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
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  1. Sebascr12
    Oct 22, 2018
    8
    The controls are not good but in general the game is good. The weapons and the power ups put the game in high place for my.
    The only problem is the control.
  2. Faxthtax
    Sep 30, 2018
    1
    Man this game is a pile of **** Absolutely loved Infinite. Action was greatly leveled out. So i decided to backtrack and play the first one to catch up with the story.
    I absolutely hated it. Dreadful gameplay and controls and so damn difficult, Scarce on ammo, scarce on healthpack, scarce on money. and once i encountered my first Big Daddy who moped the floor with my dead corpse, i gave    Man this game is a pile of **** Absolutely loved Infinite. Action was greatly leveled out. So i decided to backtrack and play the first one to catch up with the story.
    I absolutely hated it. Dreadful gameplay and controls and so damn difficult, Scarce on ammo, scarce on healthpack, scarce on money. and once i encountered my first Big Daddy who moped the floor with my dead corpse, i gave up, i vowed not to touch this abysmal boring game POS game again.. What a letdown.    … Expand
  3. aditya1101
    Sep 24, 2018
    9
    I'm generally not a big fan of FPS games, but I really liked Bioshock Infinite so I had to give this game a try. While I didn't like it quite as much as I liked Infinite, it was still a really solid game. I enjoyed the FPS aspects, but what's really special about this game is it's environment and storytelling.
  4. macibor
    Aug 14, 2018
    10
    Bioshock is one of those games which hold up even to todays standards, and it was very impressive graphically and story wise for its time. The whole story was truly enjoyable and almost movie like, because a lot of the scenes were cinematic in nature. It was this unique gaming experience that I will never forget. Tremendous game.
  5. Jay_Pickens
    Jul 24, 2018
    10
    Simply a masterpiece. There's nothing wrong with this game. Pickens approves! So, I think there's only one more thing to say... would you kindly play this game?
  6. CoKronakan
    Jun 6, 2018
    9
    it's a great game, so let's jump right in reviewing it: the environment is amazingly fresh and never seen before in games, which comes with a lot of creativity. Rapture is very entertaining, spooky, mesmerising and immersive. And it's never repetitive. The story is somewhat vague, but it's there. The thing is that you have to go look for it, which is nice, but also could have been moreit's a great game, so let's jump right in reviewing it: the environment is amazingly fresh and never seen before in games, which comes with a lot of creativity. Rapture is very entertaining, spooky, mesmerising and immersive. And it's never repetitive. The story is somewhat vague, but it's there. The thing is that you have to go look for it, which is nice, but also could have been more evident. The graphics animations, are beautiful, absolutely no problem there, and the quality only helps this. Everything just looks great, every single visual effect and character. The music on the other hand was very repetitive, and got bore of it after the first 2-3 levels. But the sound effects remain still great in quality.
    The Characters where very well portrayed, by the writers which offered a deeper immersion for the story and a very interesting one at that. (Creepy and beautiful at the same time.) The voice acting was great for an old game like this, plus the character personalities where just narrow but still rich in content. It was nice to see that every main character had a background, and how they developed. The main character was the only one lacking a lot of stuff.
    The game mechanics work as intended and nothing feels useless: no upgrade to weak, no money to cheap and no enemy to hard or to easy. The balance of it is amazing. It can be seen that they really put a lot of work in to this game, developing the game play which is the main aspect of every game. Here it feels right on point and it's fun and entertaining which it should be first of all. Even the progression is balanced and not very scripted and it falls on you to make it happen. It really feels like a story driven first person shooter, so it hit it's intended target. The level design is also so varied, and the enemies also fresh and not repetitive. You never find yourself doing the same thing twice. And in my book that's the greatest thing in this industry today, to be creative and original. The only down side to this is that replayability is not really a thing given the fact that this is a linear scripted game.
    Overall this is an amazing game, the story is there but it's lackluster, the AI is perfect and everything else just falls in to place. It's a very good game, and this is how a game should be, so from now on Bioshock will be my scale of a great game.    … Expand
  7. killerloop
    May 22, 2018
    10
    While it might not have as many options or pathways as the intelligent deus ex - what it does do is create a world you have never seen before, tell a story you have never heard, and give you gameplay that is slightly more simple version of the masterpiece that is system shock 2. I just loved the game and the storyline. The only thing I didn't like was that you rarely meet anyone thatWhile it might not have as many options or pathways as the intelligent deus ex - what it does do is create a world you have never seen before, tell a story you have never heard, and give you gameplay that is slightly more simple version of the masterpiece that is system shock 2. I just loved the game and the storyline. The only thing I didn't like was that you rarely meet anyone that doesn't want to kill you, I would like the occasional person that says, "Hello," and doesn't try and stab you in the back.… Expand
