The new (big) daddy of first person action?
The game is truly the single most immersive thing I have played this year, I'm looking forward to FarCry 2 to see if that tops this, but as it stand, there is no chance. The world of Rapture is a truly stuning masterpiece of epic proportions, especially when you first dive down in the sub chamber, it is awe inspiring. This entire immersion is thickly pasted with what is perhaps the most I have ever shat my pants in the opening of a game, it is so bloody tense and you really don't know what the hell you are about to be plunged into.
The story is quite literally astonishing and very well told through the eyes of Alex, the guy you play. There are some real butt clenching moments of horror and tension in comparison to some moments that will totally flip those emotions - it is a bit of an emotional rollercoaster, something games are very stubbourn at achieveing nowadays. There hasn't been a game in recent memory that has made me shout "OH **** in horror at the TV screen as I literally brick down every corridor. The last time a game made me feel sad was Ratchet & Clank: TOD, when Clank got taken away, but Bioshock brings emotion in games to an entirely new sophisticated level of eye wincing.
The haunting and truly twisted inhabitants of Rapture are certainly terrifying and make a sudden introduction at the start of the game, the reason behind how they are and why is a real adventure and an almost heart breaking story of genetics gone wrong.
Rapture itself, with it's 30's art deco theme, is a world yet to be experienced within videogames and is one everyone should experience for themselves. Some of the architecture is unbelieveable and environments are suitably tense and eerie.
The game handles superbly and the plasmids are welcome replacements for guns most of the time, as guns are such a rarity and ammo rarer, it becomes a tactical game in thinking how weapons and ammo should be used, with the inclusion of some nice puzzle, Bioshock really gets the brain into gear.
Whether or not this game is any better than the one released a year ago, I don't know, as I didn't play the 360 version. I do get all the downloadable plasmids from the off and a new area, but as far as I'm aware it is the same game, visually and gameplay-wise. For a first timer though, Bioshock really hit me hard, and proved to me games have truly evolved pat the basic shortcomings of Space Invaders and Pong.
Overall, Bioshock looks stunning, plays stunning anf is generally a stunning piece of software. However, as immersive and truly exciting as it is, encapturing monumentous thrills and epic storylines, pace does quite frequently slow down, you aren't really getting that much more after a year extra in the making and I would give it 9.0, I really would, but after playing one certain PS3 exclusive, nothing in this world, seems as enjoyable anymore. It is however, the best first person action game on the market, and edges unbeliveably close to the greatness of Call of Duty 4, and in many cases surpasses that.