BioShock

 PC
User Score
8.6

Generally favorable reviews- based on 6069 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5,075 out of 6069
  2. Mixed: 678 out of 6069
  3. Negative: 316 out of 6069
Buy Now
Buy on

Review this game

  1. Your Score
    0 out of 10
    Rate this:
    • 10
    • 9
    • 8
    • 7
    • 6
    • 5
    • 4
    • 3
    • 2
    • 1
    • 0
    • 0
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling
view
per page
  1. Fake_Stalker
    Aug 19, 2023
    5
    Review about not remastereed version

    56/100 Not worth trying. This game created conflicting impression on me. A lot of things which is not part of actual game play pretty good. Here we have one of the best game antogonist, perfectly written and voice acted diaries, and interesting background lore. Antagonist is written so good that he has its own philosophy But when we are    Review about not remastereed version

    56/100
    Not worth trying.

    This game created conflicting impression on me.
    A lot of things which is not part of actual game play pretty good. Here we have one of the best game antogonist, perfectly written and voice acted diaries, and interesting background lore. Antagonist is written so good that he has its own philosophy

    But when we are talking about actual gameplay, things are much worse. Level of absurd in quests are ridiculously high. Gameplay is boring and frustrating. Every ending is horribly naive and uninteresting.    … Expand
  2. res0nancer
    Jul 26, 2023
    5
    Из-за культового статуса было несколько попыток на разных платформах пройти игру, но больше 2 часов не получалось задержаться. Хоть и популярная игра и обожаемая, но не для меня.
  3. co3676
    Jul 1, 2023
    7
    Yedi. .
  4. Murdockk
    May 12, 2023
    7
    Fena bir oyun değil. Oynarken eğlendim yer yer sıkıldığım noktalar olsa da genel kanım iyi.
  5. Morados9
    Dec 31, 2022
    5
    No es mi estilo. Puedo entender que guste pero los juegos en primera persona, uff, no son de mi interés. Para mi no fue muy placentero. Intenté jugar la segunda parte y lo abandoné.
  6. JustinForgueims
    Sep 22, 2022
    6
    I was expecting way more.
    As a shooter is decent but quite far from the best games. Most of the 'magic' powers are almost useless.
    The game story is great same as the scenarios and art. Music is just correct. In top of that the game has a few super annoying things, like random people talking and screaming all the time from no were. No easy way to rearrange powers. Completely no way to    I was expecting way more.
    As a shooter is decent but quite far from the best games. Most of the 'magic' powers are almost useless.
    The game story is great same as the scenarios and art. Music is just correct.
    In top of that the game has a few super annoying things, like random people talking and screaming all the time from no were. No easy way to rearrange powers. Completely no way to rearrange weapons. And of course several bugs.
    All in all, the story could be good, but just this cannot make the game >8. A bit disappointed and feeling it's an overrated game.    … Expand
  7. BenzoSt
    Jul 12, 2022
    7
    The story and environment of this game - the dilapidated ruins of a utopian underwater city called Rapture in 1960 - is incredibly imaginative. The stylish and somewhat cartoony graphics contrast unnervingly against the violence and dark psychological overtones. Unfortunately, the gameplay gets repetitive at times, since everyone is essentially a drug-addled lunatic who is out to kill youThe story and environment of this game - the dilapidated ruins of a utopian underwater city called Rapture in 1960 - is incredibly imaginative. The stylish and somewhat cartoony graphics contrast unnervingly against the violence and dark psychological overtones. Unfortunately, the gameplay gets repetitive at times, since everyone is essentially a drug-addled lunatic who is out to kill you … just because. I think this game would have been better if it involved less combat and perhaps some interactive dialogue. The story reaches a very interesting and surprising climax.… Expand
  8. Rustick
    Jul 7, 2022
    7
    пока что не успел пройти до конца атмомфера очень хорошая геймплей довольно интересный
  9. AngryGeek
    Jun 8, 2022
    7
    It is one of my favorite games with its mysterious and tense atmosphere. We are playing the adventure where we live in a mysterious city under the sea.
  10. Yaav13
    Apr 7, 2022
    7
    My truthful honorable incorruptible conclusive rating of this considered game: 7.
  11. TEG_17
    Feb 6, 2022
    7
    Классная атмосфера, классный сюжет, средненький шутан.
  12. Amorph0us
    Jan 12, 2022
    5
    I consider this game as overrated. The atmosphere needed to be the main aspect of this game and it dint reach on me at all. The world design is poor and I tend to believe that games like that just tried to leech the success of half life 2.
  13. cryptocreeper
    Oct 16, 2021
    7
    Interesting and gloomy world with well-designed locations and good story. I like RPG elements like weapon and skill upgrade. It seemd to me the game not require an exploration of weak points of enemies, so sometimes I feel that it doesn't matter what skills or weapons to use. Shooting doesn't really feel real, like you use toy weapons with plastic bullets. But game has very good sound,Interesting and gloomy world with well-designed locations and good story. I like RPG elements like weapon and skill upgrade. It seemd to me the game not require an exploration of weak points of enemies, so sometimes I feel that it doesn't matter what skills or weapons to use. Shooting doesn't really feel real, like you use toy weapons with plastic bullets. But game has very good sound, design, and some scenes are well remembered.… Expand
  14. FRIST_008
    Jun 14, 2021
    6
    Я заставлял себя играть в эту игру, потому что третья имела слишком большой ажиотаж, а я всегда играю с первой части в игры.
  15. Atecno
    May 24, 2021
    6
    I never understood the hype with this game. The gameplay is meh and the story is meh. I did like how scary the game can be with lights and figures moving out of place. The idea of the city is pretty cool with how beautiful it was being underwater. Overall my enjoyment was meh.
  16. DragonOfDojlma
    Apr 29, 2021
    6
    totally overratted. I can say i dont satisfied enough about shooting the enemies. Awful story telling and atmosphere is not fascinating that much.
  17. Kemp
    Mar 12, 2021
    7
    I think maybe my perception of this game is a bit skewed by the fact that I am playing this game in 2021, and video games have advanced a lot since it came out. It still holds up as a good game, but I do not see how it is the masterpiece everyone says it is. That said, having played all three games in the series now, I do think the original is the best of them.

    The combat must have been    I think maybe my perception of this game is a bit skewed by the fact that I am playing this game in 2021, and video games have advanced a lot since it came out. It still holds up as a good game, but I do not see how it is the masterpiece everyone says it is. That said, having played all three games in the series now, I do think the original is the best of them.

    The combat must have been pretty revolutionary for the time. The AI is really good even by today's standards, and the plasmids are pretty fun to play around with. The world is probably the coolest part of the game, but it's dragged down, for me, by the fact that you don't really form a relationship with any characters in it. There are characters, but your interaction with them is solely via them talking at you over the radio. That said, Andrew Ryan is at least a pretty compelling character.

    It's not a masterpiece for me, though, because the story is just decent. Everyone says it is a masterpiece, everyone says Ken Levine is a brilliant storyteller, but I just don't see it. After playing all of the bioshock games, I do think this is the strongest story, and perhaps one of the best video game stories ever at the time it came out, but it really does not even come close to the standards that have been set in recent years. Granted, my experience may have been tainted a bit by the main twist being spoiled for me because it has become so notorious. But great twists should still be compelling even if you know they're coming (e.g., the Red Wedding), and this was not at all. This is still a good game, but I really do not understand why everyone loves this series so much.    … Expand
  18. tufekciero
    Mar 12, 2021
    7
    BRONZ zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
  19. SuperClaudio64
    Feb 28, 2021
    7
    Gioco che trovo sopravvalutato a livello di trama, ma divertente per il suo gameplay. Bioshock è un gioco Ok e mi ha divertito molto, ma mi aspettavo di più a livello narrativo visto che tutti lo elogiavano sempre su quel aspetto. In ogni caso mi è piaciuto ma non lo considero uno dei migliori giochi di sempre.
  20. awagam34
    Jan 4, 2021
    6
    6/10
    KLIMAT
    Bioshock zachwyca klimatem klimatem, Rapture jest unikalną lokacją, pełną klimatycznych miejsc, które pomagają wejść w ten świat. Klimat jest też budowany poprzez dźwięki, które stoją na wysokim poziomie. FEELING STRZELANIA To jedna ze słabszych stron tej produkcji, ♥♥♥♥ strzelanie nie powinno być aż tak ważne, ale prawda jest taka że na wyższych poziomach trudności jest    6/10
    KLIMAT
    Bioshock zachwyca klimatem klimatem, Rapture jest unikalną lokacją, pełną klimatycznych miejsc, które pomagają wejść w ten świat. Klimat jest też budowany poprzez dźwięki, które stoją na wysokim poziomie.
    FEELING STRZELANIA
    To jedna ze słabszych stron tej produkcji, ♥♥♥♥ strzelanie nie powinno być aż tak ważne, ale prawda jest taka że na wyższych poziomach trudności jest tego sporo. Większość broni nie brzmi i nie zachowuje się tak jakbyśmy się tego spodziewali. Najgorszym przykładem jest karabin maszynowy, który poza beznadziejnym feeligiem, jest dość dobry co sprawia że używa się go dość sporo nie czerpiąc z tego za dużo przyjemności.
    BUGI
    Gra niestety posiada wiele błędów. Przeładowywanie kuszy, ai i wile innych. Mnie najbardziej denerwowały błędy w menu głównym, opcje graficzne ustawianie jasności czy dźwięku jest strasznie zbugowane. Mam nadzieje że jest to spowodowane wersją "remaster" i w oryginale takich błędów nie było.
    HISTORIA
    Szczerze spodziewałem się czegoś więcej. Okazuję się że najmocniejsza stroną Bioshocka jest klimat. Sama historia jest przekazywana głownie przez zapiski audio rozsiane po całej mapie. Są one zrealizowane dość dobrze ale często byłem rozpraszany przez walkę podczas słuchania. Sama historia też nie porywa. Jej głównym problem jest nierówne rozłożenie. Zabawa rozkręca się w ostatnich paru godzinach, wtedy można mówić o ciekawych plot twistach i ciekawych wydarzeniach, na początku jest to średniej klasy shooter z fajnym klimatem.
    DESIGN POZIOMÓW
    Czytałem gdzieś o świetnym level designie w Bioshocku. Przyznam że moje oczekiwania były wysokie, a ja niestety się zawiodłem. Lokacje wcale nie są aż tak intuicyjne, często trzeba się posiłkować mapą, która jest naprawdę beznadziejna, 10% czasu spędzonego w tej grze to studiowanie i przeglądanie mapy, co naprawdę przeszkadza w utrzymaniu optymalnego tempa gameplayu.    … Expand
  21. MrSchipunov
    Aug 12, 2020
    5
    Playing this feels like dragging a dead horse in a desert. Everything about this -aside from its atmosphere- is lackluster. It's just a shallow game and definitely not an immersive sim.
  22. Otacat
    Jul 7, 2020
    7
    점수는 나왔던 2007년도를 생각해서 7점 줍니다. 솔직히 지금 플래이하면 딴 게임들에 비해 이제 많이 좀 딸리죠. 제가 이 게임을 한게 좀 오래되긴 했어요. 한 3년 전에 리마스터 나온거 끝냈습니다. 게임 플레이도 재밌게 할만하고, 배경도 판타지 세계 같은 거여서 어드벤쳐 같은 느낌 있고, 미스테리 요소가 꽤 많아 여기저기 둘러보는 재미도 있고 첨에는 주인공이 좀 성격이 없어서 별루 였는데 나중에 스토리 반전도 있고 리틀 시스터 구하기도 하면서 몰입되는 캐릭이더라고요. 나왔을 때 점수 매겼으면 10점 줬을 거예요. 그런데 지금 시대로는 게임이 많이 오래 됬네요. 그래픽도 별로지, 할 수 있는 게임 플레이도 딴 게임보단 적지, 스토리도 약간에 반복성과 그냥 시대차가 있는 뭐 그런거 있잖아요.점수는 나왔던 2007년도를 생각해서 7점 줍니다. 솔직히 지금 플래이하면 딴 게임들에 비해 이제 많이 좀 딸리죠. 제가 이 게임을 한게 좀 오래되긴 했어요. 한 3년 전에 리마스터 나온거 끝냈습니다. 게임 플레이도 재밌게 할만하고, 배경도 판타지 세계 같은 거여서 어드벤쳐 같은 느낌 있고, 미스테리 요소가 꽤 많아 여기저기 둘러보는 재미도 있고 첨에는 주인공이 좀 성격이 없어서 별루 였는데 나중에 스토리 반전도 있고 리틀 시스터 구하기도 하면서 몰입되는 캐릭이더라고요. 나왔을 때 점수 매겼으면 10점 줬을 거예요. 그런데 지금 시대로는 게임이 많이 오래 됬네요. 그래픽도 별로지, 할 수 있는 게임 플레이도 딴 게임보단 적지, 스토리도 약간에 반복성과 그냥 시대차가 있는 뭐 그런거 있잖아요. 그래서 7점 줬습니다.… Expand
  23. Alentejano
    May 22, 2020
    6
    This game has amazing lore and worldbuilding, everything makes sense and I especially love concepts like The Big Daddies and Little Sisters. The voice acting, atmosphere and music were excellent. The story was great but it horrendously structured (lots of repetition: go to this place, something goes wrong, go look for this thing and bring it were and so on), the map was confusing and theThis game has amazing lore and worldbuilding, everything makes sense and I especially love concepts like The Big Daddies and Little Sisters. The voice acting, atmosphere and music were excellent. The story was great but it horrendously structured (lots of repetition: go to this place, something goes wrong, go look for this thing and bring it were and so on), the map was confusing and the ending felt a bit rushed. Still... it was a good game.… Expand
  24. bancandrei
    May 15, 2020
    6
    Didn't like it, it's a shooter. Was expecting something special, but didn't get it. The graphics and atmosphere are nice, but not enough to carry it.
    I can only assume it is the narrative twist that elevates it for most people, but for me it was the final nail in the coffin. The one that tells you that you pretty much HAD to do what you did. I've been struggeling to get through this    Didn't like it, it's a shooter. Was expecting something special, but didn't get it. The graphics and atmosphere are nice, but not enough to carry it.
    I can only assume it is the narrative twist that elevates it for most people, but for me it was the final nail in the coffin. The one that tells you that you pretty much HAD to do what you did. I've been struggeling to get through this linear shooter to get to the story and the story IS rubbing it in my face. No thanks.
    It did help me avoid other praised games like Spec Ops: The Line and Nier: Automata, which I deduced are doing the same thing
    I would probably have been thrilled if this were an open isometric RPG.    … Expand
  25. md5fungi
    Apr 16, 2020
    5
    I have never struggled with a game so much as I have with Bioshock. To clarify, my struggle was not with the difficulty of the gameplay as far as challenging encounters/progression, but I struggled with the experience.

