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BioShock (Xbox 360) by 2K Games



BioShock (Xbox 360) by 2K Games Box Art

Xbox One backwards Compatible



North Amercian Release Date: August 21, 2007.

Average Overall Score:
9.62 / 10
96.2%

Description

BioShock is a revolution in the shooter genre that will forever change the expectations for the FPS. Going beyond "run and gun corridors," "monster-closet AIs" and static worlds, BioShock creates a living, unique and unpredictable FPS experience.

Podcast Mentions


Achievements

Completed Welcome
Successfully complete the Welcome To Rapture Level.
10
Maxed One Track
Purchased every slot in one of the Plasmid or Tonic tracks.
20
Maxed All Tracks
Purchased every slot in all four Plasmid and Tonic tracks.
50
Bought One Slot
Purchase one slot in any Plasmid or Tonic track.
5
Upgraded a Weapon
Acquire at least one weapon upgrade.
5
One Fully Upgraded Weapon
Fully upgrade one weapon.
5
Two Fully Upgraded Weapons
Fully upgrade two weapons.
5
Three Fully Upgraded Weapons
Fully upgrade three weapons.
10
Four Fully Upgraded Weapons
Fully upgrade four weapons.
10
Five Fully Upgraded Weapons
Fully upgrade five weapons.
10
Weapon Specialist
Acquire all upgrades for all weapons.
20
Fully Researched Thug Splicer
Fully research the Thuggish Splicer.
10
Fully Researched Gun Splicer
Fully research the Leadhead Splicer.
10
Fully Researched Spider Splicer
Fully research the Spider Splicer.
10
Fully Researched Houdini Splicer
Fully research the Houdini Splicer.
10
Fully Researched Nitro Splicer
Fully research the Nitro Splicer.
10
Fully Researched Rosie
Fully research the Rosie.
10
Fully Researched Bouncer
Fully research the Bouncer.
10
Fully Researched Little Sister
Fully research the Little Sister.
10
Prolific Photographer
Take at least one photo in every research group.
5
Research PhD
Max out all possible research.
20
Quality Research Photo
Take a Research Photo of the highest grade.
20
Researched a Splicer
Take at least one Research Photo of a Splicer.
5
One Successful Hack
Perform at least one successful hack.
5
Hacked a Security Bot
Successfully hack a security bot.
10
Hacked a Security Camera
Successfully hack a security camera.
10
Hacked a Turret
Successfully hack a turret.
10
Hacked a Vending Machine
Successfully hack a vending machine.
10
Hacked a Safe
Successfully hack a safe.
10
Skilled Hacker
Successfully complete 50 hacks.
40
Basic Inventor
Successfully invent at least one item.
5
Avid Inventor
Successfully invent at least 100 items.
10
Ammo Inventor
Successfully invented all possible ammo types.
25
Little Sister Savior
Complete the game without harvesting any Little Sisters.
100
Tonic Collector
Collect or Invent 53 Tonics in the Physical, Engineering and Combat tracks.
50
Historian
Find every audio diary.
50
Seriously Good At This
Complete the game on the hardest difficulty setting.
40
Dealt with every Little Sister
Either Harvest or Rescue every Little Sister in the game.
40
Lucky Winner
Hit the jackpot at a slot machine.
10
Toaster in the Tub
Shock an enemy in the water.
10
Defeated Dr. Steinman (Secret Achievement)
The player has defeated the crazed Dr. Steinman.
15
Defeated Peach Wilkins (Secret Achievement)
The Player had defeated Peach Wilkins.
15
Restored the Forest (Secret Achievement)
The player has restored the forests of Arcadia.
15
Completed Cohen's Masterpiece (Secret Achievement)
The player has completed Sander Cohen's great masterpiece.
30
Defeated Andrew Ryan (Secret Achievement)
The player has defeated Andrew Ryan.
30
Broke Fontaine's Mind Control (Secret Achievement)
The player has broken Fontaine's mind control.
30
Defeated Atlas (Secret Achievement)
The player has defeated Atlas.
100
Became a Big Daddy (Secret Achievement)
The player has become a Big Daddy.
30
Found Cohen's Room (Secret Achievement)
The player has entered Sander Cohen's personal quarters.
10
Irony (Secret Achievement)
The player has taken a picture of Sander Cohen's corpse.
10
Brass Balls (Secret Achievement)
Complete the game on Hard difficulty without using a Vita-Chamber.
100

Faceplates

User Reviews

Score: 96
Overall User Average: 9.62 / 10 (96.2%)
Gameplay User Average: 9.54 / 10
Graphics User Average: 9.74 / 10
Sound User Average: 9.75 / 10
Marcello
Date reviewed: October 25, 2008.

