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"I Chose... Rapture"

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 134 / 194
Date: August 21, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Bioshock, without a doubt, is one of the video game events of the year. A first person shooter that is more than just a first person shooter. Not only is this game fun, but the storyline is thought-provoking and philosophical. This is more than just a game. This an interactive storybook of epic proportions.

After being the only survivor of a plane crash in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, your only chance of survival is to seek refuge in the nearby lighthouse. The moment you step inside you're greeted by a banner which states: "No Gods or Kings. Only Man." Going further into the lighthouse you're soon taken to the underwater city of Rapture. A place where religion and morality do not rule the decisions of mankind. Where every man does what he chooses for his own selfish gain. The city is run by a man named Andrew Ryan. When you arrive in the city, however, its quite clear that Andrew Ryan's perfect world wasn't so perfect. The city lies in ruins and chaos runs rampant as a form of genetically mutated people called splicers roam the streets. With the help of a man named Atlas who guides you through the twisted city of Rapture, you'll have to survive long enough to get out.

Throughout your adventure there are plenty of things you can do to advance the story. You'll find radio diaries that give hints to the downfall of Rapture. You'll meet people who will tell you things about Rapture. Some of these things, such as the radio diaries, are optional, but if you don't listen to radio diaries you'll not only miss out on some of the complex and absorbing storyline, but you'll also miss out on some of the game's better features. The voice acting contained within each radio diary is fantastic. You'll learn not only about Rapture, but Andrew Ryan and other characters who play a major role in the story. There are other things that move the story along as well, like running into ghosts who will give you more insight. Some of the mutated denizens give you hints (before you have to do away with them). There's a lot to piece together here. If story and character development are your thing: Bioshock delivers.

As far as gameplay goes, Bioshock is a game that presents some complex things, but it's easy to play overall. Splicers are the most common types of enemies encountered in Rapture. You'll need an arsenal of weapons to take them on. As you progress through the game you'll have splicers that simply attack melee style, others that shoot at you and even some that throw explosives. When you first begin you only have access to a wrench. But along the way you'll pick additional weapons like a pistol, shotgun, machine gun and a few others that you can use to decimate your enemies with.

Despite how difficult things might be, Bioshock doesn't penalize you much should you die. If the worst should happen you'll respawn from a Vita Chamber (basically a checkpoint) with some health and everything you had at the time of your death. The enemy also keeps the same amount of health lost. So even if you die over and over again, you'll eventually be able to kill whatever it is that's giving you trouble. Despite the challenge of the game, the simple fact that you can't die permanently does take away some of the challenge.

The enemy AI is also pretty good. While they never stop attacking once they've found you, they do act the way you expect them to. If they're firing at you and suddenly run out of ammo, they'll run away from you to reload. If they hear your footsteps, they'll investigate. Your adversaries are no dummies in this game.

There are also machines like gun turrets and security cameras around. You can keep out of the way of security cameras easily, but sometimes turrets can be a pain. However, despite how tough gun turrets and rocket launchers can be, the game allows you to short circuit them and hack them. Hacking is a little mini-game in which you must lead a fluid through a series of pipes to the exit. Most of the hacking mini-games aren't hard. Successfully hacking a gun turret or rocket launcher turns them on your enemies.

There's more to Bioshock than simply killing your enemy, though. You'll also want to search the dead bodies of those you kill. Usually enemies carry ammo, money, first aid kits, EVE Hypos and some will even drop weapons. You can also search more than dead bodies. You can search any containers scattered throughout the game. Trashcans, cabinets, virtually anything that sits idly by. Sometimes you'll find money, ammo etc.

Aside from searching corpses and containers you can also pilfer any food or drinks that are lying around. Food often restores health, while drinks will restore health yet take away a bit of EVE. Most of the drinks you come across are alcoholic drinks, and if you drink too much alcohol it will register and your vision will actually be impaired and you'll start to stumble around.

In addition to all that searching, there are also vending machines scattered throughout the game where you can buy healing items, drinks, ammo and more. It'll cost you money. Like some of the machines you'll encounter, you can also hack into a vending machine, and you'll want to do so. Doing so lowers the prices on the items and makes more available.

As you go through the game you'll also come across Plasmids. Plasmids give you powers. At first all you get is electricity, but later on you'll be able to command fire or even use telekinesis. There are several plasmids in the game, with their own little benefits. Electricity, for example, will let you activate switches and short circuit machines. You cannot use Plasmids limitlessly, though. Plasmids consume EVE and once you run out of EVE, you can't use Plasmids.

