2K Games / 2K Marin
Anthony: It’s funny to think... in early gaming history, we had many less game genres overall than we do now. Even then, the line mostly blurred between them, as playing sports games required almost no knowledge of sports, action/shooter/platformer were practically all the same thing, and puzzlers/rpgs were always simple 2D affairs. So if you’re like me, at one point, you played a little bit of everything if it was decent. Then as games got more development, tons of subgenres developed, new gameplay styles emerged, and generally speaking, most gamers stuck to the specific genres they enjoy.
But now, games have grown so huge in scope, production values, quality of programming, innovation, and number of quality game developers, that certain bits of gaming euphoria have come along and received more universal appeal. And that’s exactly why I’ve found myself playing, and subsequently loving Bioshock. I may not like shooters, but with its design, gameplay, fascinating story and beautifully scary world, it won me over.
Bioshock has you take the part of the lone survivor of a plane crash, who finds himself guided through a technological marvel of a city called “Rapture” that was built undersea. There, you’ll modify your body and increase your armaments to take out crazed survivors and powerful creatures in attempt to help some survivors. The story unfolds mostly through audio diaries left by citizens of Rapture, though a few choice encounters also bring about major elements as well. It’s a pretty fantastic trip that manages to be thought-provoking and visceral all the while.
What’s good:
- The graphics are phenomenal. Thankfully eschewing the post-apocalyptic brown-reality, Bioshock’s world of Rapture instead gives a hauntingly beautiful and creepily retro world to explore. Areas are huge, establishments have great lighting effects, Rapture’s denizens border between grotesque and pitiable, the water effects are truly absurd, and it all runs without hiccups or loading. I may not know much about shooter game engines, but if I can’t imagine something being any better looking or functioning, that says something.
- The use of ambient period music and voice acting is excellent. Amid the carnage and horrible things that have transpired in Rapture, mood music from the 40s/50s, lighthearted propaganda-laden announcements over the intercoms, the “happy” sounds of remaining vending machines, and audio diaries with fantastic voice acting permeate the experience. Like playing classical music over a murder scene, the juxtaposition of all the music and voice work to the dramatic environment was delightfully eerie.
- The gameplay variety was ramped up quite a bit thanks to the inclusion of a diverse array of both weapons and genetic bodily enhancements called “Plasmids.” The weapons worked through a range of melee-smashery, long distance sniping, explosive chaos and trap setting. Combining these with abilities to freeze, burn, electrify, toss, enrage etc. your enemies, you have a pretty impressive variety of ways to get a handle on the swams of Rapture citizens. While good old-fashioned “Anthony Smash!” style Wrench-bludgeoning often worked for me, several weapons and plasmids were also fun to use, and really become a necessity on higher difficulties.
- Beyond the attack-based Plasmids, “Tonics” were also included to give you various bodily effects. Giving your character an assortment of enhancements for restoration, defense, support, and offense really helped broaden the range of character development. There’s a great assortment to help you play the game as you see fit, and with many attainable for free, it was very easy to swap and try other strategies.
- The story (and especially the back-story) of the game is very well done. The overall suspension of disbelief necessary for the storyline is low, as the diaries in the game do a great job of exploring both the events of Rapture and the emotions that run through so many of its inhabitants. It really made me think, question things, and did an oft-surprisingly good job of tying together potential loose ends. Just when I thought something didn’t make sense, something would click in my head, or another diary would explain it. The subtleties of the societal breakdown, peoples’ actions, and interaction with the world of Rapture are all explored in mature ways I really wasn’t expecting.
- Even the environment interaction and physics are impressive. Objects go flying and bodies go limp with ragdoll movements in surprisingly realistic manners.
What’s neutral:
- Oddly enough, the beginning of the game is significantly harder than the later portions of the game. Early on, without tonics, using minimal plasmids, with only basic weapons, a low health bar, little spare money, and scant ammunition, the game almost feels like it’s going to force you to scrape by. By even the midpoint of the game, I was constantly overloaded on weapon ammunition, and so full of money that I had to find reasons to spend it. The difference was pretty staggering.
