I briefly mentioned this before somewhere, this is definitely deserving of the game of the year nominations from several websites. Bioshock is not just a first person shooter. It has RPG elements like HP, MP, a 'leveling-up' system, and managing your inventory and currency etc. The story plays out convincingly without resorting to long cut-scenes. The art shines through in recreating an underwater city. The tension, ambience and excellent use of lighting exaggerates the presence of enemies - but it's the soundtrack which really underpins the sense of a high quality gaming experience. If you're blessed with a surround sound setup, this game could give you shivers and goosebumps as you hear hysterical laughter, cries and shouts from all sorts of sweeping locations. The game even gives you a choice which ultimately decides which of the two type of endings you'll get. I don't want to spoil the story but the game gives you the choice to 'harvest' or save the 'little sisters'. This is when the game becomes interesting; you can get abilities such as fire, ice, electricity etc. Harvesting would yield you more 'Adam' which can be used to upgrade yourself. Saving these small children would give you less 'Adam' but you do reap a moral reward. There are some negatives to be said: there isn't that much freedom for an RPG, yet its linearity helps the pacing. One can say the freedom is not within exploration itself but of what you can do in terms of abilities and weapons - a little like Crysis actually. The enemy AI is pretty simplistic and is easy to exploit some of their attack patterns. There are 'fetch mini-quests' which takes you back to previous areas if that is something you don't like. Despite these slight flaws, the game is polished in both presentation and in the player's experience. I found it ultimately fun although some parts do drag on. The ending was pretty easy and the ending cut-scene was very brief for the amount of effort it took to get there. Still, the rewards and enjoyments are to be had from the journey itself, not the destination. I highly recommend this game for anyone who wants to stray from those straight-forward shooting games.
I finally got around to finishing System Shock 2 a couple months back because I heard about how great BioShock was, and I wanted to finish SS2 before playing BioShock so I went into BioShock with System Shock 2 still fre... Read Full Review
This game presents itself wonderfully, from the music to the beautiful style of the underwater city and the brilliant voice work, putting this game a class above most. The game feels very polished and you can get a real ... Read Full Review