    Bioshock is a beautiful game that has an important, wondrous story to tell. The game takes you to the underwater city of Rapture, a disturbing dystopia of genetically    I have never struggled with a game so much as I have with Bioshock. To clarify, my struggle was not with the difficulty of the gameplay as far as challenging encounters/progression, but I struggled with the experience.

    Bioshock is a beautiful game that has an important, wondrous story to tell. The game takes you to the underwater city of Rapture, a disturbing dystopia of genetically altered (and unhinged) humans, free from government control, free to alter and enhance themselves as they see fit. The theme, atmosphere, and story are inspired by Ayn Rand's philosophy and work Atlas Shrugged, and it's refreshing to see a AAA video game take such inspiration from a historical and culturally significant work.

    I can't understate how wonderful the game looks. Torrents of water flooding through hallways through broken glass windows practically never get old. Old-timey neon buildings illuminate the world around in a charming manner.

    The gameplay consists of using plasmids (genetic modifications) to manipulate enemies and your environment: you can electrocute the water around you (usually taking out several enemies), telekinetically hurl enemies through the air, set foes on fire, freeze things, etc. All the archetypal "spells" that tend to be present in fantasy games are here, and they all work well. To make matters more interesting, besides the deranged Splicers you'll be facing, you also have to deal with Big Daddies in every level, which are giant, lumbering mini-bosses with the sole purpose of protecting Little Sisters, who are little girls that are actually a major source of genetic material (opportunity for the game to add a morality mechanic). A Big Daddy isn't hostile unless you attack it or the Little Sister it guards, and you'll need to have a very good plan to take them out.

    All the pieces of a phenomenal game are here: an immersive story, unique gameplay, and a captivating atmosphere. However, for me, they just did not come together in a satisfying manner.

    The main problem I have with Bioshock is that for all that it offers, it's incredibly repetitive. The first few times I encountered Splicers, it was thrilling; they aren't just slow, clumsy zombies, but dancing, charging maniacal psychopaths. However, when I realized that Splicers are pretty much the main enemy I would be facing in the game, I started to dread seeing them. Surely not every messed up genetic reject of Rapture would be the same?

    I also grew tired of the Big Daddies very quickly. Defeating them requires carefully timed dodges. Waiting until an enemy charges you, moving aside, and then using an attack is boring if you have to do it several times in every level. Yes, you can use combos of plasmids to do some very interesting things to Big Daddies, but it's still the same thing over and over again. If you don't time everything right, you'll probably find yourself on the losing end of the battle, and then you're better off dying (resulting in a respawn) or reloading a save. The weapons don't offer anything superb, either. You are basically equipped with a marginally less impressive arsenal then your average sci-fi/fantasy shooter.

    The combat in Bioshock would probably be a lot more satisfying if the environments varied, but the entire game looks and is structured pretty much the same... which is consistent with the narrative and atmosphere in the game, but I really get the sense that the concept of the game is constantly fighting the gameplay, resulting in boring slogs from objective to objective. There's not really a lot to explore in the game, and it's completely linear. Even when I did wander off to find an interesting corridor or room, I was ambushed by Splicers, continuing the monotonous, one-note feeling of the game.

    Many fans of the game will tell you that the story carries the game alone. I unfortunately found that the game is more about crafting a believable, intricate world than telling a compelling tale. For me, this meant that once I had a good sense of the world I was in and how it came to be, I was ready to move on to the gameplay... which ended up being lackluster, as previously described.

    I wanted to like the morality dilemma this game poses with the Little Sisters, but at the end of the day you're presented with two polarities that are ultimately decided by a single decision that you keep making again and again; this is far less interesting than other FPS games of this nature, e.g. Mass Effect or Fallout 3!

    Bioshock SHOULD be amazing, given everything it has going for it. However, I don't feel like it really comes together as a fun, enjoyable video game. I almost feel like perhaps it is a commentary on itself: you may have the freedom to do great things, but the outcome may be terrifyingly abysmal.    … Expand
  26. Cafe_8bits
    Apr 5, 2020
    7
    This game its a great shooter, with an amazing ambientation and level design. Bioshock its great, and have a memorable story. Im glad to had replayed this game.
  27. GraysonUA
    Mar 31, 2020
    7
    Шутер з різними здібносятми, в антуражі ретрофутуризму. Досить атмосферний, сюжет пробує дивувати, але не завжде викликає цікавість. Стрільбу поступово починаєш смакувати.
  28. Shimmeywill
    Mar 26, 2020
    6
    A solid enough shooter. The story has been praised to the heavens but its ok. Atmosphere is decent, bot very spooky though.
  29. Wiebe
    Feb 25, 2020
    6
    Simple shooter, boring not a lot to do other than shoot stuff...............
  30. zNeverSleeping
    Aug 25, 2019
    6
    Envelheceu tão mal...

    Eu queria ter jogado essa game no lançamento. Deve ter sido fantastico, mas hoje em dia, principalmente depois de joga o bioshock mais recente, fica dificil levar o jogo. O jogo compensa no universo, que é interessantissimo e nos presenteia com uma das ideias mais impressionantes que já vi. A cidade é femomenal, simplesmente fenomenal. Porém, a gameplay não é    Envelheceu tão mal...

    Eu queria ter jogado essa game no lançamento. Deve ter sido fantastico, mas hoje em dia, principalmente depois de joga o bioshock mais recente, fica dificil levar o jogo.

    O jogo compensa no universo, que é interessantissimo e nos presenteia com uma das ideias mais impressionantes que já vi. A cidade é femomenal, simplesmente fenomenal.

