BioShock

Aug 16, 2007

There is a definite reason that BioShock has earned GameSpy's Game of the Show for the last two years at the Electronic Entertainment Expo. While some have called developer Irrational's magnum opus "the spiritual successor to System Shock 2" (the PC title widely hailed as one of, if not the, greatest games ever realized), we are more inclined to label it as the spiritual superior. That's not a statement that we take lightly, mind you, but when confronted by a masterpiece of this magnitude -- a game that is almost more of a quest of self-discovery than a mere plaything -- it's impossible to not recognize the brilliance flooding your senses.

Wrapped up in Rapture

From the moment that you plunge into the frigid Atlantic waters, a victim of the dangers of air travel, BioShock lives up to its name by delivering a profoundly visceral experience that gets inside of you, consuming your thoughts, monopolizing your time and staggering what is soon to be your very fragile psyche. It may sound like a ridiculously silly cliche to describe a game set in an underwater dystopia as immersive, but while the pun may not be intended, it is wholly unavoidable because BioShock will completely enmesh you within the fully-realized broken-down paradise of Rapture.

The game's rich, textured tone derives in large part from the underwater setting of Rapture, a visionary (yet decidedly failed) social experiment of a city created by industrialist mastermind Andrew Ryan. Rapture takes on many forms as you progress through the game, but most of those forms are variations on an undersea tomb from which you are likely to never return. Claustrophobic, oppressive and downright terrifying, Rapture manages to impose all of these feelings with its art deco style and straining bulkheads -- at no point can you forget that you are at the bottom of the ocean with tons of water aching to crush the steel and glass of Rapture like a delicate chrysalis.

Irrational has augmented this unforgettable setting with superlative storytelling, making it impossible to escape BioShock's clutches. You are free to explore at your leisure (provided that you can take time out of your busy schedule of surviving the terrors within Rapture) and tidbits of the game's incredibly deep plot in the form of bulky tape recorders (beautifully indicative of the era in which the game takes place) that are scattered about the submerged city. If you're looking for spoilers, though, you'd best go elsewhere, because Rapture's tragic tale of paradise lost is easily the most engaging part of BioShock and to let even the tiniest sliver of detail slip out could be considered a crime against the gaming community. Let's just say that there are twists, revelations and prickly moral decisions aplenty and leave it at that.

Might and Magic

Of course, BioShock's intensely awesome story is also driven by those unfortunate souls you'll meet within Rapture. As you are likely already aware from our exhaustive coverage, these hapless existential iconoclasts that sought to forge a new society within Andrew Ryan's underwater citadel have degenerated into jacked-up gene freaks, twisted by the unchecked and reckless progress of genetic science. As soon as you arrive, you are greeted by the sad outcome of a society that has cannibalized itself in the hopes of improving... of course, it's important to note that said "sad outcome" is a vast population of genetically enhanced monster-people, so while you might initially be tempted to sympathize with them for their folly and hubris it's probably best to come out swinging.

Fortunately, the very same science that mutilated these creeps into bloodthirsty scavengers is available to you as well, and you'll need to make use of it in order to simply survive. There's never any question of whether or not you'll start "splicing" yourself, because it's a foregone conclusion that if you're going to make it out of Rapture alive you're going to need decent biologically-grafted weaponry. The arsenal of plasmids and tonics that you encounter as you progress through BioShock both reinforce the tragic setting of Rapture and are a hoot to use. Who wouldn't want the power of telekinesis? Well, if it meant that your underwater paradise would be reduced to ruins and your flesh would rot though you continued to exist in painful perpetuity, you might want to think on it awhile. Granted, you just need to get out of this place alive, so again the question of whether or not you're going to splice yourself up is exceptionally moot.

The morally pointy parts of genetically modifying your DNA to make you a superhuman killing machine actually have nothing to do with your fate as much as they concern the frail little darlings known as Little Sisters. Carriers of the precious genetic fuel called Adam (required by splicers to both survive and, specifically in your case, improve), Little Sisters are the fulcrum that BioShock uses to balance your acquisition of unlimited power against the moral consequences of attaining that power. The very first time you encounter one of these mutated (yet still incredibly cute) girls, you get an Oscar-worthy performance that, like a Steven Spielberg movie, is clearly designed to yank your heartstrings right through your ribcage (though no less effective in its obvious purpose). Killing a Little Sister results in a massive Adam boost, while rescuing one delivers half the amount of Adam and a heartwarming "thank you" from the now-freed girl.

The implications of the decision to intentionally murder a ten-year-old girl for your own personal gain cannot be overstated, and BioShock will never let you forget what you've become whether it be savior or heartless (but strong beyond measure) bastard. It is the core dilemma of the game and is summed up nicely by the quote from Andrew Ryan, "A man chooses."

