BioShock
Tags: alternate reality

Plot synopsis:
=== Setting ===
BioShock is set in 1960 in the underwater city of Rapture; the city's history is mostly revealed via audio recordings the player can collect during the game. Rapture was planned and constructed in the 1940s by Objectivist business magnate Andrew Ryan who wanted to create a utopia for society's elite to flourish outside of government control. Scientific progress greatly expanded, including the discovery of the genetic material "ADAM" created by sea slugs on the ocean floor. ADAM allows its users to alter their DNA to grant them super-human powers like telekinesis and pyrokinesis. To protect Rapture, Ryan imposed a law that no contact with the surface world was allowed.
Despite the apparent utopia, class distinctions grew, and former gangster and businessman Frank Fontaine used his influence of the lower class to plan a coup of Rapture. Fontaine profited by creating black market routes with the surface world, and together with Dr. Brigid Tenenbaum, created a cheap plasmid industry by mass-producing ADAM through the implanting of the slugs in the stomachs of orphaned girls, nicknamed "Little Sisters". Fontaine used his plasmid-enhanced army to attack Ryan, but reportedly was killed in the battle. Ryan took the opportunity to seize his assets including the plasmid factories. In the months that followed, a second figure named Atlas rose to speak for the lower class, creating further strife. Atlas led attacks on the factories housing the Little Sisters, and Ryan countered by creating "Big Daddies", plasmid-enhanced humans surgically grafted into giant lumbering diving suits who were psychologically compelled to protect the Little Sisters at all costs. Ryan also created his own army of plasmid-enhanced soldiers, named "Splicers", which he controlled using pheromones distributed through Rapture's air system.
Tension came to a head on New Year's Eve of 1958, when Atlas ordered an all-out attack on Ryan. The battle left many dead, and the few sane survivors barricaded themselves away. What once was a beautiful utopia had fallen into a crumbling dystopia. Some of the events described above are revisited and expanded upon in the downloadable expansion BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea, which takes place in Rapture during the latter months of 1958 and leads up to Atlas' assault on Ryan's forces.
=== Plot ===
In 1960, at the start of the game, player character Jack is a passenger on a plane that goes down in the Atlantic Ocean. As the only survivor, Jack makes his way to a nearby lighthouse that houses a bathysphere terminal that takes him to Rapture.
Jack is contacted by Atlas via radio, and is guided to safety from the Splicers and the perils of the run down city. Atlas requests Jack's help in stopping Ryan, directing him to a docked bathysphere where he claims Ryan has trapped his family. When Jack encounters a wandering Little Sister and its fallen Big Daddy, Atlas urges Jack to kill the Little Sister to harvest her ADAM for himself; Dr. Tenenbaum overhears this and intercepts Jack before he harms the Little Sister, urging him to spare the child and any other Little Sisters he encounters, providing him with a plasmid that would force the sea slug out of her body. Jack eventually works his way to the bathysphere, but Ryan destroys it before Jack can reach it. Enraged, Atlas directs Jack towards Ryan's mansion through Ryan's army of Splicers and Big Daddies. At times, Jack is forced to travel through areas controlled by Ryan's allies that have now become deranged, such as Sander Cohen, a former musician that now takes enjoyment in watching the death and misery of others.
Ultimately, Jack enters Ryan's personal office, where Ryan is patiently waiting for Jack by casually playing golf. Ryan explains he fully knew of Atlas' plan, and explains that Jack is his illegitimate child, taken from his mother by Fontaine who placed him out of Ryan's reach on the surface, and genetically modified to age rapidly. Fontaine had planned to use Jack as a trump card in his war with Ryan, bringing him back to Rapture when the time was right; Jack's genetics would allow him to access systems such as the bathysphere that Ryan had locked out long ago. With no place to run, Ryan is willing to accept death by his own free will, quoting one of his own principles: "A man chooses. A slave obeys." He asks Jack "would you kindly" kill him with the golf club, and Jack is compelled to do so. As Ryan dies Jack becomes aware that the phrase "would you kindly" has preceded many of Atlas' commands as a hypnotic trigger forcing him to follow Atlas' orders without question; a flashback reveals Jack himself was responsible for crashing his plane near the bathysphere terminal after reading a letter containing the trigger phrase. Atlas reveals himself as Fontaine, having used the Atlas alias to hide himself while providing a figure for the lower class to rally behind. Without Ryan, Fontaine takes over control of Ryan's systems, and leaves Jack to die as he releases hostile security drones into Ryan's locked office.
Jack is saved by Dr. Tenenbaum and the Little Sisters who had previously been rescued. Dr. Tenenbaum helps Jack to remove Fontaine's conditioned responses, including one that would have stopped his heart. With the help of the Little Sisters, Jack is able to make his way to Fontaine's lair to face him. Fontaine, being cornered by Jack, injects himself with a large amount of ADAM, becoming an inhuman monster. Jack is aided by the Little Sisters in draining the ADAM in Fontaine's body and eventually killing him.