  8. 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
  9. njja02
    May 15, 2018
    10
    One of the finest first person horror games I've ever played. The final 30 minutes of the game are bit disappointing, but everything else is just stellar.
  10. KARF4GEN
    May 11, 2018
    9
    Шутер "старой школы" и восхитительная атмосфера покинутого гигантского объекта.
    Вот что ждет вас здесь - в Восторге.
  11. osdann
    May 2, 2018
    10
    bioshock 1 is the best game i ever played, with his great story and his epic end ^^
  12. alexaltair
    Mar 28, 2018
    10
    Beautiful world, unique. Graphics, music, all are the best what a good dev can make. A new classic.
  13. iddqd4
    Mar 16, 2018
    9
    Потрясающий город, потрясающая атмосфера, отличный геймплей, так называемый шутер 2.0 от Кена Левина.
  14. 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
  15. timmertams
    Mar 9, 2018
    9
    I'm not a big fan of FPS, but the story and visuals more than made up for it. The setting is so unique and fascinating, and you just want to learn more about this beautifully ominous place.
  16. RagingPoet
    Jan 31, 2018
    8
    8.5 out of 10.
    Bioshock is great story-driven FPS with few RPG elements. Visuals, sounds and plot - everything comes together to create one of best atmospheres in action games. Gameplay itself is not as good but it's fine.
  17. Paprda
    Jan 26, 2018
    10
    I've just started to play again after 10 years from release date and I have to say the game is just brilliant in every aspects ! Have to say I play REMASTERED version,with better resolution and textures,but otherwise it's still the good old Bioshock !
  18. JuanLuisGG14
    Jan 10, 2018
    10
    Time to review this game
    What can i say that hasn't been said yet? It is an epic, luguber (and sometimes horror inducing) journey through the ravaged dreams of a man: The dystopian society of Rapture. Bioshock often carries its flow with social and phillosophic commentary. Ambient and atmosphere is its biggest accomplishment.
    Gameplay is really fun, variety of plasmids is the key of its    Time to review this game
    What can i say that hasn't been said yet? It is an epic, luguber (and sometimes horror inducing) journey through the ravaged dreams of a man: The dystopian society of Rapture. Bioshock often carries its flow with social and phillosophic commentary. Ambient and atmosphere is its biggest accomplishment.
    Gameplay is really fun, variety of plasmids is the key of its success. Gameplay is based upon experimentation, stealth and resource management, all being well managed.
    If i had to say a flaw about it, it would have to be the hacking minigame.
    I like it, but it gets tiring after some hours.
    9.5/10 game here    … Expand
  19. tudormink
    Jan 8, 2018
    10
    Bioshock is a first-person shooter that uses its masterfully crafted plot to guide you through a world of politics, violence and mystery. Its a must-play for any gamer.
  20. skeletorone
    Jan 4, 2018
    9
    Bioshock scores with a great scenario, a well told story and interesting gameplay. The city of Rapture still is a fascinating place to explore even 10 years after Bioshock was officially released. The game would be a straight 10/10 if it wasn't for the last third of the game. At this stage the plot is basically fully revealed and everything coming from that point on is just an unnecessaryBioshock scores with a great scenario, a well told story and interesting gameplay. The city of Rapture still is a fascinating place to explore even 10 years after Bioshock was officially released. The game would be a straight 10/10 if it wasn't for the last third of the game. At this stage the plot is basically fully revealed and everything coming from that point on is just an unnecessary stretch with a bad Bossfight at the end. Even the developers admitted that in retrospective. But still: Bioshock is a fantastic game.… Expand
  21. 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
  22. madamateur
    Nov 24, 2017
    10
    This game has been among my favourites for a decade, it's wonderful and original. The ideas, the concept and the execution have but few minor flaws. overrall it is an incredible experience.
  23. frappocino
    Nov 22, 2017
    8
    I watched the trailer for this game over and over again and it gave me goose bumps. The game did not disappoint. Dark atmospheric environment. Compelling story and engaging gameplay. This is a masterpiece.
  24. runner
    Nov 4, 2017
    10
    Bioshock is awesome. Truly. I haven't played the remaster but the original one, and 10 years after release this game is still awesome, playable, relevant, looks great.
    If you're someone like me and took your time until trying this game, please do so now. If you appreciate a good story and can handle FPS, it should be worth it.
    It has great atmosphere, epic soundtrack, probably the best    Bioshock is awesome. Truly. I haven't played the remaster but the original one, and 10 years after release this game is still awesome, playable, relevant, looks great.
    If you're someone like me and took your time until trying this game, please do so now. If you appreciate a good story and can handle FPS, it should be worth it.

