Bioshock is a classic game with a plenty of immersion, first-rate art direction, and a top-notch voice cast.

User Rating: 9.5 | BioShock PC
By jogeoluz | Review Date:
Bioshock is a masterpiece of a game that immersed me into the mysterious city of Rapture from start to finish. On the surface it looks like an FPS but it plays like an RPG because of the ability to build your character throughout the game. The art direction is the most impressive I have ever seen in a video game. The retro feel was very immersive with the 1940s music. Audio diaries fill in the storyline very well as the various characters speak of their own experiences and what is going on in Rapture. The storyline would be very confusing without the audio diaries. The variety of plasmids and tonics made it possible to deal with situations in different and creative ways. I used the enrage plasmid to get enemies to fight each other. The enrage plasmid was pretty useful when facing the Big Daddy because the Splicers helped out in reducing his health. The imposing Big Daddies were very challenging and a lot of fun. The decision on how to deal with the Little Sisters gave me a moral dilemma that affected the end of the game. I decided to harvest the Little Sisters to acquire more ADAM for my genetic modifications. Therefore, I got a bad ending on my first play through. On my second play through I rescued all 21 Little Sisters and got a good ending because it showed Jack was not so greedy about plasmids and tonics. The moral dilemma added plenty of replay value to Bioshock. One nice twist to the story is the need to smell, look, and sound like a Big Daddy in order to guide a Little Sister and advance the plot. The voice acting was top-notch for all NPCs. The Little Sisters would credibly react with fear when Jack, the nondescript protagonist, would get near her. The Splicers would create an appropriately creepy atmosphere by saying intimidating words without being seen before rushing to attack. The Splicers were diverse since there were Leadhead Splicers, Houdini Splicers, Thuggish Splicers, and Nitro Splicers. The diversity of Splicers avoided monotony. Their A.I. is good for the most part, but they sometimes run at you in a straight line when being shot at. Some Splicers look smart when they run away when their health is low in an attempt to find the nearest health station.
The weapons were varied and became more varied as I collected different types of ammo for each weapon. My favorite weapon against the Big Daddy was the grenade launcher because of the explosive ammo such as the heat-seeking RPGs and frag grenades. The trap bolts are not very useful but can be used traps against enemies if you want to strategize. The chemical thrower was great and my favorite ammo was the napalm. The napalm provides impressive visuals when I burn a Splicer or Big Daddy.
The music jingles for each vending machine give them an identity of their own and add a nice touch to the game. Once you get use to the jingles for each vending machine, you do not have to actually see the machines to identify which ones are the Circus of Values or which ones are El Ammo Bandito. The gene bank, which is not a vending machine, also has a nice jingle that gives it a unique identity. The ability to hack vending machines is a lot of fun and gets more challenging as the game progresses. The progressively challenging hacking minigame made me try to upgrade my engineering tonics.
I am aware of the technical problems associated with the Secu-ROM online activation. I encountered no problems, probably because I installed the game in April 2008, not at anytime in 2007. I played the game on a Windows Vista PC. In addition, there were no audio problems that had been reported on the Windows Vista PC upon the game's release. Bioshock updated all patches upon installation. The load times were sometimes too long, but I could deal with that.
One attribute of the game that I find questionable is the existence of vita chambers. The vita chambers resurrect your protagonist upon death. This means there is no penalty for getting killed since you come back to life and the enemies you had faced upon defeat have the same health. In other words, a Big Daddy who had a health of nearly zero when he killed you still has the same health. Some gamers may feel that the existence of vita chambers make the game too easy.
The aforementioned criticism does not hurt the game at all. This is undoubtedly the best 15-20 hours of gaming nirvana that I have experienced. When I started experiencing the city of Rapture at the beginning, I had already liked Bioshock more than I liked Crysis. Crysis was a graphical treat, but Bioshock had more diverse levels and was more artistic. I believe the year 2008 is the right time to install the game because it will automatically include all updates. I recommend Bioshock to anyone.

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