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Johnathon Wa...
Friendly Fire
Bioshock
Published by: 2K Games
Developed by: Irrational Games
Genre: First-Person Action RPG
Number of Players: 1
Release Date:
US: August 21, 2007
Europe: August 24, 2007
Australia: August, 24, 2007
Also Available On: PC
Features: 16:9 Support, 480p Support, 720p Support, Dolby Digital 5.1, Xbox Live, Memory Unit, Custom Soundtrack, Downloadable Content
Media Size: 1 DVD-ROM
Would you kindly read this review?
Overall: For a game which not many knew about until the massive promotion that came a few months before launch, the brand new FPS ‘Bioshock’ is the new best thing you’ll be telling your friends about, and boy, is there a lot to brag about for this.
-Storyline: It’s the mid 60’s and your story begins as a someone we only know as Jack, whose flight crash landed deep in the middle of the Atlantic ocean, amidst the fiery remains you, a lone survivor make your way to safety seeking refuge in a nearby Lighthouse, as you make your way down via Bathysphere deep into the fathoms of the sea to discover the underwater city…Rapture. A city frozen in the year 1959, that succumbed to its own people, its reasons of creation…ultimately becoming its demise.
As you progress through the game, you follow orders coming from a man only known as Atlas, and discover an on-going despise he has for the creator of the city, Andrew Ryan. You’ll also learn about certain people’s lives inside Rapture, and the hidden truth about yourself, and the city.
-Gameplay: The way the game plays out makes it all most impossible to become lost or confused in what your goal is and how to get to it. As well as maps, there are arrows on screen pointing in the direction of your new or current goal. When encountering enemies this is where the game I find, really shines out from your FPS shooters. As well as having a range of weaponry, which is available to add-ons in unique almost home-made kind of parts, your arsenal is expanded to a vast array of Plasmids; these are genetic enhancers which vary from the elements, to projectiles used to confuse/hypnotize enemies. As well as combat plasmids, your able to equip yourself with plasmids which aid in health, hacking, security alarms and other kinds of upgrades to make your visit at Rapture, just that little more comfortable. With being able to use a number of these at each time, it really gives a new dynamic to battling the enemies in the game; this comes into play with the variety of not only weapons and plasmids, but the environment around you. Do you run in guns blazing till you’re out of ammo? Or do you confuse the enemies whilst you sneak past to conserve it? A number of variations are available if you take your strategy to another level with this game.
The enemies in the game vary from a small amount of people who were once inhabitants of Rapture, they are now known as ‘Splicer’s’ who took their plasmid reconstruction to far and have become crazed and hostile, each type of splicer has their own abilities bringing you to call in different ways of attack. Along with these are your small Machine Gun and RPG turrets, as well as security cameras which send small Drones out after you, both the cameras and drones can be easy manipulated.
As well as those, you have the star of the show, The Big Daddy. These who also have a little story behind them protect the Little Sisters, who patrol the hallways of Rapture in need of finding ‘Adam’ from corpses the little girls find, Adam is the kind of currency to be able to get new plasmids, which means everyone wants it, including yourself. Big Daddy, or ‘Mr. Bubbles’ as the Little Sisters prefer, will protect the girls and will require a hell of a lot of beating to take down. In Easy, there not so hard, but on the hardest difficulty, even the best of FPS fans will find these guys a strong contest, which is no understatement.
You wouldnt like him when he's angry...he already is? Uh oh...
Once the Big Daddy has been taken down, you can then chose to Harvest or Rescue the little sisters. This is where you take your morals into the game; do you harvest the girl for more Adam? (Though she won’t survive the process) Or do you rescue her, for slightly less Adam, and that warm, fuzzy feeling inside. Depending on your actions as well also depends on which of the two endings you will receive.
Both the Big Daddies and Splicer’s have very intelligent A.I. This requires you to keep a very close eye on your surroundings. They will use the darkness, healing stations, and their environments to stay alive. So if you set your opponent on fire, watch incase there’s water around, as he/she will use this to put themselves out…luckily for you, you’ve got your Electric plasmid on you eh? What…you don’t? Oh…
But let’s not forget, this isn’t just a diverse shooter, there’s a whole city for you to explore, characters to discover, stories to listen to, safes and ammo supply points to hack, pictures to take…wait. What?
