Game title: Bioshock
Platforms: Xbox360, PS3, PC
Developer: Irrational Games
Release date: August 21, 2007
Pregame:
Ah, Bioshock. What to say about Bioshock. In terms of world-building, it's easily one of the most important games of the last few years. In fact, it feels a bit sacrilegious to even critique this one. Even so, if there's a chance that I can expose someone new to this game, it's worth doing.
Originally an Xbox 360 exclusive, Bioshock was a major selling point for the console, and with good reason. It captivated audiences with its imaginative environments, unusual enemies, and engaging world. This game grabs your attention from the start, and after playing for a short time, it'll keep it for the long haul.
Play-by-play:
Bioshock has one of the greatest intro sequences I've ever experienced. Not because it's particularly adrenaline-filled (although a plane crash is involved), but because the otherworldly tone of the game is delivered so expertly. The flaming plane wreckage, the mysterious nearby obelisk in the middle of the Atlantic, the imposing "No Gods or Kings. Only Man." statue, and of course the bathysphere ride. Have a look.
The city of Rapture certainly makes an impression with its skyscrapers (although they're not exactly scraping the sky from the ocean floor), neon lights, and the occasional whale visits. From such a spectacular view, players may stop to think that the city's founder, Andrew Ryan, was on to something. After all, look at what he achieved! Then the bathysphere comes to a halt, and players are treated to a different view.
Right from the start, it's obvious that hings have gone far, far downhill from Ryan's original vision. Rapture's once-grand visage lay crumbling and leaking, its majestic views punctuated by small fires and debris. This would-be utopia has fallen, and fallen hard. The overuse of a substance called ADAM has transformed most of the city's citizens into little more than animals, many of whom still wear their masquerade costumes from their last party (New Year's Eve 1958), before it all fell apart.
ADAM is a miraculous substance. It allows people to fully customize themselves, right down to the genome. As you might imagine, it became insanely popular, which led to overuse and addiction. ADAM addicts, who will kill you just a soon as look at you, are called Splicers, and they're the most common enemy in the game. While Splicers might have used ADAM for cosmetic reasons, too much of it has warped their minds and bodies. Thankfully, cosmetics are fairly meaningless to Jack, the faceless, speechless protagonist.
Jack will use ADAM for Plasmids, which are essentially superpowers. For example, the first Plasmid players acquire lets them send out electric blasts at will. "There's nothing like a fistful of lightning, now is there?" Using Plasmids drains the players reserve of EVE (ADAM and EVE, how obnoxiously cute). EVE is basically mana, and players will find booster shots full of it everywhere. ADAM is harder to come by, and that's where the Little Sisters come into play.
For those who still don't know, Little sisters are unsettling monstrosities wrapped in a little girl's body. ADAM has not only revolutionized Rapture, it has turned ordinary children into the stuff of nightmares. They look perfectly innocent at first, but then you'll notice their glowing yellow eyes and the fact that they walk around stabbing corpses with a huge hypodermic needle. That's their job - extracting leftover ADAM from the dead. If that's not creepy enough, imagine them happily giggling while they do it over and over. There you go.
Players will need to hunt Little Sisters to acquire ADAM, and thus better Plasmids. Once they catch one of the little demons, they have two options: 1) they can use a special Plasmid to remove some ADAM and leaving behind a cured, normal child, or 2) they can violently harvest ADAM from the Little Sister's body, killing her in the process. Oh, and when I say "violently," I mean "violently." As in "'ripping half her head off' violently."
This game meets blood, gore and all manner of other M-rated content head-on. All those graphic details, instead of cheapening the overall game, actually enrich it. They help to define the depths that Rapture has sunk to (no pun intended), and what it has now become: a hellish nightmare.
The choice between saving and harvesting Little Sisters serves as a tacked-on morality system, and that choice will affect the game's ending much more than it should, in my opinion. Of course, before players can even think about approaching a Little Sister, they'll have to go through her bodyguard - one of the infamous Big Daddies. These armored, hulking behemoths are the walking embodiment of pain, and they won't hesitate to make a corpse out of out of anyone stupid enough to threaten their ward. Get stupid, my friends.
Big Daddies come in two flavors: the drill-armed Bouncers, and the rivet gun-wielding Rosies. Players will want to combine guns, Plasmids and traps if they want to get out of a Big Daddy fight unscathed. Despite the fact that the sight of them tends to call up images of eldritch horrors, Big Daddies and Little Sisters share a disturbingly tender relationship. So long as everything is peaceful, a Little Sister will use use her innocent voice to speak happy words to her guardian, who she'll often call "Mr. Bubbles."
