BioShock Reviews
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As a first-person shooter with a bit more to offer, Bioshock is excellent. Of course, it helps that the bit more to offer consists of one of the most comprehensive game worlds ever created, a fantastic story with as many or as few layers as one wishes to delve into, and a cohesion that rivals gaming's greats. A stronger end game would've capped things off nicely, but being good instead of great only stands out because the rest is a top-notch experience. Bioshock is a title that shouldn't be missed.
The second is at Out of Eight with an overall score of 7/8:
BioShock makes the shooter experience deeper than the typical game, due to the successful blend of varied weapons, ammunition, spells, and power-ups. The setting is very memorable and distinctive, unlike all of those World War II games. While experienced players might fund BioShock to be too easy, the difficulty level makes the game appeal to a much larger audience. The various strategies you can employ, coupled with the Big Daddy battles, elevate BioShock above the rest of the pack. Unfortunately, the game doesn't come with multiplayer and the copy protection scheme is extremely annoying and restrictive. Still, most fans of first person shooters or simply games in general will find a unique and fun experience.
And the third is at GameCritics with an overall score of 8.0/10:
BioShock is not a revolutionary game, or even a particularly innovative one; by the time I reached the end, I felt as though I had played a rather standard and predictable first-person shooter. BioShock's redemption lies in its methodical pacing, its elegant scripting, and its breathtaking art direction. It's a game that is truly a visual treat not merely because of its polygon counts but because of its superb realization of such a strange and complex universe. Simply exploring and interacting with the city of Rapture is truly engrossing; rarely in a game have I seen such a horrifically beautiful and original setting. The entire game even carries with it a none-too-subtle critique on Ayn Rand's Objectivist philosophy Ryan's staunch adherence to individualism and rationality is both the genius of Rapture and its ultimate downfall. But regardless of whether players agree with or even pay attention to the game's philosophical underpinnings, there's still a great deal of humanity in the storyline with well-developed characters and clever plot twists. It's unfortunate that much of it is merely wrapping though; the combat, the role-playing, and the morality all could have been much better fleshed out to create a truly inspired work of art, but ultimately they feel incomplete. But while BioShock's gameplay may not be as evolutionary as Andrew Ryan would have made it, its dramatic storytelling and imaginative vision still elevate it above its more primitive peers.
