Bioshock is one of those once-in-a-lifetime games. Think Super Mario World; Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time; Halo, genre defining classics that are still just as stunning years later. It’s a richly constructed, lavish game which wraps you up from the first second to the last, and yes, the PS3 version is every bit as brilliant as 2007’s Xbox 360 version. Sure, it’s taken a while to hit the PlayStation 3, but that’s more down to exclusivity deals then any shortcomings in porting over yet another Unreal Engine 3 title.
We’re assuming that most are at least vaguely familiar with what Bioshock is all about: the player, escaping a crashed and burning plane wreckage finds shelter in a strange structure jutting out of the sea, which turns out to be Rapture, a utopian social experiment entirely underwater. You’re left almost unaided from the off, except for radio communication with mysterious characters, and from the moment you emerge from the elevator it’s clear that this particular project, built 14 years earlier, has turned slightly sour.
Bioshock isn’t just another shooter. It’s 1960’s steampunk setting provides a fresh, unique take on the normally grey stone corridors of most FPS’s, and the fact that this was entirely human inhabited means that it often plays out more like a survival horror than anything else, as you make your way around what is essentially a massive submerged city. Splicers, residents turned insane due to reasons you’ll discover soon enough, lurk around most corners and in packs are tricky to dispatch, but you’ll soon meet the Little Sisters and Big Daddies, both of which designed to scare the wits out of you.
So, Bioshock offers a compelling story, consistantly evolving and surprising along the way with some killer twists, but how does it stand out in terms of gameplay? Thankfully, it’s rock solid: the gunplay is meaty and the player soon becomes enhanced via Plasmids, which are intially useful as additional weaponry but soon make way for telekinesis and also more celebral purposes. There’s little backtracking, the puzzles are intuitive and the way the game continuously throws new challenges your way keeps everything fresh. It’s a joy to play from start to finish.
Visually it’s often stunning too. The PS3 version is locked at the same 30fps as the 360, and makes great use of the Unreal 3 engine in throwing around detailed, varied environments that appear to pop right out of the screen. There’s a few instances where things aren’t quite as nice as on the Xbox - the water effects look a little dumbed down and the textures aren’t as high resolution, but we wouldn’t want that to influence your decision to buy the game as overall it’s a very clean, crisp looking game despite showing it’s age a little. The audio, however, is faultless, with amazing surround sound creating one hell of an atmosphere.
So, to conclude, Bioshock is a wonderful game. It’s hard to back up the initial statement in this review without going into detail about the story, so you’ll have to take our word for how good the game gets if you’ve only played the rather limited demo. Once all the gameplay opportunities open up, and you realise where the storyline is heading, it’s a compelling, encompassing thrill ride that you’ll play again and again. It manages to stay fresh throughout the whole experience, and in our opinion is the best first-person-shooter on the PlayStation 3 right now - it’s not perfect, but it’s worth every single penny. Sure, there’s no multiplayer, but when the single player is this good there doesn’t need to be.
Note: The PS3 version requires a 10 minute install before playing, which takes up around 5GB of your hard disk, for those of you with stacks of other games installed on there. It’s a bit of a shame, but the load times once in the game are quick enough to make it worthwhile. There’s also the promise of exclusive Challenge Rooms, downloadable mini-tasks due soon.
October 16th, 2008 at 8:57 am
2k will be releasing a patch soon(ish) which helps with the textures
fredrikpedersen Says:
October 16th, 2008 at 8:57 am
According to ign.com the textures are just fine. I don’t know though
October 16th, 2008 at 8:57 am
Oh noes, another game to get -.-
October 16th, 2008 at 9:13 am
If you like FPS, get it. simple it’s the best single player one yet
On the textures issue, the game sucks you in to the experience so much you shouldn’t notice them but if you do its been sorted by 2k
http://forums.2kgames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23044
when you add in that the game includes everything on the 360 and extra game modes, it’s a no brainer
October 16th, 2008 at 10:35 am
Pre-ordered this a while back, it might even arrive today as it’s definitely been posted (Soul Calibur IV came early for me). Cannot wait.
The demo was pretty awesome, and I’m really looking forward to immersing myself in this game, especially with all the hype surrounding its story.
October 16th, 2008 at 10:59 am
Speaking of FPS’s, would anyone recommend the Orange Box on the pzzthree?
Bioshock sounds good, might wait til the nights start getting longer before I play it as I’m a bit of a pansy with the scary games!
nofi Says:
October 16th, 2008 at 11:37 am
Orange Box is wonderful mate. Get it just for Portal.
mcphatty Says:
October 16th, 2008 at 11:45 am
Yeah good shout, I had a go at a mates, would love to play it all in HD! Just had a read about when Episode 3 is coming out (Maybe there will be some sort of pink box with Gordon in it… hehehe), I think I’ll try to wait until it all comes out in one glorious packet in however long.
Touble is I was at the back of the queue when God was dishing out patience!
g00nerz Says:
October 16th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
Portal rules! Bought it for £6 via Steam for my slightly aging PC. Interesting it will play HL2 perfectly, but Portal really tests my gfx card…. It’s the same frickin’ engine for christ’s sake. This is exactly the reason why I hate PC gaming. Always fiddling with gfx settings. So so so annoying.
October 16th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
Had Bioshock on my ShiteBox360 (TM) … fecking ruined the whole game for me because of the “please clean your disc” crashes and other random texture bugs. Like whenever you picked up a new plasmid the game would freeze. Sucked big time.
I did eventually manage to finish it after losing hours of play to crashes, but that proves how good a game it is I suppose, to keep going back regardless of the bugs. I might get it for my spanking PS3 now, but only when it comes down to around £10 (a good while yet then…) At least I can rest assured I won’t have to worry about the game crashing every five minutes and of course I’ll be able to hear the sound… (little dig at the 360 jet engine, eh sorry, case fan there).
October 16th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
There is news of a BioShock 2 Teaser trailer at the end of the PS3 version of BioShock…
http://www.videogaming247.com/2008/10/16/bioshock-2-sea-of-dreams-trailered-at-end-of-bioshock-ps3/#more-13000
TheRook21
clank250 Says:
October 17th, 2008 at 5:42 am
I watched teaser trailer and teh title is frankly just horrible! “Sea of Dreams”? If anything this will take the games little sisters and turn them into little teenagers. Otherwise I don’t know how they are going to take the game one step further.
Eldave0 Says:
November 7th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
its a prequel
October 17th, 2008 at 11:36 am
pre-ordered this a LONG time ago and have completed it on the 360 version when that first came out.. My first impressions? A good port to the PS3 and i think that the addition of Trophies help this game, there are still framerate issues but that aside this is one of the best games on the PS3 and the Bioshock 2 Trailer is stunning
December 5th, 2008 at 8:52 pm
i would have liked this game a whole lot more if there was a challenge to it.
i just didnt like the fact that there was absolutely no consequence for dying, you just show up back at one of those tanks and you keep all of your items and all the people you killed are still dead. besides that i feel it is a pretty good game, i just hope that this part is fixed in the next bioshock.