Developer: 2K Boston & 2K Australia (PC & Xbox 360) 2K Marin & Digital Extremes (PS3) 2K China (iOS) Feral Interactive (Mac)
Publisher: 2K Games Release Date: 01/08/2007 (PC & Xbox) 17/10/2008 (PS3) 27/08/2014 (iOS) 22/08/2017 (Mac) Platform: iOS, Mac, PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Xbox Series |
Reviewed By: Ben Hughes
Review Platform: PS3 |
When BioShock launched in 2007 it left the world in complete and utter awe at its truly next generation visuals, near perfectly executed FPS gameplay sprinkled with a light upgrades system, the totally immersive atmosphere of Rapture, and of course its famous plot twists that have gone down as some of the greatest in gaming history.
But I think it's time we took a look back at the game that defined a generation and see how well it holds up in today's very different gaming landscape, or whether it was truly a product of its time.
In the time since BioShock's original release on the Xbox 360 and PC, the gaming industry has seen a massive change in what consumers buy into, as well as what gamers grew to expect from games. At the time BioShock was very far ahead of the curve presenting a story driven first person shooter with deep, complex characters inhabiting a living, breathing game world with an impeccable attention to detail. This was an era not long before military shooters dominated the gaming landscape, before multiplayer was the most important feature in a game and just before the big push for more cinematic experiences came through.
What BioShock presents is a game that used incredibly intelligent practices in non-cinematic plot delivery that provided the depth of world and character that we have only come to expect in gaming since just after the turn of the 2010's.
BioShock achieved this by acting as a spiritual successor to Irrational Games' previous series, System Shock. Practices such as delivering its complex, unpredictable story entirely through audio logs and through environmental cues. By utilising these techniques, as well as enhancing them by taking many of its story delivery techniques and pacing beats from the revolutionary Half-Life 2 that released three years before; BioShock presented the gaming industry with something that, though had been seen before, was something so rare and perfectly executed that it set standards for the future of gaming.
The story follows protagonist Jack in the year of 1960. As Jack is flying over the Atlantic Ocean his plane encounters turbulence problems and crashes just a short swim from a lighthouse situated in the middle of nowhere. Venturing inside for shelter from the wreckage, Jack finds himself journeying to the ocean floor and finding an underwater metropolis by the name of Rapture. Built by billionaire Andrew Ryan in the 1940's, Rapture was designed to be a city that operated outside of any government organisations, a true capitalist utopia where any man who worked hard could flourish. As such Rapture became a powerhouse for the artistic and the scientific alike, including the discovery of a genetic material called ADAM. ADAM allowed users to alter their genetic code and granting them super-human powers such as telekinesis, teleportation and the ability to produce fire or ice from the palms of their hands.
Although the utopian vision was short lived as since new years eve of 1958 Rapture has been in a state of disrepair with the remainder of its citizens mutated by the effects of ADAM and reliant on their consumption of it for their survival.
Jack is welcomed by Atlas, a man who asks for his help in freeing his family from Ryan's clutches and in return he promises to help Jack return to the surface.
But I think it's time we took a look back at the game that defined a generation and see how well it holds up in today's very different gaming landscape, or whether it was truly a product of its time.
In the time since BioShock's original release on the Xbox 360 and PC, the gaming industry has seen a massive change in what consumers buy into, as well as what gamers grew to expect from games. At the time BioShock was very far ahead of the curve presenting a story driven first person shooter with deep, complex characters inhabiting a living, breathing game world with an impeccable attention to detail. This was an era not long before military shooters dominated the gaming landscape, before multiplayer was the most important feature in a game and just before the big push for more cinematic experiences came through.
What BioShock presents is a game that used incredibly intelligent practices in non-cinematic plot delivery that provided the depth of world and character that we have only come to expect in gaming since just after the turn of the 2010's.
