say anything more in order to preserve the great twists that you'll find within the game. However, it's important to know that the story to Bioshock is a roller-coaster of a ride that will leave you wanting to know more each and every time you lay down the controller.

Gameplay wise, Bioshock is a step above most FPS games on any console. The Darkness was a great game with it's unique abilities, Halo was (and hopefully will remain) a fast action shooter, but this game takes the gameplay from all of the best shooters and mixes it all up, before throwing in a handful of fantastic new features to leave you in awe.

The game claims that no player will be the same, and it's probably true. There are plenty of ways to kill an enemy within the game, from indenting their skull with a handy wrench to pumping them full of lead, but how about creating a bit of chaos and forcing each enemy to attack another - whilst you dodge around them taking them out one by one. Or if that's not your thing, and you find groups of enemies a handful, you could hypnotise a Big Daddy and go into battle with a huge diving-suited, drill-armed warrior at your side.

The weapons that are found in Bioshock are also fully upgradeable, with each weapon being given the option of two upgrades that enhances their abilities. Depending on your favourite weapon you can upgrade each weapon once at a 'Power To The People' machine - but beware, as the machine closes after a single use (there are multiple machines however in each area).

Another great attraction are the PLASMIDS. Inject them into your arm and you can possess the elements, swarms of wasps, and mini-tornados that are each useful for wiping out groups of enemies in a few seconds.
However, and this is a great catch, in order to upgrade your PLASMIDS and buy more slots to place your new found should-be-lethal injected friends, you have to find and 'release' the Little Sisters within the game. The great thing about this is that you can't just 'get' to them; you must first take out their hulking protector: the Big Daddy!
Aside from being the most iconic character within the game, the Big Daddy has the unusual characteristics of an innocent enemy. That is, to say, they will not attack you unless you attempt to harm them or their Little Sisters. It's your choice entirely whether you fight the Big Daddies or not, but you essentially have to unless you plan on facing the tougher enemies, later on in the game, with weapons alone.
Then, if you can power your way through the increasingly-strong Big Daddies, you must make the choice of sacrificing the Little Sister in order to gain a large amount of power (which is needed to buy more PLASMIDS and more slots for your abilities) or save the child from the possession and gain a smaller amount of power. It's all psychological; do you feel guilt for killing a small girl when they consist only within a game, or will you feel better for saving them and letting them flee?
This is the effect that Bioshock has; it absorbs you into the action and forces you to make choices that you wouldn't expect to have to make.

Bioshock is also the owner of some of the most beautiful graphics in any game. The locations within Rapture are a combination of natural beauty - looking out into the ocean around you - and sheer destruction. There are a good number of character designs, and whilst you will find yourself facing an enemy that you are sure you killed an hour before in a totally different area, it's not as annoying as you may expect.
The water itself is possibly the most realistic in any game I've ever played - the first few minutes of playing leave you wondering just what is to come.

The game is also quite lengthy, and has great replay value as there is always other ways to complete the game. Lasting between 10-20 hours (depending on your ability), and with several modes of difficulty to present easier or more difficult challenges to those who require them, you'll find yourself restarting the game just minutes after you've finished it the first time around.

Bioshock is a game that introduces you to the idea of 'survival of the fittest', and leaves you longing for more as you become submerged in the ocean depths that is Rapture. With fantastic voice work, you feel as though you have become the newest citizen of the fallen city. Are you a man or a puppet? Would you kindly buy it now?

I have been an avid PC and console gamer for...well, as long as there have been PC and console games, and have probably played hundreds of the darn things over the last two decades, and I can comfortably say, that Bioshock, is one of the top two or three games I have ever played, and absolutely the best console game.

It's one of those rare games, that has all of what you love about a great game, with none of what annoys you. I realized, after about 10 hours of play, that absolutley nothing was ticking me off. If there was ever a game that got everything right, it's Bioshock.