Yes that’s right, early in the game you’ll be sent out to find a camera to take pictures, these earn you research points and the more you research, the more information you unlock regarding their weak points and damage multipliers. Crucial if your playing on hard. Hacking is just as simple and almost just as fun, hacking can make machines on your side, get you cheaper and more deals at ammo and supply points and can get you some money and goodies in safes about the place, hacking is a simple puzzle game where you must connect pipes using a selection of bends and straights available from one end to another, after a small time, liquid will start coming out from one end, meaning you need to speed up and finish the pipe or you’ll get a shock and have to start again.
As well as this, there are record players laying around or in key places which you can pick up and listen to, these are often by other main characters in the game or certain people who you may find on the way which all add their own little bit of mystery, or answer your questions to the compelling storyline given.
-Music/sound: The enemies will whistle, talk, or even taunt you depending on their height of alertness. The Big Daddies thump will shake you through the halls, with the added bad vibration; you only pray a stray bullet doesn’t clip him whilst fighting against the splicers. You’ll have hell to pay.
In certain points of the game you’ll find a Record player playing out an old recognizable tune like Beyond the Sea by Bobby Darin, which not only brings you more into the time zone the game is set in, but adds a sense of realism to the game, as these songs are real, and not something constructed for the games purpose. The songs can also bring eeriness to the hallways as the songs echo through the empty areas.
His concentration faces always drove the fans wild...
The composed soundtrack to the game is an awe-inspiring invoking set of pieces which really set atmosphere for the part, gladly, no techno remix to make you pump up the volume for battle, each piece is set at a certain part of the level, with using orchestra pieces and some background noises you might find in that area, the pieces, though short, can elevate the feeling of the way your put into the game greatly. All that from orchestral pieces eh?
-Graphics: Along with the sounds and gameplay the graphics add to the trio of what really makes this game the most immersive game I’ve played to date. It really uses the unreal engine to the fullest of capabilities so far. The areas with running water and parts which are submerged are possibly the best to date, along with the detail in each room and in the enemy’s appearance make this game feel as real as it could possibly get.
The detail in this game is definitely not for the faint of heart, often you’ll come across a room soaked in blood or with a few corpses laying around, its also often you’ll see people who perhaps had taken their own life, which makes the story and what went on in Rapture a lot more serious and deeper than what people are usually expect with in a game.
The pure appearance of this game and how it presents itself however, is capable enough to make anyone want to go through it over and over again
Yes yes, your a fire starter, we get the drift...
-Replay value/play time: The game has 3 difficulties, Easy, Medium and Hard. I found Easy for me was really, too easy, where as hard, a great way to test your abilities as a FPS player and push the boundaries of how to approach the opposition. A solid go through on hard is at least 22-25 hours with a FPS veteran. The achievements come very easy at the start of the game and are all offline. Most of the points revolve around hacking or research. A lot are secret achievements, which I strongly advise NOT to seek out as to what they are as they contain many plot spoilers. However the demand of replay is questionable, Its possible to get all 1000 from one play through if you take your time or follow walkthroughs, but I found myself that this game deserves every bit of effort to play through yourself and actually explore the many areas available in the game, I’ve found something new every time I’ve played through, often even when just re-visiting areas.
The talk of DLC has been commented on by 2k Games, but the level of what could be newly implemented is limited as it’s only a single player game. Though whatever they add, I’m strongly looking forward to it and perhaps another in the series??
-Conclusion: This game is such a necessary must have, it should be owned by every Xbox 360 and PC gamer in the world. Whether it’s for its diversity in combat, it’s deep and impressive storyline, or even the way it immerses you totally into the game. And if you’re like me…you’ll love it for every reason possible.
Rating – 9.8
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MultiQuote
I shall get it for my BDay 
HeY jOe