BioShock achieved this by acting as a spiritual successor to Irrational Games' previous series, System Shock. Practices such as delivering its complex, unpredictable story entirely through audio logs and through environmental cues. By utilising these techniques, as well as enhancing them by taking many of its story delivery techniques and pacing beats from the revolutionary Half-Life 2 that released three years before; BioShock presented the gaming industry with something that, though had been seen before, was something so rare and perfectly executed that it set standards for the future of gaming.
The story follows protagonist Jack in the year of 1960. As Jack is flying over the Atlantic Ocean his plane encounters turbulence problems and crashes just a short swim from a lighthouse situated in the middle of nowhere. Venturing inside for shelter from the wreckage, Jack finds himself journeying to the ocean floor and finding an underwater metropolis by the name of Rapture. Built by billionaire Andrew Ryan in the 1940's, Rapture was designed to be a city that operated outside of any government organisations, a true capitalist utopia where any man who worked hard could flourish. As such Rapture became a powerhouse for the artistic and the scientific alike, including the discovery of a genetic material called ADAM. ADAM allowed users to alter their genetic code and granting them super-human powers such as telekinesis, teleportation and the ability to produce fire or ice from the palms of their hands.
Although the utopian vision was short lived as since new years eve of 1958 Rapture has been in a state of disrepair with the remainder of its citizens mutated by the effects of ADAM and reliant on their consumption of it for their survival.
Jack is welcomed by Atlas, a man who asks for his help in freeing his family from Ryan's clutches and in return he promises to help Jack return to the surface.
I wont ruin the many surprises that BioShock has in store for those who have yet to experience the warm embrace of Rapture, though be sure that some of its reveals could even come close to “I am your father” levels of unpredictability. The results of which have been burned into people's minds and have since become known as some of gaming's best plot twists of all time.
The story of BioShock is not exactly original, as it is almost beat for a beat a retelling of System Shock 2's story. System Shock 2 may have a better villain, but Rapture is a much more immersive, detailed and fleshed out environment compared to SS2's spaceship, the Von Braun. Part of this may have to do with the greater depth of characters in BioShock compared to System Shock. Brigid Tennenbaum, Sander Cohen, Atlas, Andrew Ryan and all the rest are much more fleshed out characters than anybody in System Shock (excluding villain Shodan) and are incredibly memorable too. Each with their own views on the situation of Rapture, of the infamous Frank Fontaine (a major player in the city's downfall) and their motives behind who they side with.
Going back and playing Bioshock now proves to be relatively timeless mechanically. It's certainly clunkier than your average modern FPS with the ability to only wield either a weapon or a plasmid (the games various upgradable powers), yet it manages to provide gamers with a significant level of depth in comparison to other shooters thanks to the various simple upgrade systems that allow gamers to refine gameplay to their advantage, rather than unbalance it as is often the case.
How does it do this successfully? By severely limiting your monetary and ammunition resources, your wallet maxes out at $500 (pistol bullets, the cheapest ammunition is $25 from vendors), plasmid upgrades cost large amounts of ADAM which is a very limited resource and can only be earned at very specific points in the game; and weapon upgrade stations can only be accessed once with each new one discovered before they are permanently locked out for the remainder of the game (and are usually relatively well hidden too). It promotes forward thinking gameplay, properly managing your resources is the only way to succeed in BioShock because despite being a shooter, you simply cannot just shoot your way out of situations without preparation. Encounters with more difficult enemies such as Big Daddies, Houdini Splicers and larger groups of enemies will rapidly drain your ammunition stocks for each weapon and looting their bodies often holds relatively menial rewards, not to mention that the more powerful weapons that are recommended for these encounters have the scarcest ammo in the game. It's tough, but never impossible, it's also a much more streamlined and welcoming approach in comparison to System Shock 2's complex RPG style upgrade system where combat, psyonic powers and physical attributes were all upgraded using the same pool of very limited upgrade points that were granted intermittently throughout the story.
Death in BioShock holds relatively little impact on you as you are simply re-spawned at a nearby Vita-Chamber with enemies left in the same condition as they were when you passed on to the great beyond. This does somewhat make the game very lenient when you make a mistake, but it's more of a gentle slap on the wrist and a reminder to better prepare yourself in the future.