    Porém, a gameplay não é dinamica. Na verdade, me pareceu um pouco confusa em não escolher muito bem uma identidade. Eles te dão pouca munição e muitos inimigos (?), os poderes te ajudam menos do que deveriam, e as armas são... meh. Isso estressa e desmotiva no jogo.    … Expand
  31. brendo214
    May 21, 2019
    7
    I'm not gonna lie. This game was disappointing. People hype this game up so much, and I don't think this game deserves it to the degree it gets it. The story was good, but it's better in theory than it is in practice. The combat is aight, nothing special. The best part is easily the setting, but that kind of gets pushed aside in like the second half of the game, and that's pretty upsetting.
  32. KingJailson
    Apr 10, 2019
    5
    Um dos melhores jogos da decada de 2000, porem no PC, está cheio de bugs e crashes, jogo rodando sem som, cheio de problemas que atrapalha a diversão do jogador.
  33. psylife
    Nov 26, 2018
    6
    The interplay between the various environmental contraptions, the mechanics, the design, all great.. But after a while I couldn't stand the hacking anymore, which forced me to ignore it, which forced me die more than I should have. The FOV in this game is criminal, and the challenge essentially comes from the communion of a retarded field of view and a constant stream of aggression fromThe interplay between the various environmental contraptions, the mechanics, the design, all great.. But after a while I couldn't stand the hacking anymore, which forced me to ignore it, which forced me die more than I should have. The FOV in this game is criminal, and the challenge essentially comes from the communion of a retarded field of view and a constant stream of aggression from the game. The pacing of the story is also all over the place. There is actually almost no plot development until you reach Ryan, which is 80% into the game. Perhaps more generally, the game just became more and more repetitive as the developer failed to create new, refreshing, dare I say, fun situation for the player to deal with. The game went from thoughtful and satisfying in its first half to chaotic and frustrating in its second half. The story and lore is interesting, but how can it be considered a masterpiece, is one of the great mysteries of the gaming world ; Then again, Infinite is considered great, even though it doesn't even have any of the redeeming qualities of Bioshock, as if the developer had no idea what were Bioshock's strength in the first place ; Talking about a lack of talent there. It's a frustrating state of affair, because these mechanics deserved to be served and delivered through better level design and pacing.… Expand
  34. forfb
    May 19, 2018
    5
    I'll start with what struck me the most - nice location design at first, but then it becomes repetitive and dull. The story was average and - to me - barely interesting. However, I find the idea of two seperate endings based on the choices you've made, whether to harvest Little Sisters or not, a very nice idea. The whole idea and design of Big Daddys is badass. As for gameplay, shootingI'll start with what struck me the most - nice location design at first, but then it becomes repetitive and dull. The story was average and - to me - barely interesting. However, I find the idea of two seperate endings based on the choices you've made, whether to harvest Little Sisters or not, a very nice idea. The whole idea and design of Big Daddys is badass. As for gameplay, shooting felt way to arcade like, also I happened to have problems with big ass crosshairs, they were annoying as hell. The graphics were fine, for 2007.… Expand
  35. ashketchum
    Mar 10, 2018
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Bioshock is a good game. However, it starts off with a lot more potential than it ends up with. You can see that there is an interesting setting in this underwater city, but you can only go to select places, which leads to it feeling restrictive at times. Some of these locations, like Fort Frolic, are memorable in design, while others, like Arcadia, feel bland. There is a good range of Plasmids to choose from, though, which allows for different ways to attack enemies. The penultimate escort section of the game, however, feels tedious and forced in to lengthen time, and the final boss is a bit of a letdown, compared to how much the game hypes it up. The game is great at setting atmosphere, though, with it's use of sounds, and the stylistic posters and pictures of some locations also help to increase tension, such as with Sander Cohen. A good game, with some missed potential.… Expand
  36. ShawnD
    Dec 13, 2017
    7
    Great ideas, bad execution. 7/10

    The concept and art style of the game are great, but the actual gameplay is pretty bad. I'm not just saying that because it's 2017 and I'm unfairly judging a 10 year old game; I had these same complaints when Bioshock came out. The combat is horribly unbalanced and poorly thought out. The wrench and the tommy gun are probably the only weapons that work    Great ideas, bad execution. 7/10

    The concept and art style of the game are great, but the actual gameplay is pretty bad. I'm not just saying that because it's 2017 and I'm unfairly judging a 10 year old game; I had these same complaints when Bioshock came out. The combat is horribly unbalanced and poorly thought out. The wrench and the tommy gun are probably the only weapons that work well and have appropriate levels of ammunition. It feels like the designers originally wanted the game to be survival horror, but they also wanted the game to be fun, so they went half way and created a game that is neither scary nor fun. It always feels like there is a shortage of resources that forces the player to switch back and forth between weapons and plasmids, but the shortage leads to a feeling of anger and frustration.

    Pistol:
    Maximum pistol ammo is 48 bullets, but it can easily take 15 bullets to kill enemies later in the game, and that's with all of the pistol upgrades and playing on normal difficulty. If the enemies are going to be bullet sponges, I should be carrying 200 bullets. Is the game supposed to be survival horror where I'm sneaking around due to a lack of bullets, or is it supposed to be a fun game where I shoot things? The game has no sneaking and it has no bullets, so I get the worst of both worlds.

    Shotgun:
    Bioshock has the worst shotgun in any shooter I have ever played. Its effective range is a couple yards even though it fires 00 buckshot. In real life, buckshot's effective range is about 50-100 yards. It should be possible to shoot things across the room and have them die in a few shots. The original Doom shotgun and the Duke Nukem 3D shotgun are a lot closer to how a shotgun should work. Bioshock is a bit more like Doom 3 - the shotgun is useless. In addition to doing no damage and having no range, it has a 4 round magazine. It might be more effective to swing the shotgun like a baseball bat.

    Camera:
    The inclusion of a camera for research is just mind boggling. Here's how this plays out: You'll buy 100 camera ammo then take about 5 pictures per encounter for every enemy you encounter. Just run up to them and keep clicking the mouse button until it says it didn't take a picture because the score was too low. After seeing maybe 5 of each monster type, you'll have every monster type maxed out. Then you'll never use the camera again. What was the point of including this in the game? It's just mindless busy work.

    Grenades:
    The grenade launcher is awesome, but the ammo limits are stupid. You get a max of 6 of each type, and it takes about 6 grenades to kill a big daddy on normal difficulty. Since every other weapon in the game is basically useless against a big daddy, this means you'll carry grenades just for the sake of killing big daddies. It's like the game is mocking the player. We get this amazing weapon to carry around, but we can't use it on anything because that ammo is reserved for killing one specific enemy type.

    Chemical Thrower:
    This is another one of those really bizarre design choices. The chemical thrower can do all 3 types of elemental damage - fire, cold, electricity. The cold and electricity essentially do no damage, so those act very similar to the plasmid powers. This means you would be expected to freeze an enemy with the thrower and then switch to a different weapon to inflict damage. This is a horrendous idea. Switching back and forth between guns and plasmids is easy because it just involves right clicking. Switching back and forth between guns is a lot more involved because it involves hitting different numbers on a keyboard, and people playing on console would probably switch weapons using the D pad. It's a lot clumsier than clicking a single button to toggle back and forth. The chemical thrower seems like an idea that would work if it were possible to assign it as a plasmid power instead of a gun. Since that isn't possible, you'll probably just resort to using the plasmid versions of elemental damage and not using the chem thrower at any point in the game.

    Enemies:
    Bioshock is one of those games where enemies blend into the background very easily. I find myself using the fire plasmid just because it marks targets effectively. I can always see an enemy that is on fire.

    The damage in the game is so incredibly broken that I'm certain this is the reason the game gives free respawns when you die. On normal difficulty, 2 shots from a big daddy rivet gun will kill you, and there's no way to dodge them other than line of sight.This means you will die all the time. If one of your hacked devices fires a stray bullet that hits a big daddy, you will die in a few seconds unless you are already behind cover. Rather than fix the stupid amount of damage done by enemies, the game just gives the player a free respawn with no loss of equipment or ammo. They know players would be punching their monitors if the game did a game over screen every time that happened.    … Expand
  37. bljak
    May 18, 2017
    5
    I couldn't get through two hours of this game. The concept would've been cool, but I got so bored, and the map is really annoying. I like the graphics, but that's about it.
  38. Jestzer
    Mar 14, 2017
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Easily one of the most overrated games of all time.
    Before I begin this review, let me just say that I had such high hopes for this game. It looked so interesting, received numerous positive reviews, and I loved the game when I first started playing it. However, by the time I finished the game, I was exhausted of the game in its entirety, allow me to explain myself.

    Pros:
    - Great art, beautiful water and fire effects, especially in the beginning.
    - At first, its combat system is interesting, unique, fun, and satisfying.
    - One of the greatest plot twists I've seen in a video game and it was done so well. There were hints leading up to it, but done so that it was not entirely obvious what was happening.
    - The beginning sequences have fantastic cinematography and create an interesting story-line. I really thought I was going into one of the greatest single-player games.

    Cons:
    - Combat becomes tedious very soon after the introduction. Big Daddies are bullet sponges, other enemies are so difficult to fight that it becomes a chore, eventually, and I believe this is due to the clunkiness of the combat. The final boss fight is anything but fun.
    - I hate when games bar me from proceeding by making me backtrack or force me to fight waves of enemies in the same place. It's an indication of laziness to develop more of the game environment. This game does this so often and it is so frustrating to go to the same room five times to realize you missed a small detail that will help you proceed. I can think of at least three times this game did this, and they were not small pieces of the game, they dragged these segments out to high hell.
    - The main story-line is incredibly uninteresting after the plot twist. I don't care about the sisters that much after awhile. It's harder for me to say,
    - The side story was completely indigestible for me. The audio recordings were so distorted that I couldn't quite hear what was being said. The subtitles did me no favors because they were so long, but didn't stay on the screen long enough and weren't synced with the audio.
    - The rag-dolls have this weird clunkiness to them. I think their bodies didn't move at the same framerate as the game, making them look they falling in big, singular movements. This may not be a problem in other games, but in a game so heavily driven by art, this sticks out like a sore thumb to me.
    - Towards the end of the game, at least on the Xbox 306 version, there is a graphical glitch that removes significant amount of details from objects in the game. It is so bad that I couldn't see it being excusable in any video game, art-driven or not.
    - The map is horrendous and useless. In game where you have to do so much backtracking, this matters a lot, but the map never helped me navigate through the game.
    - The idea of the Little Sisters is interesting, but not implemented well. The only reason it isn't implemented well is because there is almost no consequence for killing them in-game. The only thing it affects is the ending of the game, big whoop. Two of the endings are barely different. You get more in-game benefits for killing them, so eventually you'll learn not to care that they look so adorable. You can't just tell me to care because I should treat the game as if it is real life, it isn't. If you want me to make more real-life decisions, then give me a better reason to care. Only one of the endings is dramatically different, making this whole feature feel pointless. They help you in the end, regardless of how many you killed along the way. The fact that the ending changes based on decisions to save the sisters or not makes the game seem as if it is centered around just this one element, in the end, and not around the city of Rapture itself. I thought the sisters were a core element, but not the whole story.

    Overall, it really is just an okay game with some good elements, but some also being quite poor. I would have rather seen this as a movie than a video game.    … Expand
  39. Voyou
    Jan 31, 2017
    6
    All the good goes to the environment, from world design to visuals to sound to atmosphere… This is truly a beautiful piece, possibly the best 3D world of its time. I enjoyed a lot of places, the museum, the little sisters room, the theater, the variety of posters…

    The gameplay, on the other hand, is average, slightly boring even. I found the energy to progress only by playing 1 level    All the good goes to the environment, from world design to visuals to sound to atmosphere… This is truly a beautiful piece, possibly the best 3D world of its time. I enjoyed a lot of places, the museum, the little sisters room, the theater, the variety of posters…

    The gameplay, on the other hand, is average, slightly boring even. I found the energy to progress only by playing 1 level per session. Nothing bad, really, but rather repetitive and tactically limited. Pretty much all you need is the fake target power and a wrench. Your inventory will then be full all along and almost useless. It's also pretty easy, and I would have played on the hardest mode for the challenge, except that the constant respawns in standard mode are annoying enough already and I don't want more of this kind of aggro. There are a couple of amusing fights, though.    … Expand
  40. User_Dork
    Dec 16, 2016
    5
    Not bad, but when i played, i expect not what i saw. I expect game, what has name "Bioshock Infinife", That's all. But is say serious, if not mind stupid creepy moments and dummy dolls charachters, which here three (two), this game is pretty good.
  41. NP-complete
    Oct 25, 2016
    6
    The story is very interesting, but the environment is too dark to me, landscapes feel too repetitive. Personally I don't like shooters too much, although I have to admit the devs made a good effort to keep the gameplay fresh with all of those magical powers.
  42. agurczuk
    Jun 21, 2016
    7
    A very atmospheric first person shooter with an interesting story ,

    In game you are put in the shoes of a airplane crash survivor who finds himself in the middle of the ocean. Only to discover an entrence to an underwater city called Rapture. The city once glorious is now falling apart. It also is overrun by twisted for a lack of a better word mutants. You are led by a voice on the    A very atmospheric first person shooter with an interesting story ,

    In game you are put in the shoes of a airplane crash survivor who finds himself in the middle of the ocean. Only to discover an entrence to an underwater city called Rapture. The city once glorious is now falling apart. It also is overrun by twisted for a lack of a better word mutants. You are led by a voice on the radio following his advice in a hope to escape the city without dying. In order to do that you use a wide array of weapons with aid from Adam - a genetic rewriting fluid that essentially gives you magic powers.

