BioShock Review

So, as is par for the course, I sat down and beat BioShock in a few evenings.

So, what do I think of it?

Glad you asked...

One liner: Pretty good game, most of which feels cinematic, with a good dosage of oddities that make it not quite the uber-game it's been hailed as.

So, now for the devil - err, the details:

"... it was not impossible to build Rapture and the bottom of the ocean; it was impossible to build it anywhere else..."

Basic overview:

You are a man who crash lands in the middle of the ocean and is whisked down to "Rapture" - city of free will, free markets and free scientific reign. You fight initially to survive, then to undo the wrongs of those who have created the monstrosity that is now your prison. As arsenal, you can inject ADAM, genetic modifications that change how your body operates, giving you super-human abilities...

First and foremost, this is a FPS in terms of genre. It has the typical elements: point gun, shoot monster, get bigger guns to shoot harder monsters. Collect ammo.

It has some RPG-esque elements as well: Choose which upgrades to "install" at the time being. You start with two solts each in five categories of upgrades, upgradeable to five slots each. You receive quite an array of items for each category and have to choose between them.

But perhaps most significantly, this is movie quality game play. The production values are amazing. Of everything this game has to offer, it really would be a so-so game if this one part did not hold true. But the story, the game decisions, the people you meet, the logs you listen to, all of it - encapsulates you in an epic tale of a good idea driven bad by greed and mistrust.

As you play, you learn that two people who were once partners became rival factions. In the game, you start hearing announcements from prerecorded devices about how bad it is to be a "parasite" - or in other words, a derogatory name for a member of one of the two factions.

These things give the game incredible ambiance.

The genetic enhancements are really cool as well. Your "Adam" is powered by energy called "Eve" (I feel there should be an obligatory drum/hat sound off here...). Eve is kept in fat syringes and then injected in your veins to "reload" when you run out. It is a universal "ammo" for your genetic upgrades and powers all of your enhancements.

Right click and instead of holding your hand out, ready to use a super power, you swap over to the good ol' tried and true gun arsenal. Each has their own ammo - or I should say, set of three possible ammo types. Ammo is found or purchased in about the right amount of frequency, perhaps a bit over-available, but not by much.

The monsters you fight are zombified denizens of Rapture who have gone over the edge of sanity by "splicing" (injecting ADAM upgrades) too far for too long. Now, they retain small semblances of their former self (you find one weeping at the coffin of her daughter - which now has ammo inside - no child) until you attack or alarm them, at which time they go in to a fury and attack you. They shout out at you, in manners that reflect who they were (the doctors, when losing sight of you call out "Nurse, get me that man!" for instance).

In a refreshing break from the norm, this game deserves every inch of its "Mature" rating. My kids will not be playing ANY time in ANY near future. =) Not only do the mobs have no problem spewing out profanities that would make a sailor blush, but the environment is sometimes dripping with blood, or the the questions of morality thrown out of the window. You even make decisions whether to kill semi-innocent little girls for extra power upgrades. (If you choose to kill them, it is at least tasteful about it and the screen fades out while you hear the death scream.)

Finally the deco is very steam-punk. Couple with the unique environment (a city at the bottom of the ocean) that they do take advantage of, and the pixel popping goodness of the engine, it's pretty damned good for a FPS.

So, with all that goodness, why aren't you convinced it's a contender for best game?

Glad you asked, Jimmy.

The game has some problems which kill its enjoyment value. The most troublesome of these, and it's really bad, is the insignificance of death. Now, I understand that the designers didn't want death to be a major hindrance, but really, some hindrance is desirable as it gives the player satisfaction for progressing beyond something that is hard for them. It is so bad in fact, that "zerging" tough monsters (of which there are very few) is a completely viable tactic. ONLY the final battle requires you to complete it in one go.

Another problem is that aside from turrets (which you can disable very easily at any difficulty) there are only TWO mobs in the game outside of bosses. Sure, splicers have different "flavors" but many times it's just a difference in their weapon of choice. Spider Slicers, because they can crawl on walls and ceilings (really cool btw) are the most variant of them, the rest are pretty much just a "he's carrying a different weapon" variety.

The other of the TWO mobs - the "Big Daddy" is a real problem for balance. In the early game, they own you in seconds. No matter how well you net up, it isn't possible to beat them in one go for the normal player, no matter how good you usually are at games. I can imaging that some BioShock aficionados will get to where they can, but that will be the exception, not the norm. But, by late game, due to your upgrades, they become a joke. Actually, everything does. The difficulty ramps down so far that I had to invent new challenges for myself just to keep it difficult. I even decided that for a whole level, I'd only allow myself to wrench stuff to death. (Your melee weapon)

Some levels *drag*. Neptune's bounty is one and it's early on. I almost shelved the game at that point. Couple with the painless death and I had a real hard time staying focused to keep going.

Yes, I'm glad that I did, but the problems were not outweighed by the cinematic quality.

All in all, I'd say the game is good. "Fairly good" perhaps. "Awesome" it is not.

Refreshing, definitely.

Solid Gold, definitely not.

Hopefully, if they make a sequel, they will enhance the good things, rethink the bad, and give us a contender that might even be able to rival "Deus Ex" for FPS heavy weight of all time.