Bioshock

You are the sole survivor of a plane crash in the Atlantic ocean. You surface only to be greeted by walls of flame and a still sinking plane tail. Out in the distance you see a lighthouse and swim desperately to it. You walk up its cold stone steps and step into a world unknown with death and despair from the very first open door. This is how Bioshock envelops you, with its promises of Utopia and freedom of the constrains of man only to twist those freedoms into something darker.

Bioshock is the spiritual successor to System Shock 2 and the similarities are present from your first plasmid. As soon as you step into your first bathysphere you are greeted by a man with a simple idea named Andrew Ryan. He sees the faults in the city above and decided to make one below the waves. Free from moral constraints and morals that usually keep everything civilized but un-imaginative. You will be lead down Rapture's leaking corridors by a man calling himself Atlas which over a radio will guide you through the twisted world of genetic modification to the extreme. As soon as you gain control of your character you are already tense and worried from the previous and bloody beginning cinematic which involves disemboweling and distubing humming.

As you explore Rapture you gain Cybernetic Enhancements Plasmids which will serve as your line of defense and attack ranging from fire, to ice, to a swarm of bees. You start off with a trusty wrench but you also get conventional trigger click weapons like a Tommy Gun, shotgun, pistol which, combined with the plasmids, will serve as the tools to set up ingenious and bizarre ways to dispatch of your enemies which come in the form of splicers. Hybrids Splicers come in a variety of shapes and sizes ranging from the usual, run at you screaming and hit you with a pipe to vanishing throw fireballs at you then vanish types. If that weren't enough there are mini bosses scattered all over the maps which come in the form of Big Daddies. These hulking monstrous things can take loads of damage without even flinching then send you flying across the room. The reason to take these things down are for the little sister which its protecting which comes in the shape of...a little girl...Anyway these little sisters have the highly coveted ADAM which is the main artery to Rapture's success but the only way to get the ADAM is to either kill the little sister for the maximum amount or save her and get not as much but feel good about yourself and that's where the morality choices come in.

The problem with the morality choice is that its way too black and white there's really no in between. You can either be a deity or the devil incarnate which isn't very fair but I guess it comes down to personal preference. There are also Security bots and cameras which Andrew Ryan uses to his favor to spy and/or kill you whenever you get too close to them. Luckily you can hack them which is another major downer because hacking turns into a tedious game of Pipe Dream which is incredibly flow breaking and gets old fast. You can buy out or auto hack them but of course that requires heaps of money which isn't such a big deal but becomes a pain when you go to buy health and ammo and realize you spent all your money hacking 2 turrets.

Another thing that works against Bioshock are the Vita Chambers. These fancy tubes activate when you die; you are instantly re-spawned inside with all your health and any damage you did on any enemies is still there when you revive so you can pretty much die all you want while whittling away the health of a Big Daddy without consequences other than a small loading time between death and re-spawning.

Bioshock is incredibly atmospheric and well crafted and will give you many spooks as you wander around figuring out what happened which is usually told by Audio diaries and ghost sequences scattered around Rapture that tell individual stories while still giving a wide synopsis of the events that lead to the decomposition of Rapture.

The controls are pretty simple and pointing and shooting at what you want dead works perfectly. There are also Tonics which serve to enhance your abilities and you can pretty much become indestructible in a few levels. The story is as twisted as it gets with plenty of twisted characters with gripping and disturbing stories that will keep you reeling, especially when you discover what Atlas is really hiding behind that charming accent and why Andrew Ryan wants him gone.