I wanted to relax by playing some games last night so I looked through my collection. A few PS3 games sit unfinished on my shelf, namely Valkyria Chronicles and Ninja Gaiden Sigma. I planned to play Valkyria Chronicles, but instead, I ended up popping in Bioshock, a game that I beat on the 360 when it came out (and before I got rid of my 360).

I began playing and was surprised how quickly I was pulled into the world of Rapture again, despite noticing some annoying technical blemishes (logos and and cutscenes that look compressed on my 1080p monitor). I loved Bioshock when I played it and it seems nothing has changed. Sure, I'm moving through it at a much faster pace and it seems easy on the medium difficulty, but the characters and ambiance stand out to me more than ever.

Creeping around a corner as you hear a splicer reciting a disturbing love poem to a corpse still gives me the chills and sucks me into the game. And even though I knew what was going to happen when I stepped into the circle of light neatly illuminating the shotgun lying on the floor, it was no less exciting.

Bioshock is a master of atmosphere. Now that I am more into level design and have built some of my own levels, I notice the little things that make Rapture tick. The layout of the game is expertly done and the sense of scale is perfect. Look out a window and you'll see the Rapture skyline shimmering into the distance. Every room is a collection of possibilities. Use Telekinesis to hurl that exploding tank at your enemies or wait until the follow you into the water to electrocute them.

Once I beat Bioshock again, I'm going to order Bioshock 2 and see how the shooting mechanics and level design have evolved. Bioshock is one of my favorite games this generation, right up there with Dead Space, MGS4, Oblivion, Fallout 3 and both Uncharted games. If you haven't played it, go pick it up dirt cheap!