Fat Ninja

Prior to a few days ago I would have told you that I wouldn’t be purchasing Irrational’s BioShock. Even in the face of some positive reactions from the press, I still maintained that I’d look to rent it. But the rave reviews just kept flooding in, so I started to take a little more interest in the game. Dean’s endorsement further piqued my interest, and I once more found myself on the fence. Then the demo hit the Xbox Live Marketplace, and before long all of the guys from OK Company were clamoring over how impressed they were with the demo. At work and in no position to sample the game myself, I began to scour the interwebs for footage and developer walk-throughs. It wasn’t long before I realized that we weren’t looking at your conventional first-person shooter, and it was shortly after this realization that I asked Laura to put a preorder in.

With the exception of a very few titles (*cough*Condemned*cough*), most FPS titles are built around a multiplayer component. That’s not to say that developers completely ignore the single-player experience. Infinity Ward, for instance, has always put a lot of work into telling a compelling story. But there isn’t a great deal of variety to be found there. I mean, I don’t see Call of Duty 4 tackling any moral issues like the Abu Ghraib prison scandal in its campaign. Instead, it will most likely tell a very black and white story of right and wrong in which we, the player, will fight on the side of righteousness. We will never question our actions, nor be asked to pause and consider the moral conundrum that is warfare. These aren’t strikes against CoD4, mind you; it’s just not that kind of game. That said, neither is the average FPS title on the Xbox 360.

But BioShock isn’t your average FPS, and it’s been a difficult struggle for its developers to prove it. You play as Jack, the sole survivor of a plane crash in the mid-Atlantic in 1960, who stumbles upon the underwater city of Rapture. A vision of utopia realized by renowned industrialist Andrew Ryan, Rapture has become home to the world’s greatest minds. Unfettered by the shackles of censors and moral watchdogs, the people of Rapture began to unlock the human potential through genetic experimentation, and theirs was a world unlike any other. However, since its establishment in 1946 Rapture has, in spite of its grand aspirations, inevitably succumbed to the frailty of the human ego. As you enter this world you quickly discover that all is not well in paradise.

Amidst this paradise lost you’ll find yourself struggling to survive and unravelling the mystery behind Rapture’s fall from grace. As you do so, you will discover Rapture’s secrets and unlock your own potential. But in your quest you will be forced to decide if you will use that knowledge for your own personal gain, or to save the people of Rapture. While the demo doesn’t really even attempt to scratch the surface of BioShock’s moral complexity, it offers a wonderful glimpse into the broken utopia that is Rapture, as well as a chance to get a feel for the way the game plays.

From a gameplay standpoint, BioShock handles a lot like Condemned. It’s not quite as twitchy as your standard FPS, and there’s a lot more melee than gunplay. Where it really differentiates itself is in the use of “Plasmids”. Remember that talk of genetic experimentation from earlier? Well, the people of Rapture have found a way to restructure the human genetic code, unlocking abilities like pyrokinesis and telekinesis, and if you want to survive, you’ll have to dabble in some experimenting of your own. The demo only lets you play with fire and electricity, but it’s more than enough to whet one’s appetite for destruction. In addition to being exposed to Plasmids, you’ll get to tool around with hacking into security bots through an interesting puzzle mini-game.

The demo definitely showcases gameplay that is altogether promising and will, no doubt, prove even more impressive once moral dilemmas are thrown into the mix. However, what the demo does best is show off BioShock’s engrossing visual elements. From the very start I was absolutely floored by the demo’s sense for immersive ambiance. There are moments that look so viscerally real that you can’t help but feel the pressure of the 20+ fathoms of seawater bearing down on you. Every design element in the demo evokes an almost tactile sense of the surreal. This stunning look at a dystopia on the verge of complete implosion is often unsettling and this sense of a fractured society permeates every level of the art direction in BioShock.

The city of Rapture is an eerie and ugly place. Collapsed walls, peeling paint, savaged corpses and leaking pressure seals earmark its decline with a claustrophobic poignancy. Yet, through all of the rot and decay that encroach upon it, you can still see the remnants of the grand utopia that Rapture was meant to be. Behind the rust and mildew, there’s a very beautiful civilization that may be worth saving.

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