Mark:
At the top of a long list of games that I have started but never finished lies Bioshock. That’s not to say that I don’t like it, though. I love it. The thing is that it takes commitment to play. It is such a deep and involved game that it’s impossible to pick up, crank out a few levels, then move on. Every time I play this game, I want to make sure that I can concentrate on it 100%. I need to have a lot of free time, I need it to be quiet, and if possible I need it to be at night. There is so much to this game in every aspect: the story, the setting, the music, the characters, and so on, that to miss any part of it due to carelessness would be a tragedy.
The game as a whole is fantastic, but my favorite aspect is the story. It’s like a great book where I’m constantly wanting to know what happens next and can easily spend hours on it just to watch the plot unfold. It’s also difficult. Sure, there are different difficulty settings, but even on easy it is a challenge. For me, this is almost game that I would rather watch someone else who is really good at it play and enjoy it from a distance. I’m always so afraid that I’m doing something wrong, or I don’t have the right powers or weapons equipped that I’m going to ruin the whole game. Sometimes that gets frustrating, but that’s the point. Just like the main character, you are thrown into a deadly and terrifying world and have nothing to depend on but your own instincts.
91/100
Russ:
Although I don’t agree with most of the reviews out there (the ones that say that Bioshock is a “whole new experience”, “transcendent”, or “open-ended”), it is a great game. Gorgeous and haunting, every little detail is really impressive. The story itself is great, if not a little shallow - how many times did I just know that I wasn’t going to be able to go straight where I wanted, because I was going to have some task thrown at me right at the last minute? The controls are responsive, the battles frantic, and the atmosphere is unmatched.
But I sorely miss multiplayer or really, any sort of add-on to the single-player story. It’s so short that after playing through it, my only option was to play through it again. It’s been a month since I played through it the second time, and I’ve already forgotten about it - I just have fuzzy warm feelings relating to it.
91/100
Tyler:
Two paragraphs are not enough to cover this game but, here goes. Bioshock sucks you in to a world that is jarring and unfamiliar and yet plausible and realistic at the same time, this is done by expert use of credible detail. Intuitive controls, historical accuracy, a dark atmosphere and a twisted storyline make Bioshock a game that is quickly pick-up-and-playable while at the same time mysterious and interesting. My favorite thing about this game is the story/setting… talk about a departure from the usual FPS fare. Also, I like the random encounter system in regards to enemies, a feature that really does make no two playthroughs alike. Cons: slightly paper mache-esque character models look a little out of place compared to the detail afforded the environments.
Some games are so good, that they almost shouldn’t be replayed (online or otherwise); Bioshock is one of these games. Going through it one time is such a rich and layered experience that any retry weakens the significance of that first journey. When was the last time you played a game that made you think, really think so that after you turned it off you went to sleep dissecting the philosophy behind the characters, tried to figure out their though processes and what made them the way they were? I think the thing the Bioshock has over any other game out there this year is its originality. I know I constantly knock Gears of War but, c’mon, there’s more creativity in the first 5 minutes of Bioshock than whatever the whole trilogy of Gears will be like… I know this for a fact. As much as I enjoy COD4, will I be loving all over it 5 years from now? No, I’ll be all about COD7: Future Blahblah, games like that are awesome but eventually become replaced by successors. The experience of Bioshock (like the first time I played MGS or Resident Evil) will stay as poignant and stirring as it is right now. I just can’t tell you how awesome it is not to be shooting terrorists, nazis, aliens or zombies for once.
97/100
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