    What I liked about the game. Definitely the setting - Rapture is extremely well designed with a very unique and constant atmospehre which holds out through the whole game. The enemy design is interesting and fits the setting. All locations, missions and progress make sense and push the story ever forward. Ammo is scarce - you value each shot and try to save every bullet as much as you can - which adds to the atmosphere. The big daddy's are pretty scary and first encounter with them is really unforgeable.

    What I didn't like was definitely the combat design. Enemies run around what feels like frantically around and are extremely hard to hit. What others might consider a plus it felt more annoying than anything else. Also all of them seem pretty tanky so you need to put a lot of bullets to put them down. Another thing I disliked was the camera mechanic - having to take pictures of enemies to learn their weaknesses might be a good idea but in a game where stealth is next to not existent having to take pictures of enemies in the middle of gunfight is a bit silly.

    Overall I really did enjoy the game and can recommend it mostly for the ambience and atmosphere it comes with.    … Expand
  43. SL539
    Dec 26, 2015
    7
    This is a game I was never able to truly get into, perhaps it's because I started off with BioShock Infinite. However it's a very good game, from what I've seen and the little I did play. Very cinematic for an FPS game. Sorry can't really give much more of a review - I just wanted to clean out my old review since it was pretty stupid.
  44. gracjanski
    Nov 22, 2015
    7
    The beginning ist really great: atmosfere, the background, philosophy. But after 2-3 hours the game becomes average and you begin to see the weak sides of this game: you are immortal, bad controlling, few enemies, childish dialogues. there are much better shooter out there. But the end is a masterpiece of videogames: DO THE GOOD side and rescue the sisters, the end sequence is brilliant.
  45. PrincessRose
    Sep 3, 2015
    5
    When I first tried to play Bioshock it wont stop acting like a dole bludger, no matter what the game refused to work.
    And the steam overlay would not work for this game.
    When I finally got it to work the story is interesting with a sense of mystery and grabs you at first which is told uniquely by finding audio diaries and the unique, amazing, eerie underwater city atmosphere. But that    When I first tried to play Bioshock it wont stop acting like a dole bludger, no matter what the game refused to work.
    And the steam overlay would not work for this game.

    When I finally got it to work the story is interesting with a sense of mystery and grabs you at first which is told uniquely by finding audio diaries and the unique, amazing, eerie underwater city atmosphere.
    But that wears off after 10 hours of gameplay it becomes boring, repetitive, linear with set goals you have to follow to be able to progress and same repetitive enemies of splicers, Big Daddies, turrets and bots.

    I found the end bit the most entertaining.

    The game is also buggy and suffers from occasional screen freezing.
    An overrated, overhyped rather boring fps I don't reccomend wasting your time on this. It's not a terrible game, but it's not good either.

    5/10 for the graphics/art unique atmosphere    … Expand
  46. Steeldude
    Jul 18, 2015
    6
    This game is hard to judge. It starts of pretty good with an interesting premise, world and game mechanics, but ultimately, it does not deliver, as it jumps to the levels of tediousness and mediocrity in all of these areas.

    Premise: The story is told in a series of diaries that you have to find while exploring Rapture. It's pretty basic and most of the things you're gonna hear are not    This game is hard to judge. It starts of pretty good with an interesting premise, world and game mechanics, but ultimately, it does not deliver, as it jumps to the levels of tediousness and mediocrity in all of these areas.

    Premise:
    The story is told in a series of diaries that you have to find while exploring Rapture. It's pretty basic and most of the things you're gonna hear are not important. Also, it's annoying that there's a diary around every corner, so you have to stop everywhere and listen to those tracks, it breaks the flow of the game play. In Deus Ex, I did not mind stopping at each and every computer and hacking everything because it was fun and you were rewarded with codes etc., here it's just redundant and boring.

    World:
    To be honest, I am no sucker for underwater towns, so while I can appreciate the art direction and such, it is hard not to see that all areas are fairly similar and all of the enemies are just light variations, so you'll be going through the levels killing the same enemies over and over again.

    The levels tend to be quite large and give you some room to explore which is something I like about this game, but ultimately ... there is not much to find. Yeah, you can find another Plasmid or Tonic here and there, but you'll find so many of these that they do not feel like unique upgrades. You'll have full equips and tons of spare ones that you're never going to use. Wouldn't it be better to have 5 actually usable ones that can be used all the time rather than having 15 or such out of which more than half is useless?

    Game mechanics:
    The Little Sisters mechanic can get pretty annoying, as sometimes you have to wait a long time for them to appear and if they see you, they can climb back into the holes and you have to repeat the process over and over again which is not fun. Also, the choice is meaningless as saving the girls gives you much better stuff overall so there is not point in killing them.

    Another problem is that in spite of having a large choice of ways to deal with enemies, using your weapons is a much more better choice rather than awkwardly trying to zap enemies (or using plasmids in general). Weapons are sure to kill. Especially your wrench. I practically use the wrench all the time and leave the guns for rare causes when wrench is not enough. The game even supports this style of game play by giving you wrench upgrades and limiting the ammo you can get. So, you'll be using a few weapons throughout the whole game and even though you have tons of other options to choose from, you will not use them, there is no reason to do so.

    The hacking is quite nice, but gets tedious later on and sometimes the generated puzzle cannot be solved. Some more testing would have been nice.

    What I actually like, though, is the fact that you can take photos of enemies to analyze them and get bonuses for doing so. It's fun trying to take photos, even though the enemies all look so similar that you can never be sure which you've already photographed.

    Final verdict:
    Let's sum this up, this game tries to come up with a lot of ideas, such as unique plasmids, photography etc., but never goes anywhere with them. That means that the initial feeling of enthusiasm towards this game disappears and you're left with a game that's full of: walking through similar areas, fighting the same enemies over and over again and using like 3 weapons through the whole course of the game.
    Unfortunately, I got bored in like 1/3 through the game already, but I kept playing and that meant that all the faults and boredom became even more tedious. Right now, I've finished 50% of the game and I haven't had much fun with this.

    I'll probably finish this game, but I highly doubt that my rating is gonna change, I'll update this review in case it does, though. 6/10

    Edit: Okay, I beat the game.
    There was another part that I liked, Fort Frolic. The penultimate level was also quite interesting, because you had to work with Little Sisters, but it dragged on for way too long, because they walk too slow.
    The ending video is nice.

    However, I have become so strong with my wrench that not even Big Daddies could damage me at this point with the Freeze upgrade + Health recovery, so the rest of the game was super easy. No interesting bosses, no interesting enemies, no interesting upgrades (only improved versions of the ones you have making the older one quite useless) ...

    I didn't like the "plot twist" with Atlas and the areas revolving him, as it was obvious from the beginning that he was a bad guy. Would've been more interesting if they did something different.

    The final boss was simply lame, I wrenched him in like 20 seconds.

    So, in the end, it's still a decent game, but I am not changing my score of 6/10.
    Hopefully, Bioshock 2 will be better.    … Expand
  47. Nuker
    Jun 26, 2015
    7
    - Good: Mood/Atmosphere, Art Direction, Audio
    - Mixed: Gameplay, Story, Writing, Setting
    - Bad: ---

    Overrated game in my honest opinion, i rushed this game at the end because i was bored.
  48. iseeall
    Apr 9, 2015
    6
    A mediocre rail shooter with excellect graphics. Any comparisons to Deus Ex 1 or Deus Ex Human Revolution are way out of place. In Bioshock the levels are linear, and enemies appear at scripted events, sometimes from behind (hello, Doom 3). In Deus Ex (or Hitman before Absolution) you could plan different approaches to a level, use different tactics. Here you just follow the next waypoint.A mediocre rail shooter with excellect graphics. Any comparisons to Deus Ex 1 or Deus Ex Human Revolution are way out of place. In Bioshock the levels are linear, and enemies appear at scripted events, sometimes from behind (hello, Doom 3). In Deus Ex (or Hitman before Absolution) you could plan different approaches to a level, use different tactics. Here you just follow the next waypoint. And even if at some point you go back thru the places you've already cleared these places will again be full of enemies, or new ones will break thru a wall. You pick a shotgun - and hello Serious Sam: the screen goes black, and enemies run to you from the darkness from all directions. Hacking electronic devices is all about solving increasingly difficult "water pipes" puzzles which get annoying pretty fast. Also, levels are littered with trash and objects with which you can't interact. This makes spotting enemies, moving and finding loot difficult and doesn't make a more interesting game.… Expand
  49. yokerclown
    Dec 5, 2014
    7
    Great pre-game of that, what "Bioshock: Infinite" saved and done more goodly, than here!.. But dont forgetting about that fact, that this is really one of the best "first person shooter games" ever!
  50. Desthro
    Aug 8, 2014
    7
    Bioshock.
    This game was supposed to be the spiritual successor to a very powerful game, System Shock 2. The environment and the story are supposed to be dark and horrifying, with every piece you learn building up to a terrifying and emotional breakdown as the game progresses.
    Does Bioshock deliver? Yes and no. The game is fanciful and beautiful, a graphical piece of art at the time.    Bioshock.
    This game was supposed to be the spiritual successor to a very powerful game, System Shock 2. The environment and the story are supposed to be dark and horrifying, with every piece you learn building up to a terrifying and emotional breakdown as the game progresses.

    Does Bioshock deliver? Yes and no.
    The game is fanciful and beautiful, a graphical piece of art at the time. But if we just wanted to look at pretty things, we wouldn't play games right? And that is where Bioshock's ultimate problem lies, it is a beautiful, polished game on the outside, but on the inside it is affected by a hideous gameplay, and so-so story telling.

    The gameplay is repetitive from within itself, go here, do this, kill the big daddy, get some more juice and pump yourself up. It's boring and unimaginative; it was cool the first, and maybe even second time it happened, but once you realized it for what it was, it quickly became stale. The boss at the end was incredibly contrived, I found him to be an incredibly comical looking, shallow villain. He wasn't scary, or monstrous, but colorful and without real history or depth. The developers tried to sell him off as someone that went mad with his lust for power and evolution, but in the end he was just another NPC to destroy.

