Overview

Set in the ’60s, Bioshock is a first person shooter that, amongst an arsenal of weapons to fight with, offers a system of powers called “Plasmids,” which act as your strongest abilities. Each vial you collect or buy contains a new ability to toy with. Now, the things that power the world of Plasmids are ADAM and EVE. ADAM is the genetic material needed to make Plasmids, though in game it’s what you use to buy them and character upgrades. EVE is the “mana bar” that all your powers consume, and can be easily refueled.

Characters

Jack is our silent protagonist throughout the game, who we imprint our own personality into. A key aspect of his character is how mysterious he is, and it’s a very deliberate choice that you do not know his background or personality going into the game.

Main Conflict & Story

This game takes a heavy step into a new, unique idea: What if you took all the world’s elite, wealthy men, and let them run rampant in a city under the ocean? Well, you get Rapture! Rapture, when you come in, is a mess of monster-like people and Plasmid junkies, called Splicers, that get hopped up on powers and try to rush into battle. All the while, you’re dealing with regular crazies with guns and melee weapons. Though, sometimes you come across these rich, powerful people, torn apart mentally by Rapture’s monstrous world, and they are always something to be reckoned with. For example, Mr. Sander Cohen – a mid-game boss – who’s a showman that’s become ruthlessly obsessed with making the perfect play. And of course that involves trying to kill you.

That’s the philosophy a lot of the bosses, and regular people no less, work under – you have powers, you have ADAM in your veins, so these people wanna rip you apart and drain that out. And it’s our job, throughout the game, to just survive the gauntlet and get the hell out of this place, and maybe along the way, figure out who we are, and why we’re even here to begin with.

Reflection

Bioshock is rooted in mystery and power fantasies. Having beaten it, it’s really fun, and you can do some truly extraordinary things if you get creative with your strategies. There’s a bit of everything for everyone who might wanna play, and it’s also heavy on the story, so if combat’s not your thing, it’ll pull you in that way.

But overall, the game is very heavy on the themes of self-discovery, taking power at a cost, and realizing the bigger picture of the world around you. I must recommend the game to anyone who’s interested in really badass powers with a deep story to tell, as this game has so much hidden mystery to unravel, it’ll keep you on edge the whole game.