I remember way back in 2007 I was going through a strange relationship with gaming, nothing seemed exciting to me. I wasn’t enjoying any game id play. I just found myself replaying old games I got any joy out of as a child, then I noticed this demo available to download on the Xbox marketplace, Bioshock. I had no expectations going into this. I don’t remember seeing anything about this game apart from those cool TV ads with Bobby Darins rendition of Beyond the Sea. It immediately grabbed me so I downloaded the Demo. My first impressions? Terrified. Welcome to Bioshock.
I really didn’t have a good time, I used to get very scared and afraid of movies and games, the atmosphere and tension that the game delivers all felt too much for me at the time so I left it alone for a couple of weeks. Then one day…there I was struggling to decide what to do and what to play.
So, I started it up again, then almost as soon as it started, I completed the demo. I was furious! So, you know what I did? I played it again… and again… AND AGAIN! I must have replayed this demo over 10 times (I wish I was joking) at the time we didn’t have a huge amount of money coming into the house so I remember eventually just borrowing it from a friend. I had it finally! It wasn’t mine…but still I finally got a chance to play more than a 30-minute demo and I couldn’t have been more excited.
The story its self is so rich and detailed it grabbed from the get-go. The story begins in 1960, the protagonist, Jack is on a plane flying over the Atlantic Ocean. Then the plane begins to suffer issues causing it plunges into the ocean you are then surrounded by water and Firey debris. But just ahead of you. Amongst the fire and fog… is the lighthouse.
Then you approach the bathysphere (basically a person-sized submarine) you plunge into the unforgiving ocean to be welcomed by an audio message from the game’s main antagonist Andrew Ryan the creator of the underwater paradise that’s known as Rapture. But once you arrive, you’ll find a lot more than paradise. In fact, it’s genuine scares, intriguing fleshed out characters and outstanding sound design. AND THE LEVEL DESIGN. My word it’s such a beautiful game. I truly believe it to be one of the best games ever. Literally.
And you know the game we know as Bioshock nearly was something completely different, one of the plans was to have it set on a space station (much like its predecessor System Shock) And another on an island populated by Nazis! And what’s funny still is that people are still finding out secrets about the game today. Super glad Ken Levine settled on what he did in the end, Levine gained inspiration for the art deco style of Bioshock and the larger-than-life character of Andrew Ryan and his city of Rapture was based upon John D. Rockefeller himself.
So, my honest assessment of this game? It’s a solid 10/10 game. From the deep incredibly well-written story, to the torn and fractured characters, and the sense of dread through the entire game it fully cements this game (at least for me) as one of the greatest games ever created. Also, the sequels are just top-notch. So, if you do anything… PLAY. THIS. GAME.