2K's amazing BioShock
BioShock takes place in the year 1960. You take control of someone called Jack, a simple man who only utters one line of dialogue in the game's opening
"When Mum and Dad put me on that plane to visit my cousins in England, they told me, 'Son, you're special, you were born to do great things.' You know what? They were right."
Unfortunately for little 'ol Jack, his plane crashes in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean due to a 'thunderstorm' which tears the plane apart. The only apparent Survivor, Jack takes refuge by a nearby lighthouse. Feeling a bit curious, Jack decides to head inside to see what's in there. Inside he finds Murals and Statues commemorating a man by the name of Andrew Ryan. After walking into something that looks like a submarine, Jack finds himself in what is quite possibly the best setting in a modern video game, Rapture - an underwater city built by Ryan. Once he arrives, he sees that things have gone to hell. After nearly being attacked by a strange, deranged looking person, Jack picks up a radio and begins to befriend an Irishman over the radio who goes by the name Atlas. Atlas guides Jack through Rapture, telling him about everywhere and everyone, about what's safe and what isn't safe. BioShock is a unique tale of choice, freedom of thought, power and manipulation. Things are not as the seem in Rapture, and soon enough Jack has to realize that he can't trust anybody but himself. Everyone has gone mad in the city, and only if you make the right choices, can you get the good ending (which is obtained by Saving the Little Sisters and not Harming them). The thing that makes BioShock amazing for me though is it's setting. The world of Rapture is simply a sight to see and is absolutely brimming with atmosphere. It's a very bleak and harsh setting, which tries to evoke steampunk and 1960's America all at once with great results. It's the music and design of everything that ties it ll together, but more on that later. The plot and setting of BioShock is the best of any modern video game period. And of course, let us not forget;
"Would you Kindly....a powerful phrase....a, familiar phrase? Kneel, Would You Kindly? Stand, Would you Kindly? Run...Stop! Would you kindly? A Man chooses....a Slave Obeys..."
At first glance in regards to gameplay, you'd be forgiven in thinking that BioShock was a run-of-the-mill First Person Shooter. From screenshots and whatnot that's the impression that it gives off. However just like the plot things aren't as they seem. I guess that Mr. Ken Levine's work on 1999's System Shock 2 (which is often called BioShock's spiritual predecessor) heavily influenced his decisions when designing the way BioShock would be played. First of all, you have two main ways of attacking - via weaponry or via Plasmids. Plasmids consume EVE and are kind of like special perks. They allow you to do special things like Shoot Electricity, Fire, Bees and Manipulate the environment. One of the things that kept me entertained for ages was trying to find new and unique ways of killing enemies with my Plasmids in combination with my weapons. Weaponry in BioShock is pretty standard as first. You get a Wrench, Pistol, Tommy Gun, Shotgun, Napalm Shooter, Crossbow, Camera (which is used to weaken enemies and increase their weaknesses to certain plasmids) among other things. What makes it all stand out is the fact that every weapon minus the wrench and Camera have unique additional bullets, which adds perks like being able to pierce armour better or shooting electro bolts. BioShock also allows the player to hack into things like turrets or enemy sentry cameras, which allow for more tactical movement and let's you fight off bigger enemies like Big Daddies with ease. You can also craft items like health kits out of materials you pick up in Rapture, and there's also weaponry and plasmid upgrades which increase weapon storage or the power of a plasmid etc. Finally, there are tonics and the morality system, which affect the player and how they interact with the world. Your morality is based off of how you treat the Little Sisters - demented looking little girls who go around sucking ADAM - the lifeblood of Plasmids in Rapture - out of it's inhabitants. By either killing them for more ADAM or saving them for items, you influence the games ending. Tonics affect how the player navigates Rapture and their abilities, such as being able to search crates and boxes twice and they also affect how plasmids work. Overall, BioShock has a very deep and customizable feel to it, much more than any other FPS out there.
With it's steampunk aesthetic and its creepy 1960's American destroyed Utopian vibe, there's certainly a sense of despair emanating from the world of BioShock and to be honest, it wouldn't be the game it is without it's atmosphere. It is simply one of the best looking and feeling games period. Its got the perfect tone, setting and environment right. Speaking of the environments, the game does look gorgeous, especially on a PC if you have the specs to run it at Max settings. The game doesn't look too bad on Consoles either (I originally played it on the PS3). Whatever way you look at it, the presentation in BioShock is top quality high brow stuff.
The soundtrack is again, top quality stuff. While not perfect, it's pretty damn good. The games main theme, "The Ocean on His Shoulders" is the perfect song to be the main theme. It fits to the tone and mood so exceedingly well that it's almost scary. The 60's jazz is a stark contrast, but it fits when used well. Like I said it's not perfect since some of the instrumentals don't really stick out too much to me. Other than that it's a solid soundtrack.
Overall, BioShock is a piece of art. It is not the best game ever no, but it's one of those games that really makes you think about things in life. It's a philosophical kind of game, with kickass gameplay, a dystopian yet somewhat barely functioning society and a swell soundtrack. If you're looking for an FPS that is different....look no further.
Story: 10
Gameplay: 10
Graphics: 10
Sound: 9.5
Personal Enjoyment: 10
FINAL SCORE FOR BIOSHOCK: 9.9/10
One of the All Time Greats.
excellent review of a groundbreaking game
ReplyDelete