Set in alternate history 1960’s, 2K Boston and 2K Australia bring you the underwater utopia gone wrong: Bioshock. . With an exhilarating story from beginning to end, Bioshock will make you jump at every turn and surprise you at every corner.

After crashing in the middle of the Atlantic, you find a lighthouse within swimming distance; this leads you down to the bottom of the ocean, to Rapture. Designed by main antagonist Andrew Ryan, Rapture was built in the 1940’s and meant to be a haven for society’s elite, an outlet for the best of humanity. The city was originally meant to free those from oppression from the outside world.

I am Andrew Ryan and I am here to ask you a question:
Is a man not entitled to the sweat of his own brow?

No, says the man in Washington. It belongs to the poor.
No, says the man in the Vatican. It belongs to God.
No, says the man in Moscow. It belongs to everyone.

I rejected those answers. Instead, I chose something
different. I chose the impossible. I chose...
Rapture.

—Andrew Ryan

Rapture, a city long fallen apart, is quite the depressing sight. With broken objects littering the floor, and messages written on walls in blood, the atmosphere in Bioshock is really quite amazing. It’s quite obvious Rapture used to be a very colourful place, but right from the get-go the darkness of the broken city engulfs you.

While the music that is routinely heard throughout the game is even more eerie. As if running through the empty hallways in the dark alone, and constantly bumping into decomposing bodies wasn’t enough, the cheery 50’s music that follows you everywhere you go will without doubt freak you out.

Bioshock brings new meaning to the term role playing as players are forced to choose throughout the game whether to kill small children for immediate gain, or save for later reward. A point which hampered this game earlier on, but one of the few ‘negatives’ for this critically acclaimed beauty. Little sisters are what these small children are called, and their protectors, the main enemy in Bioshock, are called Big Daddy’s.

With awesome water effects and amazing blood spatters Bioshock defines the survival/Horror genre. The same could be said for all element effects, be it water, ice or fire. Sound is also done magnificently. Right from the first 30 seconds of the game where you’re plane crashes and screams fill the empty darkness, to walking through Raptures many corridors where you may hear the rumbling footsteps of a nearby Big Daddy before you even see it.

As a genetically mutated being, you have two types of weapons. Crude, projectile, 1960s firearms such the shotgun, machine gun, and crossbow. And as part of your genetic enhancements, Plasmids. These are self injected and provide you with certain powers, such as, Telekinesis which allows you to move objects, and Incinerate which allows you to hurl fire at enemies. Also, weapons can be combined, such as having Incinerating bolts for your crossbow.

The negatives in Bioshock are few and far between, but they are there and when there found they can become quite the nuisance. A camera you are given at the beginning of the game is quickly forgotten about as it provides you with no upgrades. Also, the Hacking system is another point of negativity. Opening safes and reprogramming security cameras to work for you requires you to hack it. These hacks are small puzzles which can become quite annoying and repetitive, but important to the game. And easily the largest negative, Bioshock is a strictly singleplayer-only game which means extremely little replay value. In the 2 weeks I rented it, I went through the game once for the story, and again for the achievements. That’s it. Be it multiplayer or cooperative play, developers need to break this lazy habit and finish games once there started.

The list of Achievements is definitely fun to earn for any Achievement-lover, but some of them will really bring the fun factor down for some. Achievements such as fully researching enemies with your camera become a hassle and have little benefit, while finding audiotapes, which add more depth to the story, are completely useless as there are far to many for you to actually care. However I did have an overall positive experience with the Achievements because some are very difficult to get (but not impossible). 800/1000 points later and I’m a satisfied gamer.

Bioshock would have easily cleared the 95% range had some kind of multiplayer been implemented. Discussing the game in private chat while playing just isn’t the same as Online Cooperative play. Some annoying problems also knock a couple points off this, but the major factor is simple. Lack of replayability.

When all is said and done, Bioshock is easily one of my top five favourite games of this generation. With its horror/action/shooter/role-playing style of play, any gamer would find it hard to put this masterpiece down. At the same time, no one in the right mind would buy this and not regret their purchase at one time or another, as with all singleplayer-only games.

So please, Would You Kindly, not buy this, and just rent it.