Once the fighting starts, she'll angrily yell "TEAR HIM INTO LITTLE BITS!" and the like. Once Mr Bubbles expires, she'll weep and beg for him to get up. It's almost enough to make you forget that an deep-sea diver with a fucking drill for an arm just tried to impale you.
In the likely event that a Big Daddy shoots, stabs, tackles, stomps or otherwise maims you to death, have no fear. There is absolutely no penalty for death in this game. Seriously, you don't even lose time by having to reload your last save file. At your time of death, you'll be immediately revived at the nearest Vita-Chamber (of which there are many), and you'll be fully equipped with all the money, EVE, etc. that you had before.
If you hurt the Big Daddy (or anybody else, for that matter), the damage will still be there when you get back. No harm, no foul. Just try again. Even if you die again, you won't be penalized, and you'll have hurt your foe a bit more. Eventually, you'll finish him off. This effectively removes all the challenge from the game. It's a little difficult to be scared of something if the worst thing that can happen is that you'll have to walk a short distance.
Big Daddies are only part of the equation, though. Players will use their upgradable weapons and abilities to face down several varieties of Splicers and mechanical menaces. In regards to the machines, players can also resort to hacking. Hacking a turret, for instance, will make it friendly toward you, and it will riddle your enemies with holes automatically. It's an insanely useful thing to do, but the actual process of hacking is not what you'd think it'd be. Did you ever play Pipe Dream?
That's it. That's how you reprogram a sentry robot or shut of a security alarm or even hack a vending machine... SCIENCE!
I understand that mini-games don't often keep the same tone as the larger game, but it's especially jarring when the larger game is a philosophical dystopian period piece and the mini-game is Pipe Dream.
Still, remember that all those elements are just the backdrop. The game's story will have players explore Rapture's secrets and meet with the city's remaining major players, many of which have gone quite mad. While big things are happening now, the plot gets much deeper if players choose to listen to the various radio diaries scattered about the city. They tell tales outlining Rapture's rise and fall, and they'll let players really get to know their friends and enemies. It gets quite engaging, and the twist! My god, the twist!
I know the game's been out for over five and a half years now, but I still refuse to spoil it, in case any readers haven't played through the game. Suffice it to say, it's big, and it changes everything. Just - just play it. Seriously.
Final call:
Bioshock often appears as the go-to example in the "video games are art" argument. Even if you were only to play it for a short time, you'd begin to see why. It has a few shortcomings, but they're easy to overlook in favor of the positive. This is a creepy, stylistic shooter set in a crumbling paradise that gives players superpowers and still manages to unnerve them.
I personally list this one among my most favorite games, and you could easily say the same. If you've never tried this one, would you kindly give it a chance? You'll thank me later.
Platforms: Xbox360, PS3, PC
Developer: Irrational Games
Release date: August 21, 2007
Pregame:
Ah, Bioshock. What to say about Bioshock. In terms of world-building, it's easily one of the most important games of the last few years. In fact, it feels a bit sacrilegious to even critique this one. Even so, if there's a chance that I can expose someone new to this game, it's worth doing.Originally an Xbox 360 exclusive, Bioshock was a major selling point for the console, and with good reason. It captivated audiences with its imaginative environments, unusual enemies, and engaging world. This game grabs your attention from the start, and after playing for a short time, it'll keep it for the long haul.
Play-by-play:
Bioshock has one of the greatest intro sequences I've ever experienced. Not because it's particularly adrenaline-filled (although a plane crash is involved), but because the otherworldly tone of the game is delivered so expertly. The flaming plane wreckage, the mysterious nearby obelisk in the middle of the Atlantic, the imposing "No Gods or Kings. Only Man." statue, and of course the bathysphere ride. Have a look.
The city of Rapture certainly makes an impression with its skyscrapers (although they're not exactly scraping the sky from the ocean floor), neon lights, and the occasional whale visits. From such a spectacular view, players may stop to think that the city's founder, Andrew Ryan, was on to something. After all, look at what he achieved! Then the bathysphere comes to a halt, and players are treated to a different view.
Right from the start, it's obvious that hings have gone far, far downhill from Ryan's original vision. Rapture's once-grand visage lay crumbling and leaking, its majestic views punctuated by small fires and debris. This would-be utopia has fallen, and fallen hard. The overuse of a substance called ADAM has transformed most of the city's citizens into little more than animals, many of whom still wear their masquerade costumes from their last party (New Year's Eve 1958), before it all fell apart.