    The storytelling was borrowed from System-Shock's progressive method of sharing what happened in audio logs. This is a fantastic way of sharing a story, though the characters that leave the logs need to be believable, true and above all, REAL to us. While the story of how Rapture was conceived, built, rotted from within, and eventually collapsed was intriguing, the delivery was poor, and you couldn't connect as easily with the former inhabitants of Rapture due to the lack of emotional connection with the characters who left the logs behind. In System Shock 2, I was dying to find the next log, the next piece of the puzzle, the next E-mail that might explain what was going on. In Bioshock, I wasn't that excited, and the game's plot was static and predictable.

    Some might argue that comparing it to System Shock isn't fair and that it should be judged on it's own merits. I disagree because this game is riding on the coattails of greatness and promised an experience that would rival its spiritual predecessor. It didn't completely live up to expectations.

    It is, though, at least entertaining, and is worth playing. Do not expect it to be a groundbreaking, game-changing experience however. It is neither of those.    … Expand
  51. DeusXCom
    Jul 31, 2014
    5
    Unfortunately, I was hyped for Bioshock to no end. The spiritual successor to one of the best games in history - System Shock, partly from the same creators. The expectations went through the roof, raving reviews, promo lines like System Shock on steroids, you get the idea. But when I started playing this I was like What??? What is this console shooter crap? Yes, the location is nice and IUnfortunately, I was hyped for Bioshock to no end. The spiritual successor to one of the best games in history - System Shock, partly from the same creators. The expectations went through the roof, raving reviews, promo lines like System Shock on steroids, you get the idea. But when I started playing this I was like What??? What is this console shooter crap? Yes, the location is nice and I always love the retro flavor, but other than that the entire thing was a huge disappointment for me. From visuals and engine, to enemies and game mechanics, disappointment was huge with this one. 5/10… Expand
  52. reguire
    Feb 14, 2014
    5
    Bad shooting physics and bad story plot. A highly overrated game. It might was a good game in 2007 but in 2014 it is not satisfying. Only good thing in the game is the coolness of Big Daddy. Deserves at most 5 points.
  53. slic
    Feb 6, 2014
    5
    1- Gameplay: The gameplay is monotonous and dull, the game is the definition of a generic tunnel shooter, hours upon hours of going through identical looking corridors and rooms killing identical enemies whose only purpose is to stand there waiting for you to kill them. Not even Doom 3 felt this repetitive.

    2- Writing: This game has the most overrated story I've ever seen. First thing    1- Gameplay: The gameplay is monotonous and dull, the game is the definition of a generic tunnel shooter, hours upon hours of going through identical looking corridors and rooms killing identical enemies whose only purpose is to stand there waiting for you to kill them. Not even Doom 3 felt this repetitive.

    2- Writing: This game has the most overrated story I've ever seen.
    First thing to mention is how horribly it's presented, there are no NPCs to interact with, you're just barraged with audio logs or one-way radio messages every ten meters, so you really don't care much about any of the characters or what's going on because you never see any of them.
    Second thing the writing is not engaging, the audio logs are disjointed and pretentious. They give off the stench of a writer thinking "Look at me I'm such a good writer". "Morality" in this game consists of either saving the children or killing the children (Oh no! Not the children!). It has a lame plot twist you see from a mile away, and it has the generic Chris Metzen villain whose only purpose is to taunt you over the radio every minute: "I will kill you now!", "You will never escape!", "I am too powerful!", and this lasts half the freakin game (until you defeat him in the generic boss battle of course).
    And then the endings, unimaginative as f*ck, either sunshine and rainbows where everyone lives happily ever after "and everything is right with the world", or stupid sad ending where the world is doomed and you are a big meany face. Yay for video games! Now they rival movies!

    3- Graphics and technical issues: Graphics are fine, a little plastic-looking and overly shiny, but generally they're good. Animations suffer from poor console porting, I mean the game runs at 60fps but all object animations are locked at 30 fps. There's also some audio stuttering and issues that need to be fixed by editing .ini files, but most PC games have these kinds of issues.

    5/10. Not a horrible game, not a good game, just a mediocre shooter with a mediocre story.    … Expand
  54. SupaChigga
    Nov 19, 2013
    7
    Single Player/Multi Player (2/2)

    (If the single player is better than the multiplayer, review this section as if it had no multplayer) (If the multiplayer is better than the multiplayer, review this section as if it had no single player) Gameplay (1/2) Visuals/Story (2/2) (If the visuals are better than the story, review this section as if it had no story) (If the story is    Single Player/Multi Player (2/2)

    (If the single player is better than the multiplayer, review this section as if it had no multplayer) (If the multiplayer is better than the multiplayer, review this section as if it had no single player)

    Gameplay (1/2)

    Visuals/Story (2/2)

    (If the visuals are better than the story, review this section as if it had no story) (If the story is better than the visuals, review this section as if the visuals didn’t matter)

    Accessibility/Longevity (1/2)

    (Review this section only on Accessibility if the game has no longevity) (Review this section only on longevity if the game isn’t accessible)

    Pricing (1/2)

    Wildcard (0)

    This is a guideline for how to properly review games. Many reviewers like to get a “feel” for a game, and arbitrarily give a game a score that they believe it deserves. This results in wildly different scores between different reviewers, and vastly different scores between similar games. This guideline addresses these problems and scores games fairly and consistently. This guideline also gives scores that are usually similar to the metacritic score.

    The review score is based out of 10 points. There are no “half” or 0.5 increments. It is impossible to have a score above 10 or below 0. The review score will change as the game gets new dlc, drops in price, or if more secrets are found through the game increasing its appeal.

    The scoring is split into 6 sections. The first five sections can add a possible 2 points to the final score. The first 5 sections are Single Player/Multi Player, Gameplay, Visuals/Story, Accessibility/Longevity, and Pricing.

    Notice that 3 of these sections have two parts. These particular sections will be scored based on the stronger part of the game of the two. For example, if a game has a lousy single player campaign, but an excellent multiplayer component, that section will be based solely on the multiplayer as if the single player did not exist. This allows games to be based on their own merits, as many unnecessary features are shoehorned into video games by publishers to reach a “feature quota”. Games that excel in both areas of a section don’t receive should be noted in the written review, but cannot increase the score past 2 in that section. However, it can be taken into account in the final section

    The final section can add 1, add 0, or subtract 1 to the final score. This final section is the “wildcard” section. This section is for how the reviewer “feels” about the game, but limits this only to this section, rather than the entire 10 point review. This section can include any positive or negative point that was not covered in the previous 5 sections.    … Expand
  55. AlienSpaceBats
    Oct 8, 2013
    6
    Pretty standard FPS fare, little more than a watered-down (pun intended) System Shock 2, a visually outstanding but with an all too familiar story (Atlas is Polito, Fontaine is Shodan) and gameplay (security stations, turrets, cameras, Vita Chambers Quantum Bio Reconstruction Machines, etc.) overrated and over-hyped, but a decent shooter; nothing more.
  56. jZero
    Oct 7, 2013
    7
    BioShock does a great job of atmosphere. The environments, music, story and art style combine to create the fantastic underwater city of Rapture. There are some tense moments against some well designed enemies as you progress through this "utopia" as it's falling apart. The mechanics are where the game loses some of its shine. The weapons and plasmids while interesting aren't wellBioShock does a great job of atmosphere. The environments, music, story and art style combine to create the fantastic underwater city of Rapture. There are some tense moments against some well designed enemies as you progress through this "utopia" as it's falling apart. The mechanics are where the game loses some of its shine. The weapons and plasmids while interesting aren't well balanced. It seemed to force playing enemies a certain way. Beating ranged big daddies with certain weapons and plasmids was almost impossible while others almost made it too easy. The customization with buffs and the invention mechanics are deep but don't feel gameplay changing. If you can get used to the mechanics BioShock has a lot to offer.… Expand
  57. 57ashdot
    Aug 15, 2013
    5
    I'm not entirely sure what all the fuss is about this game. Its gameplay was mediocre at best, although the plotline and overall graphics, I will say, were well done.

    Boring and repetitive enemies. Linear gameplay. Powerups that aren't even useful. And don't even get me started about the broken death system. "Oh, you were an idiot and died? No problem, full health for you and you keep    I'm not entirely sure what all the fuss is about this game. Its gameplay was mediocre at best, although the plotline and overall graphics, I will say, were well done.

    Boring and repetitive enemies. Linear gameplay. Powerups that aren't even useful. And don't even get me started about the broken death system. "Oh, you were an idiot and died? No problem, full health for you and you keep all your progress!" Talk about dumbing it down for the masses! Also, for Christ's sake, get more than 3 voice actor's. I was ready to punch holes in my speakers after hearing enemies say the same crap over and over and over for hours.

