Mmmmmm.  You know seriously these sea slugs harvested from the inside of those little girls in dresses are really quite tasty.  Kind of like… shrimp.  Like a slimey shrimp but shrimp nonetheless.  I mean I’m sure you could fry them up with some lemon or something, or maybe bread them.  Cocktail sauce would go good too.  No seriously you should try them.  What?  Oh I’m supposed to be doing a review of the GAME?  Ooooooooh.  *Tosses little girl aside*  What?  They are “monsters” technically… Anyway...

Welcome to the world of Bioshock everybody.  The new FPS hit for the Xbox360 and the PC is just a stupendous hit.  It has everything you could want from exploding heads, to genetic monsters, to the nineteen fifties/sixties!  I would say it had everything but the kitchen sink but I am fairly sure I telekinetically decapitated someone with the kitchen sink.  2k’s new FPS Bioshock has been hyped up the wazoo from both fans, magazines, news, and Jack Thompson alike.  (Come on, you know that if Thompson is complaining about something it has to be good.)  Many are even saying it’s the best thing since the sliced breads known as Counter-Strike and Halo.

While, I can’t comment about whether or not it’s as good as CS or the big H-A-L-O, I can in fact say that Bioshock does live up to most if not all of the hype.  I had a gigantic smile on my face the entire time while I played this game, and I think I may need jaw reconstruction surgery because of it.  I wouldn’t say it’s something “new” to hit FPS’s but it’s definitely everything old.

What I mean by that is, well, think about every FPS you have ever played.  Think about the guns you had, the abilities you had, everything.  Now put it all together in one game.  That is Bioshock.  Bioshock has EVERYTHING!  The weapons you find are upgradable, have alternate methods of fire, and can be loaded with different types of bullets.  The abilities you get are varied and will have you freezing foes and lighting their heads on fire! 

Let’s start at the beginning though.  In Bioshock you are a plane crash survivor who makes it to this underwater colony called “Rapture”.  Rapture, in an Orwelian sort of way, is a modern day Atlantis.  Scientists found a variety of sea slug that secreted stem-cells.  They then used those stem-cells to find new cures for diseases, research new biological technology, and uh, give themselves superpowers or something.  Hell if stem cell research can give me the ability to fly, read minds, and light people’s heads on fire I’m all for it!

So yeah, research gets out of hand, blah blah blah, people mutate, blah blah blah, city gets plunged into chaos, blah blah blah, you show up; time to kill things!  This is where the fun comes in.  Your weapon array grows IMMENSE as you wander around rapture.  From melee weapons like a simple wrench to shotguns, to well just about anything you can think of.  Most weapons have alternate functions (generally in the vein of destroying stuff) as well.

Something that is interesting about the weapons system is that the weapons never seem to out live their usefulness.  In many FPS’s you will come to a point where certain weapons are just patently better than others.  This is not necessarily so in Bioshock.  Every weapon has a use.