“I asked myself: in what country was there a place for men like me – men who refused to say “yes” to the parasites and the doubters, men who believed that work was sacred and property rights inviolate. And then one day, the happy answer came to me, my friends: there was *no* country for people like me! And *that* was the moment I decided… to build one.”(Andrew Ryan, founder of Rapture)
The Bioshock series is defined as a ‘genetically enhanced first person shooter’, a rather apt title but there is a lot more to this series than simply blasting away at mechanical monsters and juiced up junkies. The series delves deep into the world of Rapture, a place created out of the ideals and philoshophies of industrialist and philosohper Andrew Ryan. A world meant to be free of the corruption of the surface states, under the ocean, things were meant to be different but to his horror and the horror of those who dwell inside the walls of Rapture, man cannot truely escape who he really is…
The first in the series, ‘Bioshock’, is a single player first person shoot em’up, where you play as a plane crash survivor who manages to find himself trapped in the bowels of the sunken city. Once here the city begins to show its true colours, no longer the glistening paradise for academics and free-thinkers, it has become a tomb for corruption and ‘spliced up’ maniacs and a haunt for devillish little girls and their metal guardians. The player must navigate their way through the leaky halls and gloomy residences of Rapture, collecting weapons and ADAM to upgrade their ability to survive in this harsh world. The game offers the player a choice, you can if you wish harvest the creatures known as ‘Little Sisters’ and absorb enough power to make it safely through the game or you can if you wish rescue them of their fate and restore them to their humanity but in turn only recieve the minimum amount of ADAM. Everything about this game, from the music to the graphics and lighting add to the darkness and foreboding atmosphere that lurks in the stagnant shadows and pools of the decaying city. With some of the best voice acting and an engaging storyline, Bioshock sets itself apart from any other first person shooter.
The sequel, Bioshock 2 brings everything that was missing in it’s prequel and that is multiplayer!?! The game itself feels very much like it’s predecessor although a little shorter but that is more than made up for by the new online multiplayer feature. The world of Rapture has changed since our last visit, now under the authority of Sofia Lamb, a demented psychologist and a prophet in the eyes of her people, you are a big Daddy searching for you missing ‘Little Sister’. Not since GoldenEye on the N64’s multiplayer system has a game had such an amazing multiplayer section. With the ability to customise your character, heaps of weapons and genetic powers and abilities, various modes of play, ten maps and the ability to become the super tank that is the ‘Big Daddy’ the multiplayer adds serious longevity to the sequel.
So, grab your shotgun, engage your Incinerate plasmid and get ready to kill some splicers, the Bioshock series is going to be here for a while yet and any developed worth his salt will look to 2K and their sub-aquatic shoot em-ups!
