Bioshock is a decent game!
I have to admit that when I first saw this game I was not very impressed. I had only played the demo and it just looked a little out there. There was a lot of hype over it and I just couldn't get into it... that is until I got the full version for my birthday... then my whole opinion changed!
The game play is pretty straight forward. It is a FPS but with a few twists to it. Along with that you also have several side tasks to keep you occupied and interested as you progress thru the game. The main goal of the game is to either save or harvest little girls for the Adam (energy you need to upgrade your health and strength to survive in the game. They are protected by Big Daddy's which I will discuss later on in this review.
As the game opens... you find yourself in the aftermath of a plane crash in the Atlantic in the 1960's. You swim to the only existing rock that is visible. After arriving there you get aboard a sub type of craft and are taken below the water to an undersea city known as Rapture! After arriving you are then instructed to grab a monkey wrench (your very first weapon) and then shoot yourself in the wrist with a Eve Hypo that gives you the power to shoot shock effects from your left hand! In this underwater world where everybody has gone crazy... it is every man & woman & child for themselves. Finding plasmids and tonics to give you more strength and stamina along with new weapons makes this game just have alot of features to keep the average user occupied for hours. As the gameplay unfolds... more of the story is told to you from your tourguide who chats to you thru a radio telling you what you need to do and where to go.
As you progress thru the game, you will be challenged with alot of different things that make this game very interesting. First of all... it is a huge finders keepers type of game. From searching thru the pockets of dead people to closets, cash registers to safes... look everywhere for anything you can use. While doing this you will also run across different weapons. Everything from a pistol to a shotgun, a crossbow to a rocket launcher. It doesn't stop there though. There are also alot of different type of vending machines (for lack of better words) all over the place. The money you collect from just laying around, bodies, and cash registers can be used at these to purchase new ammunition and Eve Hypos for your battling techniques. There are also first aid kits and other things avaliable here too.
It gets even better than that though. You can if you choose to, try to hack your way into the machine and then get items at a significantly reduced cost and or unlock things for purchase only thru hacking. Hacking is done in the form of a tile game like the old Pipe Dream game in windows. You turn over tiles and try to get the fluid to go from one side to the other. If it were only that easy... because as you progress thru the game the hacking becomes harder as they put alarm tiles in that if the fluid touches it... all heck will break loose. Security bots (flying helicopter ammo turrets) and other things will come your way to ruin your day. You can also go in later levels to U-Invent Machines that allow you to generate new ammo by using different wierd things you find (rubber hoses, metal tubes, ect (kind of like MacGyver)) and even create automated hacks to break into machines, safes and other things making your day alot better!
There are other machines you will find in Rapture as well... but let's first talk about what your main objective is... to get the Little Sisters and either Save them or Harvest them. The choice is yours but the ending of the game is determined by what actions you take with them in the game. Little Sisters are little girls that are roaming all over Rapture. They are usually have a hypo needle to get the Adam out of dead bodies (Splicers better known as!) You need that Adam to get your strengths and power increased. As if it would be that easy to just go up and take it... no. They are always accompanied by a Big Daddy. He is a person (well at one time was) in a old time Divers Suit. Don't let the size of them fool you into thinking they are slow because they are just the opposite. There are two differnt types... but either way you look at it... the are fierce and will protect that little girl at all costs. At first they will not attack you if you don't pose a threat to them by attacking first. After you make the first move... the game is on! It takes alot of shots of a powerfull weapon and skill in dodging them to stay alive. After you finally kill them you will then have access to the Little Sister as she weeps over (Mr. Bubbles as they call them) You then have the option of either Saving them by picking them up and using your powers to heal them, thus letting them return to normal and thanking you. Or you can Harvest them and this will turn them into a sea slug thus giving you double the adam points you would get if you just saved them. You get 80 Adam dollars for saving one, 160 for harvesting one... but depending on what you do will determine the end of the game... choose wisely!
After getting your Adam... now you can take and purchase different types of attacks or strengths thru a Gatherers Garden Machine. You have to choose wisely because you only have so many slots you can fill for each type of plasmid you purchase. As the game progresses you can actually go to a machine called a Gene Bank and it will let you swap around the ones you have collected so you can use the ones you want on any particular level. Other machines you will encounter will be Health Stations (which you can hack to purchase first aid kits for cheaper) or do as I did and just whack them with your wrench and get 2 free first aid kits! Very cool! There are other machines in the game that will aid your journey thru as it gets progressively harder. I found it very common place to always save my game before trying to hack a machine/safe and or purchasing items or throwing a switch as usually as you do this... something bad usually will follow.
As far as the graphics go... Rapture is just a place that is in complete disarray. The entire place has been ransacked by splicers or damaged by water comming in and the buildings decaying. The overall setting of the game is very dark and gloomy. While I am not one for a scary game... I didn't really find this game all that scary. You will not see alot of different types of enemies in this game. Pretty much there is about 10 or so along with the Big Daddys too. They do become progressively harder to battle as you go thru... but once you get used to them... the scare factor goes away if there was even one. I did love the water effects in the game. There are times you will walk thru a waterfall of sorts and the screen will blur as it would in real life. There is oil and water all over on the floor and it looks very real. I did also like the views thru the windows into the underwater world outside. I was really wishing you could break a window and watch the entire world become flooded... but it doesn't allow that even though you can put shatter marks into the windows. Texture & lighting is the second best effect in this game as fire and smoke are everywhere too. Remember this game is dated back over 50 years ago and they did a great job of making it look very dated.
Sound is a huge part of this game. If you have a surround sound system hooked up to play thru... you are in for a real treat being you can litteraly hear things happening off in the distance and know exactly which way to go when you hear them. The weapons have very realistic sounds to them along with the loading times too! This is by far not a drop out the clip and shove one in, run and gun... but more strategic by far. As you change ammo from different types you make for the same weapon... you will litterally hear the chambering of the gun as you take out the old and load the new with a spin. I really did like that except when I was in a heated battle... so plan your attacks very carefully.
With this game having so much going on as you play... it really can keep you interested as you search for new weapons/ammo. That along with the skills you wil earn as you hack machines and invent items to aid you in your journey to the end of the game... will keep the average gamer very happy. My only few things I was not very happy with was that the game is pretty short as far as games go. You could actually start this game on any given afternoon and have it finished within a week easily on the easy level. You also have medium or hard modes as well. Also I found the end boss to be a very easy battle as apposed to that of the Big Daddys too. I was able to beat him on the very first try. I personally saved all of the Little Sisters in the game so I got the Little Sister Savior Achievement. If you harvest them all or even just one... you will not get this achievement and get the bad ending. I found that not even by not harvesting them... I had plenty of Adam money to get everything I needed and more to complete the game. Also as you collect cash thru the game, when you get to $500.00... you will not be able to collect any more... even though the money meter goes into the thousands place. I am not sure if that only happens in the Easy Mode... but it was kind of frustrating to leave money that I could use behind, even though I could go back and get it but I never did.
In conclusion... if you like FPS and puzzle type games, you will probably like this game. It is very repetative in alot of ways but being you can save at anytime... you can play a little and then come back later. I feel the replay value is pretty good being there is alot of different factors in how you can play the game (making of ammo and what you equip yourself). I personally found the second to last level to be my most favorite because that is where you actually become a Big Daddy. I had alot of fun listening to the Little Sister say things like "come on Mr. B" and other cute things to me as well. I did like the end movie being I got the good ending. It was probably one of the best endings to a game I have seen in quite some time. While I would not pay full price for this (I got my copy for alot less at Gamestop's used wall) I would recommend it to most users if they could pick it up for a decent price.