BioShock

Available for: Xbox 360, PS3, and PC
Played it on: Xbox 360
Played it for: 30 hours

RATING: 9/10

Summary: Rapture. An underwater world created for the world's most elite. The scientist could do what he pleased without being bound by morality, the common man could work honestly, and he would be payed honestly, and where the truly great could reside without a care in the world. The great brain-child of Doctor Andrew Ryan, the world of Rapture was to be the perfect utopia.

For a time.

It wasn't long before those unbound scientists began to push the limits of the imaginable, and they created a bio-chemical substance called Adam, which could rewrite the genetic code of an individual to give them the power of gods. The city turned to chaos.

Now all that is left are Splicers, mutant products of that scientific miracle. Constantly hunting Adam to survive, the Splicers are not afraid to kill whomever gets in their way. As the man unlucky enough to crash land on Rapture's entrance, how will you survive the dangers of the once proud city? Will you splice up and become one of them, or will you salvage what is left, and try to save Rapture?

Review:
I thought that with BioShock: Infinite coming out sometime this year, I would hurry up and review the first two BioShocks so I know what I'm doing by the time I get to number three. So here's a back to back analysis of one of 2K's most famous titles.

BioShock stands out as a very singular entity among the first person shooters of the modern console world. In the great underwater metropolis of Rapture, anything goes. And as a splicer who actually has control over his powers, there's nothing stopping you from doing whatever you want. As with most games, it starts off with you having nothing, and no power, and you slowly move up the super-power ladder until you can take out Big Daddies without much problem. Your plasmids, genetic alterations that give you power over the elements, can be upgraded to be more and more powerful as you gather more Adam, and "Power to the People" stations located throughout the metropolis can upgrade your guns for extra damage or clip size. So while this may seem rather generic, the setting, the plot, and the ways you can use your plasmids are what make BioShock unique.

Rapture is big. Quite big, actually, and while the game is linear, the largeness of each stage makes you think it's not. Dead Space actually did the same thing, and it makes you forget that you can only roam around on that stage. You think much more about your plasmids and weapon upgrades, so in the end, it doesn't matter how linear the actual campaign is. And if you feel like it, you can return to other parts of the game when you get bored with your specific area using the Bathysphere, so you can go back and pick up missed journals, etc.  (which is good, because there is no new game +). Eventually, you will run out of Big Daddies and Little Sisters, and upgrades and things, but that just means you can give yourself a challenge and start over again on a higher difficulty. (If you want to give yourself the most challenge possible, take my "Saving Rapture Challenge" below. If you complete it, post your name in the comments.)

Adding to the already impressive gameplay, the story was extremely well thought out, and I was overall quite impressed with the progression and writing. The plot twists in ways that I never expected it to, and I bought the game because of it. In the end, while I was disappointed with not having a NG+, I was ready to dive right back into the game for a round on Hard so that I could relive the incredible story with a revved up difficulty curve. It's one of those rare games that comes up once in a blue moon that makes you want to play it over and over again, which is another reason why it's worth your time to test it out, a trait that recent FPS's have lost in their attempts to explode your head with amazing in your face crap.

So, as I stated before, BioShock is quite singular in it's attempts to re-vamp the FPS system, and it really is nice. I recommend that if you haven't, you test it out, because it only gets better from here.

* BioShock - "Saving Rapture Challenge" -
                  Set your game to the following settings, and play according to these rules to give
                  yourself the ultimate BioShock challenge:

• Your game should be set to the hardest difficulty
• You never revive at a vita-chamber. You can turn vita-chambers off in the "options" menu.
• Save every Little Sister. Don't harvest a single one. You'll get less Adam, but that's part of the challenge.
• If you complete the challenge, comment your name below.

**** BioShock - "PLEASE DON'T TRY ME, I'M NOT POSSIBLE!!!" Challenge - 

                Are you nuts? Are you ready to throw your controller against the wall in a psychotic rage?
                Did you already complete "Saving Rapture" because it was too easy? TRY THIS!

• Hardest difficulty
• Never revive at a vita-chamber
• Save every Little Sister
• Don't upgrade at Power to the People stations
• Use only the wrench
• Don't use any more plasmid slots than you have in the beginning (2)
• Don't upgrade your health or EVE

If you can do this, then you are a gaming God.