Games Nest

BIOSHOCK

For XBOX 360, PC, PS3 From 2K

Remember playing System Shock 2? 2K’s Bioshock will remind it to you anyway. Let’s take a look at the game which started as a not so promising game and turned out to be one of the greatest games of 2007.

            Jack, flying over the Atlantic Ocean, remembers his parents telling him; “Son you were born for great things”. Moments later the plane crashes and Jack -the only survivor- finds himself in a lighthouse in the middle of the ocean. While riding the submarine, which he finds inside the lighthouse, Jack watches a video introducing him to a city born from a man’s vision, meant to be the perfect place for artist and scientist to work away from the public censor. The video ends end “Rapture”, a city build entirely underwater, is revealed through the sub’s window. Jack disembarks at one of the city docks and he starts exploring the town. A person guides him though the city via a radio. It soon becomes obvious that the idyllic town of Rapture is far less idyllic that its founder’s vision. “Adam”, the substance that made rapture go round, drove almost every citizen insane. But the abuse of Adam lead to mutations. Jack finds himself in a city filled with “Splicers”, terrifying and deformed creatures trying desperately to get hold of Adam. Finally, he finds out everything about his family as well as the reason that lead to the downfall of Rapture. Maybe he was truly intended for great things… In his attempt to escape, Jack will have to face the paranoid deformed-beyond-any-recognition true leader of Rapture.

            Moving on to the gameplay sector, first of all the player will encounter a dilemma. Jack can either harvest or rescue the possessed “little sisters”. The choice you make will affect the game ending. But be warned; to get to the little ones you have to get past their protectors, the homing brutes in diver suits, “big daddies”. Of course you won’t encounter them unarmed. An extensively weaponry (from a revolver to a grenade launcher) along with your Adam modified arm are your “tools” of survival. Yes, Jack also uses Adam, turning his own hand into a death machine. You will come across different types of plasmids, which will turn Jack’s arm into a bee nest (used for unleashing a swarm of bees at your enemies), a fiery monster (used for burning enemies alive) and many more… Also, Jack’s lost health -apart from the first aid kits- can also be regained by consuming food and drinks he finds scattered around in Rapture. Some vending machine hacking minigames are also a nice and fitting addition to the game gameplay. The controls are OK in general but they needed some improvements. Continue reading to find out about them.

            The technological parts of the game manage to create such a beautiful atmosphere that will make you finish the game at least twice. The graphics nice, sharp and often dark are excellent. Pus the water effects are some of the best around. The true strong point of the game though, is its sound. Apart from a wonderful composed score, listening to Bobby Darin's “Beyond the sea” during the game will be marked in your memory forever. Finally, perhaps the element that keeps the game atmosphere at so high standards is the voice acting. From Splicer dialogues to the big daddy grunts, everything is wonderful. If you are lucky enough and possess a Dolby surround, then you’ll feel like a big daddy is walking outside your door while two Splicers pillage your house searching for Adam.

            Bioshock isn’t perfect though. The controls are a bit frustrating at times especially when you will have to quickly switch between you weapon arm and the plasmid one. As a result you‘ll see very often the “game over” screen but fear not! The game allows you to revive in numerous spots in each location called “Vita Chambers”. You can choose to dissemble them but then the game becomes much harder. So think twice about deactivating them. Some texture animations are bad and there are some bugs spoiling the overall magnificent experience. Finally it should be noted that even if the starships are replaced by submarines, the hybrids by Splicers and the psi powers with plasmids, playing Bioshock feels like playing the underwater technological-advance version of System Shock 2.

            Bioshock is a dusty treasure. But it is a treasure nevertheless. And a really precious one too! If a sequel manages to remove the dust then we will have the best game ever. Now Bioshock is just one of the best games ever.                   

J.Papadimitriou/Padazis

DLC(s); Challenge Rooms

                                                                     

                                                         A beautiful trailer;

                                                         A gameplay video;