In addition to Plasmids you'll also find tonics which grant you everlasting effects so long as you have it equipped. There are tonics which improve your physical attributes, engineering skills to make hacking easier, and your combat abilities.

Throughout the game you're also given chances to upgrade your weapons. You can also shoot off stronger ammo as you get further, and at some point you'll have to. Some enemies are immune to standard shots but can easily be taken down with armor piercing rounds.

The game doesn't just put most of these things there for your benefit, but actually expects you to use them effectively. For example, if there are a bunch of enemies standing in water, you're encouraged to electrocute the water. If there's an oil spill you're encouraged to set it on fire. You can put together lots of great strategies when it comes to your Plasmids and Weapons. Even better is that you can switch between them on the fly. Your plasmids occupy your left hand and your weapons occupy your right. You can't use them both at the same time but the game allows you to switch between them rapidly enough to the point where it doesn't matter.

Finally, the game allows you to invent and construct items for you to use a long the way. You'll need to find components to invent items, though, and that's easily done through searching all those basic containers.

As far as the game looks it is by far one of the most detailed and beautiful games out there. Everything about the game is given a fantastic look to it. From what your enemies look like to the vast city itself. The walls are detailed, the water is detailed all the flames and vending machines are detailed. Even better, the physics and other mechanics in this game work divinely. For example, if you bump into a trashcan, it falls over. If you're stepping over something, you'll find yourself walking a bit slower and stumbling over it.

There are few differences between the PC and XBOX360 versions. The controls in the PC version are much easier to grasp and switching between plasmids and weapons is also much simpler. The game also runs slightly better on the PC than it does the 360. Some reviewers have noted that the PC version is a pain to install and some people just haven't been able to run it. As of writing this review, I've only suffered one crash and haven't suffered any other major problems.

Bioshock is a stunning game. The long wait was well worth it. Tight controls, lots of variety in the gameplay and an absorbing storyline is what keeps this game afloat and makes it fun. It is without a doubt one of the best games of 2007.

The Good

+Enticing storyline full of philosophy and intrigue
+Fantastic voice acting brings the already fantastic story to life
+Lots of variety in the gameplay
+Great sound effects
+Great music score
+All around beautiful game
+The atmosphere of the game never settles

The Bad

-While it's nice that you don't get penalized or ever have to reload when you die, it brings down the difficulty of this game a bit. However, as I said, it's a good and bad thing

Great game if you have the computer for it.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 22 / 36
Date: August 21, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This game has some very high system requirements, and most people with a computer older than 18 months old will not be able to run it. You're going to need 2 Gb of RAM and a fairly high-end video card made in at least the last two years with a min of 256Mb of RAM, preferably 512. It plays on 256Mb of video ram, but I noticed a big increase in performance by switching up to 512. Do not try to play on the minimum requirements because you will only be frustrated

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS

CPU - Pentium 4 2.4GHz Single Core processor
System RAM - 1GB
Video Card - Direct X 9.0c compliant video card with 128MB RAM (NVIDIA 6600 or better/ATI X1300 or better, excluding ATI X1550).
Sound Card - 100% direct X 9.0c compatible sound card
Hard disc space - 8GB free space

RECOMMENDED REQUIREMENTS

CPU - Intel Core 2 Duo processor
System RAM - 2GB
Video card - DX9 - Direct X 9.0c compliant video card with 512MB RAM (NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GT or better) / DX10 - NVIDIA GeForce 8600 or better
Sound Card - Sound Blaster X-Fi series (Optimized for use with Creative Labs EAX ADVANCED HD 4.0 or EAX ADVANCED HD 5.0 compatible sound cards)

Raises the bar for FPS

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 19 / 32
Date: August 22, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Bioshock, the spiritual successor to the System Shock series, manages the neat trick of actually exceeding the hype that had built up for the game prior to release. In short, this is one fantastic game, from start to finish. I bought it the Tuesday it was released and beat it in the late afternoon of the next day, and I'm already considering how I'll play differently the next time I run through in the near future.

This is a rare game that satisfies in all areas of game design. The graphics are incredible (just make sure you have the PC to handle them). The sound design was brilliantly executed, helping, along with the detailed art, to craft the kind of all encompassing, unique world you can rarely find outside of thousand page novels. Rapture, the underwater city where Bioshock takes place, is a fully realized world, complete with it's own laws and rules and fauna.