- Minor, but it would’ve been nice if the cost of some plasmid upgrades were reduced compared to just buying a brand new one. As a result, to get more out of the game, I used inferior plasmids until late game and just bought the buffest ones I could, where I would’ve easily been broke if I’d tried mix and matching them early on.
- I think the reward you’re given for taking the ‘harder’ route of helping the Little Sisters in game was a bit generous. If getting a good ending takes a little more work, that’s okay. Instead, taking the good-guy path often nets you rewards that are good enough to make me wonder if the game’s difficulty is really affected by those choices as much as it purports to be.
- An option to swap button inputs might’ve been nice. My one issue with it is in mapping the “Hack” button as the same as using a manual Plasmid-recharge, is sometimes when attempting to disable and hack machinery, the character ends up wasting time trying to recharge energy rather than hack. This lead to some unnecessary damage against turrets that would come back online to attack me while I was recharging.
What’s bad:
- For a game that absolutely screams for a New Game+ feature, making that only available through paid downloadable content was kind of a jerk move.
- The minigame for “Hacking” security systems and vending machines got to be old a little fast. It takes place in a pipe-based puzzle design where you have to direct the flow from one end of the board to another, avoiding obstacles and not interrupting the flow along the way. The problem is that the benefit of hacking things is very apparent, and with literally hundreds of things to hack in the game, it gets old pretty fast. This is especially true when around the midway point through the game, the difficulty in hacking spikes up so much that you can have already failed the hack before you even have a chance to react. Tonics and Camera research eventually smooth the process, but they don’t save it from being too repetitive and plentiful.
I can’t think of much more to say. A friend recently asked on a message board “Is Bioshock considered a masterpiece?” and having played it through, I have trouble coming up with any argument that it’s not. It intimidated me at first, had me fascinated with the story throughout, and before long I realized I was enjoying just about every second of the gameplay too. If a game’s sound, music, gameplay, story, graphics, and variety for replay are all top notch, what else is there to say?
Bioshock is one of the best games I’ve had the pleasure of playing. Highly recommended.
Lauren: Bioshock was yet another title that encouraged me to purchase a PS3. Although I'm not usually a fan of the genre, something seemed special about this one. I'm happy to say that it did not disappoint. I'll admit something right off the bat - I didn't actually play Bioshock, in the same way that I didn't play Portal. It wasn't for a lack of wanting to do so, but rather due to my unfortunate "FPS motion sickness". As a result, Anthony has done the bulk of this review. I can, however, comment on the graphics, story, and overall atmosphere of this amazing game.
As previously noted, the graphics are fantastic. Despite being horrific in nature, there are times when the city of Rapture looks absolutely beautiful. The most impressive aspect of the visuals was the water. Obviously, this game has a lot of water in it, and it all looks incredibly realistic. Even the wet shine on floors and walls looks remarkable.
The graphics certainly contribute to the overall creepy atmosphere, and so does the sound. Music is used selectively, and you'll more often hear insane screams and rants from people nearby. These background voices were extremely well-executed, creating a sense of constant danger - sometimes you'll find the source of the noise (which will then charge you at top speed), and sometimes you won't. They'll make you nervous about peering around every corner.
The story is one of the most fascinating ones I've seen in a game, featuring a dystopian underwater world and the madness that's happened within it. It's filled to the brim with plot twists that I never would have seen coming, and it was very interesting to see everything come together. Be sure to listen to all of the audio diaries, because a ton of the plot exposition happens within them. It's definitely worth striving for the best ending as well, since I found it to be the most satisfying conclusion to the story. The constant themes of morality play a big role in this.
Bioshock was a great mix of action and survival horror with some RPG elements mixed in. The plot is fascinating and philosophical, with many gruesome and disturbing moments. I can't compare how the game plays on PS3 versus 360 and PC, but I will say that if you have one of those systems, you really need to give this one a try. Yes, even if you don't like shooters.
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