Whether its gameplay, story or atmosphere, Bioshock is a hit on all fronts
Taking place in the year 1960, you are aboard a plane that suddenly crashes into the ocean. As the only survivor, you swim to a nearby light house with a terminal that takes you to the mysterious under water city of Rapture. Once there, you are contacted through a radio by someone named Atlas. From then on, Atlas guides you through this city in order to assassinate Andrew Ryan, the creator of this city. The story is probably one of the greatest plots in the FPS genre. There aren't any cut scenes to speak of but just being able to tell a story through character dialogue over the radio is just enough to get you into this wonderfully written plot with a unique twist towards the end.
The story is complimented by probably some of the most immersive atmosphere that you will find in any game. Though the game is over 5 years old now, the eerie visuals and music will immediately pull you into this trashed and abandoned world of Rapture. The game makes you feel alone in this new world which can lead to some scary moments, especially knowing that you are on your own when you come across a big and powerful Big Daddy.
Of course, this being a shooter and all, you'll come across an array of weapons on your journey. However, seeing as this city has been isolated from the rest of the world for half a century, you're stuck using guns that aren't exactly high tech. Luckily, you can upgrade their clip size and damage as you go. You'll immediately start out with a pistol and a tommy gun but you can also come across a shotgun, grenade launcher, cross bow, etc. The combat itself is decent enough, though I do wonder how a shotgun at point blank range doesn't always kill an un armored human. The gunplay by itself isn't anything revolutionary but its fun all the same.
What's even more exciting than the gun play are the plasmids that you get to mess around with. These are genetic enhancements that you will come across throughout the game and you can use to your advantage. For instance, the first you come across allows you to shoot lightning but you can later shoot your standard fire or ice attacks too. There's more creative ones too like one that allows you to shoot bees from your hand or telekinesis, which is sort of like Half Life 2's gravity gun. You can only carry a certain amount and swap them at certain parts of the game so you'll have to choose which ones you want carefully. Plasmids are fun to mess around with and they can make any battle more interesting, especially when you can use them to your advantage like shocking the water surrounding your targets, shocking everyone at once.
To use these plasmids, you'll need to collect ADAM in order to purchase them. How do you get ADAM? Once you defeat a Big Daddy, you'll find a "Little Sister" accompanying him and you'll have to get it out of them. You'll be given the option of either harvesting them, which will kill them but you get more ADAM, or you can free them and return them to normal. Each choice has its advantages and disadvantages, with freeing them giving you less ADAM but it helps you gain the trust of one of the characters and it affects the story and its outcome in the end.
Another way to help you out in sticky situations is hacking into turrets or robots and make them fight for you. When you hack, you enter a mini game where you have to connect a series of tubes from one end to the other. You're given a limited amount of time to flip each piece around correctly as the fluids will not wait for you. Failing to complete this game will result in you being shocked an losing health, but at least you can try again. This mini game is more interesting than it sounds and completing it is rewarding. This mini game is also used to open safes and other containers as well.
The enemy variety is a little lacking on the other hand. Your primary enemies are the splicers, and there's 5 types of them. These are humans that have been exposed to ADAM for too long and have completely gone mad from it. The only real difference between them are what guns they're carrying. Leadheads have guns, thugs have blunt objects, nitros toss explosives, Houdini splicers can teleport and shoot fireballs, and spider splicers can crawl on ceilings and toss hooks at you. There are more normal looking people that are set up to be bosses, but they just feel like more powerful splicers. The most interesting enemy in the game, and the scariest, is the Big Daddy which comes in two brands; the Bouncer which has a giant drill for an arm and the Rosie which fires explosives. Both are devastating and will give you a hard time if spotted. They move quickly and deal massive damage while not taking nearly as much from you. When defeated, you can get the ADAM from the little sisters they were protecting. They're hardly unbeatable, but prepare to die quite a bit when facing them.
Dying isn't really as big a deal as it should be anyway. When you die, you're revived at the nearest vita-chamber and sent on your way with your inventory intact as well as most of your health. Enemies you were fighting are still at the same amount of health that you left them so you could just keep fighting them without any care for your health. This sounds like a blessing on one hand, but it kind of detracts from the skill needed to beat tougher enemies like the Big Daddy.
In 2007, Bioshock won several Game of the Year awards across the board. Even after 5 years, it is still easy to see why there was so much praise for this gem. Once you are immersed in Rapture's amazing atmosphere and creepy moods, you are in for one unique ride. Its gameplay may not be for every Halo or Call of Duty fan out there, but what it lacks in shooting action it more than makes up for in its mysterious and compelling plot. Bioshock was one of the best games on the 360 in 2007, and it sure to still amaze you today.