The story, too, is well done and drives the game forward relentlessly. Told mainly through radio communications and (in a move harking back to System Shock 2) many pre-recorded audio logs you can pick up along the way, the narrative is detailed enough to keep your interest without bogging the action down. That is possibly the story's greatest strength: it is as involving as you want it to be. Don't care about the story? No problem. Just shoot stuff. But it's there if you are interested, and better integrated into the game than, say, F.E.A.R.'s similar use of audio logs.

I could go on and on. But suffice to say, this is a truly great game. It took me about 15 hours on the first play through to beat it, and I am an experience FPS gamer. There are a huge number of drop dead gorgeous environments, and several moments that will make you go "wow." It's also suitably creepy, though never quite to the levels System Shock 2 managed.

As others have said, make sure you have the computer to really play this game like it's meant to be played; if in doubt, download the demo before buying. On my relatively new computer, with a Core Duo overclocked to 3ghz, 4gb ram, and a GeForce 8800GTX running on Windows XP SP2, the game ran butter smooth (consistently above 30 frames/sec, usually much higher) with everything turned up at a resolution of 1920x1200. I experienced only two or three minor slowdowns early in the game after hacking bots to follow me around, and even that disappeared entirely later in the game.

In short, if you are a game fan at all, and especially if you like first person shooters, rpgs, or games with engaging stories and amazing atmosphere, buy this game now. If you are a fan of the System Shock and Deux Ex series, then, well, you should already have it.

Awesome game - HIGH SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 19 / 29
Date: August 21, 2007
Author: Amazon User

The game is fabulous - I have played it on the XBox 360 because my PC can't play it.

IMPORTANT: make sure your PC system can run it. I have a pretty powerful, albeit older, video card, a Radeon X800XT, and I can't run the game.

I payed $320 for my video card around 2 years ago and I can play many other high end games decently. That doesn't matter, this game will not play on my system.

This game requires a feature on your video card called Shader Model 3.0.

If your video card only supports SM2.0, you will not be able to run this game.

**There are no drivers that can add support for SM 3.0. SM 3.0 has to be built into the design of the card. (added in response to driver updates solving this problem)

Beautiful, scary, & fun

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 13 / 23
Date: August 21, 2007
Author: Amazon User

If you haven't heard about this game, check out the demo or the videos on other game review sites... It's a fun, cool game.

ART STYLE
Game is set in 1960, and the art style is a snazzy, art-deco style reminescent of Fallout (at least the fake "ads" in the game). The setting of the city on the bottom of the ocean is a visual treat along with the omni-present water that is leaking into most structures.

The graphics on the PC version are very nice (nVidia 8600+ recommended and ATI 1900+ recommended). You can run the game with vertical sync off to up your frame rates (but it can lower visual quality).

ACTION
The game mostly focuses on action and fun. The save system doesn't punish players for character death and encourages players to try out various strategies. The combination of plasmids ("magical" powers) and regular weapons makes for some entertaining ways of defeating enemies. If you like shooters, you'll take great pleasure setting up ambushes and responding to ambushes. This definitely is a first-person shooter, though the plasmids make this have somewhat of a feel of a role-playing game.

THEMES
The general theme is the fall of a utopia society. Rapture, the city, is literally falling apart and buckling under the weight of the ocean. You also have some moral choices to make during the course of the game.

Overall, the combination of everything is just right and its a extra fun (scary) to play at night.

BIOSHOCK PC

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 22
Date: August 21, 2007
Author: Amazon User

For all you clowns out there that can't run the game go to http://www.guru3d.com/ and update your drivers also so update your DirectX,you have to have DirectX 9.0c.My video card is a OLD GeForce 6800 Ultra 256MB and plays the game just fine with the Monitor Max Res:set at 1366x768.
So why would you tell people that the have to have a high end computer?
When they don't,the stuff you wrote is completly untrue.
Maybe you need to learn how to set your computer up and do some reading on the new drivers.If you need help email me at TDTyree@excite.com lol!!
This is my spec on my 5 year old computer and it plays the game just fine with all the sweets candies turned on high.
------------------
System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 8/21/2007, 17:49:12
Machine name: TY-UAOCYSWR9FOV
Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 2 (2600.xpsp_sp2_gdr.070227-2254)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: INTELR
System Model: Cyberpower Computer
BIOS: Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG
Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.20GHz (2 CPUs)
Memory: 2048MB RAM
Page File: 774MB used, 3169MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.2180 32bit Unicode

------------
DxDiag Notes
------------
DirectX Files Tab: No problems found.
Display Tab 1: The file nv4_disp.dll is not digitally signed, which means that it has not been tested by Microsoft's Windows Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL). You may be able to get a WHQL logo'd driver from the hardware manufacturer.
Sound Tab 1: No problems found.
Sound Tab 2: No problems found.
Music Tab: No problems found.
Input Tab: No problems found.
Network Tab: No problems found.