ADAM is a miraculous substance. It allows people to fully customize themselves, right down to the genome. As you might imagine, it became insanely popular, which led to overuse and addiction. ADAM addicts, who will kill you just a soon as look at you, are called Splicers, and they're the most common enemy in the game. While Splicers might have used ADAM for cosmetic reasons, too much of it has warped their minds and bodies. Thankfully, cosmetics are fairly meaningless to Jack, the faceless, speechless protagonist.
Jack will use ADAM for Plasmids, which are essentially superpowers. For example, the first Plasmid players acquire lets them send out electric blasts at will. "There's nothing like a fistful of lightning, now is there?" Using Plasmids drains the players reserve of EVE (ADAM and EVE, how obnoxiously cute). EVE is basically mana, and players will find booster shots full of it everywhere. ADAM is harder to come by, and that's where the Little Sisters come into play.
For those who still don't know, Little sisters are unsettling monstrosities wrapped in a little girl's body. ADAM has not only revolutionized Rapture, it has turned ordinary children into the stuff of nightmares. They look perfectly innocent at first, but then you'll notice their glowing yellow eyes and the fact that they walk around stabbing corpses with a huge hypodermic needle. That's their job - extracting leftover ADAM from the dead. If that's not creepy enough, imagine them happily giggling while they do it over and over. There you go.
Players will need to hunt Little Sisters to acquire ADAM, and thus better Plasmids. Once they catch one of the little demons, they have two options: 1) they can use a special Plasmid to remove some ADAM and leaving behind a cured, normal child, or 2) they can violently harvest ADAM from the Little Sister's body, killing her in the process. Oh, and when I say "violently," I mean "violently." As in "'ripping half her head off' violently."
This game meets blood, gore and all manner of other M-rated content head-on. All those graphic details, instead of cheapening the overall game, actually enrich it. They help to define the depths that Rapture has sunk to (no pun intended), and what it has now become: a hellish nightmare.
The choice between saving and harvesting Little Sisters serves as a tacked-on morality system, and that choice will affect the game's ending much more than it should, in my opinion. Of course, before players can even think about approaching a Little Sister, they'll have to go through her bodyguard - one of the infamous Big Daddies. These armored, hulking behemoths are the walking embodiment of pain, and they won't hesitate to make a corpse out of out of anyone stupid enough to threaten their ward. Get stupid, my friends.
Big Daddies come in two flavors: the drill-armed Bouncers, and the rivet gun-wielding Rosies. Players will want to combine guns, Plasmids and traps if they want to get out of a Big Daddy fight unscathed. Despite the fact that the sight of them tends to call up images of eldritch horrors, Big Daddies and Little Sisters share a disturbingly tender relationship. So long as everything is peaceful, a Little Sister will use use her innocent voice to speak happy words to her guardian, who she'll often call "Mr. Bubbles."
Once the fighting starts, she'll angrily yell "TEAR HIM INTO LITTLE BITS!" and the like. Once Mr Bubbles expires, she'll weep and beg for him to get up. It's almost enough to make you forget that an deep-sea diver with a fucking drill for an arm just tried to impale you.
If you hurt the Big Daddy (or anybody else, for that matter), the damage will still be there when you get back. No harm, no foul. Just try again. Even if you die again, you won't be penalized, and you'll have hurt your foe a bit more. Eventually, you'll finish him off. This effectively removes all the challenge from the game. It's a little difficult to be scared of something if the worst thing that can happen is that you'll have to walk a short distance.
That's it. That's how you reprogram a sentry robot or shut of a security alarm or even hack a vending machine... SCIENCE!
I understand that mini-games don't often keep the same tone as the larger game, but it's especially jarring when the larger game is a philosophical dystopian period piece and the mini-game is Pipe Dream.
I know the game's been out for over five and a half years now, but I still refuse to spoil it, in case any readers haven't played through the game. Suffice it to say, it's big, and it changes everything. Just - just play it. Seriously.
Final call:
Bioshock often appears as the go-to example in the "video games are art" argument. Even if you were only to play it for a short time, you'd begin to see why. It has a few shortcomings, but they're easy to overlook in favor of the positive. This is a creepy, stylistic shooter set in a crumbling paradise that gives players superpowers and still manages to unnerve them.
I personally list this one among my most favorite games, and you could easily say the same. If you've never tried this one, would you kindly give it a chance? You'll thank me later.
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