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Several years ago, Irrational Games debuted a series of computer games that would go on to become some of the highest-rated games ever to hit the PC and garner a huge following. System Shock and its sequel have been on countless “Best Games of All Time” lists, putting Irrational in the upper echelon of PC developers. Now, the developer has released its best work to date, successfully combining a deep story with adaptive gameplay. 
BioShock takes place in the year 1960 in a self-contained undersea dystopia named Rapture. Originally envisioned to be a paradise for artisans and the scientific elite to research and explore the reaches of human potential on both a mental and genetic scale. However, like some Ayn Rand objectivist nightmare, the whole thing goes horribly wrong, turning the populace into psychotic monsters addicted to a substance known as ADAM, which are essentially stem cells capable of giving its user supernatural abilities. You are Jack, a mysterious man whose plane crashes into the Atlantic Ocean, smack dab in the middle of Rapture. However, as you progress through the game, you’ll discover that you may have more to do with Rapture than you had previously thought…
BioShock is a smart shooter, but not in the sense that you have to solve pointless puzzles to move on. Instead, the game relies on situations that are firmly grounded in logic for you to proceed. Your plasmids and weaponry will allow you to decide what the best possible route for a situation is. For example, if a group of bad guys are standing around in a pool of water, you could either sneak up on them and drop a grenade on them, or you could zap the pool of water that they’re standing in and electrocute them all in one attack. The enemies are pretty smart, too, and will flank your position and basically try to avoid your attacks. They’ll do things like jump into a puddle of water if they’re set on fire, or run to a health station if they get too close to death, giving them a nice dynamic and adding to the immersion of the game.
One such enemy, as well as the game’s unofficial mascot, is the Big Daddy. There are more than a dozen of these hulking beasts walking throughout the city of Rapture, each one protecting a Little Sister, who are genetically engineered creatures that have been changed to look like little girls and are the harvesters of ADAM in Rapture. When you defeat a Big Daddy (which is no easy feat), you’ll get the option to either harvest or rescue the Little Sister in their care. Harvesting them will garner you the most ADAM, but will result in the death of the Little Sister. However, should you rescue them, they’ll give you less ADAM, but they’ll still be alive and grateful. While it’s ultimately up to you how you deal with the Little Sisters, it will have an effect on the game’s outcome.
Aside from the psychotic denizens of Rapture, you’ll also have to contend with the city itself. Rapture has a ton of security measures in place, from cameras that will deploy security robots to take you down, if you are spotted, to gun turrets. Fortunately, you’ll be able to use them to your personal advantage since they can be hacked to fight for you instead of against you. Just about every piece of machinery in the game can be hacked through a “Pipe Dream” style mini-game. Aside from the security system, you can hack vending machines to give you better items and prices or you can hack health stations into giving you cheaper health and even poisoning weakened enemies who try to use them.
Even when taking the phenomenal art direction and style out of the equation, BioShock is a fantastic looking game based on technical merits. The bloom lighting is fantastically done, and the textures look great as well. The enemies, especially the intimidating Big Daddies, are pretty frightening, giving the game a great feeling of suspense and anticipation throughout.
However, the real winning factor for BioShock is the phenomenal art design. The world of Rapture is teeming with personality and style, with elements like picket signs from the lead up to the big civil war that stopped the city in its tracks, to the destroyed buildings and shops and so on. Rapture is a beautiful albeit devastated place and the team behind crafting BioShock’s world have set the bar very high.
The sound is also very well done. The voice acting is great, and the score does a phenomenal job of setting up the desolate mood of the game. However, there are a few technical demerits with the sound, as the sound effects cut out periodically.
BioShock is one of those games that truly make a strong case for video games as a proper art form. The world is as robust and detailed as anything you’ll see in a movie (if not more so), and the sense of suspense never wears out, keeping you on board for a thrill ride from beginning to end. No gamer should miss out on this one.
| Review Scoring Details for BioShock |
Gameplay: 9.5
An intelligent shooter with a fully-realized world, BioShock gives you multiple ways to play and tons of exciting situations from start to finish.
Graphics: 9.5
BioShock is an artistic achievement, with some truly amazing looking graphical effects, and some of the best art direction seen in a video game. The bloom lighting effects are fantastic, as are the detailed textures and character models.
Sound: 9.0
With some fine voice work, sweeping musical score, and booming sound effects, BioShock’s audio lives up to the rest of the phenomenal package. There are a couple of technical issues on the PC version, however, and some sounds will occasionally cut out.
Difficultly: Medium
Concept: 9.5
BioShock displays a fantastic amount of detail and presents the world of Rapture in a way that you actually feel like you are part of the dystopia. A truly compelling thrill ride from start to finish.
Overall: 9.5
An amazing experience, every gamer should give BioShock a look.
moral: gunakan kepandaian dengan sewajarnya. jangan jadi punca orang ramai menjadi menjadi ketagih kepada penggunaan suppliment yang ekstrem.
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