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» MEDIA (1)

Bioshock was one of the most anticipated games of the year and arrived to outstanding reviews from nearly every major gaming site around. I’ll admit I was caught up in the “Bioshock Frenzy” and eagerly sought out the game. But did the game truly live up to its expectations, or were reviewers simply so happy to have Bioshock that they were willing to overlook its flaws?

Bioshock takes place in 1960 where your character, Jack, is flying over the ocean. The plane unexpectedly goes down and only Jack survives. He swims to the surface to find himself surrounded by the flaming wreckage of the plane. This is where you take control. You find your way to a mysterious lighthouse and quickly step into the world of Rapture, the underwater city.

The first levels of Bioshock are engaging, and have great pacing. The enemies seem varied and diverse and you are still overwhelmed by the incredible sights and sounds of Rapture. The architecture, music, and mood of the game is spot on.

Unfortunately, that is where my praise ends.

The gameplay has seemingly taken a back seat as most of your abilities, called plasmids, are not useful enough to get you thru the game. While initially very entertaining and fun, you ultimately end up using your favorite weapon and ammo combination for most of your combat. After the first few levels, the game starts to slow down considerably and you notice that you hardly ever see any new enemies. Just the same enemies and their same battle cries over and over. Instead of keeping you engaged, the levels just keep dragging on and on.

Supplies and Adam (used to upgrade your abilities) were far too abundant regardless or your choices. For a game that was touted as having this abundance of choice, I found it confusing why we were presented with a one dimensional, linear, story with virtually no NPC’s. The only interaction with other characters was thru combat, or radio messages. Sure you had the choice to harvest the “Adam” from the little sisters or to Rescue them, but the only difference that made was which ending video was triggered after completing the game.

Indeed, there was a twist in the story and it takes you in a new direction, but honestly, you probably saw it coming. I would have rather seen more interaction with NPC’s and the addition of some characters that didn’t try to kill you on sight. The developers touted the “morality” angle a lot, but aside from the little sisters they didn’t give you a single place to choose a moral path. The addition of NPC’s could have really helped play up this angle, but they were sadly absent.

When the day is done, what you have in Bioshock is a beautiful game with an abundance of symbolism and depth that ultimately comes up short on story and gameplay. I have a hard time not recommending the game, but it could have been so much more.