Bioshock: Rapture Below The Ocean
Bioshock is a game I've heard thrown around as one of those "must-play" games online. I didn't know anything about it, outside that the dude on the cover is called the Big Daddy. I got this game (alongside Bioshock 2 and Bioshock Infinite) for free back when it was given away on the Epic Game Store, and it sitting in my backlog for some time. After playing it, diving deep into the world of Bioshock, exploring Rapture, and seeing where all the praise lies. Bioshock creates a unique setting, with it's take on a 1940s aesthetic, mixed with decopunk aesthetics as well.
Right away with the introduction, I was floored by the presentation of this game. It's been a while since I played a game that felt like it had its own aesthetic and style. And throughout my playthrough, its style and aesthetic kept feeling fresh. When you first go underwater and see the city of Rapture, you as the player just see the underwater city for what it is, as Andrew Ryan speaks, and you just do nothing but take in the scenery of Rapture. I love the introduction to this game so much, it feels perfectly paced, not too slow, not too explosive, but enough of a balance to serve to the player to keep playing throughout. In Bioshock, you take control as Jack, a passenger on a plane that crashes in the Atlantic Ocean. Jack is assisted through most of the game by Atlus via radio. Throughout your time in Rapture, you find plenty of different weapons and plasmids to use. As for weapons, they're kinda of a basic selection. You have a wrench to start out with, then later a pistol, then later a machine gun, and later a shotgun, and so on. The weapons do their part as weapons, but one of the unique gameplay elements Bioshock has is with the plasmids. Plasmids add so much gameplay variety to Bioshock, it wouldn't be the same game without them. The ones I mainly used throughout my playthrough were Electro Bolt, Incinerate!, and Telekinesis. It was fun to use these plasmids on enemies, and without them, Bioshock would be an average game without them. I enjoyed the gameplay, but at certain moments, it can feel generic, and sort of "sameish" for long periods. It's good gameplay, but not necessarily something to hold in high regard.
As for the story, this is where I heard most of the praise come from. For me, I found the story of Bioshock to be somewhat inconsistent when it came to holding my interest. On one hand, I was in love with the aesthetic of the game, and wanted to learn about Rapture and Andrew Ryan, but on the other hand, most of the story is told via dialogue from other characters via the radio in the middle of gameplay, and it's really hard to pay attention to it, when I was in an encounter with an enemy. I wished these story moments told via dialogue were told in a way that gameplay not interfere, so I could've been more immersed to its story. The story is divided into different levels, 15 in total. Each level felt like an episode in a mini-series, each level felt well passed, and don't overstay their welcome. Bioshock has these little girls roaming around the levels named "Little Sisters" and they are accompanied by a Big Daddy. After you defeat the Big Daddy, you can either rescue the little sister, turn them back into a normal human girl, and get ADAM, or harvest all of their energy, causing them to die, and get more ADAM. The little sisters play more of an important role in the story of Bioshock than being there to give you ADAM. If you rescue all but one little sister, you get the good ending, but if you harvest more than one little sister, you get the bad ending. In my playthrough, I rescued all the little sisters to get the good ending, because of course I went for the good ending. I found Bioshock's ending to be beautiful, I found it poetic, and understand why it's the canon ending, but because of that, I think this game would be one of the few games I would've preferred a voiced protagonist if done right.
Overall, I found Bioshock to be a pretty captivating game. Rapture and it's tone and presentation show it's unique beauty. Gameplay is enjoyable, though bland in some cases, and the story is well executed for what it was going for. I heard that the remastered version is disliked by the Bioshock community after I beated it, because of performance. I was able to play on 4K with 120 FPS without any issue. It is a PS3/360 game for of course it's no issue for my PC, but I can understand how it may be on the console ports. I look forward to getting towards Bioshock 2 later in my backlog, I'm interested to try out Bioshock Infinite afterwords, due to how divisive it is.
