BioShock:
Often considered the spiritual successor to the survival horror sci-fi shooter franchise SystemShock, BioShock was released in August 2007 to critical acclaim, which resulted in a huge fan following. BioShock got such a big following and so much acclaim within it's first year, that 2K Games, the developing company, gave it a Play Station 3 release, rather than keeping it exclusively on Xbox 360 and PC. Now onto the plot: The year is 1960, you are Jack, a man involved in a terrible plane crash in the Mid-Atlantic. Being the sole survivor of the crash, Jack swims to a nearby lighthouse, which is strangely in the middle of the ocean. When he enters, he sees a giant statue of a man, and the slogan "No Gods or Kings, Only Man" on a long banner. He enters a "Bathysphere", a small circular submarine vehicle. He sees this as the only exit after being locked in the tower, and the vehicle submerges deep into the ocean. It lowers him into the underwater "utopian" city of Rapture, founded by business magnate Andrew Ryan, head of Ryan Industries. When Jack finally stops, he sees Rapture is in total dismay. "Splicers", insane citizens who have done too much gene splicing, roam the streets; most of the interior of the city is now in decay despite it's lavish appearance from the outside; there is a war between the few surviving sane citizens (who are trapped in Rapture) and Ryan, who controls all the Splicers. Guided via a short-wave radio by Atlas, an Irish family man and leader of the resistance who is trapped in the city, Jack must make his way through the city, gathering weapons and "Plasmids" (drugs that rewrite genetic codes to grant superhuman abilities) as he goes along. Along the way, Jack runs into the "Big Daddies" and "Little Sisters", superhuman mutants in armored diving suits and the hypnotized, zombie-like little girls they protect; Dr. J. Steinman, an insane plastic surgeon and head of the decaying Medical Pavilion; and Sander ("fucking") Cohen, an egocentric, sadistic, and absolutely insane musician, poet, composer, and play-write who runs and controls Fort Frolic, the entertainment district. Jack must help Atlas and his family escape, take down Ryan and his insane followers, and escape Rapture himself. BioShock was revolutionary for it's time. Now in FPS (for the uninformed: first-person shooters) games it's common to see RPG (for the uninitiated: role-playing games) elements, but for the time, it was a very original idea. Here, when encountering a Big Daddy, the player must defeat it and is faced with the choice to harvest the girl (taking all her ADAM, an energy source needed for survival in Rapture, which removes the virus controlling her brain, but will also kill her) or rescuing her (removing the sea slug virus in her mind, and receiving some of her ADAM, which she will survive, which will cure her of her zombie-like state). The rescuing choice will make it harder to survive initially, but ultimately comes with more long-term benefits and rewards, such as better Plasmids. Speaking of which, in the game, the more Plasmids you collect, the more easily it will be to dispatch enemies. My personal favorites which I chose to stick with for the most part were Electro-Bolt (which will allow you to briefly stun enemies, or electrocute them to death if they are standing in water), Incinerate (which allows you to burn your enemies alive with the snap of your fingertips), and Telekinesis (which allows you to pull objects towards you with your mind, or catch objects in mid-air, such as grenades or dynamite, and throw them at your enemies). You can collect several audio diaries (some are hidden) which document several characters thoughts during Rapture's glory days and it's downfall, which give some insight into the city's past as well as the characters' personalities. This sort of thing was also a pretty new concept, and the Batman: Arkham games by Rocksteady studios later employed a similar thing with the "Patient Interviews" tapes found throughout those games. This game can be a bit challenging at times, especially when you first are forced to face a Big Daddy, or in some of the boss fights, such as the fight in the Fontaine Fisheries building in the Neptune's Bounty area, or the final boss battle. BioShock can also be quite touching at times, that is, if you choose to take the clean path of saving the Little Sisters. BioShock is also one of the few games with a really rich, complete story and world. You can got to this site, the BioShock Wiki: http://bioshock.wikia.com/wiki/BioShock_Wiki, for more in-depth details on the vivid world of Rapture (warning: several articles on the wiki contain spoilers, and I do not want you to spoil this experience for yourself). The game also happens to have one of the best twists in any game, hell, in most popular media. The 3 possible endings: Good, Bad, or Bad with Sad Undertone, depend on the 3 ways to play: save all Little Sisters, kill all Little Sisters, or save a few and kill a few. I personally took the save all Little Sisters path, and got the heartwarming ending, but I did look up the other two, which are nearly identical, but with different narration, and they're not the most cheery. The game also has a very intense feel to it, and like the popular Dead Space series, has a fantastic and original visual look and great, creepy atmosphere. While walking around Rapture, you get the feeling you are never safe, and can be attacked at any moments. The Splicers also add a terrifying effect, and have great voice-work done on them. There will be times you are just wandering a damp, dark hallway all by yourself, and you'll suddenly hear a Splicer singing a Bible hymn or talking to themselves about wanting to be liked. Splicers also have different classes: Thuggish Splicers, who attack with melee weapons; Leadhead Splicers, who attack using machine guns and other firearms; Nitro Splicers, who throws grenades and homemade bombs; Spider Splicers, agile and resilient splicers who throws iron hooks at the player, and can climb walls (these are difficult to kill); and Houdini Splicers, who are easy to kill, but can shoot fire balls and teleport. You can hack different machines and security bots, which functions as a fun, challenging puzzle/mini-game. The game also has a unique and atmospheric sound design, from the creaking sounds of the old buildings of Rapture, to the sound of Splicers giggling to themselves, to the robotic and mutant-like sounds of the Big Daddies. BioShock offers a unique gaming experience. It's not overly long, but doesn't feel like it's cut too short. The ending is pretty satisfying, the twist mind-blowing, and the entire look and feel of the game is fantastic, but when paired with the sound design and gameplay, it's impossible to not consider BioShock a masterpiece, and a technical feat. The graphics even look fantastic 6 years after it's release. The "Ultimate Rapture Edition" also comes with extra content including a bonus Museum level. It's well worth the price, as well as the time and effort put into playing it. It's a pay-off, and it's a game you want to play again as soon as you're finished, even now that you're well aware of the twist, and I don't even like FPS's that much. 5/5 stars.
Links:
Review by JeremyJahns: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSdzPSAobdI
BioShock Launch Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lmw78t8NgIE
BioShock 2 Teaser: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Be4Dp4kfP8 (Under the title "Sea of Dreams")
No comments:
Post a Comment