Cerise Magazine

What do misogyny, steampunk weaponry, and bathyspheres have in common? Besides a common home on any forum for nerds, they all help build the atmosphere in the fictional underwater city of Rapture, a place where artists are uncensored, science is unhindered by morality, and the common man is not so common after all. Welcome to Bioshock, guys and dolls; it’s one hell of a ride.

The Premise

Bioshock, published by 2K Games (formerly Irrational Games), places our mysterious hero, Jack, in the city of Rapture after a plane crash in the middle of the Atlantic ocean sometime in 1960. Jack stumbles through the twisting waters of the ocean as the only survivor, but as luck would have it there is a beacon of safety against the backdrop of a full moon. A lighthouse stands in the middle of the water, and our hero leaves the wreckage to sink into the abyss of cold water. His journey into the mythical city of Rapture begins by way of bathysphere, a spherical submersible lowered into the sea by a cable. A man named Andrew Ryan has built this city to be free from oppression from the government, communism, and religion - a utopia constructed to let everyone do whatever strikes their imaginations. Of course, like all utopias, it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.

Rapture may have once been a shining city of opportunity, but when Jack arrives, it’s falling apart under the weight of the ocean around it and is filled with murderous people who are the products of the city itself. The city’s population consists mostly of splicers, who are genetically enhanced by a mysterious substance called ADAM. ADAM is like a drug to these people and they crave it, hunt for it, and kill to have more. And there lies the core question of the game: What happened within this marvel to turn it into such a dystopic hell?

Bioshock’s story is something that is not meant to be spoiled. It is something to be played through and experienced.

The answer to that question is not in this review. There is absolutely no way I could give that plot point away and sleep well at night (that, and I’d have an inbox full of hate mail). Bioshock’s story is something that is not meant to be spoiled by reading. It is something to be played through and experienced through an ingenuous method of storytelling: audio diaries. At the beginning of the game, you receive a hand-held radio that you carry around, and certain events and tutorials are voiced over the radio by the game’s narrator, a denizen of Rapture named Atlas. As you progress through the game, you pick up various diaries that you can play and replay at your discretion. So, if you want to gun down a few splicers while listening to the audio blog of a Rapture citizen, go ahead! The voice acting in Bioshock is, thankfully, excellent. The accents and dialog are so well written, at some points you do feel like these are actual people, and the story gives you a strong incentive to look around for more and more of these diaries, since it is the main method of plot progression. The environments are also rich with clues as to what may have happened to Rapture; signs litter walls, remnants of parties and events litter the rooms, and corpses are strewn about the city within the barricaded doors of homes. As the player, you may figure out something about Rapture without listening to the recordings you find along the way. The game is extremely atmospheric, providing a deep level of immersion on par with other great adventure games (such as the Metroid Prime series).

The Moral Dilemma

Key to both the story and game-play is a moral dilemma, clearly presented, for the player to deal with. As stated, Rapture seems to run on ADAM. ADAM gives you the power to upgrade yourself with unique plasmids (genetic modifications). To get this ADAM though, you must acquire it from little girl-like aberrations known as Little Sisters. These Little Sisters can be avoided altogether, saved, or harvested (killed). Getting to the Little Sisters comes at a price, however. Each one has her own protector, a large diving-suited monstrosity known as the Big Daddy. These core enemies are massive damage tanks, and they dish out a particularly brutal kind of hell when they attack you. In other words, they can take your hit and dish it back at about fifty times the amount of damage you deal. The core of this dilemma involving the Little Sisters though is the amount of ADAM you receive from them depending on the action you take. There is the promise of a reward for saving them, but with a significant drop in ADAM for doing so. Harvesting them gives you the most, but do you really want to go around murdering children for more power? Ignoring them means you are unable to upgrade your modifications and as such, weakening yourself against the elements of Rapture. It’s a choice left up to the player, with each road offering a different kind of reward and one that is central to the storytelling of the game.

