Every now and then a game so powerful, so original, so great, changes the way we see video games.
This is the perfect summary for Bioshock. I’ve owned Bioshock for almost one year and a half, but have never really got too deep into it. No I do not live under a rock, I was well aware of how many awards it received and how all my friends said it was mind blowing. At the time I just didn’t see the appeal, but ever since I watched the 10 minute gameplay video for Bioshock Infinite, I was motivated to play the game. This past week I have finally sat down on my couch/bed, turned off all the lights, and played this game from beginning to end. And now I must say that everything said about this game doesn’t even begin to describe how awesome Bioshock is.
The first thing that I was amazed by is the atmosphere of the game. Playing this game at night with the lights off was quite an experience. Never had I seen a game that control it’s lighting so well, whenever the lights went out I was always terrified to see what was going to come out of the shadows. On top of that, the underwater city of Rapture is beautiful. It does such a great job of setting that 1950s mood with soundtracks from the era and voice communication that sounds like a 1950s television. And yet the game looks so futuristic that I could not stop thinking about how Andrew Ryan built the city underwater.
Perhaps what is really amazing is how the game incorporates so many different mechanics together and it all fits so well with the overall layout of the game. Usually when a game tries to pull too many concepts it ends falling short on the execution. But in Bioshock everything is incredibly well executed. The way you take pictures in order to have advantage over a set of enemies, how your plasmids interact with the environment, the way you choose how you want to power your character, collecting diaries, hacking machines which requires lightning fast thinking, and so much more. Everything is put together so well that I never got bored of anything, its truly amazing.
Of course with every good there are some bad. The one thing that I really felt that the game needed it, was more background music. The game does have background music every now and then, and it does such an amazing job of setting up the atmosphere that I just wanted more. Sadly the game has very few moments where you can listen to terrifying background scores. My second complaint is the damn alarm bots, once their on your ass you will either be dying or losing a lot of ammo. It didn’t make the game hard, it just made it a bit frustrating. Of course those complaints are minor, and were deeply buried by the entire scope of the game but they do exist.
One of the things that makes the game so great is how philosophical it is. I usually don’t like to go around and collect items that will not assist me, but in Bioshock every diary tape was a bit of joy to listen to, some were funny, others were serious, and others were crazy. Andrew Ryan is by far the most complex character in video game history, the script chosen for him and the rest of the cast definitely took a great amount of effort to create. The scriptwriters truly created something amazing.
For me the most memorable moment was the end, there are total of three different endings, each set by whether or not you decide to rescue or harvest the little sisters. I got the good ending and I must say that it is very likely the best ending I have ever seen in a video game. No other ending touched my emotions as well as this one. I have never cried for a video game, but if there was ever moment where I got close it was in Bioshock. The ending did an incredible job in giving me a sense of accomplishment, and in my opinion that’s what endings should accomplish.
If you are like me and have not played Bioshock yet, I highly suggest you do it. Its by far one of the best games of this generation, I have not experienced anything like it in quite a while, and I don’t think I will for a long time. For now all I can do is wait for Bioshock Infinite and hope that the game will be better than Bioshock.
Written by Giovanni Costa. Copyright © 2010-2012 Rewind Replay Publications LLC, all rights reserved.