The ending depends on how the player interacted with the Little Sisters:
If the player has rescued all of the Little Sisters (or harvest only one of them), Jack takes them back to the surface with him, and Tenenbaum happily narrates how they go on to live full lives under his care, eventually surrounding him on his deathbed. This ending is considered canon in BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea.
If the player harvests more than one Little Sister, Jack turns on the Little Sisters to harvest their ADAM. Tenenbaum sadly narrates what occurred, condemning Jack and his actions. A submarine then comes across the wreckage of the plane, and finds itself suddenly surrounded by bathyspheres containing Splicers who attack the crew and take control of it. The submarine is revealed to be carrying nuclear missiles, with Tenenbaum claiming that Jack has now "stolen the terrible secrets of the world": the more Little Sisters are harvested, the harsher and more furious Tenenbaum's narrative becomes.

Review: 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"...The plot itself revolves around the discovery of Rapture by an unknown man, after his plane crashed in the middle of the Ocean.
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.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".
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").
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.It's not hard to understand why someone who looks upon games as an art form, would love "Bioshock" in every possible way.
After surviving a terrible plane crash in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, a lone survivor named Jack spots and swims over to a lighthouse and enters a bathysphere, which takes him through the stunning world of Rapture, a city that was once great before things went horribly wrong.Jack is now trapped in Rapture, and the only way to get out is fight through hundreds of crazed civilians called Splicers.Just how did they become so crazy?
ADAM.It is the one of the things that keep the wheels of Rapture rolling.But the people of Rapture became very addicted to it and it led to horrible side effects.With the help of a friend named Atlas, Jack struggles to defeat the splicers and kill the one man who's in charge, Andrew Ryan.'Bioshock' is an outstanding game with state-of-the-art graphics and an interesting plot that will have you hooked into the game before you know it.But it gets even better in September, for that is the month in which 'Bioshock 2' is released.But before then, I suggest that you immediately buy the game and start playing if you haven't already.Your time and money will not go to waste.I promise you that you won't regret it..
"Bio-Shock" overpasses expectations and proves again that a solid and dark plot may get your attention, but extremely detailed graphics, creepy and atmospheric atmospheric music, and the best f/x you will ever see are the perfect elements to make a memorable video game.The plot is extremely intriguing and dark; it involves a City in the likes of the myth of Atlantis, the Lost City but taken further to the point that evil alien-type creatures are invading the city and the political system.Talking about politics, this video game has a sub-plot involving political strategies and an ancient political system accused of being corrupt and cruel for a futuristic City.To make this better, we have futuristic and spectacular weapons that will let you eyed open.
You'd be hard pressed to find anything else of this caliber with it's blissfully flawless combat system, killer graphics with atmospheric lighting effects, voice acting, and most deliciously important of all, a well-written and intriguing storyline.Despite being a FPS, the game really is a hybrid FPS/RPG.
You level up by harvesting or rescuing "Little Sisters" who are carriers of a substance called Adam, which powers the world of Rapture, a city that was once proposed to be a utopia for mankind, has now become a dystopia where mutants and other assorted freaks running rampant throughout the city.
Every serious gamer should have at least played this game but don't expect it to be better than Half-life 2 because it's a disgrace against Hl2.Pros- Big daddies, guns, plasmids, story...
But I still don't get why the protagonist went down to Rapture in the first place anyway...Note - Big Daddies in the game may be difficult but are essential to the harvesting or rescuing of Little Sisters, which give you ADAM energy useful for the continuation of the game.By HowlingRabbit334.
Unfortunately if invincibility still doesn't do it for you, later in the game you can buy ammo and health every where and money is never very hard to come buy the first time I completed Bioshock I felt a bit of a disappointment in the fact it had every thing a great game needed, great story, great depth in game play, great graphics and great controls.
I am pleased to say that now it is one of the greatest games I have ever played.It is unfortunate that I had to take matters in my own hands to make it so, but on the other hand I should be pleased that any wimp can complete the game and enjoy the greatness that is Bioshock.I just hope that in Bioshock 2 they think about the "Hardcore" gamers and take out all the things that make the game to easy on the hard level..
Setting up traps before taking on a big daddy was a delight, and the addition of new weapons, gadgets, and abilities throughout the game provided welcome advances in gameplay options.
The thing that separates this game from other first person shooters is that it is based in an underwater city of Rapture, which is an utopia gone wrong.
In most of the game you can't exactly die, because you get revived in the Vita chamber, which I didn't exactly like, so I loaded the game every time this happened.Your health and EVE(for using plasmids) are also upgradeable, along with your weapons.There is also a minigame where you hack turrets and cameras, which then work in your favor.
