Bioshock was a genre shifting masterpiece upon release.

Looking back, there are some cracks in its foundation that stand out a bit more obviously today after so many reiterations and refinements have been made to first person shooters on the whole, but all the same the fact the experience is still such a rich, deep, and engrossing one is a testament to how incredible it originally was.

Bioshock is first and foremost the story of Rapture, an underwater utopia plunged into chaos by its own design of rejecting traditional ideology. It was a city created to be a safe haven for the most ambitious and intelligent people of the world to tap into their full potential; to experiment and create, free from the burden of morals and law found in the world above. Along with this came the discovery of a gene altering drug known as Adam, which when injected alters the hosts genetic code and bestows superhuman powers to them, from shooting fire from your fingertips to telekinesis and mind control. In a city removed from any natural order, restrained only by owns own ingenuity, the thirst for power eventually led to the city's demise.

Entering this decrepit city as a castaway from a crashed airplane is among the most impressive and memorable opening sequences to any video game I've ever played. It's a perfectly executed series of events, informing you both of what the city once was, and the nightmarish hell it became in a matter of moments before leading you into a astonishingly well crafted world that devours you whole in its overpowering atmosphere. Everywhere you look there are callbacks, visual cues and audio diaries that retell what life was like in Rapture, and how it got to be the way it is. The sense of place and amount of detail placed into not only what this city was, but what it represented, is an astounding achievement in world design and environmental narratives. There's never a room that feels out of place, or an oddly written character; it all fits together in this incredibly twisted world of objectivisism, steeped in the writings of Ayn Rand and written in such a way that makes it almost frighteningly easy to see how a city like Rapture could potentially come about.

Much of this is presented non-verbally, with art deco banners and store fronts, dated vending machines, and various subtle hints at Rapture's history peppering the environment and bringing it to life. The disturbing sounds and dialogues of the splicers inhabiting the city add a level of characterization to enemies that turns them more than basic targets, at times makes killing them feel morally reprehensible (at least until they try to do the same).

The world design is so strong in fact that it largely overshadows the core narrative of your character, one which stays largely in the background up until roughly 2/3 of the way through, and then ends in a rather disappointingly cliched manner. It's not to say it's bad, as when the plot finally comes to the forefront it does it in a way that's shocking and unforgettable, but it seems almost secondary in many ways to the numerous auxiliary stories you hear as you make your way through rapture. It's there to keep the experience on a straight path, but it's not what drives it.

With how much depth and originality was given to creating this remarkable world, it's almost unbelievable that just as much work has been put into the actual shooting mechanics. Utilizing plasmids, the same substances that turned the citizens of Rapture insane, adds a host of combat options to the standard gunplay, often working in tandem with each other (for example electrocuting a splicer, the enemies of the game, and then delivering a hefty hit with your wrench) to open the game up for dozens of different tactics that make combat almost like a puzzle as you mix and match various tools at your disposal to find the most potent combinations. Being able to carry an entire arsenal with you at a time opens things up even further, allowing you an incredible amount of freedom in how you approach encounters, and with it a welcome amount of variety. When you add in the dozens of passive abilities used to augment your abilities, the sheer level of depth in just the combat becomes almost overwhelming in its scope.

The inventiveness and distinction of each enemy adds yet another layer to the design, from the different way splicers react (from running straight at you arms flailing, to climbing the walls and dropping down from above), to the intense encounters with the Big Daddies: huge enemies outfitted with an enormously powerful drill and far more speed an maneuverability than there colossal diving suit bodies would have you believe. These fights are brutal and require you to once again rethink how you approach combat, often using the environment and traps you set to your advantage as a head on approach will lead to an almost certain death.

The few areas that Bioshock trips up is largely the fault of the existence of its even more mechanically sophisticated sequel, which streamlined the tedious hacking minigame and added dual wielding to make combat even faster and more enjoyable. They're largely trivial things in the overall picture, but it does make returning to the original rather a good deal harder than I'd imagined, and would likely seem a bit clumsy to those who played the other two games first (which I would certainly advise against).

Even after all these years, very few games have managed to match the depth and creativity of Bioshock's world and mechanics, even its own two sequels. It's an unbelievable achievement in every area of its design, and the sort of game that would be fair to considered something of a requirement to play. It's among the most incredible games I've ever played, as well as one of my all time personal favorites and a game I see myself continuing to return to as I fall back in love with its beautifully warped city again and again.

Would You Kindly play this game?