Weapons & Plasmids

Past the superb story, Bioshock is also an incredibly fun shooter to play (and yes, this is a shooter), but it also has the elements of an RPG as well. The weapons are all initially pretty basic. You have a pistol, shotgun, machine gun, a wrench, and so forth. All of them are equally fun to use and have great benefits, drawbacks, and a strong sense of presence when used. Everything about the weapons makes them feel heavy and hardcore. The pistol, for example, has kickback, belches smoke, and lets out a satisfying crack every time you pull the trigger.

Aside from the guns though, you can pick up different powers called plasmids to increase your abilities and dish out more damage, move faster, or to master hacking the city’s security. Some of the more useful plasmids are often used as a weapon. Incinerate ignites enemies into an inferno with a snap of your fingers, Telekinesis lets you launch objects (furniture, bodies, etc.) at unsuspecting splicers, and Winter Blast freezes your enemies giving you the opportunity to beat them into icy chunks with your wrench - and these are only a few types of plasmids. On top of that, many of these can be combined with other plasmids, or used throughout the environment to some effect.

Experimenting is the best way to find what works for you or what kind of wild combinations are possible. As an example, after I beat the game, I later found out someone took proximity mines and placed them all over a desk, then telekinetically launched the desk at a Big Daddy, which killed it instantly. Bioshock leaves it up to you how you want to play the game. If you want to sneak around and beat down guys with the wrench only, there are plasmids that allow you to do more damage with the wrench. There are other plasmids that give you a better ability to hack security cams and turrets. Bioshock gives you dozens of ways to get through the game, and allows you to experience and learn without penalty.

The Visuals

You shouldn’t have to read this article to know Bioshock is a gorgeous game. It’s been revered as a bastion of beautiful graphics and art design since long before it was released - and in that regard, it surely does not disappoint. The water alone looks like it will roll off your screen and onto your carpet, possibly soaking your feet and giving you hypothermia. Extraordinary detail has gone into the city of Rapture. You are able to see the details in protester’s posters, graffiti, and even in the ads/billboards littered all over the underwater metropolis. The design team made everything about Rapture feel alive and populated the surroundings with interesting elements to give you reason to explore. And if the graphics weren’t enough, the sound and music of the game are top notch; voices call out from nearby rooms, footsteps of the Big Daddy slam down into neighboring floors, and the whine of alarms and bullets can be heard as you sneak from room to room. Juke boxes play period jazz and “oldies” that only adds to the 1950’s atmosphere they are trying to convey. This all adds a strong level of immersion to the decayed, creepy surroundings of the game world.

But with all that praise said, with all the complex combinations mentioned, if you’re looking for a hardcore shooter then this is not your game. If Bioshock has one flaw, it is just how easy it is to waltz through the entire experience. Death means nothing to you. If you die, who cares? Moments later you are revived in something called a Vita Chamber. The Vita Chamber brings you back with all of your weapons and ammo, the enemy still at a lower health, and puts some distance between you and your last location. This lack of a death penalty does take away from the intensity level of the game (maybe start on Veteran difficulty if you are a hardcore shooter fan). On top of that, Bioshock also gives you an obvious direction with a big ol’ arrow that you can follow at any time towards your next objective. However, it is not required to follow the story as it directs you, seeing as you can explore at your leisure and come back to it when you finish your maneuvering through the cityscape.

If you can look past the few, small imperfections, Bioshock is a shining beacon of what a stellar shooter can be - and more importantly, how strong and mature of a story a video game can really have. The total experience, with the level of polish presented, is the kind of thing classic video games all contain: solid, simple gameplay, a strong story, a detailed world with a high level of immersion, and a high bar that never gets lowered for any reason whatsoever. And with this great story, clever game play and a relatively creepy, beautiful world, Bioshock is the kind of great game we can only hope 2K Games is capable of producing again on their next outing.

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Bioshock

October 2007 Issue

Features

Interviews

Articles

Gamer Stories

Reviews

Odds 'n Ends

The Premise

The Moral Dilemma

Weapons & Plasmids

The Visuals