Gameplay
The game absolutely comes out of the Ultima Underworld lineage (which makes sense as it's supposedly a spiritual successor to System Shock, one of the many high water marks in that lineage). Use the powers and guns you have to sally forth, destroying and stealing better powers and guns in a hostile environment. And it gives anyone more than enough tools to do the job with. My brother also picked up the game and comparing notes briefly, it was obvious that we were approaching the game in very different ways.
The developers went out of their way to make BioShock easy to finish, with resurrection chambers that would bring you back to life sprinkled liberally throughout the world. And the difficulty is such (on normal) that I turned the chambers off. Horror games need jeopardy.
By the end however, I was so powered up I looked at most enemies as ambulatory loot bags. But I had all the loot I would ever need, so I didn't even want to bother with them. Even the final boss was a pushover. Again, it's partly my own fault for being so OCD, but the joy of exploration and experimentation became a chore long before the game ended.
Theatrics
Wow. Hmm. This is weird. I don't know how to say this. Um. BioShock has a story that makes an impact. That feels weird to say. So many games are just trying to create characters distinct enough to hang a brand on. BioShock actually fails in that. It's characters rarely feel like anything more than plot devices or philosophical mouthpieces.
But it has one event, the one I wrote about in my uberspoiler post, that I couldn't move past. I was compelled to stop and think. I couldn't move on until I had come to terms with it. That's a really rare thing in games. I mean, it's so rare I can't think of a single example. It bears repeating at this point that I play boatloads of games. There are some that I'll mull over after the fact, Fable for example, but in terms of a powerful, dramatic event, BioShock stands alone.
Aesthetics
This was Irrational Games. Look on their works, ye mighty, and despair.
Seriously, if you don't click on those images to see the full size versions, I don't want to know you. Your ability to appreciate art, and by extension your soul, is dead.
That said, the game was too long, and by the time I got to the end I was sick of it's wonder and ruined beauty. But nothing else looks this good, provides this specific and believable sense of a place that could never have existed.
And the sounds were very good too, although I always had the stealth upgrade slotted because the sound of my own footfalls was far too loud, otherwise.
Final Score
4 of 5
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