-Gameplay 10/10
-Graphics 10/10 (its really good for 2007 game. uses Unreal Engine)
-Story Line 10/10
-Horror
-ScAry
-JUMPSCARE
-AWESOME

3 words "ADD TO CART"

I made two Big Daddy's fight for my love, killed the victor, then ate his child. 10/10

Bioshock is great. It is the story of a man who wakes up in the ocean and stumbles into an underwater city full of grumpy people. In this city it is not only common, but encouraged, to buy chemical supplements and inject them willy nilly into your body. This seems to have had a negative effect on the general population, but it doesn't stop you from doing it. Bioshock features monsters and madness, suspense and surprises, twists and turtles, parents and powerups.

Pros:

• Atmosphere. Bioshock's environment is completely unique. It's a city with a real story to it, and you learn about it from the plot and the environment itself. It's beautiful and creepy and immersive. The music is awesome, the art is awesome, the NPC dialogue is awesome. Bioshock's atmosphere is awesome.
  
• Plot. Bioshock's story is complex, deep, and of course interesting. It's constantly engaging, you always want to keep going to find out what the hell is going on, and of course what the hell happened. It poses questions about individuality, capitalism, government, morality, selfishness... maaaaaan, it's great.
  
• Nifty combat. You get to use superpowers, but you are never overpowered. Combat is always challenging. Enemies are varied and interesting. Big daddies are so fresh. They are terrifying.
  
• Length. Bioshock is actually a long game (31 hours for me), but it doesn't overstay its welcome. It's most definitely not padded, it's always moving forward. You get your money's worth.

Cons:

• You collect way more money and goods than you can ever use. You just fill up on everything and have nothing interesting to buy.
  
• Honestly, the guns feel a little... man, I don't even know how to describe it. Floaty? Disconnected? Not smooth?

Conclusion:
Bioshock is fantastic and you will be thinking about it long after you've completed it. Buy it, yo.

you shoot drug addicts.

Would you kindly buy this game?

Have you ever dreamed of mercilessly beating crack heads with wrenches and looting their corpses? Yes? What the hell is wrong with you?

-Quick Review-
BioShock is a FPS that was released in 2007, the story is very interesting, the game play is quite enjoyable, as you progress through the game you get different abilities, power ups, and new weapons that can also be powered up. All in all, this is a classic FPS to many gamers out there.
-Detailed breakdown review-
Story: Welcome to Rapture, a city devoid of morals and government. A city where the inventor can invent, where a scientist can do science without the government questioning ethics. Oh and one more thing about Rapture... It's at the bottom of the Sea.
As far as the story goes, you've just stumbled across rapture and now you need to try to get out of here alive, one problem Ryan {the founder of Rapture} is out to kill you. You will be helped along by a man named "Atlas" to navigate the various things you need to do to survive in Rapture.
As you progress you will meet several people who will either try to help you along your way, or kill you, or both. The game is very streamlined, as long as you check the map it is quite difficult to get lost in this game.

Game Play: The first FPS "Story" game that I played was Half Life 2, so when you start out a game with nothing but a Melee weapon, and then eventually pick up more weapons as the game progresses, I can't help but have flash backs to the good days of Half Life 2. I'm sure there's a name for that type of game mechanic development, but I will simply call it "the half life progression".
You start out with a pipe wrench, which I proceeded to hit everything with... Dead bodies, light switches, little sisters, pretty much anyone who wasn't a "big daddy" (Because big daddy's would knock me into tomorrow if I wasn't fighting my hardest). Sorry, I digress; I love that wrench. The first few weapons you get are: Wrench, Pistol, Shotgun. You get about 8 different weapons but I won't spoil the rest for you, they're fun, trust me.
You also get special abilities that require "the blue stuff" as I've so quaintly called it. What I want to call "Mana", "Force skills", and more names of blue energy meters is actually known as "Plasmid", which can only be restored by stabbing yourself in the arm with EVE syringes. You collect several abilities that use this energy source, the basic ones being: Shock, Fire, Telekinesis (Force pull *cough* ).
There is one more thing to note about game play: Hacking. To hack you play a simple mini game that you need to complete circuits on. Before you try to hack you're warned how difficulty the hack will be and then you need to navigate a slow moving flow through a maze to complete a circuit, I found most of these to be very easy. Which made this part of the game slightly forgettable, but it does give you a break from the hoards of splicers trying to slice off your face.