I liked that in some parts an arrow guides you so if you forgot where was the main passage, it leads you there.Overall Bioshock is an atmospheric,versatile and fun FPS with RPG and horror elements.It has multiple endings and it is not too scary, although it has a creepy and lovable atmosphere which is easy to get into.I'd recommend Bioshock to every FPS fan and every gamer who is looking for a great story..
The game start with you, jack, surviving a plane accident next to a lighthouse, and results that this lighthouse its actually a bathysphere taking you to Rapture which is a city built under the ocean by Andrew Ryan a business magnate and its runned by him too, separated from the normal world to star a life where The an and The science are the rulers of the city, a place with no limits.
There are a lot of plasmids, which are like magic powers (Fire, Electricity, Telekinesis, etc)created after the discovery of ADAM, and few guns that you'll find through the game, you can carry all of them at the same time and all of them have upgrades, so as the game goes on you'll be turning into a big badass.Right when you arrive to the city a man called Atlas.
He ask you to help him and back, hell help you and from here, you're going to find Little sisters, which are basically ADAM collectors, but its more than that, and their "bodyguards" the Big Daddies, you'll be part of an immersive world about what would happen if you let mankind live without rules, while you discover the truth behind the city.If you haven't played...
Why haven't you played it?...This is worth everyones time, if like good stories, good gameplay, detailed worlds and a little bit of survival horror, this is a must own..
Bioshock is by far one of the best video games I have ever played.
What can i say about this game WOW i finished it last night and it is incredible the graphics 10 out of 10 (especially for the water) now i don't want to say to much about it other them that if your all about graphics kinda like me you will not be disappointed the game is dark spooky and really crazy (meaning characters) the story superb its one of those games were u got to keep playing in order to figure it out.
One wanted to finish the game because the story was suitably captivating but eventually the traveling, the shooting of Splicers, (who were initially exciting and threatening but eventually became annoyances,) the constant "turn around and find another way" game-play was nothing short of a headache.My final complaint would be the ending.
Console: Playstation 3 Genre: First person shooter.Setting: Retro future Utopia...i.e. the game is set in the 1950s, but it's an alternative world scenario...a place where humanity has advanced significantly in their development...more advanced than our current society.Story: You play a character who has crash landed in an aeroplane into the ocean.
A negative of the online advice was that it prevented you from achieving one of the in game trophies (not requiring use of the "Vita Chamber").Another issue is the sheer unrelenting presence of the citizens of Rapture trying to kill you...I would have appreciated a "Metal Gear Solid" radar to have advance warning of them...because when I tried to be stealthy, I didn't tend to run into them...but being stealthy wastes time...I would have enjoyed it more if I could have taken in the sights of Rapture every now and again without constantly having to be on guard.
Which is to say that as Half-Life was a pioneering first person shooter, it hadn't evolved the story telling method to this genre like Bioshock did.I don't think I'll play this game again...it's just so massive...it's multiple times longer than a game like "Uncharted".
Name:Bioshock Type of game:First-person shooter Genre:Horror-Adventure-Action Age recommendation:15+ (it has some serious gore scenes in it)Minimum RequirementsCPU - Pentium 4 2.4GHz Single Core processorSystem RAM - 1GBVideo Card - Direct X 9.0c compliant video card with 128MB RAM (NVIDIA 6600 or better/ATI X1300 or better, excluding ATI X1550).Sound Card - 100% direct X 9.0c compatible sound cardHard disc space - 8GB free spaceRecommended RequirementsCPU - Intel Core 2 Duo processorSystem RAM - 2GBVideo card - DX9 - Direct X 9.0c compliant video card with 512MB RAM (NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GT or better) / DX10 - NVIDIA GeForce 8600 or betterSound Card - Sound Blaster X-Fi series (Optimized for use with Creative Labs EAX ADVANCED HD 4.0 or EAX ADVANCED HD 5.0 compatible sound cards)Well i didn't expect much from it when i first saw some pictures of it, i mean "Come on, a first person shooter in a underwater city?", but it was so much more than that, the environment fitted right in, and the sound was so great, one shot with the gun and it echos through the whole building.
If they built an underwater "utopia" where everyone had to constantly listen to carnival music, then NO WONDER everyone went insane.I recently played FarCry 2 as well as RAGE so maybe I'm just comparing this to real first person shooters where you have some sense of control, but after several hours of trying to get into BioShock I nearly pulled my hair out and just turned it off in frustration.
But i bought an xbox for several reasons: Halo, Gears of War and BioShock.So, if i'm being perfectly honest, i really liked the look of the game and it's gameplay and stuff but i never truly understood its critical success, i didn't think it was going to be THAT good.But.....would you kindly read on.BioShock....is honestly one of my all time favourite games now.
