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BioShock's first moments are claustrophobic, giving one a genuine feeling of suffocating panic. Its first moments, alien, uncomfortable and wet, are not too heavily metaphorically like being born into its world.
As the game takes place largely underwater, showing off Irrational Games' brilliant technology that creates the best water reflections and effects ever seen in a video game, you'll be brusquely baptized prior to your first steps into the new world of Rapture. The beautifully designed art deco undersea city, a man-made creation envisioned as a refuge from the oppression of invasive religions and governments, is quite literally coming apart at the seams. But you have nowhere else to go. So you go down.
You'll journey down to Rapture via bathysphere, quickly primed by the beauty and horror of the city. Propaganda posters and instructional films serve as brief history lessons on the whos and whys of this submerged attempt at utopia.
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While I'll steer clear of much of the story-driven aspects of the game, as its justification for inserting your character into this world, one genetically spiraling into insanity, is worth experiencing within the confines of the game, I'll say that BioShock's characters and its world are mostly wholly convincing. That the team at Irrational infused the game with such an overwhelming sense of horror and constant fear makes suspending disbelief forcibly easier was either a wonderful byproduct or a stroke of genius. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and call it the latter.
Like BioShock's first-person shooter peers, you'll find yourself slowly building your personal armament. You'll start off with a wrench, perfect for crushing the skulls of Rapture's bloodthirsty Splicers until you pick up your first handgun. You'll, of course, find more powerful weaponry throughout the game, including semi-automatic rifles, shotguns and grenade launchers, many of which have special rounds with armor piercing or anti-mechanical attributes.
The traditional weapons are only half of BioShock's offensive system and assigned to the right half of the Xbox 360's shoulder buttons. The left half is reserved for your character's Plasmid-based powers, including metaphysical skills that allow him to fire bolts of electricity, shoot flame or manipulate objects via telekinesis. These skills aren't just bluntly offensive, they're tactical. You'll need to burn oil slicks to eliminate out of range enemies. You'll melt blocks of ice that interfere with your progress. You'll stun the game's automatons with a shock of electricity in order to reprogram them to your advantage.
The game is packed, but not too densely, with many machine types, from security cameras to machine gun turrets to health stations to "Circus of Value" vending machines. Hacking each has its benefits, with health stations charging less of the game's currency for medical attention while making the use of health stations harmful to your enemies. Hacking is little more than a time-based tile puzzle, but it's not necessarily a given that you'll be successful with each hack attempt. You'll swap out tiles in order to create a pipe that connects the start of a liquid flow to the end, avoiding hack-ending tiles under the gun. Hacks will range in difficulty, with that difficulty shown in meter form before you attempt the hack.
Multiple weapon types, multiple ammunition types, multiple Plasmid powers, combat and hacking skills—it's a lot to absorb. Fortunately, the game ramps you up slowly, limiting the number of Plasmids you'll be able to outfit your character with until you've become accustomed to using them, swapping them in and out. You'll buy upgrades from the game's vending machines to open up new slots. This can't be done with Rapture dollars, though. You'll need Adam. Adam is the genetic material cultivated by the Little Sisters—always paired with the game's iconic Big Daddies, the BioShock coverboys you'll have a hard time bringing down throughout the game. You'll need Adam to progress, to become more powerful as you take on the game's later levels when the whole of Rapture commits to taking you down.
Getting your hands on Adam presents one with an in-game moral choice. If you want to get more Adam, you'll need to take the life of a Little Sister. Or you can spare them, freeing them from their zombie-like Adam addiction, netting yourself a smaller dose of Adam. Why even bother? It's not just so you can feel good about yourself. At one point during the game, a Little Sister sympathizer promises you great reward for sparing them. You'll have to play through the campaign to figure out exactly what that reward is.
These choices, these RPG-like elements, the artistic direction and atmosphere, they are what separate BioShock from any other first-person shooter coming for the Xbox 360. BioShock further sets itself apart with a bristling constant fear of your environment. Splicers are always on you, but you won't simply face wave after wave of them. Most of the time, they'll be heard before they're seen, spouting off Adam addiction-induced non sequitors. I found myself spinning madly, looking for them, watching shadows and ripples in the water for movement, taking each step carefully to avoid being cut down. Every encounter seems perfectly timed, providing not only a general sense of tension, but well-spaced moments of shock and surprise. Yes, I did jump up from my chair more than once.
The only down side to BioShock's horrific excellence? You might miss some of the game's gorgeous environments. I might've forgotten to mention how pretty this game is. This is showpiece software, a graphical demo disguised as a fully featured game experience that will leave many players slack-jawed as they watch water flow through cracks in the environment. There are dozens of audio logs for you to pick up and listen to, fleshing out the game's story. There's so much to do and so little safety in which to do it. Ah, well. You'll probably want to play through it two or three times anyway. I'm sure you'll get around to it. Michael McWhertor
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