---------------
Display Devices
---------------
Card name: NVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip type: GeForce 6800 Ultra
DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0040&SUBSYS_00000000&REV_A1
Display Memory: 256.0 MB
Current Mode: 1360 x 768 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor: Plug and Play Monitor
Monitor Max Res: 1600,1200
Driver Name: nv4_disp.dll
Driver Version: 6.14.0011.6344 (English)
DDI Version: 9 (or higher)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Driver Date/Size: 8/17/2007 16:23:00, 5860736 bytes

No spoilers inside - excellent game!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 17
Date: August 23, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Bioshock is a Sci-Fi Horror game set in the underwater city of Rapture which gave me, without a doubt, an amazing gaming expierience. To me, it seemed there has been a bit of a "dry spell" to good games lately, nothing notable has come out this year that gave me an original wow factor like Bioshock did. So what made it good? Well, let start with the gameplay...

At the core Bioshock has very fun and original gameplay where nothing is repetitive and even "respawns" that occur have interesting placement. It does have strong RPG elements, but you won't be selecting dialogue. Rather your actions speak louder than words in your choices as they present themselves as you move along the city of Rapture. I believe the gameplay was so strong of the PC version because the folks who made it are primarily PC developers rather than console jockeys. There is lots of key bindings that make sense and are customizable and everything in your arsenal is easy to get to, which was quite a feat considering how many tools you have at your disposable to combat the denizens of the underwater freak capitol of the world. The AI is quite amazing and above Half-Life 2's in my opinion, where the hostile folks you meet will do everything in their power to get away from your damage and give you theirs in kind (I won't say how, because that will be part of your fun!).

One of the standouts for me was the sound. The repetitive mumblings of the baddies you have to meet aren't too persistant and various enough to give you entertainment without listening to the same guys over and over chanting "Doom to you!" or something similiarily annoying.

The producers of the game mentioned quite a bit pre-release how there is many different ways to handle all your encounters and this is definatly true as there is no "one-size" fits all, but I will say if you try to run through it with guns blazing you will die very quickly. I played through the game on the normal mode (have yet to do hard) and it was challenging to manage my resources and really think how I am going to get through a "level". Speaking of level, its not really a straight forward "follow-the-corridor-to-the-end-game". There is a lot of hidden stuff and places to explore that have nothing much to do with the main quests, but allow you some freedom to move around a bit and not be tied down to one objective. You also don't have to do anything in order, and the game is smart enough to know and doesn't lock up and crash if you feel like doing something out of order or just going back to somewhere you haven't been.

So okay, sounds pretty good, eh? Well, there is some disturbing elements so if you are a bit squeamish then this game might not be for you. Namely the little sisters...without giving away too much in the game, they are one of the cornerstones of the whole story and how you deal with them makes your character "good" or "evil". I couldn't bring myself to do the bad thing, so I got the good ending, I assume there is a bad one too if you chose that path, so there presents some replay value. Little sisters aside, there is also blood, gore, strong language, adult themes and just some straight up sick, twisted and sadistic "bosses" you will meet in Rapture.

One of the big things i'm glad that was a departure from games like Half-Life 2 and Doom 3 is that the game is somewhat dark, but there is enough light going around where you don't have to squint or turn up the brightness on your monitor to that of a supernova to see what is going on (No flashlight required!).

Bottomline, if you are looking for a good gaming fix this is definately worth your money to pickup...Deus Ex, System Shock 2, Half-Life 2 are all games fairly similiar to this one so if you liked those you will be blown away by Bioshock because it trumps them all, especially in gameplay. The developers have a statement posted on their website and I would like to reiterate it here in that -- DON'T READ ANY SPOILERS --. It will ruin the game for you and most of the fun.

Pros:
- Amazingly fun gameplay
- Sound effects and voice acting waaaay above average.
- A long game so you will get your money's worth.
- ZERO bugs that i encountered..start to finish. *clap*

Cons:
- Nothing, except the violent, sadistic themes.