It has great atmosphere and interesting characters with a good story which unfolds as you pick up diaries and you slowly learn the disturbing truth the hell under the sea.A place crash survivor ends up in the god forsaken under-water city of Rapture and it's inhabitants of drugged up psychos and drill and rivet gun wielding juggernauts.pros first.
BioShock broke a genre it made a first person shooter with RPG elements and while some developers under-develop and idea like this, 2K have perfected it and made it work well for the game.
WOULD YOU KINDLY BUY THIS GAME NOW it's one of my all time favourites and is one of they few games i consider art.and like i said once you enter rapture....you never leave.
BioShock is one of the best games I've played in 2007 or any year for that matter.
The little cutscenes that appear for buying a new plasmid, the sometimes hilarious audio diaries, listening to "If I Didn't Care" by the Ink Spots while the splicers downstairs in the bathroom are talking crazy and hearing the Little Sisters talk to their Big Daddies and calling them "Mr. Bubbles" are some of the great stuff you'll hear and see.Yes, the game might be a little too easy with the Vita-Chambers and the fact that enemies retain their damage, making even the Big Daddies easy to defeat after you respawn.
Bioshock (on Xbox 360) is without a doubt one of the best video games of all time!
I've played a LOT of games over the years, but none have managed the deft touch that Irrational have put on this masterpiece.From the moment you step into Rapture, you are unwittingly forced into the decaying underwater dystopia, and must splice to survive.By splicing, I mean genetically splicing your DNA with "enhancements" - what this does for your humanity is up to you, indeed, the choices we make - make us.The greatest thing about Bioshock is that it's all about the journey.
Though action-focused, it remains very tactical - if you want it to be.Although this review is convoluted, all I can say was that Rapture was so enthralling, that I went back again and again after I'd finished and played through completely differently.Keep in mind that the difficulty jump from Medium to Hard is like going from walking up a hill to climbing Mount Everest.The great thing is, whether you choose to let it be hard is up to you...That's what this game is about - choice."A man chooses...".
Surpassing any country on the surface with its scientific, biological, artistic and moral development "Rapture" will plunge you into the deep crater of a sci fi action horror story of your lifetime and will make you believe that impossible is less of a barrier when you have an idea, vision and will."Would you, kindly?" The main character is an embodiment of a word "mystery" – silent and shady, he is skilled when it comes to wielding the firearm and killing enemies without spilling a word leaving all the philosophical questions for the player to uncover and makes us wonder more and more about the meaning of the chainlike tattoos on his wrists.
Big Daddy's with Little Sisters gathering Adam, nasty mutants rambling through the locations, suspicious Atlas with their own plans, enigmatic "Vita chamber" and superior technologies far exceeding science progress of 1960's – the mix of things you'll find in the Bioshock world is incomparable to anything you've seen before.
Gameplay is great yet flawed, you have two types of gameplay In both hands, on one hand you got your primary weapons such as a shotgun, machine gun, wrench, pistol etc., and on the other are your plasmids, which are these abilities that you use to stun or kill enemies, there are a wide variety of plasmids such as shock, fire, ice, telekinesis etc., the great thing about the gameplay is that it's varied and open, what I mean by that is that there are many options at your disposal, maybe you want to hack a security bot that can help you out on fights, or you want to electrocute enemies in water, it's all up to you, also you can explore across open areas, if you do, then you increase the length of the game, my playthrough was around 14 hours which is a pretty good length, the gameplay is a little clunky, but it doesn't hinder the experience, BUY THIS GAME!.
when Halo Reach almost makes my top 10 First person shooters list then I need to look on the market a bit more - no offense to Halo fans, the game was okay but I really don't think that they're that great.
Because if you showed me the ending I wouldn't really buy it was from BioShock.Onto another thing, I don't really like the silent protagonist, I mean I can tolerate it but in every game I play where this happens it gives me a disconnect to the story, I don't even remember if you see his face.
Call it nitpicking but it reduces the dialogue down to the insane ramblings of the Splicers or the NPC voices in your head saying "would you kindly do this?" It just gets tiresome.So onto what I liked, well I liked the story of the thing even if I feel some disconnect to it, I think the gunplay and weapon upgrades are really creative, as are the gene upgrades and the city of Rapture has this constant atmosphere to it that I just love and gives off the mood that whatever good was in here was quickly trans-morphed into a nightmare city.
I have played through the game several times and yet I am still finding out new things about the world of Rapture through new diaries etc.
Bioshock- 2007 From the first time the player, Jack, lays eyes on the lost city of Rapture, immersion occurs and a longing to survive from the crazy Splicers that inhabit the place.
The crazed citizens of Rapture, the Big Daddies, and the Little Sisters look really spooky.
The Big Daddy - Little Sister team is the greatest in gaming.
The story is incredible and the game really lets you feel terrible for "killing" the Little Sisters which is great.