Immersive story, and varied gameplay makes this an instant Hall of Fame classic.
The game slowly brings you into the story with a crash landing near a lighthouse, and introduces you the mechanics of control and combat just as good as any modern game nowadays. You'll find yourself hearing the mysterious Atlas who directs you to find his family while guiding you on the perils of Rapture, the city where the story lies.
You'll soon learn to equip yourself with various guns and plasmids, the game's version of powers. You have up to around 20 odd guns & plasmids but the beauty of this game lies in the mixing up of traditional gunpowder & plasmids powers to dispose of the Splicers, the enemies you'll faced in Rapture. You can telekinesis explosives, freeze enemies and blow them to smithereens with your shotgun, incinerate them via the flamethrower before pushing them back into a crowd of enemies and so forth.
The Splicers themselves comes in varied forms from the traditoinal melee types to those that brandishes heavy firepower such as guns or grenades. You'll also encounter Spider Splicers which can crawl on walls and ceilings. One particular level features this Spider Splicers covered in white wax and it was truly scary for the moment you turn around they just appeared in front of you as statues. Don't move for a second, and they'll jump on you, making it just as scary as the necromorphs from Dead Space.
The bosses of this game are known as Big Daddies and it takes ingenuity and intelligent use of various traps, weapons, etc just to take them down. The reward, a chance to grab a Little Sister for you to either harvest or rescue them for Adam, the currency for more plasmid powers in Rapture. This choice will determine the ending for Bioshock, and while rescuing them rewards less Adam, it opens up more powers that may only be acquired via their rescue.
As mentioned in the beginning, it is the story of Rapture, told in the various audio diaries that you'll find, that draws you deeper into the game. Worthy of a Hollywood movie itself, this game is the best example of good gameplay and excellent storyline. Instant Classic!