Sea is the new land.. Bioshock Review.

"I'm Andrew Ryan and I'm here to ask you a question:
is a man not entitled to the sweat of his own brow?

No, says the man in Washington. It belongs to the poor.
No, says the man in the Vatican. It belongs to God.
No, says the man in Moscow. It belongs to everyone.

I rejected those answers. Instead, I chose something
different. I chose the impossible. I chose...

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, founder of Rapture

GAMEPLAY

FPS came a long way, from concrete jungles to abandoned space stations.
This time, it's Captain Nemo trapped in an unknown advanced civilization with a bunch of hideously deformed citizens that roamed around in this fish tank.

Like the Universe, the game starts with a big bang. 1960 is the year, you woke up and find yourself being surrounded by flames and wreckage. It was in the middle of Atlantic Ocean, you have no choice but so swim to safety. After some swimming, you noticed a lighthouse despite the fact is in a middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

You rushed up the stairs, opened the door and stumbled upon a bathysphere. It's not like you have any choice or any other means of transportation to get home, you decided to take a ride.
After some breathtaking view, you were introduced to Rapture. A metropolis that's been run by a megalomaniac business man, Andrew Ryans.

Before you even step out of your bathysphere, you knew something had gone wrong in this city.
Rapture were overrun by hideously deformed citizens called Splicers. And it looks like you found out that there is a thing called ADAM that's corrupting the metropolis. Even worse, this so called underwater civilizations does not welcome you at all.

If I were to describe Rapture, it's like Atlantis that have just been through the Black Plague, with a little bit of a 60's atmosphere. Resulting, a shootout in a spooky environment having 60's melodies running behind background. Absolutely beautiful.

The greatest weapon in Bioshock is the human body, with the help of a so called miracle substance, Plasmids. Players could emit electric bolt out their hand, burned foes with a snap, performed telekenisis like the gravity gun, enraging foes making them attacking one another and so on. To put it simple, Plasmids are magic but it comes in a form of syringe. Mind you, you could only slot in sufficient amount of Plasmids in the game or else it will be OP.

Fire > ice simeple equation.

Other than shooting lighting out of your fingertips. Tonics are passive skills that provides enhancements to the players. Some tonics like Armored Shell reduces physical damage, statis field that zapped everyone in a radius if you are being touched or Natural Camoflouge that makes you turn complete invisible. Offensive types Tonic like Wrench Jockey, adds wrench damage, or Sportboost that adds both movement speed and melee attack speed.
Combining all the bonuses that you received from the tonic, you could be a Wrenchmaster that downed most of your foes easily by using only melee. There are more than 50 tonics for you to experiment and play around with.

He who injects the most wins.

Getting tonics and plasmids were never easy, you will need ADAM to purchase Plasmids and Tonics from the vending machine. Sadly, there is only one way to obtain ADAM.
In Rapture, you will notice little girls wandering around the corridor holding a huge syringe to sucked out ADAM from dead bodies that were loitering around the streets, they were called

Table for two, please.

Little Sisters. Not to mention, they're protected by one of the most iconic yet difficult enemies in the entire game, they were monster beneath their diving suits called Big Daddy.
All you have to do is to kill Big Daddy and harvest the ADAM from her and killing her on the process or, rescue her from the infection of Adam but gaining a few amount of ADAM. You decide, both options you pick will have consequences towards the game. Your choice.

Freeze

Before you got the wrong idea that this is role playing. Let's talk check out the firearms.
Gun ranges from a monkey wrench to a crossbow. Of course like any FPS, you have the shotgun, trench, revolver, chemical sprayer, a Tommy gun and a grenade launcher. Since it's the late 1960's, you won't be picking up any guns that were out of this world and all the guns were designed in the form of late 1960's.

Bioshock firearms seems to fall short when it comes to killing efficiency. Although you've drilled multiple shots to the body, you'll still see them walking around and that doesn't feel right all. If you are looking for a shooter that blast through enemies like a knife cutting through a butter, Bioshock is indeed not that kind of game.

Killing efficiently in Bioshock is not impossible. You can always switch to different types of ammos to deal greater damage towards different types of enemies. Tommy gun has armor piercing rounds, shotguns have explosives bucks that deal splash damage, chemical sprayer can freeze,burn and electrified your enemies using napalm, liquid nitrogen or electric gel. Of course most of these distinctive ammos were not easy to come by compared to normal rounds.

This is how the game explain the plasmids.

There are only five types of enemies that you will encounter in the whole game excluding big daddy. These common enemies were known as splicers and you differentiate by the weapon they are holding. Thugs carries a wrench, Leadheads carries a pistol, Nitro tosses explosives, Houdini throws a fireball and teleports, the last are spiders that climbs ceiling and throw hooks at you.
As you proceed later in the game, they will gradually become tougher and hit harder, leading to a fight that uses various combinations of plasmids to take down the enemy. The most popular is the one-two combination that's been introduce in the early stage of the game, you shoot an eletrical bolt to stunned the opponent, then quickly following up with a wrench to maximize the damage. In fact, with the right tonic equipped you can beat the whole game by using just the one-two combinations.