The story of BioShock is not exactly original, as it is almost beat for a beat a retelling of System Shock 2's story. System Shock 2 may have a better villain, but Rapture is a much more immersive, detailed and fleshed out environment compared to SS2's spaceship, the Von Braun. Part of this may have to do with the greater depth of characters in BioShock compared to System Shock. Brigid Tennenbaum, Sander Cohen, Atlas, Andrew Ryan and all the rest are much more fleshed out characters than anybody in System Shock (excluding villain Shodan) and are incredibly memorable too. Each with their own views on the situation of Rapture, of the infamous Frank Fontaine (a major player in the city's downfall) and their motives behind who they side with.
Going back and playing Bioshock now proves to be relatively timeless mechanically. It's certainly clunkier than your average modern FPS with the ability to only wield either a weapon or a plasmid (the games various upgradable powers), yet it manages to provide gamers with a significant level of depth in comparison to other shooters thanks to the various simple upgrade systems that allow gamers to refine gameplay to their advantage, rather than unbalance it as is often the case.
How does it do this successfully? By severely limiting your monetary and ammunition resources, your wallet maxes out at $500 (pistol bullets, the cheapest ammunition is $25 from vendors), plasmid upgrades cost large amounts of ADAM which is a very limited resource and can only be earned at very specific points in the game; and weapon upgrade stations can only be accessed once with each new one discovered before they are permanently locked out for the remainder of the game (and are usually relatively well hidden too). It promotes forward thinking gameplay, properly managing your resources is the only way to succeed in BioShock because despite being a shooter, you simply cannot just shoot your way out of situations without preparation. Encounters with more difficult enemies such as Big Daddies, Houdini Splicers and larger groups of enemies will rapidly drain your ammunition stocks for each weapon and looting their bodies often holds relatively menial rewards, not to mention that the more powerful weapons that are recommended for these encounters have the scarcest ammo in the game. It's tough, but never impossible, it's also a much more streamlined and welcoming approach in comparison to System Shock 2's complex RPG style upgrade system where combat, psyonic powers and physical attributes were all upgraded using the same pool of very limited upgrade points that were granted intermittently throughout the story.
Death in BioShock holds relatively little impact on you as you are simply re-spawned at a nearby Vita-Chamber with enemies left in the same condition as they were when you passed on to the great beyond. This does somewhat make the game very lenient when you make a mistake, but it's more of a gentle slap on the wrist and a reminder to better prepare yourself in the future.
In regards to ADAM as a resource, it bring with it a moral choice element to the game (choice and the illusion of it plays a very important role throughout the BioShock series) that has the ability to effect which of the multiple endings you will receive. In order to gain ADAM you must either exorcise or kill Little Sisters, young girls who are the results of experimentation with ADAM. These Littler Sisters are protected by Big Daddies who you must defeat in order to be presented with the choice. If you ignore the encounter completely for sake of low ammo or money, you sacrifice ADAM which is the only way to upgrade yourself and your plasmids. If you succeed in the difficult battle you can kill the Little Sister to harvest all of her ADAM, a relatively large quantity to aid you more, though you will receive the 'bad' ending if you choose to go down this route.
If you rescue them however, you receive less ADAM and receive a better ending, not only this but for every few Little Sisters you exorcise and save, you will be rewarded with a gift of ADAM and various other resources by the Sisters you have saved and their carer Brigid Tennenbaum. Whilst the moral choice system is very black or white, good or bad, as opposed to something more fluid; the mechanic itself is completely optional if you choose not to engage the Big Daddies.
Graphically BioShock provided many gamers with a true seventh generation experience with its high visual benchmark, striking art style and groundbreaking water effects. For a game that released in 2007, BioShock still holds up well today (and even better on current generation systems) thanks to its immediately recognisable Art-Deco style. Rapture appears to be an underwater 1940's New York with its distinct architecture and interior design.
