Imagine a place with "No Gods or Kings, Only Man". Imagine an underwater utopia born of dreams. Imagine a beautiful city populated by scientists par excellence, where they are free to experiment with genetic enhancements and biological freedom.
Imagine Rapture.
Bioshock is the latest first-person-shooter from 2K Boston and 2K Australia (previously Irrational games)
After your plane crashes somewhere in the middle of the sea you come across Rapture, But Rapture is no longer the dream of one man - Andrew Ryan.
The city is littered with corpses, powerful guardians roam the corridors, as little sisters loot the dead and genetically mutated citizens ambush you at every turn.
Your arrival at Rapture is not a welcome one. You have a few minutes to take in the 20s-inspired Art Deco before you are attacked by splicers.
Splicers are the genetically mutated citizens and come in many variations: Spider Splicer, Thug Splicer and Gun Splicer to name a few.
You will also come across Big Daddy. These guys are big, unbelievably fast and very hard.
Big Daddies are the protectors of little sisters. Little sisters control the ADAM (an organic currency used to buy genetic enhancements and plasmids). For you to become stronger and to gain greater abilities (telekinesis, firing electricity / flames from your hands) you have to execute / rescue a little sister but you have to go through Big Daddy. Before you take on Big Daddy reload your guns and stock up on med kits. As your fist bullet strikes Big Daddy, he will turn and attack with full force: your world becomes blurred, your movement slows and youve lost half your health.
One advantage of the Bioshock fight system is that you can not really die. You re-spawn at one of the many Vita-Chambers, okay you have lost some med kits, EVE and ammo, but your enemies health remains as it was before you died. This may be a downfall to Bioshock for some people looking for a challenge, but it is an advantage as well.
Your battles with Splicers and Big Daddies become easier as you have the ability to research your enemy by taking photographs of them. Researching into splicers will show up any weaknesses they have, giving you the upper hand.
Every battle in the game is different: you are open to choices on how to kill you enemy. A personal favorite of mines is to set fire to them, watch as the run to find water to douse the flames, once their feet are in a puddle of water, quickly switch to your Electro Bolt Plasmid and shock him.
Another way to increase your survivability is to hack security cameras and turret guns, so they become your very own personal security system shooting down anything that crosses their path.
I can not fault anything in Bioshock, gameplay, graphics, music and speech are all breathtaking which you come to expect from a next-gen console.
Bioshock has raised the standard of what first-person-shooters should be, just like Halo 2 had done for online multiplayer.
Bioshock is out to buy on Friday 24th Aug, but if you can not wait there is a demo on Xbox Live now.
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