Bioshock, one of the first games that I ever got for my Xbox 360. When I first played it, I felt creeped out going through an underwater dystopia filled with crazy people. I have such fond memories of the moments that I experienced, like going through Fort Frolic. But now that I've recently beat the game again, I think it's a good time to share my thoughts on it.

Story

One of the things that set the story apart from the other stories that I've experience is the setting. The story takes place in an underwater city, which isn't something you don't ever see in video game settings. But it isn't just the setting that impresses me, but the way the story presents itself. It is a story of mystery, revenge, and regret that is told excellently through dialog. Disappointedly though, is that the story does have the cliché of having a mysterious benefactor that turns into a villain in the climax. But this story does it right since you aren't given any reason to distrust this person until it's too late. However, in a video game story told primarily through dialog it is important for the game to look good.

Graphics

I have to say that this game looks pretty great. The models are beautifully crafted and well animated, though the textures are just a little blurry. But despite the overall well done animations there were a couple of animation errors that noticed, such as the effect of Security Bull's Eye not disappearing despite the affected splicer being shattered. I also took issue with the fact that there were very few number of the characters whose models weren't recycled splicer models. Of course the graphics are supported by the game's ambiance.


Sound

Bioshock doesn't have much at all when it comes to music. I mean there is intense battle music during certain sections where you're fighting a bunch of splicers, but other than that, there's no music. However, the sound design of the environment and objects is very well done. As well, the voice acting and the dialogue that goes with it is very well done. The dialogue made by the splicers shows how causing they've become, and the dialogue said by the characters really paints a great story. Of course, things like story, graphics, and sound are only supported by the quality of the gameplay.

Gameplay

Bioshock is a first person shooter that allows you to, well, basically, have powers called plasmids. Plasmids are your offensive capabilities that serve as the alternative to your guns. You can gain different plasmids that can be extremely useful, but only a few of the plasmids are actually useful. A few plasmids can even interact with the environment like electrocuting the water to kill all splicers in it. Plasmids use EVE each time they're activated, which can be used by using EVE hypos and consuming different drinks. Plasmids can be purchased and at the gatherer's garden machine to increase the plasmid's capabilities. In addition to plasmids you can get gene tonics, which serve as your passive skills. These come in three different categories: combat, engineering, and physical. Combat tonics help to improve your offensive and defensive capabilities, but I found only a few to be useful. Engineering tonics help improve your interaction with machines, which I found useful for hacking can get difficult. Both plasmids and tonics require ADAM to purchase them. ADAM is gained from Little Sisters who are guarded by Big Daddies who are the game's toughest enemies. After killing them you have to choose between killing the Little Sister for more ADAM, or curing her less ADAM but for a reward later. Now, since this is a first person you get a variety of guns. These guns can be upgraded on the Power to the people machine, but each machine can only be used. However, only a few of the weapons are worthwhile to fully upgrade. Upgrading your arsenal is very important, as this game can get pretty difficult. Splicers can easily swarm you, and they come in different variants that each has different capabilities (ex:Houdini Splicers can teleport). Being surrounded by Splicers can easily spell your doom since you can't take much damage. There’s also the matter of dealing with security, being caught by cameras will send a swarm of security bots after you, and being caught by a turret will cause it to shoot at you. But, fortunately machines can be hacked with each machine type getting a different benefit (ex.: hacked vendors will reduce prices). Hacking works by a sort of tile puzzle system that calls for players to reveals pipeline tiles and rearrange them while avoiding overload tiles, alarm tiles, and dead ends in order for the liquid to reach the end and succeed the hack. However, the difficulty of hacking can be immense as the more difficult hacking levels will have the liquid moving much faster, or having the tiles arranged in such a way that you’ll have to work fast. Successful hacking is both satisfying and beneficial, such as reducing the components at U-Invent machine. Yes, Bioshock also has a crafting system that is limited to what is on the machine. You can craft special ammo types, each requiring different components. However, I found it less time wasteful to just buy the different types of ammo. Your guns can be loaded with special ammo that are either more effective against splicers or more effective against armored enemies like big daddies. Having special ammo at the ready can help reduce the difficulty of a fight greatly. Also speaking of reducing difficulty is the camera. By taking pictures of enemies you fill up a meter (which only appears after taking a picture). Once this meter fills up you gain benefit such as increased damage against the enemy that was being photographed. Indeed, the camera system would have to be perhaps one of my favorite things in this satisfying game.

Bioshock is one of those games that you will remember. It has brought to my mind moments that I can never truly forget even when I don’t play for a long time. Bioshock is satisfying game that anyone looking for a more interesting FPS should play.

I own the Ultimate Rapture Edition so I can play 1 and 2 with all the dlc so I will kindly play it :3