Overall: "Building Rapture at the bottom of the sea was not impossible. Impossible was building it anywhere else."
-Andrew Ryan

This phrase sets what Rapture stands for: a city at the bottom of the atlantic where capitalism runs wild and away form political plots, where artists don't fear the moralism of critics, where religion is not a blockade to science. But chaos is always a lingering variable, and no matter how well planned things may be, something will always go wrong. Rapture was build somewhere in the mid 30's, at the reveillon of 1959 things went definetly out of control and since then the utopya became a distopya. The game begins during the mid 60's, you play as Jack, sole survivor of a plane crash which fell near a lighthouse in the middle of the atlantic. The lighthouse is the entrance to Rapture... Once inside you're contacted by a man named Atlas, a revolutionary and one of the last sane person in Rapture who is now desperate to escape the city with his family. Now you must help him and his family escape in order for you to escape the cursed place as well... And I promise you, it'll be a very wild ride. For Andrew Ryan still lives, and he's gone far away from his sanity.
The graphics of Bioshock is wonderful, the 30's "gotham city-like" archtecture makes your head spin, and you'll find yourself compeled to walk every inch of the HUGE environment despite the danger you'll be running from doing so only to appreciate the art of the place. The game really looks gorgeous in it's texture and engine. Also, every new plasmid you get has it's own "graphical" representation to explain what it does, this is done by form of very sadistic cartoons (like those from Fallout) that'll certainly amuse you.
Sound is wonderful, and having Dolby Digital/Surround 5.1 will be a great @!%#*!et to you, since it'll give you an accurate sense of nwhere sounds are comming from. That's because the "splicers" (your main enemies) almost never stay in one same place, and they most definetely don't ever shut up, so you'll find yourself trying to listen to their derilous talk in order to pick their location. More than the effects however, the music is gorgeous, it's the jazz and blues of the 30's and 40's and it rocks.
The story is much bigger than what I mentioned at the intro, I only mentioned the superficial part of the game, but this story is a Deus Ex to the very sense of the latin word (Deus Ex means "an engine used in storytelling to pinpoint huge and unexpected turn of events"), so it gives it's own twists depending on certain behaviors of yours. And while initially it looks like something that is "just an excuse for a breakthru shooter" it's bound to become something much bigger and way more interesting like a true Hollywood production.
Enemies are essential to a shooter, so let's talk about enemies. We have splicers, big dadies and rapture's defenses. Splicers are people who became addicted to ADAM and lost their mind due to certain phantasmagoric side-effects of gene-modification, they are divided in various kinds of splicers: thuglish, nitro, spider, houdini and gun; each one has their own charactristics, for instance,m the houdini can vanish into thin air, get to you and spin you around so you become kinda lost, and reaper at the other side of the screen attacking you and disappear again before you noticed. Big Daddies are the "symbol" of the game so to speak; they're modified humans whom sole purpose is to walk around with the little sisters and protect the girls while they collect ADAM, they won't let anyone get near them, they're not violent unless you strike first, and then you'll have a hell of a fight, you must bring it down in order to get to the little sister there are two versions of big daddies: the Rosie and the Bouncer, both of them have an Elite version. Rapture defenses range from various kinds of turrets to alarms and helicopter-like turrets, all of those can be hacked and turned into allies. It's important to point that enemies here are ENDLESS, you will never get all of them, because they keep comming,m you clear a room anbd stay there for too long you'll soon hear more enemies comming around; not that they know you're there, but they simply walk around, which gives a creepy sense that somehow these splicers are still living some kind of life.
Little sisters are essential for your survivor as well as for the game's story: they're modified little girls who now prey on the dead and take their fluids to turn into ADAM, you'll need ADAM in order to get new plasmids, and other boosts, that's why you'll NEED to fight Big Daddies and get to the little sisters, once you have the girl you can harvest her (kill her, get the parasite inside, and with it a hell of a lot of ADAM) or simply rescue her (bring her back to normal and get half of the ADAM you would otherwise).
Hacking security, safes, locks and any kind of machine works the same way. It happens through a minigame based on that old game where you had to build a pipe line before the water spilled. It's the very same thing, only if you get it wrong you'll lose some health, or if you hit an alarm you'll call security on your tail or even you might hit a "bomb" thing that will do ytou a LOT of damage; you can try to hack it endlessly however. Also some hacking is easier than others.
The scneario as already said is gorgeous, and it's BIG. And more importantly there's ALWAYS something there for you to get, there's a lot of rooms you won't visit if you only follow the objective, but if you make sure you visit everywhere you'll certainly be rewarded for your efforts.
Weapons and plasmids! Weapons are not in such high ammount to make make you go "wow", and they're certainly the common kind of weapons for a shooter. But hell, the way they look will make you go "WOW"! They all look like they were build during the 30's some look very delicate in their details, as the shotguns, and others are really ugly and funny hand-made things, like the thrower (where you can make up a lot of different every-day itens used to build it up heh), things get better when you reach the "power for the people" stations those things are machines that allow you to upgrade your weapons, upgrading here means making them bizarre, but usefull: you'll soon have your piustol with a "rambo" machine-gun-like rounds, a shotgun with moving engines and resitors, and so on. Your weapons will become a mess once they're fully upgraded, but it's a nice-looking damage inflicting mess. Plasmids are your gentically enhanced powers, they range from flame-throwing to insect spawning and eletrical bolts, and so on. The cool things about plasmids is that your hand changes depending on the plasmid your holding, so if you're carrying the electro-shock, you'll be able to see the elctricity coursing through your veins and so on. The environment works in harmony with weapons and plasmids, water will bring forth strong discharges and so on. You can also upgrade yourself, for instance, you can make yourself invisible if you remain still, and also embody electricty into your flesh making any sorry bastard that directly attacks you receive a discharge of electricity, bullets can also be "invented", such as electrical shells and exploding shells, etc.
Gameplay is easy to get accostumed to, kinda awkward at the begining but it makes enough sense and after a while you'll get accostumed to it.
You ask me now about replay value?! Hell yeah, there're three endings here to make you go through the game, but that's not really what will make you go through the game again and again. It's the game itself that will, play it and you'll see what I mean. This is the best game for XBox 360 so far, this is the best "genetically enhanced shooter" this year has to offer and I bet I'll take a very long time before something this huge comes. This game is SOMETHING BIG, the very begining when the automatic video-message from Andrew Ryan stops playing and you see the first glimpse of Rapture is astouing. So welcome to the city of Rapture, you may never leave.


