GAME
Bioshock

Format: Xbox 360
2K Games
£44.99

5 026555 246415 / 5 026555 245852
Age Restrictions: 18+
Available
24 August 2007


After your plane crashes into icy uncharted waters, you discover a rusted bathysphere and descend into Rapture, a city hidden beneath the sea. Constructed as an idealistic society for a hand picked group of scientists, artists and industrialists, the idealism is no more. Now the city is littered with corpses, wildly powerful guardians roam the corridors as little girls loot the dead, and genetically mutated citizens ambush you at every turn...

In a marketplace overflowing with first person shooter (FPS) games, it's rare to see something new that doesn't just tweak what has already been seen in a hundred games before. Bioshock takes the format and delivers something that is unlike anything you've played before.

The graphics are incredible. When I first started playing the game the short introduction totally threw me. You start off sitting on a plane, which crashes into the sea. Trapped, under the water, your lungs are bursting as you fight your way to the surface. As your head breaks the water's surface you can see fire all around you, and then you hear yourself gasping for air. This opening sequence looks impressive, but after 10 seconds or so I was starting to think: "Come on! Let's get on with the game. This cut sequence is lingering on the impressive graphics a little too long." It was then that I realised this was the playable part of the game! The graphics were just as good as the cut sequences.

And as you progress the graphics continue to impress. After you swim to safety, there is a little exploring to be done before you enter a bathysphere. It is here that you get an introduction to the city you are about to enter. This segment (as you approach the city) is amazing. The music and graphics sent a chill down my spine - something a game hasn't done for quite some time.

The lighting is something which is important in this game and thankfully the developers provide a simple set-up screen to ensure that you get the best out of it. To start with I thought that the darkness in the game probably hid a lot of sins. For starters I was sure that a lot of the zombie creatures (known as splicers) that attack you were identical in appearance. But, when all you can see is a shape lunging towards you out of the shadows, you don't give much thought to whether it looks the same as all the other creatures. But, just for a second, stop and examine the splicers once you've killed them. You'll find that there is quite a lot of subtle variety in the characters. The water effects are also incredibly beautiful. And there really is a lot of pleasure to be had wandering around and looking out of windows (or occasionally up at the ceiling) - you never know what you might discover.

As you progress through the levels you build up your arsenal of weapons (from wrench and machine gun through to rocket launcher) each has three different kinds of ammo - which help to destroy different enemies quicker. Then there are plasmids (which are basically special powers). Finding ammo, additional plasmids and power ups (where your agility or strength is increased in a certain field) are dotted around all over the place - they can also be bought from various machines scattered around the city.

Then there is the ability to hack devices. Here you have to complete a puzzle in a certain amount of time (which differs depending on the difficulty of the hack) in order to bring technological devices under your control. This could be in order to buy things cheaper from a vending machine; bring a security drone under your control, so that it shoots your enemies instead of you; or to open a safe.

As you roam around the city, shooting the splicers that attack you, you'll also come across large robots called Rosie (aka Big Daddy). Some of the Rosies are guarding a Little Sister (a zombie child). Destroy the Rosie (easier said than done) and you'll be faced with an option that will determine how the rest of the game plays out. Will you go against everything you hold dear in order to increase your fire power, and chance of survival? Or will you do the humane thing, and risk paying for it later. At the end of the day it's up to you whether you want to exploit the innocent survivors of Rapture... or save them.

The music and sound effects are also worthy of note. The classic score is nothing short of a masterpiece - setting the scene beautifully. And the background voices, vending machine ditties and general ambient noises are incredibly well mixed. I played this game on a surround sound system with the blinds down and the lights off. I don't recommend you do that alone at home late at night. I kept looking behind me to see who was creeping up on me. Amongst the voice artists are JG Hertzler (General Martok in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), Juliet Landau (Drucilla in Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and Armin Shimerman (Quark in DS9; Principal Skinner in Buffy);

If you're looking for a beautiful game that is endlessly rewarding you've found it in Bioshock.

Darren Rea

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£39.99 (Amazon.co.uk)
Standard Edition

   
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£39.99 (Amazon.co.uk)
Limited Edition (Tin Case)
   
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£39.99 (Play.com)
Standard Edition
   
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£39.99 (Play.com)
Limited Edition (Free exclusive BioShock Xbox 360 Faceplate)
   
£39.99 (HMV.co.uk)
Standard Edition
   
£39.99 (HMV.co.uk)
Limited Edition (Tin Case)
   
£39.99 (Game.co.uk)
   
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£35.93 (Thehut.com)

All prices correct at time of going to press.