    It has great atmosphere, epic soundtrack, probably the best opening a video game has ever had, nice gameplay elements added to the ordinary Shooters recipe, and have I mentioned the good story?

    There are many (!) good reviews about Bioshock so there's no point in going on. And while I recommend it and think it totally deserves this positivity, I WOULD write a few (just a few) points which did bother me a little, and may be critical to other players:
    *Game is quite linear. It didn't bother me greatly, but I know some wouldn't like it at all. There are plenty of corners for you to explore and look around for resources and cool stuff you collect throughout the game, so it really bothered me only at the very end when I felt I didn't have much to find anymore. So, not 100% linear, but mostly linear.

    *Story is unfolded mostly with tape recordings. Actual happenings are really mostly at the very beginning and towards the end of the game. That one actually REALLY bothered me, I found it harder to concentrate and understand the story this way. It could also make things boring & repetitive at times. But all in all, the whole story of Bioshock is pretty much worth it.

    *Game is completely playable on modern machines despite being old, but nonetheless it's not innocent some bugs and glitches, personally I've encountered a tendency of the voice acting so suddenly disappear at some of the non-tape-recordings moments, which are the most crucial ones, leaving me only with the subtitles which I couldn't even finish reading at times. I couldn't find a solution to this problem and that really ruined a moment or two throughout the game. From trying to figure it out I found that there are plenty of others encountering the same issue and some others as well. Ah well. Just some technical bugs, but really, they're not that common.
    Go Play!    … Expand
  25. kourtin
    Sep 17, 2017
    10
    Masterpiece of all times. Although its PC version is pretty buggy the story, environments, characters and all about Rapture makes this game one must play at all cost. I totally recommend it if you are into gloomy atmospheres, bizarre situations and you are into stuff like George Orwell's 1984
  26. zimmer600
    Aug 19, 2017
    10
    In one of the interviews, Levine talked about how he pestered the thresholds of leading publishers, offering them BioShock. "A typical shooter for the PC, he will disperse in a circulation of 250,000 copies," the important bosses told him and pointed to the door. Bite your elbows, short-sighted gentlemen, - you missed the candidate for "Game of the Year".
  27. EvilGame52
    Jun 28, 2017
    9
    Muy buen juego. Muy entretenido a la par que te cuentan una historia intensa sin saltarse lo mas importante, la jugabilidad. Una banda sonora de la lecha, q le añade aun mas intensidad al juego. Aunque la variedad de enemigos se ha quedado corta para mi gusto. Lo bueno, y es un punto muy a favor, es que no te dan el paron con cinematicas estupidas cada dos por tres, es que ni hay. Y algoMuy buen juego. Muy entretenido a la par que te cuentan una historia intensa sin saltarse lo mas importante, la jugabilidad. Una banda sonora de la lecha, q le añade aun mas intensidad al juego. Aunque la variedad de enemigos se ha quedado corta para mi gusto. Lo bueno, y es un punto muy a favor, es que no te dan el paron con cinematicas estupidas cada dos por tres, es que ni hay. Y algo que hay que reconocer a 2K es que nos han sabido contar una historia muy buena sin cinematicas y no saltandose la jugabilidad.… Expand
  28. angelss_13
    Jun 28, 2017
    8