Underwater Arsenal

Now, you needn't rely solely on your newly acquired genetic gifts, because the individualist citizens of Rapture have quite a collection of firearms. All of the classic first-person shooter staples are here, including a chemical thrower (which spits a variety of caustic agents like napalm or liquid nitrogen) and even a cobbled-together grenade launcher. As in System Shock 2, each weapon comes with three different types of ammo (which vary from weapon to weapon) designed for specific types of engagements such as anti-personnel, explosive, electrical or armor piercing. There are even weapon upgrade stations scattered about Rapture that you can use to improve your favorite projectile launcher, and these upgrades alter the way your weapon appears. For example, you can increase the rate of fire on your shotgun and an array of blowback valves that vent gas every time you fire will be grafted onto it.

Of course, as with System Shock 2 and to a lesser extend Deus Ex: Invisible War, there are alternatives to engaging your enemies directly with guns and biotic abilities. You can also hack the various security devices, vending machines and medical stations within Rapture, and if you want to succeed at all you definitely will. Hacking is accomplished through an addictive minigame in which you must link sections of pipe together in order to create a circuit between two points positioned on the border of a large grid, a la the classic puzzler Pipe Dreams. You can even earn different tonics to boost your hacking ability like (our personal favorite) Hacker's Delight, which delivers a nice health bonus for each successful hack.

The variety of ways you can approach each challenge in BioShock is soon to become legendary among gamers. Commonly referred to as a "water cooler game," this is the type of game where you must share your experience with your fellows around the water cooler as well as find out how they accomplished the same objectives, with the goal being that you'll both have done something different but achieved the same result. During our week-long submersion in BioShock (which our podcast listeners will be delighted to learn is the mysterious Embargo Codename: Maraca Depth Charge), we were sequestered in a hotel ballroom with several other game journalists and it was impossible to avoid discussing how each of us got through different parts of the game.

This was not because of the close quarters, but rather due to the amazing variety of experiences each of us took away from the same scenario. In order to defeat one of the game's more challenging splicers (a mad plastic surgeon named Dr. Steinman), some hacked the turrets and medical station, others ignited the pools of gasoline in his operating room, a few used the Electro-volt plasmid ability to electrify the slightly submerged floor and still others used a combination of those tactics. The choice of how you succeed in BioShock is truly yours.

Symphony of the Sea

Frequently, the concept of good sound in a game is mostly concerned with cool music or that ever-so-satisfying cli-clack of a shotgun, but BioShock's audio puts other games to shame. The sound design in BioShock is fantastic and it probably doesn't hurt that Rapture is at the bottom of the ocean and therefore susceptible to an incredible variety of creaks and groans that scream of metal fatigue and the immeasurable pressures of the deep.

Again similar to System Shock 2, the disturbed inhabitants of Rapture wander around talking to themselves with haunting yet often nonsensically random comments. While negotiating the rat's nest of causeways, corridors, ballrooms and tubes of Rapture, you'll often hear the deranged mutterings of the city's occupants before you actually see them. Mumbling things like, "I wore it for you, father." or "We thought we knew what we were doing, but we didn't know... didn't know." They're constant reminders of the horrors that have occurred within Rapture that have doomed its residents to perpetual insanity in this waterlogged purgatory.

Of course, nothing compares to the unmistakable sounds of a Big Daddy (metal-clad slabs of humanity that protect the Little Sisters) that combine the aquatic call of a blue whale with the sound of a steel girder shearing in half. Their colossal footsteps shake Rapture (and your controller) from distances of ten yards or more, filling your heart with the same icy brine that surrounds your undersea prison.

"Would You Kindly..."

Still, there are some issues with the game that we hasten to add are very nearly inconsequential to the play experience. In rare occasions, some texture pop-in occurs where you'll see a very basic 3D model for a second or two before the 360 can resolve it into its high-definition glory. This is not terribly jarring, however, and Xbox owners that have been around the block with other titles shouldn't find it unfamiliar. Similarly infrequent control snags are also evident, causing you to sometimes stare up at the ceiling unexpectedly or rubberband back a step or two. There are also some problems with inventory awareness, in that when building things at a U-Invent vending machine, you don't know how many of a given item you already own which can lead to a pile of explosive buckshot accumulating at your feet as you obliviously produce more. These minor quibbles are totally negligible in the face of what an amazing experience the entire game is, and we mention them here strictly in the interest of comprehensiveness.

It is a foregone conclusion that you will buy this game and love it, undoubtedly playing through it at least two times. The immense variety of choices you can make coupled with the genuine consequences that follow require numerous play-throughs just so you can see what happens if you try something different. Of course, the game itself is rather short (we were able to pick through it in about 25 hours, acquiring a whopping 800 achievement points in the process), so returning to Rapture to harvest or rescue every Little Sister you meet is not a terribly daunting challenge.

Put simply, BioShock is an unparalleled achievement. No other game comes even remotely close to it in terms of raw emotional connection. It may still be too early to name a Game of the Year, but after experiencing BioShock in all of its haunting artistic glory, every other game will have to try that much harder to even be considered as a candidate.