BioShock Review
A Journalistic Review by DefiantParrot
*Warning: Contains Spoilers*
Originally Written: 06/01/2019
Developer: 2K Boston, 2K Australia
Publisher: 2K Games
Platform: Xbox 360
Genre: First-Person Shooter
Release: August 21, 2007
So when I first got my Xbox 360 way back when I was still in fucking high school, there were three games I wanted and I picked up for my new system as soon as I was able too.
Sonic '06... there's the horror for ya right fuckin' there.
Mass Effect a game I dearly love to this day.
And finally our subject for today, BioShock.
This may be a weird choice for a halloween review but, BioShock did really intimidate and scare the piss out of me when I first played it, but let's not get ahead of ourselves here. Let's start at the beginning.
So the game starts with your character, let's just call him Jack, being in a plane crash over the mid-Atlantic ocean, swimming to the safety of a nearby light house you end up going down to the underwater utopia of Rapture.
Where mankind has no laws and regulations where humanity can become what it is destined to become and that is apparently fucking insane.
To call BioShock just another FPS type of game would be a downright disservice to it, BioShock is a game with a message a damn relevant message. It was relevant then it's relevant now it'll always be relevant I think.
But anyway upon entering Rapture Jack realizes that the peaceful utopia has turned into a warzone with insane drug addicted splicers murdering anyone they see while the city's leader Andrew Ryan battles against Frank Fontaine who wishes to seize control of the city.
Helped by a man named Atlas over the radio your hair raising journey in Rapture begins with just a wrench as your starting weapon.
The story in BioShock is one of my favorites in all of video games, true being an outsider coming into a fantastical world to stop a war, is pretty by the books admittedly but the 'twist' is what makes this story stand out.
If you've played this game or have heard someone speak about this game chances are you know about the twist or surprise in the story, if you haven't I won't ruin it here but it's one of the best in all of storytelling in my opinion period.
Genuinely surprising at first, and fascinating to witness the clue on a second playthrough. I love it.
The game controls just fine, I mentioned the wrench earlier but that'll be far from your only weapon. A Tommy Gun, a shotgun, a grenade launcher and more can become available to you as you play. There's multiple chances to gain these weapons and each can come with a small variety of different ammunition too, whether you find it in the world or create the ammo yourself.
Yeah crafting is a thing in this game, something I completely forgot existed until I played the game for this review, it works and isn't at all confusing to use like some other crafting systems.
Now weapons will be in your right hand, for your left you can gain Plasmids. These are scientific abilities that you can gain and use in battle, such as igniting someone on fire, using telekinesis to throw objects at their head, electrocuting fools if they step into water, there's a variety of these powers.
Now you can only use a weapon or a Plasmid you can't use both at once and for me it just feels a bit clunky. It works but it did throw me off a bit and annoyed me a time or two.
Exploring and battling through Rapture is fun as well, the atmosphere in this game is like no other. You don't feel safe in this place, and you shouldn't, every psychopath here wants to kill you or worse. And it's gorgeous too, on original hardware the game can still look visually impressive. Yeah you can see some issues here and there if you really want to look for them.
Obviously the remaster looks better, but vanilla BioShock still looks really damn good even after all this time.
As you explore Rapture you'll come across various audio diaries to help flesh out the atmosphere and history of this place. Useful but if you've gotten sick of these things over the years they may just annoy you.
The music here is really good too, being set in the sixties alot of the music is licensed from the time and just continues to add to the games fantastic atmosphere, and can help with the unease and tension at times as well.
Now there's not just crafting here no, no there are abilities you can equip on yourself such as physical buffs, buffs that increase your health etc. these add a level of planning. How do you play? Are you someone who uses your plasmids alot or do you like to run in guns blazing? These RPG elements really help spice up the game and keeps it from being, how did I put it? Just another FPS.
Along with all of that there is also hacking in this game and god do I hope you like pipe puzzles! From turrets to security cameras and even safes each one can be hacked. Now this can be extremely useful and give you goodies. I've heard people say that after playing this game they'd go to sleep and see these damn water puzzles as they closed their eyes.
I believe them, they're not difficult puzzles mind you, but by endgame I didn't want to do these anymore.
The game is not difficult really and that's mainly because death practically means nothing. Upon death you'll respawn at one of the nearby Vita-Chambers, sure you won't have full health but you'll be nearby where you died and whatever enemy killed you won't get a full heal and you can just pick up where you left off.
There are several moments in the game where you have to complete an arbitrary objective to continue whether gathering ingredients to cure some trees or to build a bomb or going on a tedious escort quest with a Little Sister, these moments can become annoying especially since there can be times where the map or waypoint can be a bit confusing, and Rapture can be like a maze to travel through.
Ahh but I mentioned the Little Sisters, these girls carry ADAM a material that can be used to upgrade your character again, very useful and you can free these girls from the corruption in them, or murder them to get more ADAM thereby changing the ending you get. But to get to them you have to go through their guardians, the Big Daddies. Essentially the poster children for this game these hulking monstrosities can wreck your shit early in the game, and can even be a threat by endgame.
They're fast, they're strong, they're terrifying and they are fun as hell to fight. Which coupled with the variety of Splicers who are addicted to ADAM that you can find, gives you several different types of enemies to fight. While not entirely difficult as I said earlier, fighting several different enemies at once can be hectic and alot of fun.