    Overall: Not that impressed.    … Expand
  58. loftystrings
    Aug 8, 2013
    6
    Probably the most overrated game of all time. True Rapture is beautiful and amazing and I was kinda surprised by the "twist" but it wasn't spectacular. However the biggest problem is the controls and lack of it. The guns don't pack any punch and the button used to aim down the sights is oddly placed. Great concept but it did not live up to it's potential
  59. santo_ameno
    Jul 17, 2013
    7
    I must say I've got a problem with this one. The whole setting of the game is imbued with an unprecedented amount of artistry, the background of all events is incredibly rich and consistent. Rapture is enchanting beautifully designed location and ubiquitous art déco feel. The history is quite good and I just loved the characters and audio layer of the game (incredibly good voice actingI must say I've got a problem with this one. The whole setting of the game is imbued with an unprecedented amount of artistry, the background of all events is incredibly rich and consistent. Rapture is enchanting beautifully designed location and ubiquitous art déco feel. The history is quite good and I just loved the characters and audio layer of the game (incredibly good voice acting and music). All of this creates a coherent universe which significantly exceeds the technical aspects of the game itself. Bioshock as a game just doesn't offer enough fun. I accept the plasmids because the story behind them is plausible, but i just can't find justification for tonics. The gameplay isn't satisfying the guns don't give that special feel, permanent lack of ammo and too much plasmids to choose the tonics the hacking vending machines adam eve Power to the People Gene Banks Gatherer's Garden Health stations bots turrets photos everything... much exaggerated. The game mechanics is overcomplicated and bewildering.
    Also the level design (in macroscale as a route from beginning to end) isn't very sophisticated I would say it's like small villages sparsely placed by the main road Fort Frolic for example. Unnecessary detour to Fleet Hall and Poseidon Plaza justified only by the designers willingness to add extra content to the game (although I think mentioned location are well designed and eye-catching) heck, why couldn't you just walk straight to bathysphere. Most of the game player seems to travel from node to node.
    I think the game tries to be too long everything goes well if you are driven by plot you gather informations and audio diaries but then you reach a moment in which writers took a pause. It's easy to forget what and why you're supposed to do. The best choice would be to cut those moment since they contain only shooting & fighting and those aspects of the game doesn't defend themselves.
    Another disadvantage of Bioshock is the design of the enemies they aren't very diverse, their animation is poor and they're ugly. Just ugly (and I don't mean scary). Some characters and events related to them are insistently weird. Too mature, too bizarre... you can't really identify with them or with their motives and choices.
    I've got really hard time finishing it some moment are really dull but I'm glad I did it finally.
    Yes, I agree the game is overrated but I will not score Bioshock to 0. And I will not discourage anyone to buy the game.    … Expand
  60. lawilson
    Jun 24, 2013
    7
    'BioShock' is a game that you have to play to find out what everyone is talking about—and it is definitely worth the time—even though I tend to ignore horror games. I loved that the gamemakers allowed Objectivist philosophy to heavily influence the game. The thought of living in a world inspired by Ayn Rand should terrify any sane person, but the player of 'BioShock' must navigate the'BioShock' is a game that you have to play to find out what everyone is talking about—and it is definitely worth the time—even though I tend to ignore horror games. I loved that the gamemakers allowed Objectivist philosophy to heavily influence the game. The thought of living in a world inspired by Ayn Rand should terrify any sane person, but the player of 'BioShock' must navigate the ruined aftermath of that retro-futurist nightmare, while fighting tortured madmen, managing resources, and solving puzzles along the way. Sadly, I did not finish this game. I became enamored with the 'Fallout' series at the time, and 'BioShock' fell off my radar through no fault of its own. I would like to finish the game, so that I can fully appreciate the dystopian intersection of intellectual and adrenaline-pumping gameplay as wrought by Irrational Games.… Expand
  61. Duskspark
    May 12, 2013
    6
    If you have ever played System Shock 2, you'll immediately notice the sumularities. From how plasmids are in a way exactly the same as the psionic powers, to the wrench as a melee weapon. It could have been equally good, if not better, but its recycled feeling and unprecise gunplay mechanics, it's a dragged down experience that easily makes for one of the most over rated games in history.
  62. xTreeCutterx
    May 11, 2013
    5
    Maybe it's because I over-hyped this game in my mind, or maybe it's because I waited to long to pick this up, but I did not have fun with this game. The levels look exactly the same, and it's incredibly cramped. There's not much strategy when it comes to combat, and the enemies look identical to one another. The hacking system is repetitive, and the harder hacking levels are literallyMaybe it's because I over-hyped this game in my mind, or maybe it's because I waited to long to pick this up, but I did not have fun with this game. The levels look exactly the same, and it's incredibly cramped. There's not much strategy when it comes to combat, and the enemies look identical to one another. The hacking system is repetitive, and the harder hacking levels are literally impossible (as they allow no path) unless you have an item. The storytelling and it's method appreciated, and the details in the music/fx are stellar, but that's all the compliments I can honestly give this game.… Expand
  63. faceless-1
    Apr 2, 2013
    7
    Very good game and spiritual successor of system shock. Story and graphics style is awesome. Combat is fun thanks to the plasmids. Gameplay is something between System Shock 2 and Doom 3.
  64. OliverGrau
    Mar 4, 2013
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. For its' time Bioshock must have been the best thing ever since sliced bread, however in a perspective of today, which was when I finished the game, the game feels as if the developers were too lazy to do some minor changes for the better. Ragdolls are not falling realisticly it's like watching a movie with 10 FPS, slowmotion and laggish like. But that isn't anything compared to the crashes that occur once in a while. Whenever the game crashes, then all the settings you changed will be reset to default, which I was very frustrated about. The gameplay was not the best, but that wasn't the meaning of the game, so that didn't bother me that much, it was okay and there are a lot of oppurtunities to deal with enemies. The graphics isn't something I will critize too much, it was decent nothing more than I was expecting. However the story was the bright point of the game, it was exciting and I really fell in love with it. Though I was so dissapointed in the ending, the game simply ends bad, if you just harvest 1 little sister. Through the whole game I made a mistake and harvested one of those girls and rest of them I rescued. How can I bring brutality when I saved all of them? The ending of the game simply can't make me give this game an earned 8, but a 5. I hope next game in the franchise will bring some more joy to me.… Expand
  65. Joben
    Dec 22, 2012
    6
    It's System Shock, but it's wearing clown makeup and it borrowed the gun mechanics of Serious Sam.

    I understand why people like this game. But to me is seems like a bit of a goofy mess. The setting and enemies are hard to take seriously if you think about it for 30 seconds, which makes being scared or creeped out almost impossible. Rather than being visceral as one would expect from    It's System Shock, but it's wearing clown makeup and it borrowed the gun mechanics of Serious Sam.

    I understand why people like this game. But to me is seems like a bit of a goofy mess. The setting and enemies are hard to take seriously if you think about it for 30 seconds, which makes being scared or creeped out almost impossible. Rather than being visceral as one would expect from horror game most of the combat feels like it's lifted from an arcade shooter. The Ayn Rand philosophy that pervades the story is pretty anvilicious. Sometimes I think it's a parody of games that try to shoehorn in "deep" subtext. Most of the time I think it's just an egregious example of pretentious twaddle. The story is mostly dull and forgettable. I literally can't think of a single characters name at this time or remember a single thing about them or what they did.

    About the only thing I really liked about it was the twist that explains all the things your character does that make no sense. I'm trying to avoid a spoiler here but my point is there's a bit of story near the end that works as part of the narrative, AND gets weirdly meta. It's glorious. I suppose the graphics deserve mention too. They were obviously a labor of love. They are detailed and at time haunting. I find the cartoonish character style absolutely horrid however.

    I wanted to love this game, but even though Rapture is buried deep beneath the waves Bioshock is disappointingly shallow. I guess if you're young and never played the games this is a "spiritual successor" to you might find some value in it. But if your a fan of Looking Glass Studios type of game this will seem like a dull echo of their greatness.

    I gave this game a 6 because it obviously has high production values. But overall it basically defines average. There wasn't really anything new here. Every good mechanic was borrowed from previous work in the field.    … Expand
  66. berock212
    Dec 16, 2012
    5
    What is so good about this game, I have no idea why everyone likes it. It's your typical first person shooter with crappy setting and guns and powerups that suck.
  67. Andrew_Paterson
    Dec 9, 2012
    5
    The story and setting are alright and when I first reviewed it here (said review since disappeared) I gave it an 8.

    With time I've realised how dull and repetitive this game is (and also how much it depends on fetch quests) so I'm dropping it to a 4.
  68. triplettt
    Oct 14, 2012
    7
    Although there is not questioning Bioshock's greatness, i found it has more flaws than people make out. maybe its just not my kind of game but it seemed to be a bit dull through most of it.
  69. josincano
    Oct 14, 2012
    7
    Lo cierto es que estoy algo decepcionado con el juego. Me esperaba un Half-Life 2 submarino y me he encontrado con un juego correcto.
    El juego es tremendamente repetitivo y las misiones se reducen a un "ve a tal sitio y coge tal objeto o mata a tal tipo" , los combates estan bastante mejor gracias a los plásmidos pero todo el rollo de mejorarlos, cambiarlos o comprar equipamiento    Lo cierto es que estoy algo decepcionado con el juego. Me esperaba un Half-Life 2 submarino y me he encontrado con un juego correcto.
    El juego es tremendamente repetitivo y las misiones se reducen a un "ve a tal sitio y coge tal objeto o mata a tal tipo" , los combates estan bastante mejor gracias a los plásmidos pero todo el rollo de mejorarlos, cambiarlos o comprar equipamiento es demasiado engorroso con 8000 máquinas diferentes cada una para una función.
    La historia es interesante y mejora en el final del juego pero tampoco me ha entusiasmado.
    Gráficamente el motor es de sobra conocido por lo que tendremos buenos efectos de luz y personajes bien modelados.
    En definitiva un buen diseño y una gran ambientación pero demasiado repetitivo.
    GRAFICOS: 9 SONIDO: 8 JUGABILIDAD: 6,5 DURACION: 7    … Expand
  70. stvartak
    Sep 17, 2012
    7
    I recently bought a new computer and decided to go back and play some of my favorite older games with the graphics jacked way up, just to see how much better they look. When I did this with the original Bioshock, it reminded me of a few things, both good and bad, about this game. GOOD: The graphics are stunning, both technically and aesthetically. The art deco design of the underwaterI recently bought a new computer and decided to go back and play some of my favorite older games with the graphics jacked way up, just to see how much better they look. When I did this with the original Bioshock, it reminded me of a few things, both good and bad, about this game. GOOD: The graphics are stunning, both technically and aesthetically. The art deco design of the underwater city of Rapture perfectly captures the look and feel of an era. With settings maxed out, Bioshock looks as good as any game I would hope to see today, five years after its initial release. Also, as a shooter, Bioshock is pretty much unsurpassed. Enemies are quick, smart, and well-armed, and level design provides plenty of cover and obstacles. BAD: Bioshock really is just a shooter. When it was released, there was a lot of attention paid to the "moral choices" involving the Little Sisters, but in the end, the choices you made painstakingly through hours and hours of gameplay culminate in...two irritatingly brief cut-scenes, one if you took the good path, one for the bad. Yawn. And Bioshock's incredible visual style distracts from the fact that it is almost perfectly linear. Thanks to the many bits and pieces of backstory and Ayn Rand philosophy that are gradually uncovered as you progress, the game feels deeper and more nuanced than it really is. SUMMARY: Bioshock is worthwhile no matter what style of action-adventure-RPG you prefer, but I believe it will appeal most to fans of straightforward, Doom-style shooters who just want to get their blast on, albeit in some of the best-designed game environments in recent years.… Expand
  71. Mike_Morhaime
    Jul 30, 2012
    5
    After a while it gets repetitive and the Story hasnt really made me play it through, all the walking through already visited places annoyed the **** out of me, and the graphics weren't that good, if you actually played it on your PC
  72. thesamiad
    Jul 28, 2012
    6
    I can understand why this game is thought of so highly by others. The world you descend into is fantastically engrossing, with perfectly executed period music and decorations. The story is a good, the graphics are decent, and the gameplay is fun enough.

    But everything is ruined for me by one thing - those darn vita tubes. Basically there are tubes dotted about all over the levels and if    I can understand why this game is thought of so highly by others. The world you descend into is fantastically engrossing, with perfectly executed period music and decorations. The story is a good, the graphics are decent, and the gameplay is fun enough.

    But everything is ruined for me by one thing - those darn vita tubes. Basically there are tubes dotted about all over the levels and if you die you are respawned at the last tube you went past. The problem with this is that whatever damage you've dealt out to the enemies stays with them, so you don't lose anything from just dying over and over again until you finally defeat your foes. This makes a mockery of the whole game; you might as well attack the hardest enemies with your wrench and save your ammo because you'll just respawn with no negative effects.