Overall: 100 %
Gameplay: 100 %
Graphics: 100 %
Sound: 100 %
ktos
Date reviewed: September 30, 2008.

Overall: Bioshock

This that it is one of those few games that the plot and their graphics as sound transform it into the evidence that the video games can transcend to the leisure activities.

The atmosphere is not less than extraordinary.

The sounds of Rapture, their music of the years 60, the insults of their inhabitants, their history counted by their ruins, they make of this a brilliant work.

The graphic level is impressive, you don't only live in Rapture you begin him to understand, to want or to hate as if it was an alive entity.

I have concluded it completely and I find that the pretenses of their creators, overflow the world of the video games and they settle in the imaginary of works (cinema or literature) of fiction of first order.

I have generally liked the games without plot (Doom 3 or Ninja Gaiden II), maybe for that reason my qualification is not very objective.

The game doesn't have an addiction level similar to the mentioned games, but when it plays again I don't make another thing that to admire him.

It deserves a congratulation the translation to Spanish

Recommendation: Up to now the best plot that I have lived in a video game. One of the best video games in the excellent catalog of the Xbox 360


Sound: 9.5
Graph: 9.7
Game: 9
Average: 9.4



Overall: 94 %
Gameplay: 90 %
Graphics: 97 %
Sound: 95 %
Enamelized420
Date reviewed: May 12, 2008.

Overall: Would you kindly enter BioShock and the underwater world of Rapture. Come loose yourself in an adventure that has you wondering what lurks beyond each corner. BioShock is a FPS that has a slight twist to it. No only do you have multiple weapons at your disposal but the ability to mutate yourself w. Plasmids that give you extra firepower against your foes.

Plasmid will allow you to light someone on fire, freeze them, make a Halogram decoy or maybe infest them w. a swarm of bees. Use any of these in conjunction w; your weapon and it's a nice 1,2 punch to easily dispose of them. Along the way you'll discover Weapon Upgrade machines to tweak and improve upon what you have.

You have choices to make as you make your way through Rapture and also face a Nightmare of a BodyGuard called Big Daddys which are the protectors of the little girls of Rapture. The little girls, have sadly, been genetically mutated and find yourself w/ an option to "Harvest or Save" them along your journey.

As you dive and make your way through Rapture, it'll become evident this was a great choice for a Game purchase and BioShock will leave you shocked when it's all said and done with...
Gameplay: You find yourself aboard a plane, relaxing, talking to yourself when tragedy starts to happen and your headed down into the Ocean. You swim up and gasp for air in the middle of flames and a bubbling wreckage sinking down below nearby. As you swim you see what looks to be a little island of sorts you make you way to.

Make your way in the doors to darkness onl to have them shut behind you and lights trigger on. As you follow the steps down and more light come on guiding you until you reach an old sub. The door shuts and you decend down as a Movie start to play giving you a little insight as to where you are and heading to.

Welcome to Rapture and a underwater city that awaits w/ mutated and genetic enemies along w/ the protectors, Big Daddys, which move slow but once attacked it's like a locomotive coming at you full steam. You find yourself immediately submerged in Rapture and trying to make light of Where. How and What's going on.

You will quickly learn what plasmids are and how they will effect your body, but the advantages of being able to Ignite, Freeze, Swarm w. Bees or maybe throw up a decoy. This along w. shotgun, pistol, or crossbow can make for a deadly combination. You have many decisions as you make your way around along w/ some help from Atlas, a voice of a survivor of Rapture that's trying to get home to his wife.