Bioshock is the best game in 8 years

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 15 / 23
Date: August 23, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Since System Shock 2 came out in 1999, I've seen plenty of decent games. Games that looked good, played good, and were pretty cool...

Bioshock puts them all to shame.

If you would like to enter a world where amazing things happen, where you won't get bored for a minute, and where you get everything that you ever wanted out of a game, this is it folks.

I bought it, and I'm loving life. I'm actually excited to go home and play it!

Everyone calm down about the launch problems.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 22
Date: August 24, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This game is glorious, perfect in just about every way, exceptionally creative, a blast to play, and probably the game of the year...but you know that already, so you don't need me to say it.

Let's talk about all these 1-star "THE GAME WON'T RUN!" reviews.

1) Yes, it uses SecuROM, which means you can only install it on 5 computers, and only install it on the same computer 5 times, except there will be a patch soon so that you can remove the SecuROM info from your computer, making both those numbers effectively infinite. You just can't have it on more than 5 computers at one time. Which no one really wants to do anyway.

2) This game has an amazingly responsive tech support team, and those complaining about SecuROM making the game unplayable in the future are wrong. These people are proud of this game, and they won't let that happen.

3) Regarding technical issues - every PC game this ambitious has had launch problems. It stutters on some computers, crashes on others. Again, they are FIXING these problems. In the THREE DAYS since this has been released, they have put up fixes for many of the problems, and are working on a patch to correct more. Download the demo; if the demo doesn't work, wait for the patch.

This is the first game to comprehensively use DirectX 10, and additionally is one of the first games released that supports special features of Vista and DX10 without requiring them. So, it needs to be stable on more different kinds of computers than just about any other game out right now. It'll take more than three days (honestly people THREE DAYS) to fix everything, but it WILL be fixed.

And, bottom line is this - your chances of having something go wrong are still very low, and the game is ABSOLUTELY worth it. Do yourself, and the whole games industry, a favor and buy this game. It's a work of art, and it's the kind of game that isn't made (or published) often enough. If you have problems, submit a tech support request to 2k, and they will FIX IT. It's not like they DON'T want you to be satisfied and play the game.

STOP TEARING DOWN THIS GAME ON AMAZON REVIEWS IF YOU HAVEN'T EVEN PLAYED IT!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 13 / 34
Date: August 27, 2007
Author: Amazon User

First off, I was very disappointed to come here and see that the PC version of the game has only a 3.5 star rating while the Xbox 360 version has 5! "Why is that?", I thought. After looking at all the MORONS who put a 1 star review; not because they played the game and didn't like it, but because they don't like its security features or have a POS computer that can't play/install it, and have NEVER played it; I feel justified in writing this review, not so much to praise the game, but to get the ratings up and tell you non-playing 1-stars to STOP IT!

Just from the hype and gameplay videos alone, I went ahead and reserved the Limited Edition of Bioshock for PC at Gamestop about a month before it came out. I went and picked it up on the day it came out and couldn't wait to get it home to install and play it. (I started my college classes the same day) Finally I got home and started up my computer and tore into the LE box. (Not literally of course!) The Big Daddy figurine is awesome and the bonus material is cool as well. My computer specs are:
-AMD X2 5600 Dual Core
-Asus M2NE MB
-4 GB DDR2 800 RAM
-300 GB Seagate SATA HD
-512 MB ATI X1800 XT Video Card
-Windows Vista Ultimate (32-bit)
I installed it, no problems met with whatsoever! It took about 15-20 minutes to install from putting in the disc to playing the game and my firewall asked me for permission to let Bioshock gain online access and activate, but that's it! All the security gripes others have whined about; I haven't experienced them!

The gameplay was superb! I had all the graphic settings turned to the highest settings, my system handled it no problem! Sound is excellent. The story is greatly detailed and the weapons/ammo combos and plasmid uses through the game are almost limitless! The many details such as hacking, U-Invent kiosks, etc. are also nice touches. My only disappointment is that the game wasn't long enough!

I don't feel a need to go into more detail about the merits of the game since others have. I mainly want to get the point across that all you one star cry babies have no right to put your reviews here. These reviews are meant for people who have actually PLAYED the game to tell other people their experiences in PLAYING it and what they liked or disliked about the GAME, so it can help others in deciding if they want to buy it or not and so others can communicate/debate about the GAMEPLAY with each other. If you have issues with the security or installation, take it up with the developers on THEIR website/forums, not here!

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