Bioshock - Rapture and Decadence (Bioshock (PC))

Member Name: Perogi

Product:	Bioshock (PC)
Date:	27/01/09 (28 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: atmosphere, plot, gameplay, combat

Disadvantages: gameover/death system

Bioshock is one of those amazing games that sets an EXAMPLE, raises the bar so to speak. Never before has a game had such an atmosphere. The underwater 50's/future city of Rapture is created with such detail and logic its simply astounding. The inhabitants of this dystopia are also detailed although not as much. The most memorable moment of the game, and one that will probably stick with you through all your gaming adventures, is the first view of Rapture. After your plane crashes into the middle of the ocean and Jack swims to an odd lighthouse structure you discover the bathysphere. This esoteric contraption begins to descend and you are given a brief description of the concept of Rapture by its founder, Andrew Ryan, via a projecter. Promptly after the short monologue concludes the screen whisks up and you are given your first vibrant view of the sprawling dystopia city. This is right up there with my favourite game moments of all time, its simply breath taking.

In the begining, Bioshock starts you off with basic FPS mechanics as well as an eventful and helpful tutorial. Shortly after you've learned the basics it throws something new into the mix, plasmids. This is the core of Bioshock, and the former city of Rapture as well. Basically plasmids can be explained as spells/abilities. There are passive ones and active ones. What seperates plasmids from regular abilities is their uniqueness and stratigic uses, on enemies as well on the environment. The electric plasmid, for instance, can damage and stun single targets or if you throw it into a pool of water (theres lots in the underwater city) it will instanty kill all enemies in that pool. The fire plasmid will set enemies ablaze (Warning: fire spreads), ignite any puddles of oil, and melt ice. These are just the basic attacking plasmids, there are many more active plasmids with a variety of effects. Passive plasmids (think perks) offer you bonuses. Things like increased health from med packs, extra melee damage, chance to freeze target on hit, reflect melee damage, ect. You only have a certain amount of slots so you have to configure your plasmids to suit your combat strategies.

But wait! How do you get plasmids? Quite simply they are bought from Gatherer's Gardens. They cost Adam to buy. Whats adam? WELL, Adam is some sort of genetic material that replaces YOUR cells with stem cells. These stem cells can then be easily altered by plasmids. Originally Adam comes from a deep sea slug, discovered in Rapture. But now the only source for the stuff is the little sisters, little girls so spliced up that they recycle Adam from the bodies of dead users. Not so fast! You can't just waltz up and take the Adam from this little girls, not with the Big Daddy following them. These huge beasts in scuba suits are equiped with massive drills, gernade launchers, and rivet guns. But once you handle that monster the Adam is all yours! Another thing, plasmids (active ones) cost Eve to use which is like your mana. Thats all there is to plasmids.

Finally I will tell you about combat as a whole in Bioshock. While the game is linear and enemies are always in the same spots there are a near infinite amount of ways to approach any situtation. Depending on your play style you could do many different things. Five enemy splicers up ahead? You could lay traps like land mines and trip wires and lure them closer, you could run in and hit them with your wrench, snipe them from a distance, stun them with lightening and melee them, distract them with swarms of bees and shoot them down. There are so many options that it doesn't even matter that the game is linear because you can play the game 10 times and fight in a complete different manner each time. You can also hack vending machines, turrets, flying sentry bots, and safes for assistance in combat or extra goodies.

The only downsides to this amazing game are the repedative quest objectives (go here fetch this, come back) and the death mechanic. While the quest thing comes across more as an annoyance than anything else (some of the quests are different so its not ALL the same) the death system really does ruin the game. If you die, you probably will at some point, you come back to life at one of the many, many vita chambers with no penalty. So your free to run back in on a suicide mission until everyone is dead. Of course to avoid this you could just, not play like that. Despite this flaw it really doesn't take away from the gameplay unless YOU choose to exploit it. If your a gamer, you must play this game. So in ten years when the gaming community still looks back on this game as an example you can say "oh of COURSE I played Bioshock!"

Summary: A game that goes down in history as one of THOSE games.