You got served by a girl.

Turrets and security cameras hate you, but you can always hacked them and turn them to your side. Hacking involves playing a minigame that resembles Pipe dream, all you have to do is to make sure the water flow reached to the specific place by replacing the pipes and building the correct path. If you fail and the water overflows, it will result on a short circut and you will received damage. If you sucessfully hack turrets and security bots, it will aid you in combat, as for a vending machine, there will be a discounted price and unlocking some extra items.

Pipe dream all over again?

Boss fights are still splicers but they have enhanced health and damage. Other than splicers, the iconic big daddy is indeed the toughest enemy in the game, now I know why he is in the cover.
There are two types of big daddy, one has a huge drill on his right arm that specializes on melee attacks, it is called the Bouncer. The other, is called Rosie, laugh at his name and he will shoot you from afar and throws proximity mines in your face. Both of them have alot of health, fast, and hit very hard and will lead to undesireable deaths.
When you die, you will be revive in a nearby Vita-Chamber having a plenty enough of health and eve to live by. It is not a reload, you will be "restructure" and the damage you've inflict towards your enemies will not be erase. It does sound tedious...in fact it is, since you have infinite lives and credits.


Come to Daddy.

There alot of things happening in Rapture, you can finish the whole game in exactly 15-20 hours if all you do is follow the arrow and hints that are provided in the journal. The journal provides more than enough information like maps, hints, arrows, legends, messages and making it a bit too easy at times. During the whole game there won't be any NPC for you to talk to. So, there won't be any human interactions going on except for boss fights and some living characters that contacted you via radio.

If you happen to be a player who follow the arrows and instruction clearly throughout the game you will never fully understands what is really happening in Rapture. Bioshock contains hundreds of audio recordings regarding the lives of victims in Rapture. If you venture more for abit you'll realize that most of the audio recordings explains the situation of Rapture; before and after. It unlocks some mysteries in the game and tells a clearer story, not to mention it also helps you to advanced through to the stages by providing access code for doors and some hints. But you don't really need to be a good listener in Bioshock, because of your almighty journal you can always playback the audios and flip through the pages... so much for the 1960's.

The dark and eerie feeling while venturing the hall of Raptures is indeed an enjoyable sensation. The atmosphere were fill with the songs of 50's and 60's, you could hear splicers humming, talking, mumbling about their lives, it creates an eerie feeling and it really does have an impact on the environment. Everything in Rapture were perfectly created especially the water, if you have splicers standing on top of the water, just simply fires an electric bolt into the water and watch those sparks fly.

The A.I deploys hit and run tactics more often than dashing straight on like a bull. If the A.I was badly hurt, they will run to a nearby health machine and replenish their health. Upon deafetaing them, loots and some items can be gained.

This twisted underwater city really has alot to offer, as you proceed to the levels you noticed that things starting to get more fascinating, oxygen were produced by building a forest inside the utopia, and luxurious underwater view that you can see outside the window. It looks like everything is possible thanks to the Unreal Engine 3, graphics is superb and the water is perfect. Since the city is falling apart you will find a few leaks here and there, and experiencing the seawater rushing in after an explosion really blows you away.

There are some errors and dissapoinments in Bioshock 3. First are the audio and subtitles, it looks like the subtitles appeared quite late after each conversation and sometimes it never even go away, it requires a patch to be downloaded before playing the game. Second is the SecuRom online activation, well I guess you know what's the purpose of this bloody software.

If you have a better machine the game will indeed look sharper more than the XBOX360 and it fully supports the 360's controller. If you are lost and don't know which version to go for, it all depends on your PC's specs. If you're running on a mid/high end DX10 machine, go for the PC. Worry not it supports DX 9 and even running on this way the texture graphics still excel the 360 if your machine can deal with it. Be sure to get the latest patch or else you will be having minor problems in the game.

Conclusion

Bioshock excels in both graphics and audio, the texture graphics were perfectly made, the water is made to be like water in reality, it reacts accordingly, the guns are loud, the voice acting and casts are perfect. The audio recordings not only creates an impression, it also help seting up the mood, hearing one crying following with a splicers mumbling, humming throughout the dark hallways is quite an experience.

If you are the typical player who likes to play with convential weapons and loves to see huge explosions firing out of your favorite weapon, sadly to say maybe Bioshock is not for you. This game is more than putting bullets in one's head, it's a game that involves battles that can be fought indirectly and enjoying it at the same time.

Bioshock terrific story telling and compeling gameplay is what you must look forward too.
Despite having some minor problems that can solved thru patching, Bioshock is a very good game and it's worth it. I give it a 4 out 5.
Until next time Game On.