Bioshock

Genre: RPG/FPS/Survival Horror

Singleplayer only

Available on the PS3, XBOX 360 and PC.

Played on the PS3.

2K games is the creator of this game and is known for games like Mafia 2, Prey and the Sid Meier series (For example Civilization).

During a flight, your plane crashes in the ocean en you’re the only survivor. You discover a submarine in a tower en you descent to the bottom of the ocean and you enter the ghostly city of Rapture. When you enter Rapture, you get radio contact with the mysterious Atlas, after that you’ll have an encounter with the not-so-friendly inhabitants. You quickly realize that the inhabitants can no longer be reasoned with, and to make things worse they’re mutated aswell. That’s why they’ve gotten the name Splicers. Atlas explains that the creator, Andrew Ryan, is to blame for all of this and that’s why it becomes your task to kill Andrew Ryan. As the game progresses and you’re finding more audio devices from the inhabitants, you’ll get more information about what really happened in Rapture.

The streets of Rapture are being made unsafe by Little Sisters and Big Daddies aswell. The Little Sisters are sent out to suck ADAM out of bodies, which are spread all over Rapture. The Little Sisters are very weak, that’s why they’re protected by Big Daddies. Big Daddies are big and dangerous creatures in diving suits. ADAM is sort of a lifeforce, which you use to learn super powers. These super powers aren’t necessairly required to advance in the game, but they’re very handy. For example, you’re able to shoot fire and electricity with your hand, circumvent the security camera’s, become invisible and even shoot a large group of bees at your enemies which will attack them.

The graphics are pretty decent, the grim atmosphere of Rapture is presented well. There has also been made good use of light, preferably as little as possible to enhance the horror aspect, so you’ll be expecting an enemy in every corner. However, there are still some minor complaints. Sometimes when you kill an enemy there’s a framerate drop, at first this can get quite annoying but as time progresses you get used to it. Another complaint is texture pop-ups, which means that textures are still loading when you’re playing the level/area, and sometimes when you stand right in front of an object it’s texture’s details are still loading.

Bioshock can be compared best to Fallout 3. Both are released in the same period(at the end of 2008) and are both an RPG/Shooter. It’s dissapointing that Bioshock doesn’t have a big open world such as Fallout 3(and most other RPG games). RPG elements that are implemented for example are: Vendors which sell goods, being able to hack camera’s, vaults and turrets, being able to loot enemies and of course improving your stats.

Besides the fact that you don’t have an open world, it’s also dissapointing that there aren’t any side quests. You’re forced to follow the main storyline, you are however able to go back to pick up some items in case you forgot them.

Because there aren’t any sidequests the total playing time gets reduced.The first time playing through took about 20 hours, but then again I was trying to find all collectables and have been in every possible spot in the game.

Since a couple of months downloadable content has been available for Bioshock which will grant you a new gametype and New Game +. The latter means that you’re able to proceed with your original character, when you start a new game. I haven’t been able to play this content, because you need to pay for it via Playstation Store, which is another negative thing.

Despite some of the complaints, the game is really worth your money and if you happen to stumble upon the game in the store and you love the genre, I wouldn’t hesitate to buy the game.