    This takes away all the suspense and fear from the game. Add to this enemies that respawn at random, a lack of weapons that are hideously balanced (a powered up wrench better than a shotgun?!), and a system of augmentations that don't really help all that much, and this is a game with so much potential and so much right that falls short of where it could have been.    … Expand
  73. Vegge
    Jul 19, 2012
    5
    sub-par Rpg fps, Extremely overrated when compared to games like Deus ex and Systemshock 2,its too easy and the Rpg element is lacking,hacking is a boring joke
  74. jim109109
    May 30, 2012
    7
    Pros: Great story, relatively fun gameplay. Cons: Extremely easy, linear, simple. The gameplay itself is a linear FPS with few depth, and you get no penalty for dying. Overrated, but the game is still fun.
  75. Ntslatko
    May 7, 2012
    5
    If your a fan of shooters you will be a fan of BioShock.
    Unfortunately the marketing and critic reviews led me to believe that this was more than a shooter and nearly a cinematic experience with RPG elements.
    To make it clear: This is nothing like Deus Ex or it's successors or Portal. BioShock is a simple shooter that looks quite good, has good FPS game play, and good audio commentary.    If your a fan of shooters you will be a fan of BioShock.
    Unfortunately the marketing and critic reviews led me to believe that this was more than a shooter and nearly a cinematic experience with RPG elements.

    To make it clear: This is nothing like Deus Ex or it's successors or Portal. BioShock is a simple shooter that looks quite good, has good FPS game play, and good audio commentary.

    I have rated it 5 to demonstrate it is very good at what it does, but only 5 because the marketing was inaccurate at best as the game does not go beyond it's shooter roots.    … Expand
  76. mez
    Dec 1, 2011
    6
    I seem to be way outside mainstream opinion on this one. I was a huge, huge fan of System Shock 2 and I was so looking forward to playing its 'spiritual successor'. Maybe I was expecting too much, but BioShock did very little for me. I feel a bit bad criticising it because it's obvious that a lot of love and care went into making it, and while it isn't a bad game, for me it never got aboveI seem to be way outside mainstream opinion on this one. I was a huge, huge fan of System Shock 2 and I was so looking forward to playing its 'spiritual successor'. Maybe I was expecting too much, but BioShock did very little for me. I feel a bit bad criticising it because it's obvious that a lot of love and care went into making it, and while it isn't a bad game, for me it never got above mediocre.

    It's just a formulaic run and gun shooter. The missions often feel contrived and arbitrary, and are almost entirely based around finding random widgets in some far corner of the level (and there's an escort mission in there as well, ugh). While you're doing that you blast your way through waves of interchangeable enemies - almost all of whom run straight at you - using the usual array of FPS weapons. That's it. For all the game's highfalutin' concept, there's no depth whatsoever to the gameplay - just strafe and fire, strafe and fire. The much-heralded plasmids add very little. They're just guns with different animations. Shoot someone or set them on fire, it makes no difference.

    The setting and story are above average, although the levels all look very similar and the Objectivism stuff is a bit undercooked - it's really just a standard trouble in paradise thing with some Ayn Rand inspired sound bites over the top. The diary tapes add some colour, but for some reason I couldn't make myself care about any of it. I found the twists predictable, and the single moral choice you have to make in the game (whether to harvest the little sisters or rescue them) has no bearing at all on the gameplay, only on which ending you get. It feels utterly meaningless.

    There's nothing terribly wrong with the game and I so desperately wanted to love it, but its lineage can't hide the fact that it's just another bland FPS. I cannot understand what these huge scores and breathlessly uncritical reviews are based on. I almost feel like I haven't been playing the same game.    … Expand
  77. Lambda462
    Nov 23, 2011
    7
    I appreciate what they're trying, but it just doesn't work.
    Okay, first off, I'm starting with what some reviewers say of BioShock: It's an AWFULLY bad copy of an older game; System Shock 2.
    Now, if I'm right, BioShock was an attempt to "Modernize" System Shock 2's formula, and they've done it quite well: The story is simply System Shock 2's story with another paint on it, they created a    I appreciate what they're trying, but it just doesn't work.
    Okay, first off, I'm starting with what some reviewers say of BioShock: It's an AWFULLY bad copy of an older game; System Shock 2.
    Now, if I'm right, BioShock was an attempt to "Modernize" System Shock 2's formula, and they've done it quite well: The story is simply System Shock 2's story with another paint on it, they created a quite creepy atmosphere, they have GREAT artwork, sublime voiceacting, and much better gunplay, but they missed the key element:
    The RPG mechanics are gone...
    The RPG mechanics were what made System Shock 2 so good for replaying, and its what BioShock lacks.

    But, now I've got that out of the way, for the actual review:
    BioShock is a FPS with a twist; genetic abilities. With that mean, you can go all Dark Side on your enemies by shooting lightning out of your hands. See what I'm getting at?

    Graphically, the graphics were great for when it released: Beautiful water effects, among them. But, I don't care about graphics, so no further comment there.

    Gameplay wise, the game is cool:
    You get some nice "Tools" to play with, and quite some genetic powers to toy with, so you'll be in for a treat. Each weapon can be modified. I'm saying this becaus it mostly has pretty outcomes for your guns.
    Now, besides fine gunplay, the gameplay, is quite bad.
    Even on hard, the game is terribly easy, not punishing you for dying; only reviving you at some station.
    In System Shock 2(Sorry for this), you really lost money; something that could hurt you in the game(because money was used to hack stuff to, and repair things, etc..>).
    Also something that lacks gameplaywise, is some depth. No, there's nothing wrong with mindless shooters, I enjoy them a lot, but BioShock was not intended to be a mindless shooter, it was clearly intended as a game with deep gameplay. The thing that made System Shock 2 so great, besides a good story, was the incredibly deep gameplay, being able to replay the game multiple times, and get a quite different experience. BioShock doesn't have that.

    Storywise, people who have played System Shock 2 will know it. I won't spoil anything, but it's great, and awesome. But, as with all stories; it'll be fresh for only one time.

    Now, after you read this, dont assume that BioShock's a bad game. It's not. It is bad for what it had to live up to.    … Expand
  78. dreambob
    Nov 20, 2011
    7
    Nice but long for nothing.
    Well,its a nice underwater vintage city that is fun to explore for a will, but after a few hours, it feels like your standard fps. the story and voice acting is good .
    worth playing!
  79. Mashley
    Nov 9, 2011
    7
    Honestly didn't get the hype about this game. Don't get me wrong I enjoyed the story and the setting but the gameplay and overall experience just didn't cut it for me. I didn't think it was bad, far from it, but it's nowhere near as good as the critics make it out to be.The ending is especially bad.
  80. LevelsAndGear
    Oct 10, 2011
    7
    I usually avoid deep story driven games because my time is limited, and my memory is poor. Bioshock is a game that was suggested to me by a few friends, and had received critical praise, so I finally gave in. After an initial disaster with the Telekinesis plasmid almost made me quit, I stuck through the gameâ
  81. Soup2504
    Sep 25, 2011
    5
    I do enjoy this game a little bit, and its better than a majority of first person shooters today(which isnt saying much) but it is an insult to people old enough to have played system shock 2(in 1999) I know its from the same creators, i know its getting the amazing story to a wider audience, but the story had been cannibalized, and dumbed down. The rpg elements are dumbed down, meaningI do enjoy this game a little bit, and its better than a majority of first person shooters today(which isnt saying much) but it is an insult to people old enough to have played system shock 2(in 1999) I know its from the same creators, i know its getting the amazing story to a wider audience, but the story had been cannibalized, and dumbed down. The rpg elements are dumbed down, meaning that instead of having to think a while before you upgrade, you can just upgrade anything and still be fine. The enemies are similar to those in system shock 2's, the story is the same, even the gameplay is the same, and guess what the first weapon in BOTH games is? A WRENCH! Bioshock has pretty graphics, but graphics dont matter, the gameplay isnt amazing, it's impossible to die, and the allusion they tried to use was not sure what it exactly meant at times. Bioshock is pretty, but a little dumb in the head, system shock 2 is ugly, but its an older game, and there are graphic mods, and it is smart. i give system shock 2 a gold trophy filled with gummy bears, chocolate, and other yummy stuff. i give bioshock the same trophy, but made out of plastic, filled with brown water, and nothing else.… Expand
  82. Tramm
    Sep 14, 2011
    6
    I actually found this game quite boring. Its starts out really well, with a nice story to set the mood, but the further you get into it, the whole magic aspect kills the gameplay. If you like that kind of shooters, i can understand the score, but i ended up playing it solely for the story.
  83. Cunin
    Jul 19, 2011
    6
    Just registered to thumb up mcremi's review lol, though I won't give it a so low score.
    It's good looking, yes, but the gameplay mechanics are kinda boring and repetitive. You're in a small room, the doors suddenly closes, a bunch of enemies all looking the same appears, and so on.
    I'm sure the developers only worked on the graphics and forgot to make a game with them. Reviewers that gave    Just registered to thumb up mcremi's review lol, though I won't give it a so low score.
    It's good looking, yes, but the gameplay mechanics are kinda boring and repetitive. You're in a small room, the doors suddenly closes, a bunch of enemies all looking the same appears, and so on.
    I'm sure the developers only worked on the graphics and forgot to make a game with them.

    Reviewers that gave it 100/100 should do a different job, like in a coal mine or something...    … Expand
  84. Nostalgium
    Jul 14, 2011
    7
    I found Bioshock very entertaining to some point. They should've done way more with the amazing water effects they had, but I guess Bioshock 2 made up for that part.

    After Fort Frolic, for me, the game fell apart and became boring, until the plot twist of course. But after Sander Cohen's part, the game became extremely repetitive and boring, even when playing on hardest difficulty.
  85. Turbonutter
    Dec 23, 2010
    6
    "A beautiful smooth veneer finish over a flawed, ultimately hollow core" would sum this title up for me perfectly. The setting and overall theme were done quite well, and the conveyance of exploring a now-ruined underwater dystopia is executed very well. To my eyes, that was where the excellence stopped, and the mediocrity begins.

    The story holds up about as well as a cardboard cutout in    "A beautiful smooth veneer finish over a flawed, ultimately hollow core" would sum this title up for me perfectly. The setting and overall theme were done quite well, and the conveyance of exploring a now-ruined underwater dystopia is executed very well. To my eyes, that was where the excellence stopped, and the mediocrity begins.

    The story holds up about as well as a cardboard cutout in a windstorm, as most of it is told not via in-game events but by picking up random tape recordings scattered throughout the ruins. There was one major plot twist, but by the time it occurs most people would have seen it coming anyway. The weapons, though reasonably balanced, were all pretty standard fare - nothing we haven't seen before. The plasmids, which should have really set the game apart, were only marginally useful save for the one or two strong ones; the rest were relegated to use only for the few virtual stop-gates that required their use for you to pass.

    By the time I was done playing - which, by the way doesn't take all that long - and had followed the cookie-cutter "good" or "evil" path, I left with the feeling that I could have had much more. I think the initial reviews were made by journalists who played through the first hour or so of the game and were really just absorbing the theme and environment. Had they dug a bit deeper, they would have seen the shiny surface give way to the flaws that lurk underneath.    … Expand
  86. apaeth
    Nov 7, 2010
    7
    I'm glad I bought this for only $5 on Steam. Any more than that and I would have felt ripped off. Great graphics, theme, setting and all but the game was just too repetitive and boring. It reminded me of an old arcade game but with a bit more depth added to it. Lame puzzles, the same enemies over and over, linear etc...

