A Wonderfully Imaginative and Retro World!
The old music constrasts starkly with the dystopian state of the society and half-ruined locations - they remind me of how similar music was used in the movie "The Shining", to generate a haunting feeling. In Bioshock the music is in 3D, which means it has a source, and we often hear it echoing along the corridors from some from some distant room, an experience which generates an eerie atmosphere.".
Sound effects are also well implemented. As we wander thorugh Rapture, we hear footsteps, muffled voices and other inexplicable sounds close by...
Lighting and shadows are technically spot on, but go one step further in that they are also used to further increase the atmosphere and suspense of the game, such as when we see the shadow of something waiting for us round a corner...
"Water, water, everywhere. And not a drop to drink". Well, the underwater city is leaking and flooding, and you won't see better water effects in any other game - I promise. It's quite amazing. I read somewhere that the developers hired a programmer just to work on the water effects. He did an excellent job and set a new standard for these kind of effects in computer games.
If you've read other reviews, you will hear a lot about narrative. For me the unfolding story of the game, which you get to know by finding tape recorders strategically place around each level, puts a nice frame around the FPS experience, making it more like an interactive movie. In this sense it reminds me of that most excellent game of a few years ago "Mafia". However, like Mafia, it is an FPS. And although we have a wide range of weapons and abilities to find & master, plus a few puzzles to solve, the bones of the gameplay is to shoot your way through each level through waves of enemies. Personally, I get a bit bored with this, and this game could have offer something slightly different.
Oddly, like "Mafia" of a few years ago, there is no multiplayer, which is a shame since it has a nice physics engine that allows you to toss objects and bodies around. Multiplayer would have ensured its longevity, especially if the enviroments were destructable. It would also have been great to play with a map editor!!!
Like "Mafia", when "BioShock" is over, you'll feel a bit of a come down, like you might feel if you've been to see a really good film at the cinema. And then you'll find yourself wishing you hadn't played it, so that you could play it all over again for the first time!!
Definitely a significant game in the history of PC games, and deserves a place in the Hall of Fame.