You'll have a certain # of Little Sisters to find on each level and they'll give you an option to Harvest them or Save them, but that's only after you've taken out there Bodyguard the BigDaddy. He'll take you by surprise the first time as he's fast but after taking down a few you'll be taking them out w.out a problem.

Throughout your quest you'll come across and find recorders w/ information about Rapture and help you out. Also you'll receive a Camera to take pictures and research your enemies. In doing so you'll learn ways to easily defeat them and take less damage from them. They've also thrown in a Puzzle Element in that you can hack Turrets and Camera's and once doing so they'll shoot enemies and work for you. In the puzzles you have to link tubes to run a liquid from one point to another and some tubes slow the flow or make it faster, but watch out for the alarms.

So as you make your way through Rapture there will be twists and turns so be careful and a phrase you'll memorize in playing is " Would you kindly"...?????

Graphics: Well a few words come to mind when getting lost in Rapture, Stunning, WOW and Amazing are on the top of my mind. the time it must have took to go into the detail that was done is just overwhelming. If you just look around and take it all in as you fall further and further into the rabbit hole it can suck you right in. The way Water looks & drips or how the Fires roar, crackle & pop almost as if you could feel the heat coming from the TV.

You won't be disappointed in the world BioShock as it unfolds for you yet find hours lost in an underwater Madman's City...
Sound: The use of background music, enelies talking to each other or taunting you as you run away. The sounds of Rapture draw you in to feel like you truely are apart of this underwater world. nothing can wake you up more then to encounter a BigDaddy raging at you, hearing his boots stomp the floor. Water dripping or splashing as you walk about or fire cracking & popping as it burns.

Truely great game to turn off all the lights and turn up the surround sound and just submerge yourself.
Suggestions: Spot on, thanks for making a steller title. Hoping there may be a BioShock 2


Overall: 100 %
Gameplay: 100 %
Graphics: 100 %
Sound: 100 %
BROOKLYNSBATMAN
Date reviewed: February 7, 2008.

Overall: Best game of 2007, in my overall opinion. This Storyline new age, The grahics fantastc, The game play Great. Every once and a while you come across a game where they introduce a new idea and a new way of gaming.., they twist what you have come to expect from a game and raise the bar.. The last time i felt so captivated and motivated to continue to play to find out what the next step in the game is,before this one was condemned.., I garuantee that when you buy this game, it will be difficult to put it down..., this game should of won game of the year and would of if we didnt live in an age where online determines the success of games... If you enjoy great graphics, good storylines, and great game play do yourself a favor get 60 dollars and buy this game...
Gameplay: I always compare the description to a game, to another in this case i have the perfect example. If you ever played condemned, its the same thing same handle same, feel. The only twist are the powers you achieve from the game, yet they made a very easy way to choose as you play.
Graphics: Stunning comes to mind, if you have played this game just remember the start of your journey as the game and place unravels for you. It's increadibly detailed very gothic/modern towns and areas within the game. I couldnt stop staring at my characters hands cause it was so detailed i felt like i was the actual person none of that old aged doom non sense here.. truly magnificant game.
Sound: very very good., movie quality surround on the speakers made this game between the storyline the graphic abilities of the game i felt, like i was there. I like how you can hear the wispers of the people, the background music you hear are in game and it gives the game that feel of the early 1900's.
Suggestions: Dont change a thing.., continue to make games with this types of ideas,graphics and sound and you will do well..... You guys wernt crowned the best game of 2007-- cause you have no online capabilities to give replay, however in this gamers eyes you where the best game in 2007 hands down.. .and a reminder towards how important it is to have a great storyline..


Overall: 100 %
Gameplay: 100 %
Graphics: 100 %
Sound: 100 %
Xbox Live Man
Date reviewed: December 13, 2007.

Overall: This game is just so brilliant, so perfect, I recommend to all who love a good story, maybe the combat wasn't quite fine tuned, maybe it was quite rubbish, but its worth a play through just to see the story to the end. Atleast the weapons are fantastic, atleast the AI is brilliant, atleast Rapture is absorbing, atleast the voice acting is hollywood standard, atleast the story, is clever, well thought out & original, atleast the twists & turns are subtle you didnt see coming ideas...I could go on about how BRILLIANT this title is, but just play it yourself & find out!!!
Gameplay: It's a fun game, it feels good to kill the bigger enemies like Big Daddy's who are mean & tough & come at you like a ton of bricks. Customizing weapons is great fun, seeing your weapons grow & change to suit your playing style. Using new plasmids is always great fun, seeing what they can do & how effective they are. Sadly you can easily kill most enemys by like one shot to the leg. And instead of making the AI tougher they just make ammo really hard to find in large amounts, I spent most of the last bits of the game with no ammo at all
Graphics: Rapture is just beautiful, it takes your breath away & fills you with emotion. Every level is filled with detail to the very scratch in the wall, it must of taken so much time to build such an awesome world. It really pays off! But even this with all its detail, beauty & imigination, Rapture & the people in it all have rough edges. The Weapons also look brilliant, very detailed & period looking & as you begin to upgrade them, they genuinely begin to take shape & look how they should, they don't look wrong. The enemys designs are good too, their normal humans made sick & twisted, then dont forget thet Big Daddy's they look really cool & so scary when their charging at you. The Plasmids are also really well designed, as well insects walking through your arm? fists full of lightning? fire at your finger tips? Ice-icles in your hand? Cyclones around your hand? There all here & more!

