All good things of this earth flow through this city.
The graphics are stellar. The textures rival other graphics intensive games. The fire effects are spot on. The lighting is fantastic. What truly stands out is the amazing and ground breaking water effects. It flows just like water should, and is so detailed it really looks like water, as weird as that sounds. It's seriously the best water I've ever seen in a game. The art design is great, one of my favorites. It really captures the look of the time period it's set in.
The sound is just as amazing as the graphics. Its very clear and crisp sounding, some of the highest quality sound I've heard in a game. The voice acting is absolutely amazing. The enemies sound quite disturbed, even to a frightening point at times. All of the tapes you find are perfectly done, although not all are useful. The soundtrack is really good, and is perfect for the time period just like the visual design.
Luckily, the game-play doesn't slouch off either. The shooting mechanics are great. My favorite thing is the plasmids, which really add a ton to the game-play, and are just so cool. My three favorites would be freezing, telekinesis, fire, and insects. If this wasn't enough you can choose which plasmids you want to upgrade and such as you go through the game. The weapons are also highly customizable. Another cool things is that you can make new grenades, ammo, and more just by finding the right ingredients. The storyline is great, and it surely helps that all the actors are as well. There's no multi-player, but the single-player should last you a good 20 hours or so. The enemy AI is pretty solid, not the best ever but still pretty good. One awesome thing about how the game works is that it allows you to play through any situation how you want to. It doesn't force you into any particular playing style. If you wanted to play through the game with only plasmids, you could, although it may get pretty difficult at times.
This really is just a masterpiece, plain and simple. This goes down as one of my favorite games ever made. To anyone who doubted video games could be art, here you go.