    Meh...
  87. AndyP.
    Jan 30, 2010
    5
    I'll give it a 5 for graphics alone,theres no denying that graphicly it's very good. But thats pretty much where it ends for me,after what is a promising start the gameplay gets stale very quickly. fighting the same 4 enemies throughout the whole game is just extremely dull. The story is ok i guess,unfotunatly i pretty much forced myself to finish this game,and was kind of I'll give it a 5 for graphics alone,theres no denying that graphicly it's very good. But thats pretty much where it ends for me,after what is a promising start the gameplay gets stale very quickly. fighting the same 4 enemies throughout the whole game is just extremely dull. The story is ok i guess,unfotunatly i pretty much forced myself to finish this game,and was kind of relieved when i did for all the wrong reasons.… Expand
  88. StefanoG
    Jan 21, 2010
    6
    I was a bit disappointed by this game, it is not by any means a successor to system shock. It's just another FPS with a cheesy storyline, that seems to pop up from a sci-fi b-movie of the '60.
  89. LysanderS
    Dec 22, 2009
    5
    Wow, talk about overhyped. Sure, the graphics are quite nice, but that's as far as you can go with the good points. Mediocre AI, ugly weapon animations, average sound, terrible storyline, sub-par fighting mechanics. Overall, just another FPS flop. Only instead of flopping, it got a hugely high score.
  90. HelpU
    Jul 19, 2009
    7
    This game has everything every shooter has. And I mean everything. The horror is laughable. And the worst problem I had was the plasmids, either they were useless or they were too similar to every one of them. Typically, there was only one instance you actually used a specific element and even then it didn't feel like much was accomplished. It kept me entertained for a while but IThis game has everything every shooter has. And I mean everything. The horror is laughable. And the worst problem I had was the plasmids, either they were useless or they were too similar to every one of them. Typically, there was only one instance you actually used a specific element and even then it didn't feel like much was accomplished. It kept me entertained for a while but I quit as soon as I reached the final boss. Actually I thought it had a very good twist but the little girl crap was a useless gimmick… Expand
  91. sammyLOL
    Jun 9, 2009
    6
    This game really is a piece of overblown shit. So glad i bought it for 5 bucks off of steam. There is nothing interesting about this game. The aura it tries to create is completely destroyed by the clunky fighting style and an often frustrating learning curve. I wish the character had an inner ear so running didn't have the feeling of constantly running into shit. The graphics annoy This game really is a piece of overblown shit. So glad i bought it for 5 bucks off of steam. There is nothing interesting about this game. The aura it tries to create is completely destroyed by the clunky fighting style and an often frustrating learning curve. I wish the character had an inner ear so running didn't have the feeling of constantly running into shit. The graphics annoy the hell out of me, the lighting is completely overdone and exaggerated. I also love that the enemies spastically and unrealistically move like they are on crack, making it nearly impossible to headshot a moving target. The game progression and upgrades are also total bullshit, what is with the whole hacking mini-game? I didn't play this game to do something i could find on shitty internet game websites. Only buy this if its, like, way on sale.… Expand
  92. MattS
    May 28, 2009
    6
    I was quite impressed the first hour of gameplay (most of the demo). The ingame cutscenes were spot on and the action led me to believe I was going to play a game to be remembered. Starting with 10P. Story. Not bad but not great. I can't really review it because I couldn't bare to finish the game. The choice between killing and not killing children seemed a silly and a lame I was quite impressed the first hour of gameplay (most of the demo). The ingame cutscenes were spot on and the action led me to believe I was going to play a game to be remembered. Starting with 10P. Story. Not bad but not great. I can't really review it because I couldn't bare to finish the game. The choice between killing and not killing children seemed a silly and a lame attempt at a good/evil alignment tracker, but thats just my opinion. Gameplay. It becomes incredibly stale, fast. Enemies were very scary at first. Combat is a lot like doom 3, enemies bust out when a new weapon is received, or objective, etc. But its the same lame 3 enemies (brainless monster, brainless monster with plasmids, robot) the entire time. Plasmids seemed like a redeeming value, and at first I was excited to see what new plasmid I would get. Sadly, I soon realized only one or two plasmids are actually worth using in a fight, which made the combat very bland. I could go off listing all the worthless plasmids and how they are ineffective in combat, but I wont. I will just say the the only effective plasmids distract and hurt. So there are two. They made an option to make guns and ammo. Ammo is lacking in the game so making ammo is essential. Yet the time I took collecting all the random parts and junk just to make a few bullets or grenades seemed not worth the effort. Hacking is a bore with the puzzle being either really easy or impossible (I played enough pipe dream as a kid). While this game is extremely stale in level design and enemy combat, it gets worse. The game creators give you a camera which they expect you to take pictures of the same ole junk they made during combat no less. (-1P) Graphics. They were stunning at times. But as the game progressed there were no attempts at using them to make a great environment. The beginning of this game is as good as it gets (period). (-1P) Originality. NONE. Those who claim otherwise have not been playing video games for long. This game is a crappy clone of System Shock 2, which is a much better game. For newer gamers, this game is like Doom 3 with magic and less enemies. (-1P) Pre/Post-Hype. This game wins as the most overly hyped game I have ever known. Congrats Bioshock. … Expand
  93. Ratama
    May 18, 2009
    5
    Not actually that great. Pretty uninspired console port and it really shows, especially in the linear level size. The story too isn't amazing, you'll see the twist coming a mile away if you got a head on your shoulders. Though there are some interesting characters.. who all get killed off. Breaks 4 because it rags on Objectivism.
  94. JoshQ
    Apr 26, 2009
    6
    If you think the combination of a somewhat cool story, poor weapon ballistics, extremely small arsenal and variation of enemies, zero interaction between the other characters, and extremely repetitive world with small linear levels packed into a very short game is cool then this game is for you. On the other hand, I personally was part of the pre-release hype, and optimistically played If you think the combination of a somewhat cool story, poor weapon ballistics, extremely small arsenal and variation of enemies, zero interaction between the other characters, and extremely repetitive world with small linear levels packed into a very short game is cool then this game is for you. On the other hand, I personally was part of the pre-release hype, and optimistically played through the game once all along knowing I was just playing the game to beat the game and received no enjoyment from it.… Expand
  95. SamP
    Apr 6, 2009
    7
    This is by far not a bad game, and at times is an incredibly good game, but for the most part it is barely above average. It has an excellent plot and incredible environment (Which get old), but the weapons are ultimately average, as is the most important factor, gameplay. This is perhaps one of the most over-rated games I've seen in a while, more so even than COD4.
  96. GabeM
    Mar 13, 2009
    6
    Great setting and weapons. Guns come with upgradeable parts but it gives out so many upgrades that it eliminates replay value. However the different types of ammo are a nice addition to the weapons. Too bad the plasmids (special powers Jack receives) are fairly worthless besides two of them. The research minigame also hurts this game quite a bit. The twist thrown in half way through this Great setting and weapons. Guns come with upgradeable parts but it gives out so many upgrades that it eliminates replay value. However the different types of ammo are a nice addition to the weapons. Too bad the plasmids (special powers Jack receives) are fairly worthless besides two of them. The research minigame also hurts this game quite a bit. The twist thrown in half way through this game is horrendous but if you can look past that for its undertones on objectivism you might like the story aspect. Insanely easy game however.… Expand
  97. DavidK.
    Feb 10, 2009
    7
    Probably one of the most overrated games of 2007-2008. It 'IS' the sequel to System Shock 2. I paid way too much money for it originally but the price it is now is very good. The scare mood that the game sets is why I would imagine is why it received the original rave reviews. I do not agree. I compare it with the SAW series and the old TV show "The Prisoner" as each of the 8 Probably one of the most overrated games of 2007-2008. It 'IS' the sequel to System Shock 2. I paid way too much money for it originally but the price it is now is very good. The scare mood that the game sets is why I would imagine is why it received the original rave reviews. I do not agree. I compare it with the SAW series and the old TV show "The Prisoner" as each of the 8 bosses is twisted and deranged. Very nice flair with the year 1959 and the mood it sets. If the interface was not so complicated I would give it a nine. After level six the game becomes very hard for the average user. And for me I lost interest as I did with System Shock 2. But if you like a challenge this game is for you.… Expand
  98. Aarond
    Feb 8, 2009
    7
    A unique shooter, very smooth game-play, the blend between almost magical abilities and weapons was highly enjoyable. Unfortunately, it did not place enough enphises on use of different weapons, it is possible to simply max out one weapon or one plasmid to complete. I do recomend playing this title, but its replayability limits itself to one or two times. 7/10.
  99. KevinZ
    Jan 30, 2009
    6
    This game was decent. Rapture is an amazing world, and levels are generally interesting. The atmosphere is good, and it remains creepy throughout. The characters are generally interesting and disturbed. However, it is far from perfect. They made a big deal when this came out about your moral choices having an effect on the world- the only choice is whether or not to kill the Little This game was decent. Rapture is an amazing world, and levels are generally interesting. The atmosphere is good, and it remains creepy throughout. The characters are generally interesting and disturbed. However, it is far from perfect. They made a big deal when this came out about your moral choices having an effect on the world- the only choice is whether or not to kill the Little Sisters, and you wind up with the same amount of Adam either way. The story line is incredibly disappointing after the plot twist- given the great setting I thought they would have been able to come up with a better conclusion. The second half of the game feels like it was rushed out the door, and you lose any motivation to do anything. In general, Bioshock is a great idea with fair to poor implementation, especially in the second half, where they seemed to have run out of creativity.… Expand
  100. JimJ.
    Jan 4, 2009
    5
    I'm not sophisticated enough to say specifically what was good and bad about this game. I will say that it was not fun to play. I felt like I was plodding through it. Just praying for the end. I've played HL, HL2, FEAR and Halo many times over and will play them all again, but I will never touch this game again. It's like lutefisk, you only need to try it once to know if I'm not sophisticated enough to say specifically what was good and bad about this game. I will say that it was not fun to play. I felt like I was plodding through it. Just praying for the end. I've played HL, HL2, FEAR and Halo many times over and will play them all again, but I will never touch this game again. It's like lutefisk, you only need to try it once to know if you'll ever try it again.… Expand
prev
Page:

Awards & Rankings

2
#2 Best PC Game of 2007
3
#3 Most Discussed PC Game of 2007
2
#2 Most Shared PC Game of 2007

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
96

Universal acclaim - based on 44 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 44 out of 44
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 44
  3. Negative: 0 out of 44
  1. PC Gamer UK
    95
    A dark and astonishing masterpiece...I spend my career, and my gaming life, waiting for a moment when a game just astonishes me, when I can't believe what I'm seeing, what I'm doing. BioShock has five. [Sept 2007, p.66]
    Read full review
  2. Eurogamer
    100
    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.
    Read full review
  3. IGN
    97
    There is art here, despite what many would say isn't possible with games, from Roger Ebert to game designers like Hideo Kojima... BioShock stands as a monolithic example of the convergence of entertaining gameplay and an irresistibly sinister, engrossing storyline that encompasses a host of multifaceted characters. This is an essential gaming experience.
    Read full review
See all critic reviews »