But that doesn't make up for how easy the final boss is. True maybe I over did it, I played on the medium difficulty, completely upgraded my tonics and rescued every Little Sister, but the final boss barely touched me. It's quite pathetic really.
All in all BioShock was a joy to revisit, while annoying in some places. This game has received numerous awards and by many is considered to be a true work of art, and I tend to agree.
BioShock reveives my Silver Seal of Recommendation
If you are a fan of FPS games and haven't played this check it out, as a matter of fact if you haven't played BioShock regardless of what kind of a fan you are, I say check it out.
*Warning: Contains Spoilers*
 |
| I feel nostalgic just seeing this image |
Developer: 2K Boston, 2K Australia
Publisher: 2K Games
Platform: Xbox 360
Genre: First-Person Shooter
Release: August 21, 2007
So when I first got my Xbox 360 way back when I was still in fucking high school, there were three games I wanted and I picked up for my new system as soon as I was able too.
Sonic '06... there's the horror for ya right fuckin' there.
Mass Effect a game I dearly love to this day.
And finally our subject for today, BioShock.
This may be a weird choice for a halloween review but, BioShock did really intimidate and scare the piss out of me when I first played it, but let's not get ahead of ourselves here. Let's start at the beginning.
 |
| A cheery place |
Where mankind has no laws and regulations where humanity can become what it is destined to become and that is apparently fucking insane.
To call BioShock just another FPS type of game would be a downright disservice to it, BioShock is a game with a message a damn relevant message. It was relevant then it's relevant now it'll always be relevant I think.
But anyway upon entering Rapture Jack realizes that the peaceful utopia has turned into a warzone with insane drug addicted splicers murdering anyone they see while the city's leader Andrew Ryan battles against Frank Fontaine who wishes to seize control of the city.
 |
| Somebody needs to clean up around here |
The story in BioShock is one of my favorites in all of video games, true being an outsider coming into a fantastical world to stop a war, is pretty by the books admittedly but the 'twist' is what makes this story stand out.
If you've played this game or have heard someone speak about this game chances are you know about the twist or surprise in the story, if you haven't I won't ruin it here but it's one of the best in all of storytelling in my opinion period.
Genuinely surprising at first, and fascinating to witness the clue on a second playthrough. I love it.
 |
| This is forever etched into my mind |
Yeah crafting is a thing in this game, something I completely forgot existed until I played the game for this review, it works and isn't at all confusing to use like some other crafting systems.
Now weapons will be in your right hand, for your left you can gain Plasmids. These are scientific abilities that you can gain and use in battle, such as igniting someone on fire, using telekinesis to throw objects at their head, electrocuting fools if they step into water, there's a variety of these powers.
Now you can only use a weapon or a Plasmid you can't use both at once and for me it just feels a bit clunky. It works but it did throw me off a bit and annoyed me a time or two.
 |
| I NEED DRUGS!! |
Obviously the remaster looks better, but vanilla BioShock still looks really damn good even after all this time.
As you explore Rapture you'll come across various audio diaries to help flesh out the atmosphere and history of this place. Useful but if you've gotten sick of these things over the years they may just annoy you.
The music here is really good too, being set in the sixties alot of the music is licensed from the time and just continues to add to the games fantastic atmosphere, and can help with the unease and tension at times as well.
Now there's not just crafting here no, no there are abilities you can equip on yourself such as physical buffs, buffs that increase your health etc. these add a level of planning. How do you play? Are you someone who uses your plasmids alot or do you like to run in guns blazing? These RPG elements really help spice up the game and keeps it from being, how did I put it? Just another FPS.
Along with all of that there is also hacking in this game and god do I hope you like pipe puzzles! From turrets to security cameras and even safes each one can be hacked. Now this can be extremely useful and give you goodies. I've heard people say that after playing this game they'd go to sleep and see these damn water puzzles as they closed their eyes.
 |
| Where's Mario when you need him? |
 |
| Free healthcare! |
There are several moments in the game where you have to complete an arbitrary objective to continue whether gathering ingredients to cure some trees or to build a bomb or going on a tedious escort quest with a Little Sister, these moments can become annoying especially since there can be times where the map or waypoint can be a bit confusing, and Rapture can be like a maze to travel through.
Ahh but I mentioned the Little Sisters, these girls carry ADAM a material that can be used to upgrade your character again, very useful and you can free these girls from the corruption in them, or murder them to get more ADAM thereby changing the ending you get. But to get to them you have to go through their guardians, the Big Daddies. Essentially the poster children for this game these hulking monstrosities can wreck your shit early in the game, and can even be a threat by endgame.
 |
| God I love these guys |
But that doesn't make up for how easy the final boss is. True maybe I over did it, I played on the medium difficulty, completely upgraded my tonics and rescued every Little Sister, but the final boss barely touched me. It's quite pathetic really.
All in all BioShock was a joy to revisit, while annoying in some places. This game has received numerous awards and by many is considered to be a true work of art, and I tend to agree.
 |
| For when you're better than System Shock |
BioShock reveives my Silver Seal of Recommendation
If you are a fan of FPS games and haven't played this check it out, as a matter of fact if you haven't played BioShock regardless of what kind of a fan you are, I say check it out.
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