a5c7b9f00b In 1960, a lone survivor of a plane crash named Jack discovers an abandoned underwater utopia, only to find out that the mystery behind its creation is much more sinister than he first believed. The year is 1960, while flying over the Atlantic ocean, average citizen Jack blacks out and awakens to discover that he is the sole survivor of a plane crash. Amidst the wreckage of his plane Jack spots and swims to a lighthouse and boards a Bathysphere that takes him deep within the ocean and into Rapture. Originally conceived as a utopia where a man would be entitled to all that he made without the interference of "parasites" by idealistic billionaire mogul Andrew Ryan. Rapture has since decayed and festered from the infectious effects of civil war and anarchy, brought about by the very ideals it citizens and it's leader embrace. Aided by a sympathetic smuggler and a rogue geneticist, Jack salvages gene altering chemicals transforming himself into a superhuman, and uses his newfound powers and abilities as well as an arsenal of weapons to fend off the vicious hordes of psychotic mutants, security robots and armored supersoldiers that resulted from Rapture's unrest while given the choice to either rescue or lethally harvest the genetic material from Rapture's only citizens with a chance: the 10 year old "Little Sisters". As Jack wanders through the condemning atmosphere of rapture, he treads towards a secret that for could shatter all that he has known forever. "Bioshock", like most art, is shaped from an idea, a message, a concept; in this case, it's Rapture, an underwater dystopia molded by objectivist ideals. In this Jules Verne scenario, 20.000 leagues under the sea, Andrew Ryan (a captain Nemo politician), after being fed up with government oppression, decides to build an entire underwater nation, where every "man is entitled to the sweat of his brow". In his own private utopia, justice, religion, ethics and any social considerations are absent, in favor of free commerce and free will as Law. The result, as you can guess, is nothing but disastrous. Though at first, the lack of ethical boundaries makes science, commerce and art bloom, after some time, everything goes haywire. The result is an underwater ghost city, filled with the monsters of Andrew Ryan's dreams: a plastic surgeon that makes Picasso paintings out of women, a sculptor that makes art by molding human flesh, and a capitalist entrepreneur that is willing destroy an entire society, if only to be entitled "to the sweat of his brow". Rapture is, without a shadow of a doubt, one of the most intelligent universes ever to grace a video game. Written by none other than Ken Levine ("Thief, the Dark Project", "System Shock 2"), this metaphor of modern capitalism and nightmare of ideological proportions, rightfully belongs in the same pantheon of dystopian masterpieces such as "1984", "Farenheit 451" "Brave New World", "Gattaca", "V for Vendetta"…<br/><br/>The plot itself revolves around the discovery of Rapture by an unknown man, after his plane crashed in the middle of the Ocean. Controlled by the player, he will uncover Rapture's dark past, by listening to the audio-logs of its inhabitants and by facing Andrew Ryan's objectivist monstrosities. In the end, his quest will decide the fate of Rapture, according to the moral choices of the player. And though they are binary, if they're taken seriously, they can add a level of dramatic impact to the plot, making it much more meaningful. The narrative tends to move slowly and tries to establish certain moods, allowing the player to immerse in the chaotic nature of Rapture, while at the same time, learning about its convoluted history. Curiously, few cut-scenes are used, which ends up being both a blessing and a curse. On one side, you aren't obliged to sit through important plot details, but on the other side, much of the dramatic potential of the plot feels wasted.<br/><br/>What manages to counterweight the absence of cut-scenes, is the sheer amount of detail and information that lies hidden in the art and music of the game. Posters, sculptures, flyer's, songs, all have something to say about the world of Rapture, and whether you want to or not, you'll apprehend a lot of information that might be otherwise hard to convey. Of course, this wouldn't be that interesting if the Art Design or Music weren't as good as they are. The fact is that "Bioshock", besides featuring one of the best narratives to grace a game, also features one of the best art designs ever to appear in one. The virtuous art deco transforms every corridor, wall and painting into marvelous works of art. The contrast between the cold, stark colors of the ocean and the flashy neon of Rapture's buildings is the perfect testament to the designers' capability of creating interactive paintings. Accompanying the visuals, a an erudite soundtrack by Garry Schyman fills in the immersion gap, with moody piano ballads and claustrophobic cacophonies establishing the player's mood perfectly.