Normally, you hear much about a shooter having an "absorbing story", and you're just like: "yeah, yeah, just shut up and let me shoot you". But Bioshock, actually does. The bleak, dystopian world scenario is hardly new in gaming, but Bioshock puts a great twist on things; and the art-deco 1940's sci-fi world is very refreshing and incredibly rendered. If you are as sick as I am of endless hallways filled with crates, you are in for a helluva treat. Not only does this game look amazing, but the design is so good, and so original, that it really does "absorb" you.

The biggest suprise to me, was level of literacy, and period detail. This game wasn't really designed for modern kids, and certainly wasn't designed by one. The villian, an obvious nod to conceptual novelist Ayn Rand, ends up being more complex than the average "evil rich corporate Republican" guy we're all so sick of by now, and not only is the voice acting a-list quality, but they even speak pretty authentic 1940's dialogue, with accurate period inflection. If you watch an old movie from the 40's you'll notice that not only was the slang and colloquial language different, but so was the actual style of speech. The characters in Bioshock don't sound like modern mallrats in seersucker suits, they sound like people from the 40's. The sense of period is very accurate, moreso than most Hollywood films (although a "German" lady character has a very obiously Russian accent lol).

Even the shooting, was fabulously fun. When I first started playing, I thought "oh no..shooting old revolvers isn't fun." But don't forget, even though Bioshock takes place in the 40's, it's still a sci-fi what-if adventure, and the assortment of weapons are a gas to use. And "adventure" is really accurate. Even though it's an FPS with a fair amount of bloody shooting, it really feels and plays more like an old Sierra adventure game than a Quake-style shooter. The plot matters in this game, unlike many others, and you spend more time exploring the amazing world and solving puzzles than actually shooting, so consider that a mild warning if you are a shooting "rivethead".

Bioshock is a very long game, but it was so addicting, that I played it almost non-stop for 4 days and finished it. I actually just rented it, because normally games that are centered on plot don't have a lot of replay value for me, but this one I can imagine playing over and over, so the lack of multi-player doesnt really matter to me here. I'll be buying this sucker as soon as payday hits.

In short, the hype around Bioshock is no hype. This game even killed Half-life and Halo for me, and that's saying a lot. Halo3 is going to have a helluva climb to even get near Bioshock, and i never thought I'd say that.

To wrap-up, even though much of Bioshock's conceptual nods and references will probably sail over the heads of most modern teen gamers, it won't matter a darn. They'll be to busy being knocked out by the best visual world and gameplay mechanics I've ever seen.

Underwater Utopia named Rapture, built by brilliant but slightly mad industrial tycoon Andrew Ryan but population descends into civil war and begins to mutate and kill one another in order to survive. Then you show up after a mysterious air crash...WHATS NOT TO LOVE!!! Bioshock may be coming up to nearly the ripe old age of 4 years old, and many of the games on Xbox have progressed quite far and possibly beyond the scope of imagination when Bioshock was first introduced to us, but it still feels as if it was released yesterday and continues to draw me in with its dialogue, settings and game play mechanics. This may be a review that will never be read or given much attention, but I feel it is important that a game of this calibre remain one of the greats, a game we all love to play and can never lose enjoyment in. Seriously just think about it, when was the last time you played a truly magnificent game? A game that you still remember playing and no matter how old it gets, you will still be able to pick up and play it even 10 - 20 years or even longer down the road? That's why Ocarina of Time is, well timeless or Goldeneye on the N64.

Bioshock is probably the first Xbox 360 game that totally absorbed my time. I would discover a thought of "I will just have a quick go, to the next save point and go to bed" would turn into 5 hours very quickly, with it now being 2am. After a few weeks of these sessions, I believe and still believe to this day that my silhouette was burned into my bedroom wall where I had not moved for so long in front of the HD TV. Only a few games have ever had this reaction for me. Fallout 3, Assassins Creed 2 and Dead Space being the main culprits.

I have owned Bioshock since it came out and though I was impressed with Bioshock 2, I was not totally blown away and felt that the original was still very much its superior. It reminds me of my favourite films or music. I may have seen them hundreds of times before, heard the tracks inside out, but I always find a rekindled sense of enjoyment and appreciate the experience more each time. So where to start?

