Welcome to Rapture, an underwater city where the only limits are the constraints of your mind. The world’s greatest scientists gather here to further their works, not held back by morality or money. The greatest creation of this hive of scientists is ADAM, taken from a deep-sea parasite and attached to the human host it alters the genetic makeup of the host and takes on external modifications. Initially these were used for cosmetic changes to people’s appearance, but inevitably things moved onto a more offensive and dangerous nature.
Your character finds themselves trapped on Rapture following a plane crash, but from the offset something is wrong, the mighty city of Rapture is dying and what was once a underwater art-deco palace has now become an underwater tomb, hulls have cracked letting in water, lighting now flickers off and on, and the inhabitants are now no longer human beings but horrific mutations of their former selves. Once in Rapture you will befriend a few characters that will help you and also ask for help themselves, explaining what has happened and what you need to do.
As the story progresses you will learn about the owner Andrew Ryan and his initial dream for Rapture that became warped with power and greed, I will not go into too much on the story as it will spoil it, but it will have you hooked, from helping unaffected civilians trying to escape to taking down mad scientists, this title has a lot going for it.
Not long into your adventure you will come across Plasmids, these are the main alterations to your genetic make up and as you progress through the game you will acquire many, some are required to complete the game whilst others are there to make life easier. To list a few of the physical plasmids, some allow you to throw fire, freeze enemies (quite cool as you can then approach and smash them with a wrench into thousands of tiny pieces) and telekinesis that allow you to catch and throw projectiles. Other plasmids allow you to affect other characters, like causing enemies to attack each other or using a Big Daddy to protect you.
You can also collect Gene Tonics, which alter passive abilities. These allow you to hack into security computers quicker and easier, increase your physical strength and speed or even surround you in an electric field so if any Splicer gets too close they get stunned.
As with any first person shooter there are a large amount of weapons to choose from, as well as the Plasmid attacks mentioned above you can also collect shotguns, flame throwers, machine guns and crossbows to name a few. Each weapon is upgradeable at certain machines dotted around the game and these will allow for faster shot frequency, larger clips and less recoil.
Another way to upgrade is by using the camera, early on in the game your are tasked with finding a camera and researching into a Spider Splicer, an inhabitant that has evolved itself, these Splicer’s posses great agility which enables them to climb walls. The more photographs you take of action poses and groups of separate enemies, the more research you will carry out and this will grant you vital attack or defensive pointers or even upgrades.
Due to the nature of Rapture you are easily able to upgrade yourself with new Plasmids and Gene Tonics all over the levels in specially designed machines, these range from Ammo Bandits, vending machines, U-Invent, Gene Banks where you can reconfigure your equipped Plasmids and Gatherer Gardens, where you can purchase new slots and even new powers. The ammo and vending machines use cash, which is found by searching the surrounding areas and bodies. The Gatherer Gardens use ADAM, which can only be found from the Little Sisters. These small children roam around Rapture collecting ADAM from its inhabitants and are protected by the Big Daddies. These huge fellas take a right beating and can also dish it out, once you have defeated a Big Daddy you can choose to either save the Little Sister and extract a small amount of ADAM, or completely destroy her, taking all of the ADAM and allowing you to spend more at the gatherers Garden.
The look of the game is unlike any other, the design of each area is outstanding, the initial 50’s feel to Rapture will have you looking around all of the rooms in great detail, as you progress the look will change, a deserted medical facility with blood stains on the walls and floors, evil looking equipment and deranged doctors are all that are left, to the more relaxed Arcadia, the lungs of Rapture, where lush green trees have been tortured and warped into a dead wasteland.
Trying to play as much of this game as possible for a review is very hard as the game gives you new tasks, powers and skills in well spaced out segments. The overall pace and feel of this title is great, the feeling of being surrounded by tonnes of water adds more pressure to your actions, the haunting sounds of your enemies as they talk to each other or even themselves sends chills down my spine even as I write. Bioshock has taken the well-worn FPS genre and injected loads of fresh new ideas that will keep you busy for a long time to come.
Do not be tricked into thinking this is a first person shooter like any other, the designers have taken a lot of time to give this game not only a feel and sound that is second to none, but also depth, due to the searching, inventing and research of the inhabitants, reaching for your gun will always be the last thing on your mind.