Sound: They used the sound really well in the game, without those sad violin squeaks or eerie whistles or strange music coming from nowhere, the atmosphere would just not be the same. I spent some time at the begining listening to music in the light house. Then there's the voice acting, its superb! every radio call, every diary, full of emotion, making you really see & once you've listened to it all & finished the game, well you wont play it the same again, trust me.


Overall: 91 %
Gameplay: 89 %
Graphics: 96 %
Sound: 100 %
Ninjermy
Date reviewed: November 29, 2007.

Overall: True Xbox addicts need not read this review. They should already own this game.
Those who have yet to dabble into this world of carnage and beauty are in for a treat. Bioshock, is the most original and memorable First Person Shooter I have experienced on the xbox 360. From its glorious visuals and immense arsenal, to the peculiar and unique plot and storyline, Bioshock is a captivating adventure from start to end. This is a game you won't wanna miss.This
Gameplay: The gameplay in Bioshock is really what separates it from the competition. A unique blend of your typical "shoot-em-up arsenal" combined with an exotic array of powers known as "plasminds" gives the player a nearly infinite combination of how he would like to down his enemies.

Should I freeze him and then bash his head in with my wrench? Or should use mindcontrol followed by a shot of napalm and finish him off with a crossbow bolt to the face? - A decision one will most likely encounter in Bioshock.
Graphics: From the first scene to last, Bioshock is pure eye candy. "Rapture" is a stunning location. The artistic value of the setting is unparalleled. The depth and detail is exceptional. Up close, things look great. From a distance, the buildings that make up the underwater city of Rapture look even better. This game is gorgeous from start to end.
Sound: Audio plays a very important role in Bioshock. The eerie 1950's music and chilling intercom voices give help create a mood and atmosphere scary enough to, well, scare.

Tthe voice acting and weapon sounds are as well excellent. Everything from the moans and groans of splicers to the earth-shaking sound of a Big Dadd patrolling an area will surely send chills down ones spine.
Suggestions: Load times can also be tedious
No form of multilayer



Overall: 90 %
Gameplay: 88 %
Graphics: 92 %
Sound: 90 %
Variation-XBA
Date reviewed: November 9, 2007.

Overall: BioShock For Xbox 360

Opening:
It’s not very often that a game comes along that almost everyone can agree is a required play experience for any gamer that brings together all game elements so perfectly. Bioshock is more than a very attractive FPS, it also has a blend of RPG elements where you can customize your character and weapons to anything you choose.

With a very engrossing story, amazing visuals, incredible sound and enough scary moments that you care to admit, the plot has a much more emotional impact than an explosive one.

Story:
Bioshock’s primary focus is the engrossing story, and it’s done extremely well with intertwining story lines conveyed through radio messages and old audio logs that you find while searching around the city.

Its 1960, your plane crashes in the ocean, you are the lone survivor and the game begins with you swimming along your plane wreckage as you see a lighthouse off in the distance. It actually took a few moments to realize you are playing, and not watching a CG intro movie

Rapture; masterminded by Andrew Ryan, is a city set under the Atlantic Ocean, and as to progress, you discover why the idea of the city as failed and is trashed, and why there are Splicers out to kill you. You are kept on track to Bioshock’s plot with always letting you know where to go with onscreen arrows and a top down map that shows where you have and haven’t been. Audio diaries are scattered everywhere and explain Rapture’s back-story, its citizens and their personal tales. Instead of having a convoluted story with details from many citizens, it focuses more on in-depth stories from just a few, that also seem to intertwine and unfold the cities history and what went so wrong. Hearing all these stories unfold makes the city seem much more alive, which is ironic being that the majority of everyone is dead. While you are not forced to listen to all these audio diaries, doing so will unravel all the main characters back story and more details about the main plot.

Genetic tinkering is possible with a substance called ADAM which can give the user incredible powers called plasmids. This invaluable resource is only able to be harvested by Little Sisters who use an exaggerated sized needle into dead victims. These Gatherers are then in turn protected by guardians called Big Daddy’s who will fight to the death to protect the little sisters. Big Daddy’s come in two flavors: Bouncers and Rosie’s. Bouncers have a drill on their arm, are very intimidating in size and sound, and will rush at you before you can even move out of the way should you make him mad or try and get too close to the Little Sisters. Rosie’s don’t seem as menacing from their look, but they have a very large gun that can make quick work of you if you don’t take them out quickly.

