BioShock Review (XB360)

Tired of "The Man" calling all the shots and holding you back? Then get away to Rapture, the fictional underwater city that serves as the backdrop for one of the best first-person shooters in recent memory. This Great Gatsby with guns stars a mid-ocean plane crash survivor who discovers an underwater city that's deserted, save for genetically-enhanced, mentally deranged dandies who roam the halls ready for a fight.

To survive this free-range sanitarium, the game's hero, Jack, must find his way out, using a killer combo of firepower, special powers created via genetic alteration and the help of a man named Atlas, the main rival to the city's messianic founder, Andrew Ryan.

At the game's core, it's a first-person shooter, but unique environments and a tension-building plotline keep us playing just to see what happens next. Instead of roaming around generic warehouses filled with metal boxes, Rapture's more of an art deco showroom, filled with ornate period architecture and tongue-in-cheek billboards preaching the joys of genetic enhancement. Big metal bathyspheres transport our hero from building to building and the blood-thirsty, yet fashionable, residents look like they've been imported straight from the 1940s.

Every visual detail looks like it was examined through a microscope, including the more technical graphical aspects. Top-notch water and lighting effects give this game that oh-so-real appearance, which makes the journey into Rapture that much more believable -- something most other games struggle with, usually due to budget constraints or getting rushed to get out the door to meet some unmoveable deadline.

BioShock's much more than good looks, though. While the game's undeniably a first-person shooter, it's got a great gimmick -- the game offers endless ways to combine powers and weapons to tackle foes. Are you the guy who likes to frag enemies using a grenade launcher and machine gun? Go for it. Just want to throw fire and thunderbolts and leave the guns for America's Army fanboys? Do it. Mix it up with a one-two punch of special powers and weapons, or just trick the bad guys into killing each other while you sit back and laugh from afar. The choice is yours.

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