Bioshock: A Beginning Impression

WARNING: THIS BLOG POST CONTAINS PHOTOS OF SIMULATED BLOOD AND GORE.

So I walked into a room. It's dark. It's dank. There's a mechanical whirring somewhere beyond, the unmistakable sound of a security camera as it moves one way and then the other. I take a few steps into the room, and I hear someone, but they aren't in front of me. There's a door beyond, and beyond that door I know, I know, there is someone there; there's also that stupid security camera. So I take more steps in, entering the door. I'm slow about it. I don't want to be ambushed. There's no one there. So I get a little relaxed, obviously there has to be someone further in the room. So far I'm not in any real danger. There is a wall of shelves and what looks like small hallway past it. that's where both of them have to be, that woman with her crazy voice and that security camera waiting to spot me, waiting to summon a droid to kill me. So I take more careful steps. I turn the corner of the shelf. The camera spots me with its classic triple ring, and then there's a voice that sounds like it is right behind me, almost like a whisper in my ear.

"You fell into my trap." I look around frantic but there's no one next to me.

Then there is maniacal screaming and I run, my heart beating fast. I scream, knowing she is right behind me. When I'm past the door, I turn. There's a woman with glowing, red-hot sickles at the ends of her forearms, just sticking out at the ends of her sleeves. I try to get more back, but I'm stuck. With shaking hands, I... take out my camera for a picture! Say cheese, crazy lady!

Welcome to Bioshock!


A game that can scare me like nothing else. Upon first entering the game, there is only one word that can truly epitomize all that Bioshock is:

Atmosphere. Atmosphere. Atmosphere.
Just breathe it in, which is ironic because you're playing in an underwater city that most certainly lacks any sort of contact with the atmosphere.

It draws you in right away, and it doesn't let go. I was sucked into the game, into the fear and into the awe.  Admittedly, this isn't my first play through. I played it once before, and stopped two-thirds in, only to have my computer crash and my game data deleted. So sad. Playing through it again has reminded me how unique of a game it really is. It is overwhelmingly creepy, with some nice jump scares.

LIKE OPENING A DOOR TO A FREAKING PISSED OFF BIG DADDY!!!

In that Big Daddy's defense, I had been shooting everyone in the room, and he probably got pissed off because I was picking on his friends, or maybe he really hates loud noises like a shot gun going off in someone's face.

I haven't beat it, I'm only at Neptune's Bounty, which is like the third area in and a waterish level, grrr, but I figured I had made it enough in to give a nice little blog post on the game. I do intend to beat it, so expect that post at some point in the future. I play games non-linearly normally... so... on and off, and takes forever to beat. Definitely so far atmosphere is Bioshock's best quality. I feel underwater... and I feel trapped. In this case, feeling trapped... is a good thing?

Here's how the whole thing starts. Your airplane crashes in the middle of the ocean, conveniently next to this tall and foreboding tower.

You walk into it, and its dark, but then the lights turn on and you get...

You're not really sure what to think, but the only thing you can do is move forward. You go downstairs and find this little contraption.

And then your journey begins into Rapture.

That music! That voice acting! That cinematic quality! Do you see what I'm talking about people?! That opening alone is both mesmerizing and terrifying! Essentially everything has gone wrong in this underwater city. That much can be gathered from the cinematic above. It's your job to escape it, and as you move along you find out just how horribly everything has turned out. Now you walk down a hallway, in near darkness and freaking out, and you manage to wrangle yourself a wrench.

Shortly after that, you get these super cool things call plasmids that allow you to do awesome things.

Why yes, I always inject myself with strange syringes in unfamiliar machines. Why do you ask?

But... it causes guys like THIS to exist...

Don't you just want those lips all over your face?

Overall, there are equal elements of creepy and interesting. I don't like scary games, but I find this game awesome enough that I can stomach it. Normally, I just watch other people on youtube play through games like this, but I took the plunge and decided to play it myself.

I was first exposed to it because my little brother was playing it around the time it first came out, and I was scared of it. The idea of crazy mutated people in masks just freaked me out. I never thought I'd have the guts to play it. That was until my older brother played a game called Singularity on the PS3 sometime last year. It had some elements that reminded me of Bioshock, and for some crazy reason I began to crave playing it. I had the opportunity last winter when Amazon was selling all three Bioshocks for 15 dollars. And naturally, the products were redeemed on Steam. So I took it, and here I am frightened out of my mind. There are no ends to the amount of creepy in this game, like a woman wailing over a baby carriage.

All you can see is her shadow at first, but if you get closer....

You can clearly see something terrible is about to happen.

SPOILER! 

Her baby was a pistol.

END OF SPOILER!

One of my favorite parts of Bioshock are these tapes that you can find. They tell you about the world and the area you are traveling in. They have superb voice acting, but the textual voices of the characters are so strong, I'm sure you can feel it through the words without having to hear the voice actor.

Now those were the epitome of creepy, I can't get enough of that word but that's also a rich and defined character and well established dialogue. I'm not just saying this as a gamer, but also as a writer. Bioshock, in my opinion, is a game well worth playing for reasons far beyond just the gameplay itself. It is an experience.

Here's another tape, but my favorite part is how you can feel Ryan's voice, even though it's coming from another character. By this time, you've heard enough from Ryan to be awed by how well he can be recognized in another person's voice.

Do you see what I mean? ATMOSPHERE!!!! Can you feel how wrong everything has turned out?

The game is phenomenal. I'm enjoying it very much and recommend to everyone! Except small children. So far my favorite weapon is the shotgun and my favorite plasmid is Electro Bolt. I'm also using the camera extensively because it can unlock cool things. If you've already played the game, what are your favorite plasmid and weapon? Here are some final shots to convince you to play, in case you're holding out on it. 

It loves to play with shadows, this particular part is creepy, but hey, so is everything else.

Nothing says utopia like blood on the floor!

The first time I saw this, I may have freaked the hell out. Just a little.

Peace out, all!