This is where the games moral dilemma comes into play. Do you harvest the Little Sisters for more ADAM, or save them for less and be their hero; thus making the game a bit more challenging. Both choices have benefits and consequences and with 3 different endings, these choices will play out to the story as well.

As the plot unravels and you find out what exactly has caused Rapture into its current state, you will be surprised with moments of shock and awe as plot twists keep you guessing and thinking of why events have happened in this fashion.

Gameplay:

You start off with limited slots to customize different key traits of your character, but this increased as the story progresses and you purchase more with your ADAM collection at specified locations in the game after dealing with the Guardians of Little Sisters.

Plasmids are active powers that you genetically enhance yourself with. Electricity will shock your enemies and stun them for a short duration as you proceed to fill them with your weapons’ ammo. Incinerate will engulf your enemy in flames, slowing draining their health, but can also be used to melt ice or set oil spills ablaze that they may be standing in. Telekinesis will allow you to pick up random items like chairs and boxes and whatever isn’t bolted to the ground and let you hurl them wherever you wish much like Half Life 2’s gravity gun. Security Bull’s-eye paints target on an enemy for security cameras and bots to attack them instead of you! With the enrage plasmid, you can make Splicers fight each other as well. Insect Swarm will send a large quantity of bees to annoy, distract and slightly damage your target, as you blast away. You even can use decoys and wind traps to ruse Splicers and lay traps for them. Even making a Big Daddy your ‘pet’ to attack anything that it sees for you, which in turn you will then kill when he is low on health to get his Little Sister’s ADAM is possible.

Tonics are essentially skill slots for weapons, plasmids and skills, but give p@!%#*!ive effects such as speed boosts to running, attacking speed, and many other skills that will greatly enhance your character in any way you desire. Should use choose, you can make your wrench attacks more powerful, or you can choose to get increased health and EVE everytime you use a med kit or hack something. Static Field is also a great skill to use, which will generate an area effect zap to anyone in range when you are struck, but beware; should you get struck with a Big Daddy pet in range, he will turn on you very quickly! With more than 50 different tonics, you will have a robust character exactly how you wish.

Plasmids are great, and very handy, but this is a FPS game at heart, and you are eventually armed with a wrench and a pistol gun all the way to a Dart Gun and Chemical Thrower with other various types in between. To make things even more in depth, each weapon can also acquire three different types of ammo which all have different effects on different enemies. Due to the era the game is set in, even the weapons look vintage and not very high tech at all (until you upgrade them). During the course of the game, you will find one time use weapon upgraders where you can choose to change your guns’ performance from bigger clips, faster reloads, damage increases, and greater accuracy. Doing so also changes the visual look of your weapon, so it always seems fresh even though it’s really the same weapon, just modified to your liking.

As the game progresses, enemies who used to die in one shot to the head will now take 2 or more. The scaling is somewhat constant, and eventually you are introduced to the camera feature in Bioshock. The purpose of this camera is to research the Splicers and other enemies to learn more about them by photographing them. As you become more knowledgeable by taking more and more photos, you learn weaknesses and even will gain damage bonuses versus certain enemies. Using the camera as much as possible is definitely recommended and will make your life much easier; but it is not a necessity to completion of the game. It’s a subtle way to add more intensity to the mood of the game, where you COULD have your gun ready for an enemy charging at you with a fireball, but take a picture of the same enemy in an action shot close up for huge picture bonuses instead, at the risk of getting hurt.

Splicers come in a few varieties from thugs that try and beat you with any blunt weapon they have in hand, Leadheads that will shoot at you, Houdini’s that can teleport anywhere and shoot fireballs at you, Nitro’s who toss Molotov @!%#*!tails at you, and Spider Splicers who can crawl on any wall or ceiling throwing hooks at you and are generally hard to see as they tend to stay in the dark and obscure corners

While there aren’t really many level “bosses”, there are characters that are involved in the main plot that you do battle against, but they really are just more powerful and resilient than normal Splicers.

Setting up traps will make your life much easier and will save you much ammo when you can get an enemy to simply run into a proxy grenade or a bolt trap trip-wire instead of pumping a clip or two into them. These tactics are almost needed for fighting Big Daddy’s later on where at first they will seem almost unbeatable, though once you learn their weaknesses (and research them for bonuses!) and how they react, setting a room with proxies and bolt traps will make quick work of the meanest Bouncer or Rosie in moments.