    Un gran y ambicioso videojuego. Con un arte y una narrativa envolventes y complejos. La jugabilidad no es nada del otro mundo, pero no tiene ningún problema destacable. Y si bien en su día significó un avance cualitativo en el desarrollo de los videojuegos no se pueden pasar por alto algunos defectos. Quizá el principal es que llegado a un cierto punto de la trama, el juego se va tornandoUn gran y ambicioso videojuego. Con un arte y una narrativa envolventes y complejos. La jugabilidad no es nada del otro mundo, pero no tiene ningún problema destacable. Y si bien en su día significó un avance cualitativo en el desarrollo de los videojuegos no se pueden pasar por alto algunos defectos. Quizá el principal es que llegado a un cierto punto de la trama, el juego se va tornando aburrido y repetitivo. Da la sensación demque se alargó de más. Personajes maniqueos y excesivamente melodramaticos son tambien un defecto que nos muestra todavía una "infancia" en el desarrollo de los videojuegos.… Expand
  29. Jernas
    Jun 25, 2017
    9
    So I finally got my hands on Bioshock. I've been tracking this game for years and just recently finished it. Although I never played System Shock, my favourite game is Deus Ex. So now you're going to see, how this game stands up against other fps games. But this time around, we are visiting an underwater city called Rapture.

    To start with the story, it is quite deep and it gets better    So I finally got my hands on Bioshock. I've been tracking this game for years and just recently finished it. Although I never played System Shock, my favourite game is Deus Ex. So now you're going to see, how this game stands up against other fps games. But this time around, we are visiting an underwater city called Rapture.

    To start with the story, it is quite deep and it gets better and better towards the end. At the beginning, some things may seem a bit unconnected, but later on, you'll remember the early stories and connect them to people and objects you find then. But it's of course not just the story worth mentioning. It's the combat system that makes this game exciting. Mostly because AI is damn good. Graphics are very good also, Rapture is very detailed and watter here is extremely realistic. But nothing can outperform the sounds of Rapture. There are also a lot of small things that make this game very attractive, like the use of plasmids and tonics which enhance your abilities in combat.

    But there are also some problems with the game. You are constantly fighting the same enemies throughout the whole game and that makes Bioshock a bit repetitive. Menus are also not that well designed and you are easily lost trying to find a very important message. Also the game is very psychotic with lots of blood everywhere, but I can not decide for you if that is a bad or a good thing. The game is also too short, when you finally get used and start mastering all the plasmids, tonics and other tools, the game is over.

    Don't think now that I was disappointed. Bioshock is a great game overall,maybe a bit repetitive, but a great game. You won't miss anything by getting it, you'll miss a lot by missing it! And that's the whole point. So is a new Deus Ex in the house? No, it's Bioshock!    … Expand
  30. jacob4
    Jun 4, 2017
    10
    An absolute mind-blowing action game! BioShock has an atmospheric 80's environment that draws you into the lore and story of the game. Filled with twists and turns, amazing sound and music, mind-blowing visuals and game play, and beautifully haunting levels. BioShock is like the Atlas Shrugged of video games, once you've played, you can't stop talking about it. You'll never see the bottomAn absolute mind-blowing action game! BioShock has an atmospheric 80's environment that draws you into the lore and story of the game. Filled with twists and turns, amazing sound and music, mind-blowing visuals and game play, and beautifully haunting levels. BioShock is like the Atlas Shrugged of video games, once you've played, you can't stop talking about it. You'll never see the bottom of the ocean the same way!… Expand
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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
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