Bioshock is one of the best first person shooters that you can experience this generation.
The setting of Bioshock is in an underwater city called Rapture. The city was supposedly built sometimes in the 40s. One of Bioshock's strong points is its a story. Rapture was meant to be a city with no real governmental structure, no kind of organized religion, or any kind of morality. At the beginning of the game you will get the low down as to why the builders of Rapture wanted this kind of society. After you crash land into the city of rapture you will get a bit of a tour via elevator ride. But there is far more to the city of Rapture than what the eyes see at first.
Bioshock is a first person shooter. It's a first person shooter with a bit of a Metroid Prime influence. It's similar to Metroid Prime in a way mainly because it is set in one big world. If you are familiar with the genre, then Bioshock should click pretty quickly for you. You move your character with the left analog stick, aim with the right analog stick, shoot with the right shoulder button, and select your weapon of choice with the front right shoulder button. Bioshock contains your usual arsenal of pistols, machine guns, rocket launchers, and shotguns. If the only form of attack were just these weapons alone, Bioshock would be a very disappointing game. It would be disappointing because you have seen these same weapons in dozens of first person shooters before it, and it would be disappointing because the weapons are just not as effective as you would hope. Luckily you can also arm your character with plasmids. Plasmids are pretty much elemental based attacks that your character uses with his left hand. You will use the left shoulder button to fire and the upper left shoulder button to select your plasmid of choice. Each plasmid is very useful for certain enemies and situations. You can use the electric bolt plasmid to shock and stun your enemy. You can set your enemies on fire with the fire plasmid. There is even a plasmid where you shoot a swarm of bees at your foes which causes them to forget about you for a limited time and focus on swatting the bees. My personal favorite plasmid is the telekinesis plasmid which acts very much like the gravity gun in Half-Life 2. By pressing the left shoulder button you can pick up a near by projectile and let go of the left shoulder button to fling it. If you are low on ammo you can always aim at a pile of debris or just about anywhere, and you are likely to pick up a useful projectile to hurl at your enemies. The plasmids are no infinite affair however. What powers your plasmids is this stuff called eve. You do have to reload your plasmids. When you reload your plasmid power with eve, your character does so by sticking a needle into his wrist. You can buy eve at vending machines that are strung about in the world of rapture, or find syringes of eve lying around on floors, in desks, cabinets, etc.
Your main enemy in Bioshock are these mutated human creatures called splicers. Splicers are loud, mean, and thirsty for some killing. There are different kinds of splicers with different abilities. Most splicers will just shoot at you with whatever weapon they have, or throw grenades at you. Some splicers have plasmid powers, and some are extremely quick and acrobatic. Splicers become more challenging to kill as the game goes on. The trademark enemies of the game are enemies called big daddies. Big Daddies walk around with these little girls making sure no one does any harm to them. Why would anyone want to harm these little girls? The little girls contain this genetic morphing substance called ADAM. ADAM is used to buy new plasmid upgrades and many other upgrades that you need to survive in the city of Rapture. You buy these upgrades at your local gene upgrade vending machine. The Big Daddies are not only the toughest enemies in the game by far, but are also the most satisfying, and most rewarding enemies to kill in the entire game. Not only do you receive ADAM when you kill one of these huge beasts, but you can also check their body for other items. Each one has a hefty sum of cash on them. After killing a Big Daddy you are stuck with a choice to make. You can either harvest the ADAM in the little girl, which will give you the maximum amount of ADAM from that girl, or you can save the girl and get less ADAM. Saving the girl does not always mean a happy feeling inside and nothing else. Sometimes you will get surprised with a reward from the little girls. Sometimes you get only the happy feeling. All in all the game play in Bioshock is top notch for a first person shooter. Rapture is a big and interesting place to explore. The game does not leave anyone out in the cold when trying to figure out what to do next. On main missions there is an arrow at the top of the screen telling you where to go. There is also a hint system that is activated by pressing the right D-pad button. Those who love fast paced games will take the more linear approach. The curious type may ignore the arrow and hint system for the sake of good exploration.
Bioshock is a very good looking game. Perhaps my expectation were a bit too high, because I can't say I was blown away by the game's graphics. If it were on a last gen console, it would be potentially mind blowing. But as a 360 game I was expecting a little bit more. It still is a very gorgeous looking game none the less. Bioshock's sound and music is also pretty impressive. A lot of the time it's pretty quiet or either you're listening to the babbling and screaming of the psycho splicers. What's really interesting about the game's music is that the game uses actual hit songs from the 40s and 50s. While I am not very educated on music from that time period, it does fit the style and look of rapture, and gives the game an ironic haunting feeling. You can walk up to a jukebox and hear hit songs from a while back. If you hit the jukebox the song will start skipping and flipping through random tracks. That was a really neat little detail to me. Bioshock is a pretty long game for a first person shooter. I think I am very close to completing it. It has taken up most of the three days I have owned it, and have got to the point to where I think it is safe to write a review. As a whole Bioshock is a very impressive first person shooter. I can't say it's one of the absolute best masterpieces I have ever played. I just feel like I have done this all before. Bioshock does do enough to make it standout. The result is a game that is probably one of the best first person shooters you will get to play this generation. If it's the best game the 360 has to offer however, I would feel a bit of regret about investing in one.