Bioshock PC
STORY
Bioshock is a fantastic game, featuring a setting that could only come from a classic early-to-mid 20th century piece of fiction or screenplay, based on the dystopian works of Ayn Rand or Geogre Orwell's 1984.
In the alternate-history setting of 1960, you are Jack, the sole survivor of a plane crash in the middle of the Atlantic. You can save yourself to a nearby lighthouse, and as you go looking for help, you find a bathysphere which, after you board it, takes you deep underwater to its destination: the unfathomable dystopian metropolis founded and built by Andrew Ryan, a man who had escaped Bolshevism and Capitalism to found and rule a city based on his own Objectivist ideals, Rapture. The supposed utopia didn't last long: because Ryan forbade all contact with the rest of the world to keep Rapture's location secret from the 'parasites' above, the smuggling business gained more and more importance until a man, Frank Fontaine, kept gathering followers who were discontent with Ryan's rule until he openly challenged him in 1959, causing a civil war to break out in the city. Coupled with the fact that scientific research 'unbound by petty morals' resulted in the creation and widespread use of Plasmids, special serums made from ADAM that introduce special stem cells into the body, allowing for genetic modification and mutation and giving the user supernatural powers, the population of Rapture became utterly addicted and dependant on these Plasmids, losing their humanity and becoming grotesque abominations of their former selves, so-called 'splicers'. In a last ditch effort to control the population from swaying over to Fontaine's cause, Ryan started to control the citizens' minds through a special pheromone, thus bending them to his will. This is the status quo when Jack arrives with the bathysphere at Rapture, finding a derelict city full of roaming splicers.
GAMEPLAY
The game doesn't feature multiplayer, but for that the singleplayer is long. Very long. At least 20 hours of gameplay, as opposed to most first person shooters' 6-15 hours singleplayer. Most of the time you have to get to a certain location in the level, but direct access is blocked to it and you'll have to find a way to clear the path, usually involving the investigation of most of the other rooms in the level. The game should be played on moderate or hard difficulty, because the easy diffuculty just removes the crucial 'survival' feel the game has been designed around, which involves ammo conservation, obligatory hacking to get discounts when purchasing goods and looting Rapture for items you need to survive.
The game itself is a mix between a first person shooter and a role playing game: you've got your arsenal of guns, each with standard 'jack of all trades' ammo, as well as alternate ammunition to better combat specific enemy types, ranging from the humble pistol over the machine gun to a lethal chemical thrower. Similar to games like Doom 3, you carry all weapons with you, the flick of your mouse wheel is enough to swap weapons within seconds. Apart from health replenishers, you also need to refill your EVE bar - the liquid that gives you the power to use your Plasmids (such as shooting lightning from your fingertips, setting enemies on fire etc.). Money also plays a great role in Rapture, allowing you to purchase ammo, first aid kits, EVE hypos, as well as food and drink which restore small amounts of health or EVE, from vending machines that can be hacked to reduce the price for each item they sell. Similarly, security cameras and bots can be hacked to help you combat the splicers.
Another important resource you need to survive in Rapture is ADAM - unstable stem cells harvested and processed from a type of Sea Slug parasite. You can use the ADAM to purchase new plasmids or create additional 'slots' in your body to hold more plasmids from a 'Gatherer's Garden' machine. In order to produce ADAM, the Sea Slugs are implanted into a small child, specifically a young girl aged 6-7. Through this procedure, the young girl becomes a 'Little Sister', who extracts ADAM from corpses found throughout Rapture, using a special syringe. Thus, you will find Little Sisters roaming througout the derelict metropolis collecting ADAM, protected by 'Big Daddies', genetically-enhanced and mind-controlled humans inside an enormous diving suit. To gather the ADAM from a Little Sister, you need to kill the Big Daddy protecting her, the equivalent of a minor boss-fight. Once this is done, you are presented with two choices that affect many dialogues and the ending of the game: to harvest the Little Sister, effectively killing her and receiving the maximum amount of ADAM, or to save her, freeing her from the Sea Slug parasite so that she can be a normal girl again, but gaining much less ADAM in the process.
CONCLUSION
As of June 20th 2008, the installation limit (SecuROM/DRM) of Bioshock has been removed by the developer, 2K Games. This means you can install, uninstall and reinstall Bioshock as many times as you want, thus you now really do OWN this product. You still have to register / activate the game online, so users cannot install this game on offline PCs. Also, note that Bioshock requires your graphic card to be compatible with shader model 3.0 for the game to even work. This is a shame, because even Crysis has reverse compatibility to such an extent that it can be played on older machines.
Overall, Bioshock is most famous for its unique setting and gripping atmosphere. Indeed, Rapture really does feel enthralling upon first glance, a place one would like to spend a holiday in, during the time it was at its zenith. The city itself predominantely features architecture from the Art Deco period, and the game's score is mostly comprised of classic 20th century music, adding to the immersion. However, the lack of multiplayer (see Bioshock 2) feels like a missed opportunity to bring more replayability to this game, but overall, Bioshock still stuns, it's still amazing and that is what really counts! A five, out of five stars.