Achievements: At the time that I'm writing this, there are no achievements for this game, but sometime I would expect there to be a release updating and providing the Xbox achievements to steam users. (Date written: 10/23/14)

Price: BioShock's standard price is $19.99. As I always say, I recommend buying the game on a sale, or from a humble bundle. So far I've played roughly 15 hours of the game, on normal difficulty. So this isn't one of those games where you're going to spend a large amount of time playing it. And since there aren't achievements I won't be pumping in extra time.

Conclusion: Story: memorable. Game play: Logical. Achievements: Nonexistent. Price: Affordable. For everything else there's MasterCard.

...I wanted to end it that way, but I'll elaborate a tiny bit more as to what kind of person would enjoy Bioshock; most FPS players would enjoy this game, and probably find it quite easy to play. This game has high intensity, it's nowhere near "horror" quality, but the game keeps you tense for what's about to happen to you next.
I recommend this game to anyone who is looking for a bit of a different chance of pace for their typical First Person Shooter games, BioShock definitely sets itself apart from the rest; which is probably why it's such a favorite to many.

just finished this game for the 1st time, all i can say is :

"Would you kindly buy and play this masterpiece?"

This masterpiece is a lesson that should be taught to every game developer involved in the FPS genre. I could save a few compliments and shorten this rather passionate, but humble, homage. But no. When talking about BioShock, one should let the words flow, just like the essence of its beautiful concept flows richly and vividly through every character's line, every thematic poster hanging on a random wall, every bit of Art Deco reconstruction, and every trace of Andrew Ryan's infamous personality.

When I first played this game, back in 2009, I couldn't believe my eyes. The compelling and psychologically deep story that I was witnessing should be in a book or something "narratively more complex". Back then, with all my ignorance and prejudice towards the potential of videogame storytelling, I hadn't realised what sin I was carrying on my mind. The way I've come to think is: BioShock should've always been what it is: a story-driven, linear first-person shooter that touches the deepest veins of your perceptions on notions of compassion, violence, regret, love, and themes such as mindless obedience, civil disorder, despotic leadership, dystopian lunacy, transhuman monstrosity, and other rather shocking motifs that this game courageously explores. Images of fear and perdition that make us cringe, but also touching scenes of sacrifice and loyalty.

Troubled and oftentimes scary characters are all over the place (including the player-character). It's as though journeying deep into the sea brings a progressive loss of sanity and grasp on common sense in virtually all the individuals involved. Coming back to the surface would be their only redemption (cleansing), not only salvation (rescue).

On top of that, there is the addictive gameplay, with the clever and concise variety of weapons that respond directly to specific situations and areas, enemies and game frenzy. The plasmid feature dialogues with the game's spiritual ancestor, System Shock, as do most of the dystopian themes here represented. The enemies and their classes also adapt excellently to the progression in the game, making the contention *difficulty vis-à-vis enjoyment* close to perfection.

The emblematic setting, and a unique steampunk atmosphere in the depths of the ocean. It's an eschatological drama in videogame form. The oneiric visions of mankind crushed by its own mental abyss.

too much water 7.8/10 out of ten - IGN.

Best Game. Game of the Year. Every Year.

Bioshock is one of the most expertly made games I have ever played. The game takes place in a ciy called Rapture, a city under the sea created by Andre Ryan to be a utopia, where people's dreams would not be limited by things such as government or morality. You play as Jack, a man in a plane crash that landed in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, who finds a Lighthouse that leads to Rapture, now ruined and destroyed due to a war created by Atlas, a man who leads a rebellion group against Andrew Ryan, and wants to help you survive as you fight Splicers (genetic mutants created by splicing up on something called ADAM; a substance found at the bottom of the ocean that can be used for a variety of purpose. Medical, entertainment, or even getting powers called Plasmids) and Big Daddies, protecters of the Little Sisters, who hold sea slugs in their stomachs that produce loads of ADAM.

The gameplay is fantastic. Bioshock is a FPS with RPG and Survival Horror elements. You can geta total of 6 different guns throughout the game, each of which are good for certain situations. You can also upgrade these guns to make them stronger and better over the course of the game. You can also collect different types of ammo for each gun, usually there's a normal type, a type good for armored foes, and a type good for fleshy foes. Then of course, there's ADAM. ADAM is obtained after killing a Big Daddy, then by making a decision on whether or not to let their Little Sister to live. If they live, you get some ADAM, but for every 3 you rescue, you get rewards. Or, you can harvest them and get a huge amount of ADAM, but no rewards. ADAM can be spent on Plasmids and Tonics. Plasmids are you're alternative to guns, basically giving you special powers over the course of the game. Tonics give you're character direct upgrades, of which have varying degrees of usefulness. The gameplay has so many layaers of depth and strategy, and is still realy good in high-strung intense action moments. And it's just plain fun to shoot bees at a splicer, then set them on fire, and when they jump into water to get rid of the fire, you can eletrocute them and finish them off.

