Buy-o-Shock or Rent-O-Shock

. In Bioshock, the game by 2K Games, you play a man who, after surviving a plane crash into the middle of the Atlantic, discovers a Bathysphere and descends into the depths of the ocean to the undersea city of Rapture. A city, intended as an anarchist utopia where science was free of the restraints of government or religion, that has descended into chaos and violence normally associated with the term "anarchy." You get to unfold the mystery behind why the city has gone from scientific utopia to a mouldy and violent slum.

. The GOOD...

. Wow, where to start on what is good about this game. Let's start with what most people are going to see first... the graphics. Using the Unreal Engine 3 to power it's graphics, this is the best looking game since Gears of War in terms of immersion into the game world. Everything in this game looks like you should be able to smell it from your couch. The characters move well and when it calls for it, they move really creepy.
. The story in this game it top notch, though it does borrow liberally from Ayn Rand and George Orwell and it has been reported that The Shining, both the movie and the book, influenced the developers of the game. I am not going to give any spoilers so there is not much I can say about the story accept that a friend put it this way, "I can see all of the pieces of the puzzle, I just can't see how they fit together." Some of the story is predictable, but it is presented in such a unique way that I have found myself playing it through again to see if I missed any pieces of the puzzle.

. The NOT SO GOOD

. The sounds of the game are great and creepy, but there is a nitpick I and my friends have with it... The walls in the game do not block the sound at all. A person can be standing right beside you with no barrier between you and sound the same as a person that is on the other side of a stone wall. It can get annoying in a creepy game (with good surround sound) to hear something on the other side of a wall, or on the floor above you, "too clearly." It did remove me from the game in those instances and this is a game I did not want to be removed from.
. The controls are good... except for one thing that bugs me to no end when it happens. I will be moving in a straight line, then hit a terrain feature or a grating on the floor and instead of stopping, my character gets spun in a random direction and keeps going that way. This (bug?) can get on your nerves if you are in the middle of a fight with one of the Big Daddys. It doesn't happen a lot, but when it does it is noticeable.

. The BAD

. No multi player. This game would be a record breaking home run if there was multi player VS or Co-op instead of "just" a home run. Unlike Shadowrun though, this does provide a full game other than the lack of multi player, but using plasmids against my friends online, I might have just forgotten about buying Shadowrun when its price drops to $29.99 (that's the most I will spend on a glorified Beta) even without a Teleport Plasmid.
. Dirty Words. They are there and if you do not want you yung'uns to hear them, do not but them this game!

. The WRAP UP

. Given all of the greatness that leaks from this game like seawater through a Rapture screen door, it is still a rental. You can play through it twice in a single extended rental from Blockbuster or Gamefly and no multi player means you will be turning it in soon enough for trade. This game is a "MUST PLAY!!!" unfortunately it is a "MUST RENT!!!"

Game play 100%
Story 100%
Online 0%
Replay 40%

Overall 60%

In your Bathysphere, shootin' up your Plasmids.
Gyulus