<br/><br/>Usually, in my reviews of artistic games, every compliment has been said by the time I get to the game-play section, which is where I commonly start "bashing". Guess what? "Bioshock" is also grand on that regard. It takes the first person shooter / rpg hybrid mechanics of "System Shock 2", removes the unneeded complications, and empowers certain abilities, creating the perfect blend of open-ended first person shooter. The player has at his disposal a great number of weapons and abilities (which he can level up), each with a particular context of use, allowing the player to choose his particular fighting style. It's nothing that hasn't been done before, but in "Bioshock", everything feels tweaked and balanced, to the point of making complex mechanics inherently fun to use, while most games, either simplify them too much, thus discarding the tactical nature of choices ("Crysis"), or complicate them to the point of being too obtuse to be fun ("Deus Ex"). Furthermore, special abilities, which range from fireballs to electric shocks, have special uses when the environment's context is right, thanks to a physics engine that defines water as electric-conducting and oil as inflammable, making special abilities all the more amusing. Perhaps the only (minor) flaw I can find in this game (that can't be regarded as nitpicking) is the sometimes overly hectic nature of the action; for the most part of the game, there is someone (or something) trying to kill you. The reason this comes out as a flaw is simple: "Bioshock" is beautiful, immersive, and mysterious, warranting exploration and attention to detail in order to sink in all the wonders of the game, but it is hard to do so, when you're constantly fighting for your life. A more paced game-play would definitely emphasize the more interesting aspects of the game, even if it would end up losing some appeal for more trigger-happy players.<br/><br/>It's not hard to understand why someone who looks upon games as an art form, would love "Bioshock" in every possible way. It's one of the few games that actually wants, from the get go, to be regarded as much more than just a toy, or just a "game". Its aesthetics are beautiful, its message is strong, intelligent and emotionally provocative, and it is an entertaining game. It is, by my definition, the perfect example of a perfect game, and one of the best works of art I've seen in the past year. I enjoyed this game, just not apparently as much as most people did. This game was fun, do not get me wrong, but it could have been a bit better. The game is about a guy on a plane, said plane crashes and the guy ends up near a structure that is jutting out of the water. He goes to it and inside he takes a diving pod down to a luxuries underwater city called 'Rapture'. A place that is in existence thanks to a man named Ryan, who believes that man is entitled to enjoy the fruits of his labor, that man should not have to give pieces of what he does to others. Well, this place is kind of in shambles as the place has been overrun with its own populace and shifty smugglers. A person just can not have anything nice. Well a man named Atlus kind of guides you, at first to help his family and then to kill the creator of this deranged utopia. Going about the place is the funnest part of the game, seeing the many very nice locales, one thing I would have liked to have seen is a bit more of this place in prime condition, to walk through it and interact with the many strange characters. I would have liked to have had a few RPG elements in it as I just think it would have been fun if there were a few places with people that were not trying to kill you that you could converse with. The combat appears to be your standard first person shooter at first, but then you gain a substance called ADAM and are able to use plasmids. Strange abilities that allow you to set enemies on fire, electrocute, and freeze along with many others. It is rather fun, but I had a hard time switching between these strange abilities and your standard firearms at times. You also come into contact with a strange site in this game and that is the little sisters and big daddies. Very unsettling the first time it is essential to engage these hulking things in order to harvest ADAM from the strange little girls that jam needles within the fallen enemies to gather ADAM because in Rapture ADAM is everything. Fun for the most part, but I would have liked to had more exploration and less fighting. I do not really care for games that keep re-spawning enemies out of seemingly nowhere. However, overall my time in Rapture was an exciting one.
ticuabirchna Admin replied
354 weeks ago