Even if the gameplay wasn't good, the story alone is worth the buy. I won't spoil it, nor will I reiterate what I already wrote, but know that the story of Bioshock is not only one of the best, most though-provoking stories there is, but the best part about it is that it could only work as a video game, nothing else, as the story brings up the idea of whether or not the player's choices have an impact, and whether or not the player actually had a choice throughout the whole game. It helps that all the characters in the game are very complex and believable. I could write an entire essay about how amazing the story is, but I won't because I don't feel like wasting you're time. Now, would you kindly buy this freaking game already?

Developer: 2K Boston (Irrational Games)
Genre: Action / RPG
Mode: Single-player
Release year: 2007

☺Interesting weapons and overall great shooting mechanics
☺A lot of different plasmid powers which are very fun to use
☺Many different upgrades for weapons and plasmids
☺Very intense and thrilling battles with Big Daddies!
☺Great characters and clever storytelling with an unexpected little twist
☺Breathtaking world with an excellent atmosphere
☺Great open levels which are fun to explore

☹The player gets way too much ammunition during the game
☹Shooting will feel weak at times during later levels as the enemies are bullet spungy

• The game is very violent. Not recommended for younger people.

Personal Rating: "A must have"
Traditional Rating: 9/10

"Excellent atmospheric action game with RPG elements. Would you kindly give this game a shot?"

Simply a masterpiece!

The definitive remake of Pipe Dream, also known as Pipe Mania, originally released on the Amiga in 1989. It also includes a neat minigame where you shoot people.

This game absolutely blew my mind and I'm mad at myself that I only picked it up now in 2014. I still can't believe this game came out in 2007.

The game has one of the best atmospheres ever created in gaming history. From the beautiful art deco style graphics to the insanely good sound design. I would recommend the audio fix though since the game has some audio glitches here and there but they are easily forgettable. The game shines when played at night with the lights turned off and with a good pair of headphones. You can hear vending machines through walls, Splicers talking and screaming to each other, Big Daddies stomping around the place and so much more. You truly believe that a world like Rapture could someday exist.

The gameplay in BioShock is strong aswell from shocking an enemy and then shooting him in the head, to sending bees at huge amounts of enemies and even mind controlling a Big Daddy so he helps you for a short duration. These so called plasmids are truly what makes the combat in this game unique. You can also upgrade your weapons at special machines and you can unlock more plasmids when you colect ADAM from either harvesting or rescuing Little Sisters. There is also hacking that is pretty fun and in the final parts of the game it can get quite challenging. You can buy ammo, first aid packs, autohacking tools and many more at vending machines but they also added a mechanic where you can loot certain pieces of an item like a hose, glue, batteries and then put them all together at an U-Invent machine to craft an item. Another great mechanic is the camera. You can take pictures of your enemies and eventually gain enough information that you do way more damage to them, reveal their weaknesses and sometimes you can also get a plasmid from it. Use the camera a lot since the enemies can become massive bullet sponges in the later sections of the game (atleast on hard). All around the gameplay in BioShock is really impressive the only thing I wish is that they made the plasmid and gun selection a bit more responsive since it can sometimes get clunky when you are trying to select a plasmid and a gun in a matter of seconds.

The story. Wow. Where to begin?
I have always been a person who values gameplay way over anything else especially story. This stayed true through my entire playthrough of this game but I just can't deny that the story in this game is fanstastic. The characters are believable and well voice acted. The game has multiple "bad guys" and sometimes you don't really know who to trust anymore. It also had one of the best plot twists I have ever seen. Seriously, it will blow your mind.

All around this game is a masterpiece and a game that must be played by everyone atleast once in their lifetime. Even though it has problems like its sometimes clunky combat and a few audio bugs, those things don't take much away from the whole experience. Other than that everything in this game is the definition of perfection. "Now, would you kindly go buy it already?"

I was bio-shocked at how good this game is.

What to write about one of the best videogames of all time?You just have to play the game, inspect every nook of the game.This is the only way you will realize a deep background in this masterpiece of game.First moment you enter the lighthouse and the entrance to the magnificent underwater city of Rapture.This to me was and still is one of the best games. I've played this game on the Xbox 360 a few times, and now with nostalgia again on the PC.

I beat everyone to death.
With my wrench.
My power is maximum.