The animation of yourself, and the various characters of the game is very high quality for a game that did not utilise motion capture, providing realistic looking movement years before it was something people would expect games to do. Likewise the physics engine the game uses to apply ragdoll effects to enemies gives an added sense of realism to the way enemies react to being shot, hit with plasmids and of course dying. Though these qualities are not as polished as the previously mentioned Half-Life 2 on PC, they are still pretty good and previously unseen to a standard that high on a console.
But it is the superb lighting and water effects that steal the show. The moody, atmospheric and creepy atmosphere that Rapture instils in the player is brought on through the dark and oppressive lighting. It does a brilliant job of communicating the feeling of being literally at the bottom of the ocean, it's claustrophobic and at times otherworldly.
But of course nothing takes away the awe of seeing water rushing down a hallway, trickling down a set of stairs or dripping from the ceiling to form a puddle on the floor. Walking through pouring water warps and distorts the screen temporarily as it trickles down your face and it can even play a significant role in combat too.
The game's soundtrack is incredible to say the least. Blending music from that time period with a dark and unsettling tone creates something that is distinctly unique to BioShock. Subtle sound cues give away locations of nearby enemies, Little Sisters, vending machines and objectives, audio logs that crackle with the quality of analog recording but are given the same attention to writing detail that plot dialogue received, something that again has only started to become industry standard more recently.
Having replayed BioShock I can say that it is a truly timeless experience much like other legendary games such as The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Silent Hill 2. It provides an experience that will not age any time soon, still hasn't become stale, and has paved the way for so many things to come.
If you rescue them however, you receive less ADAM and receive a better ending, not only this but for every few Little Sisters you exorcise and save, you will be rewarded with a gift of ADAM and various other resources by the Sisters you have saved and their carer Brigid Tennenbaum. Whilst the moral choice system is very black or white, good or bad, as opposed to something more fluid; the mechanic itself is completely optional if you choose not to engage the Big Daddies.
Graphically BioShock provided many gamers with a true seventh generation experience with its high visual benchmark, striking art style and groundbreaking water effects. For a game that released in 2007, BioShock still holds up well today (and even better on current generation systems) thanks to its immediately recognisable Art-Deco style. Rapture appears to be an underwater 1940's New York with its distinct architecture and interior design.
The animation of yourself, and the various characters of the game is very high quality for a game that did not utilise motion capture, providing realistic looking movement years before it was something people would expect games to do. Likewise the physics engine the game uses to apply ragdoll effects to enemies gives an added sense of realism to the way enemies react to being shot, hit with plasmids and of course dying. Though these qualities are not as polished as the previously mentioned Half-Life 2 on PC, they are still pretty good and previously unseen to a standard that high on a console.
But it is the superb lighting and water effects that steal the show. The moody, atmospheric and creepy atmosphere that Rapture instils in the player is brought on through the dark and oppressive lighting. It does a brilliant job of communicating the feeling of being literally at the bottom of the ocean, it's claustrophobic and at times otherworldly.
But of course nothing takes away the awe of seeing water rushing down a hallway, trickling down a set of stairs or dripping from the ceiling to form a puddle on the floor. Walking through pouring water warps and distorts the screen temporarily as it trickles down your face and it can even play a significant role in combat too.
The game's soundtrack is incredible to say the least. Blending music from that time period with a dark and unsettling tone creates something that is distinctly unique to BioShock. Subtle sound cues give away locations of nearby enemies, Little Sisters, vending machines and objectives, audio logs that crackle with the quality of analog recording but are given the same attention to writing detail that plot dialogue received, something that again has only started to become industry standard more recently.
Having replayed BioShock I can say that it is a truly timeless experience much like other legendary games such as The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Silent Hill 2. It provides an experience that will not age any time soon, still hasn't become stale, and has paved the way for so many things to come.
STORY: 9/10
GAMEPLAY: 9/10
PRESENTATION: 10/10
LIFESPAN: 7/10
SCORE: 9/10
Without Bioshock's influence the gaming industry would not be the same place it is now and for that it must be applauded. It provides one of gaming's most memorable and beloved stories as well as genre defining gameplay and some truly spectacular presentation. So if you haven't already, would you kindly play this game.