With security cameras everywhere, flying bots that keep guard, and turrets that can mow you down in seconds, Hacking these items will become a necessity to not only help preserve precious ammo, but once hacked, will fight on your side for you against any Splicers that come into sight. If you have ever played Pipe Dream for the NES or any variant thereof, you will understand how to hack and most likely be pretty efficient with it from the get go. For those that don’t know what this game was, hacking is completed by playing a 30 second minigame where you need to connect a start and end pipe with ooze quickly flowing from the start before time is up or you fail to connect the pipes in a line. While it has its charm at first, the challenge does get pretty difficult towards the end of the game with many unusable slots for pipes and the timer going even faster. Keep in mind that there are Tonics that can help with hacking as well. It gets very tedious, and for those with not much patience or skill, you are able to simply buy-out the hack or use an auto-hack tool to avoid playing the minigame and possibly failing. To fail a hack will either send out drones to hunt you down, or it will short out which damages you in the process. Vending Machines and other helping dispensers for health and other goodies can also be hacked to give you extra items not normally purchasable and also at a reduced fee. Again, it’s not forced to be done, but will make your adventure in Bioshock much easier and saves you money in the end.

Death in Bioshock isn’t so much a consequence as it is more of a slight setback. You are reincarnated at the closest vita-chamber with your entire inventory and most of your health. The perk with this system is that any damage you have done to enemies will stay as you run back to finish them off. So as you die while bringing a Big Daddy down to half health, when you run back to finish him off, he will still be at half health. This lack of death penalty keeps things fun and moving. No boring reloads of games saves, but also too easy when you get lazy when you don’t care if you die later on. The only downside to this system I found was that skillful gameplay was not rewarded, as anyone can kill anything with enough “tries” at it, though on the bright side, it gives you many chances to experiment with different options to kill people. Even playing on hard mode, the flaw in this system becomes apparent. Sure, Splicers will have more health and take less damage and even use heath stations, but it really doesn’t require you to play anymore skillfully.

Visuals:

Because the visuals are so appealing and have so much personality to them, you are almost compelled to search places that aren’t even required to. With Rapture being an underwater city, you will find water everywhere on the floor and even leaks in the walls and ceilings which always give you a reminder of surroundings and how trapped you really are in Ryan’s envisioned city. Because most citizens have been murdered, you will see blood and ‘experiments’ on corpses in many places that has seemed to go horribly wrong. Though not as constantly gory as Doom 3, some rooms look like something out of a great horror movie with extreme detail to even blood smears.

Apparently on some systems, this visual prowess will cause some slight hitching when picking up items or while saving. Personally, my system never ran into this common issue, though watching a friend play on a different system, I have seen it take up to 5 seconds sometimes to continue on after picking up a tonic for example. It’s not a very big problem, but in a compelling story so engrossing, it’s a shame you realize you are playing a game because of these small glitches and being taken out of the immersiveness of Rapture’s tale.

Surprisingly, the only CG movie in Bioshock is the ending. Every cut scene is done in engine and keeps things flowing without having to stop and load every time. While this is common practice now, I was just surprised to see no CG when the commercials ads on TV are stunning to watch, yet nothing like that is in-game.

Sound:

The atmosphere of Rapture is always around you with eerie music that helps set the mood and uneasiness with very tense moments. Jukebox’s play music as you walk by them and is properly set to Bioshock’s era. Even vending machines will talk to you as you walk by much like carnies at an amusement park, to taunt you into using them.

The bigger weapons sound mean and appropriate while firing. Even Big Daddy footsteps as they walk by seem to thud deeply and just make you tense as they saunter by as the screen shakes to further sell them to the player.

A stunning voice cast really sells the story of Rapture and its demise and doesn’t seem like it has a weak link from any one person. Enough praise can not be given to these actors and sounds uniquely genuine from every cast member with much brilliance in their lines. The audio diaries keep the plot and back story ongoing and sound very authentic with that scratchy recording feel to it. The actors do such a good job, that you will find yourself taking sides with certain characters and starting to despise others, just from what you have been told and hear. This is all from only voices which is quite a feat and really give you that emotional impact that is very rare in today’s games that simply try to wow gamers with the biggest and best graphics.

Splicers can be heard moaning, talking to themselves, and even scavenging around. Hearing the small creaks in the floor and walls really sells that Rapture is definitely under the ocean. Not only does the water look perfectly real, the sound to flowing water and dripping is also intact.

Closing:

Quality and depth is what sets Bioshock apart from not only the flooded FPS genre, but in the whole industry as a whole.

A lot can be done with the indirect fighting methods and really makes it not feel like every other FPS on the market. Setting up intricate traps for Big Daddy’s then luring them into them feels so rewarding and will guarantee to put a smug grin on your face, as you really feel you outsmarted them. This says something for Bioshock’s AI as normally this much satisfaction is only attainable from other human players.

Bioshock is easily a contender for game of the year, which is no feat for what has and will be coming out by years end. Absolutely do not let this title p@!%#*! you by just because it may look like just another shooter; it has much more under the hood and begs to be played and discovered in everyone’s personal way. Now, “would you kindly” go play Bioshock, as this is an essential gaming experience and a must for any gamer’s collection.

9.8/10

Pros:
-Amazing visuals and sound that HAVE to be experienced due to its uniqueness.
-A compelling plot that has twists and makes you want to continue playing just that little bit further.
- Defeating Big Daddy’s feels completely rewarding, as it’s very difficult to combat them head-on and succeed.
-Voice acting sells all the characters perfectly all the way from the lowly Splicers to the main story people.
-Up to 20 hours of gameplay on a single play through which is more than double the average FPS title.

