I'm Not Crazy
Bioshock doesn't just meet your expectations, but completely redefines them forever in ways you never even expected - in ways that games used to in the past, routinely. The hours spent playing this masterpiece were the perfect encapsulation of why videogaming is such a favourite waste of time for so many of us. Thrilling, terrifying, moving, confusing, amusing, compelling, and very very dark. BioShock isn't simply the sign of gaming realising its true cinematic potential, but one where a game straddles so many entertainment art forms so expertly that it's the best demonstration yet how flexible this medium can be. It's no longer just another shooter wrapped up in a pretty game engine, but a story that exists and unfolds inside the most convincing and elaborate and artistic game world ever conceived. It just so happens to require you to move the narrative along with your own carefully and personally defined actions. Active entertainment versus passive: I know which I prefer.
The significance of BioShock currently being console exclusive to the 360 can't be underestimated. If you don't already own a 360, you'll most certainly find your resolve weakened to breaking point - and failing that, you'll want to make your PC dance to its tune.
Not yet, surely? But here's BioShock in August 2007, looking for all the world like a game that's landed fully formed from a couple of years in the future. It's a game that's going to make a lot of rival developers either very excited or very depressed indeed over the coming months as they come to terms with how far ahead this game is - not just in technical terms, but in practically every other angle as well.
And with that out of the way, all that remains is to insist that anyone with a PC or a 360 goes out and buys this wonderful game on the 24th of August (or sooner if you happen to live near the street date-breaking US retailers), and send a message to the entire games industry that this is the kind of game that people want. BioShock is the ultimate rarity: not only does it live up to its lofty promise, but exceeds it through simple, old fashioned talent and imagination - not to mention verve, style,class, wit, and sheer bloody-minded ambition. It takes the tired, worn-out FPS genre by the scruff of the neck, reinvents and bend it out of shape in such a breathtaking fashion that it's going to take something very special to top this in the months and years ahead. For a game to be so outstanding in one department is one thing - to manage to tick every single box from graphics to audio to gameplay depth to atmosphere and innovation is pretty much unprecedented. Seriously - if you don't find something to love about BioShock, we'd recommend a trip to the nearest doctor to check if your heart's still beating.
10/10 EuroGamer
This high concept gameplay has variety in spades, and is polished to the point that every battle feels like a small war - you won’t believe how much stress and chaos one ordinary thug can create. The game may sound incredibly complicated, but it couldn’t be easier to control. Your character’s movements are remarkably smooth, the targeting system functions perfectly, and weapon/power switching is effortless.
BioShock also may seem like a game driven by its setting and the atmosphere it creates. While delivering a level of intrigue you rarely see in games, its most captivating element is its gameplay - which I can easily say delivers the most rewarding and adrenaline-filled experience I have ever had with an FPS.
10/10 Game Informer
"Succeeds so Stunningly on three fronts: narrative, emergence, and a sense of place. If another game did just one of these as well as BioShock, it would immediately qualify as a classic. When a game comes along that does all three, we can only be baffled and thankful."
10/10 PC Gamer
...BioShock is a novel compressed into a first-person shooter. It manages to be both a tricky, exciting action game, a fascinating creation of an enclosed world and a deep enquiry about what it means to be human - a trick most action movies and books fail to achieve. It also plays with you at every stage, confounding your expectations and your control over events repeatedly, from your control over your weapons, Plasmids, plot, self...
And this is where we have to stop ourselves - we don't want to spoilt it. What we can tell you is you'll be playing this game for months to come, exchanging story elements to build up the bigger picture, and arguing about what it all means. Come, join the argument, play the impossible game.
10/10 Official X-Box Magazine
This is not a game for Firt Person Shooter Players, this is a game for EVERYONE, get this game.
The significance of BioShock currently being console exclusive to the 360 can't be underestimated. If you don't already own a 360, you'll most certainly find your resolve weakened to breaking point - and failing that, you'll want to make your PC dance to its tune.
Not yet, surely? But here's BioShock in August 2007, looking for all the world like a game that's landed fully formed from a couple of years in the future. It's a game that's going to make a lot of rival developers either very excited or very depressed indeed over the coming months as they come to terms with how far ahead this game is - not just in technical terms, but in practically every other angle as well.
And with that out of the way, all that remains is to insist that anyone with a PC or a 360 goes out and buys this wonderful game on the 24th of August (or sooner if you happen to live near the street date-breaking US retailers), and send a message to the entire games industry that this is the kind of game that people want. BioShock is the ultimate rarity: not only does it live up to its lofty promise, but exceeds it through simple, old fashioned talent and imagination - not to mention verve, style,class, wit, and sheer bloody-minded ambition. It takes the tired, worn-out FPS genre by the scruff of the neck, reinvents and bend it out of shape in such a breathtaking fashion that it's going to take something very special to top this in the months and years ahead. For a game to be so outstanding in one department is one thing - to manage to tick every single box from graphics to audio to gameplay depth to atmosphere and innovation is pretty much unprecedented. Seriously - if you don't find something to love about BioShock, we'd recommend a trip to the nearest doctor to check if your heart's still beating.
10/10 EuroGamer
This high concept gameplay has variety in spades, and is polished to the point that every battle feels like a small war - you won’t believe how much stress and chaos one ordinary thug can create. The game may sound incredibly complicated, but it couldn’t be easier to control. Your character’s movements are remarkably smooth, the targeting system functions perfectly, and weapon/power switching is effortless.
BioShock also may seem like a game driven by its setting and the atmosphere it creates. While delivering a level of intrigue you rarely see in games, its most captivating element is its gameplay - which I can easily say delivers the most rewarding and adrenaline-filled experience I have ever had with an FPS.
10/10 Game Informer
"Succeeds so Stunningly on three fronts: narrative, emergence, and a sense of place. If another game did just one of these as well as BioShock, it would immediately qualify as a classic. When a game comes along that does all three, we can only be baffled and thankful."
10/10 PC Gamer
...BioShock is a novel compressed into a first-person shooter. It manages to be both a tricky, exciting action game, a fascinating creation of an enclosed world and a deep enquiry about what it means to be human - a trick most action movies and books fail to achieve. It also plays with you at every stage, confounding your expectations and your control over events repeatedly, from your control over your weapons, Plasmids, plot, self...
And this is where we have to stop ourselves - we don't want to spoilt it. What we can tell you is you'll be playing this game for months to come, exchanging story elements to build up the bigger picture, and arguing about what it all means. Come, join the argument, play the impossible game.
10/10 Official X-Box Magazine
This is not a game for Firt Person Shooter Players, this is a game for EVERYONE, get this game.