I love the story and how it progresses up to its conclusion. Being given the choice to play the good guy or tear the place apart in the hunt for ADAM seemed at first nothing no other game had done before, mainly because the moral choice was so stark concerning the Little Sisters. It is just entertainment but at times during the harvester or rescue scenes I would always find I would rather rescue. Why? I didn't want to hurt the Little Sisters! Hopefully deep down that means I'm a good person. Or just rather simple as I would find I would never have enough ADAM for all the plasmids I wanted. With a mix of different weapons that you can upgrade and choice of special powers known as plasmids, there is plenty of playability and combos you can make with a variety of weapons and the different ammo you can collect for each weapon. Playing through the game a few times, you certainly appreciate the tactics of upgrading your weapons. Just because you have the grenade launcher does not mean it's the most useful weapon. Think before you upgrade and the same goes with plasmids. The urge is to buy each of them so you have a full arsenal but this is folly. Focus on the essential plasmids which tend to be the elemental ones (you can get extra plasmids which include ice from XBL and are free) and upgrade these. I found the fire plasmid the single most useful in fights and solving puzzles.

Now this is a shooter and can be quite frantic at times. Unlike other shooter style games, ammo is not always in abundance and if you go running round Rapture unloading every weapon you have, you won't make it passed the first area. Rapture is HUGE and can be quite unforgiving if you don't plan ahead. The harder the difficulty, the more shots it will take to bring down the enemy, which leads me perfectly onto the enemies and other grisleys that populate the underwater Utopia you are to face. They range from the everyday folk of Rapture who are hell bent on killing you and taking your ADAM to the Big Daddies and Rosie's who protect the Little Sisters. These larger enemies tend to pay you no attention as you walk around the destroyed city but will react if you get close to a Little Sister and can sometimes attack you if you stay around too long. Only ever take these lumbering juggernauts on if you have enough ammo and a decent strategy as they will take you down within seconds. They are super strong and can bolt at you knocking you back. It may not seem like the strongest weapon but I always use the cross bolt on the Big Daddies as it packs a serious punch but is let down slow reload times. The "everyday" enemies are easy to kill but in numbers can be overwhelming. These are the Splicer's and are the residents of what was once a great society, turned upside down by over exposure to ADAM, a kind of drug that allows for plasmids to function. Many of the areas you visit are filled with these and like The Big Daddies and Rosie's, you can hear them usually making noise before you get close to them. They vary in style and appearance allowing you to distinguish them and choose the right weapon. All I can say is when dealing with Spider Splicer's, take them down quickly as they are a huge pain and will tear you apart.

The Splicer's are a minor annoyance, the bigger enemies are tough as nails, but the bots that fly and the sentry guns are not only quick, agile and lethal but can re-spawn during alarms. If it was not for the camouflage plasmid, I would be dead 10 times over. Instead of aiming for them to destroy them, you are given the opportunity to hack the turrets and the flying bots to use to your own advantage and can help you in defending areas and yourself. Camera turrets can also be hacked and act as your early warning system. Essentially hack everything as when you return to areas that are patrolled by cameras you hacked earlier, sometimes you will find dead Splicer's and they have left behind some goodies for you. You have the ability to search your enemies but can also search in other areas like filing cabinets, bins and suitcases. These yield some interesting rewards for you to use during the game. At first I did not understand why I kept running out of ammo even when I was trying to be frugal with it. I kept find these random pieces of inventory such as brass pipe or rubbing tubing and just storing them. It was like Christmas as you can covert the odds and sods into ammo and when I left the ammo converter, the floor was littered with shotgun shells and grenades. Admittedly I got carried away.

This is a great game, possibly one of the greatest ever made. It produces a fantastic and engaging story, easy to use controls, amazing action and puzzles and is a beautiful modern piece of gaming gold. The price of this title now is a complete bargain. Why would you not want to take up this bargain????