Stats:
The 16th game I've completed in 2024
Played on PC
Hours into Game: 11 Hours
Score: 8/10 (4/5)
Bioshock is a game I've heard thrown around as one of those "must-play" games online. I didn't know anything about it, outside that the dude on the cover is called the Big Daddy. I got this game (alongside Bioshock 2 and Bioshock Infinite) for free back when it was given away on the Epic Game Store, and it sitting in my backlog for some time. After playing it, diving deep into the world of Bioshock, exploring Rapture, and seeing where all the praise lies. Bioshock creates a unique setting, with it's take on a 1940s aesthetic, mixed with decopunk aesthetics as well.
Right away with the introduction, I was floored by the presentation of this game. It's been a while since I played a game that felt like it had its own aesthetic and style. And throughout my playthrough, its style and aesthetic kept feeling fresh. When you first go underwater and see the city of Rapture, you as the player just see the underwater city for what it is, as Andrew Ryan speaks, and you just do nothing but take in the scenery of Rapture. I love the introduction to this game so much, it feels perfectly paced, not too slow, not too explosive, but enough of a balance to serve to the player to keep playing throughout. In Bioshock, you take control as Jack, a passenger on a plane that crashes in the Atlantic Ocean. Jack is assisted through most of the game by Atlus via radio. Throughout your time in Rapture, you find plenty of different weapons and plasmids to use. As for weapons, they're kinda of a basic selection. You have a wrench to start out with, then later a pistol, then later a machine gun, and later a shotgun, and so on. The weapons do their part as weapons, but one of the unique gameplay elements Bioshock has is with the plasmids. Plasmids add so much gameplay variety to Bioshock, it wouldn't be the same game without them. The ones I mainly used throughout my playthrough were Electro Bolt, Incinerate!, and Telekinesis. It was fun to use these plasmids on enemies, and without them, Bioshock would be an average game without them. I enjoyed the gameplay, but at certain moments, it can feel generic, and sort of "sameish" for long periods. It's good gameplay, but not necessarily something to hold in high regard.
As for the story, this is where I heard most of the praise come from. For me, I found the story of Bioshock to be somewhat inconsistent when it came to holding my interest. On one hand, I was in love with the aesthetic of the game, and wanted to learn about Rapture and Andrew Ryan, but on the other hand, most of the story is told via dialogue from other characters via the radio in the middle of gameplay, and it's really hard to pay attention to it, when I was in an encounter with an enemy. I wished these story moments told via dialogue were told in a way that gameplay not interfere, so I could've been more immersed to its story. The story is divided into different levels, 15 in total. Each level felt like an episode in a mini-series, each level felt well passed, and don't overstay their welcome. Bioshock has these little girls roaming around the levels named "Little Sisters" and they are accompanied by a Big Daddy. After you defeat the Big Daddy, you can either rescue the little sister, turn them back into a normal human girl, and get ADAM, or harvest all of their energy, causing them to die, and get more ADAM. The little sisters play more of an important role in the story of Bioshock than being there to give you ADAM. If you rescue all but one little sister, you get the good ending, but if you harvest more than one little sister, you get the bad ending. In my playthrough, I rescued all the little sisters to get the good ending, because of course I went for the good ending. I found Bioshock's ending to be beautiful, I found it poetic, and understand why it's the canon ending, but because of that, I think this game would be one of the few games I would've preferred a voiced protagonist if done right.
Overall, I found Bioshock to be a pretty captivating game. Rapture and it's tone and presentation show it's unique beauty. Gameplay is enjoyable, though bland in some cases, and the story is well executed for what it was going for. I heard that the remastered version is disliked by the Bioshock community after I beated it, because of performance. I was able to play on 4K with 120 FPS without any issue. It is a PS3/360 game for of course it's no issue for my PC, but I can understand how it may be on the console ports. I look forward to getting towards Bioshock 2 later in my backlog, I'm interested to try out Bioshock Infinite afterwords, due to how divisive it is.
Stats:
The 16th game I've completed in 2024
Played on PC
Hours into Game: 11 Hours
Score: 8/10 (4/5)