Bioshock

Yes, I finally got round to playing one of the most critically acclaimed games of this generation, said by many to be 'the best single player experience ever'. Well, actually, I played it months ago but I'm getting lazy with my reviews ok?

Well, to start with, it is clear why Bioshock had so much appeal. It's absolutely unique; I have no played nor heard of any game, let alone FPS that is like this. The storyline is winding and still has room for expansion (Bioshock 2...), it being based on a completely unknown-to-the-world underwater dystopia which you find at the brink of its destruction. I won't go further but as you delve further into the supposedly 'free from the chains of society' city of Rapture you experience many shocking twists and unveiling of unexpected truths; in short the storyline is expertly written and brings out just about every emotion possible, and that's saying something for a video game. In terms of gameplay, the game hardly bores as everything is kept new and fresh; with new weapons to be created and upgraded, including yourself with the huge array of new powers to be gained. Through this there's a large amount of different ways the game can be played, and you are free to choose whatever powers suit you best. The game should take you about 6-8 hours and will be a memorable experience, definitely one which suits and sums up this generation's ability to break barriers.

However, this game is not without faults. In general, I think the game is good but overrated, I don't think it deserves the 10/10s it has recieved as it can run a little dry. For example, as well-written as the story is, it's very easy to lose track and you feel you need to listen to ALL the tapes you pick up just to get a hold of what you're meant to know about. It's also bloody hard. I've played plenty of FPS games and I can usually pick them up pretty quickly (before getting hopelessly addicted) but this I found really quite tricky, even on Medium difficulty. The system for dying is so that when you die, the game doesn't restart from a last checkpoint but instead has you respawn nearby, with any enemies you killed still dead and any you weakened still weakened. Though this means its easier to tackle, you feel a bit pathetic as you can use cheap techniques like using a powerful shotgun right up close, getting punched and killed, and repeating the process enough times to eventually bring down your enemy. Some might not feel guilty about this but I think its unrealistic and plain boring how your character is effectively invincible, I think they should have just made it easier. The weapons are varied, and many unique (each with inventible ammo types and seperate upgrades - absolutely fantastic) but ammo is extremely scarce and you have to try to use your weaker weapons as much as possible to save the ammo for your power weapons and this ends up in you dying and slogging on- and before you know it you're out of ammo all together.

So Bioshock is not without its faults, and although it really has branched out the FPS genre, there are improvements to be made, as can only be expected for something which almost creates a new genre. I rate it 8/10, for good arty style, real creativity in development and a lot of variation, but could have done with a little more playtesting and checking all the systems work in harmony.