Cons:
- The death system as first seems like a blessing, but trivializes any fights and doesn’t reward skillful play.
- Minor graphical hiccups on some systems that is just enough to be interrupting.
- Final boss fight came too quick and wasn’t very challenging in any way.
- The only (ending) CG movie is very short and though you feel satisfied for beating Bioshock, it also leaves the “That’s it?” feeling lingering making you want more.



Overall: 98 %
Gameplay: 98 %
Graphics: 99 %
Sound: 97 %
mattgame
Date reviewed: November 9, 2007.

Overall: Bioshock is the intense thriller that places the gamer in this huge and ambitious underwater world created by an alleged genius of a madman. It is a FPS with so many other elements going on that it can't just be put into one genre. It is probably the most original FPS to date and it will easily be considered for game of the year. Come with me and let's enter the world of Rapture.
Gameplay: This is an FPS with a twist or two. The weapons are plentiful and different from any other game in some instances. However there is a huge difference. The plasmids. These are so original and useful that I can only imagine that the person who thought of them is either a genius, crazy or both. There are plasmids that make the enemies fight each other. There are bee plasmids, electric plasmids, so many that the playability of the game increases a hundredfold because of so many ways you can handle those big bad... well I won't spoil it for ya. The goal is to solve the mystery and intrigue of Rapture and you will have a great time trying to figure it all out.
Graphics: Not the prettiest but certainly a great deal of work went into this game. The details to Rapture is beautiful and although some of the bad guys look generic that doesn't take away from the overall picture. I will tellya that the game has the best hands and water effects I have seen in a video game.
Sound: When you play a game and you hear a sound that makes the hair on your neck stand up and attempt to run away, that's when you know the sound in the game is outstanding. There is one sound that when you hear it you definitely wet your undies and duck and hide everytime you hear it. I won't spoil it for you only to say that you better sit on plastic when ypu play this one.
Suggestions: None you guys did an unbelieveable job. Thank you.


Overall: 97 %
Gameplay: 98 %
Graphics: 95 %
Sound: 98 %

BioShock News

Irrational Games Launches Teaser "Project Icarus"
Site currently shows no more than a grey spec, but at least confirms an announcement is coming. Would you kindly read on?
BioShock & Oblivion Bundle Announced
2K Games and Bethesda Softworks are teaming up to deliver a value-packed experience that combines 2006 Game of the Year Winner The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion with 2007 Game of the Year Winner BioShock into one complete package.
Verbinski to Direct BioShock Movie
Take-Two has announced a deal with Universal Studios to bring hit Xbox 360 shooter BioShock to the big screen.
BioShock Wins Eight G.A.N.G. Audio Awards
2K’s BioShock has won eight awards at the 6th Annual G.A.N.G. Awards, presented by The Game Audio Network Guild - a non-profit organisation supporting the game audio industry.
BioShock Update Provides Fixes, Adds Plasmids
Some great news arrived for diehard fans of first-person shooter BioShock today in the form of an eagerly anticipated update and new downloadable content.
BioShock Downloads Coming Next Week
A patch and a selection of free downloadable content will be available next week for both the PC and Xbox 360 versions of BioShock, developer 2K Games said today.
BioShock Rocks German Chart
The PC edition of BioShock has entered the German software chart at number one, with the Xbox 360 version also slipping into the top 10 at number six, according to the latest information from GfK International.
BioShock Boosts Take Two Shares
Shares of Take Two Interactive jumped by 10 per cent on Tuesday following the US release of Xbox 360 and PC shooter BioShock.
Irrational Games Becomes 2K Boston
Take-Two Interactive Software has announced the name change of Irrational Games to 2K Boston and 2K Australia - the studio's headquarters are located in Boston and Australia.
Demo: BioShock
BioShock Sunday Surprise: BioShock Demo On Xbox Live Marketplace.
BioShock: Has Gone Gold
Today 2K announced BioShock, one of the most anticipated titles of the year, has gone gold and is being prepped for it’s release date.
BioShock: Achievements
There are 50 achievements worth 1000 points. Out of the 50 achievements, 10 are secret.
BioShock: Theme and Pictures
You can now download the official theme and picture pack for the first person shooter BioShock from the xboxlive marketplace.
BioShock Limited Edition Details
The people over at Cult of Rapture are happy to announce the details of the Bioshock Limited Edition. "Available on August 21st (the same day as the regular BioShock edition)
Bioshock Gets Official Release Date
Bioshock fans can pull out their Sharpies and mark their calendars, because 2K Games just announced the official release date.
BioShock Is Xbox 360 Bound
The spiritual, if not literal, successor to the awesome System Shock is coming to our favorite system. Featuring RPG elements and a retro sci-fi story, expect it to release in 2007.

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