I have a hard time choosing games to play. I don't know what it is, but most of the time I pick the lamest a** videogames. I am very picky on what I play. I hate sport games, racing games aren't really my favorite and I am extremely peculiar about first-person shooters. I didn't even know Bioshock existed until
xmovieloverx had told me. I am a sucker for games that are scary, especially first-person shooters. Bioshock is that type of game. Mixed elements from
Condemned: Criminal Origins and
DOOM 3, Bioshock is one of the games any Xbox 360 owner should not avoid.
The game's story will be confusing to anyone who plays it. Why? This game doesn't tell you by stylish cut-scenes, instead, what you are seeing(whether it be a corpse on the table or a listenable diary) is actually telling you the story and it continues from the start and all the way to the beginning of the climax. At start of the game, you see yourself being caught in a scary situation. You are aboard a plane and suddenly it crashes into the ocean. There is nothing around you except fire and a plane slowly going under water. Skip a few minutes of game-play and you are thrusted into a world of survival where the dead roam.
Since this is a shooter, you KNOW there are weapons somewhere in this game. You got shotguns, bow-&-arrows, pistols, flame thrower, grenade launcher...you know the usual. However, you can upgrade these weapons to a greater strength which I will tell you about later. Probably one of your greatest weapons is your supernatural power called Plasmids. You can set your enemies on fire, freeze them, make them kill others, have bees swarm around them, pick them up and throw them across the room, etc. There is a great variety towards your supernatural powers and I will tell you later once again. These powers are typically limited in amount. There is EVE Hypos, which restores the plasmid bar and these are found on dead splicers or around the game's surroundings.
There are two types of enemies you will face in Bioshock. Splicers is your enemy you will encounter 90% of the time. They are just like us, but they are crazy from their over usage of plasmids. Plus, it doesn't help the fact that they are extremely aggressive towards people they don't know...the player! Little sisters are another enemy, however, they do no damage to you, however, their escort, Big Daddy, will. Armored down to head and toe, these gigantic metal heads are out to protect their little sister. It's a shame too, since we must kill the little sister(or save her from her death of over usage of plasmids) for her ADAM, which she keeps on her in a syringe. What is ADAM? Well, let's put it this way: you need it in order to survive and later in the game, you will know why.
Now, for the whole paragraph you've been waiting on. Where to buy plasmids or upgrades to your weapons vary in shops. You have Gene Banks(equip or unequip certain supernatural powers[plasmids], Gatherer Gardens(purchase more plasmid/gene tonic[enhance your abilities such as hacking]/slots), Vending Machines(buy health and ammo), Ammo Banditos(buy ammo-only), Power To The People Machines(upgrade your weapons!) and finally the U-Invent Machines(craft your own items, sometimes this is necessary in order to progress such as a bomb. You do get a list of things to collect such as hoses, oil, etc. in order to create such an item). There are other machines such as the Vita Chambers which revive you if you just so happen to die(which is very unlikely) and the Bot Shutdown panel, which deactivates security bots in case you trigger a few(which is most likely to happen).
For all you puzzle-masters, Bioshock has the feature of hacking safes, vending machines(make the item you are buying less cheaper...hey! Nothing is free in Rapture unless you find it), keypads, etc. The hacking mini-game features a whole lots of pipes. In order to successfully hack, is to redirect the circuit flow by uncovering the tiles hiding the pipes and you must swap the pipes for the circuit flow in the right direction of the exit. Not a very fun time indeed, but everything else is! However, you can choose to auto-hack, but that either costs you major money or one of your auto-hack tools.
Probably the best thing about Bioshock, besides it being fun as hell, is that it is a very pretty game. The water effects are the best I have ever seen in a videogame. Not only that, but the character models are simply fantastic! I love the setting for this game; some of the areas in the game remind you of the 1950s and 1960s, which is really cool and fits the mood of the game believe it or not. It totally beats out Gears Of War by a long shot. The sound is equally the same and the controls for the game is easy, simple and not frustrating at all to handle even when the action gets tense. The only major problem I have with this game is that once you beat it the first time and decide to play it again a different way(which many of you will), you begin to see the flaws in the game, more greatly than you did when you first played it. The enemies do not have a great variety to them, the game actually becomes less fun since it feels like a straight-forward game, and it just makes you lose interest even if you want to change the ending and trust me, it is kind of sh*tty anyway.
Make no mistake. Bioshock is a really great game. It's fun, fast, action-packed and it will give you a thrill ride until the very end. The graphics are amazing and shows you what the 360 can do and the setting is amazingly creepy and unique. It's just the minor flaws that force me not to give Bioshock a perfect score. Bioshock will probably be avoided by your typical gamer, but trust me, any type of gamer would enjoy this. A gamer of first-person shooters will love this game. Definitely a must-have.
BioShock Information: Genre: Horror/Action
Rated:
M; Blood and Gore, Drug reference, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, and Strong Language(Do you think it has enough?)
# of players: 1
Difficulty: Adjustable
