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===Setting===
===Setting===
{{quote box|quote=I am Andrew Ryan and I am here to ask you a question:<br />Is a man not entitled to the sweat of his brow?<br /><br />No, says the man in Washington. It belongs to the poor.<br />No, says the man in the Vatican. It belongs to God.<br />No, says the man in Moscow. It belongs to everyone.<br /><br />I rejected those answers. Instead, I chose something<br />different. I chose the impossible. I chose...<br /><center>'''''Rapture'''''.</center>|source=—Andrew Ryan|size=250px|align=right}}
{{quote box|quote=I am Andrew Ryan and I am here to ask you a question:<br />Is a man not entitled to the sweat of his brow?<br /><br />No, says the man in Washington. It belongs to the poor.<br />No, says the man in the Vatican. It belongs to God.<br />No, says the man in Moscow. It belongs to everyone.<br /><br />I rejected those answers. Instead, I chose something<br />different. I chose the impossible. I chose...<br /><center>'''''Rapture'''''.</center>|source=—Andrew Ryan|size=250px|align=right}}
''BioShock'' is set during 1960, in Rapture, a [[fiction]]al underwater [[dystopia]]n city.<ref name="bit-tech"/> The history of Rapture is learned by the player through audio recordings as he explores the city. Secretly built in 1946 on the mid-[[Pacific Ocean|Pacific]] [[seabed]], Rapture was entirely self-sufficient and [[geothermal power|powered]] by [[submarine volcano]]es. Constructed by [[business magnate]] Andrew Ryan (voice by [[Armin Shimerman]]), Rapture was envisioned as the solution to what he saw as increasingly oppressive political, economical, and religious authority. The city was populated by those whom Ryan believed exemplified the best in humanity. It was revealed in an audio log that Ryan wanted Rapture to become an "[[Garden of Eden|Eden]]," a concept furthered by the resources ADAM and EVE, which are named after the [[Adam and Eve|biblical inhabitants]] of Eden. During the early 1950s, Rapture's population peaked at several thousand, though an elite emerged, discomforting many of the inhabitants.<ref>{{citeweb|url=http://www.2kgames.com/cultofrapture/rapture.html|title=What is Rapture?|publisher=Cult of Rapture|accessdate = 2007-10-07}}</ref>
''BioShock'' is set during 1960, in Rapture, a [[fiction]]al underwater [[dystopia]]n city.<ref name="bit-tech"/> The history of Rapture is learned by the player through audio recordings as he explores the city. Secretly built in 1946 on the mid-[[Atlantic Ocean|Atlantic]] [[seabed]], Rapture was entirely self-sufficient and [[geothermal power|powered]] by [[submarine volcano]]es. Constructed by [[business magnate]] Andrew Ryan (voice by [[Armin Shimerman]]), Rapture was envisioned as the solution to what he saw as increasingly oppressive political, economical, and religious authority. The city was populated by those whom Ryan believed exemplified the best in humanity. It was revealed in an audio log that Ryan wanted Rapture to become an "[[Garden of Eden|Eden]]," a concept furthered by the resources ADAM and EVE, which are named after the [[Adam and Eve|biblical inhabitants]] of Eden. During the early 1950s, Rapture's population peaked at several thousand, though an elite emerged, discomforting many of the inhabitants.<ref>{{citeweb|url=http://www.2kgames.com/cultofrapture/rapture.html|title=What is Rapture?|publisher=Cult of Rapture|accessdate = 2007-10-07}}</ref>


The development of ADAM&mdash;[[stem cell]]s harvested from a previously unknown species of [[Nudibranch|sea slug]]&mdash;by Dr. Bridgette Tenenbaum further upset the social balance. ADAM's prevalence greatly accelerated [[genetic engineering]] research, creating a [[plasmid]] industry that sold everything from a cure for [[male pattern baldness]] to skills like [[telekinesis]], with non-passive types like the latter requiring a serum, EVE. In order to improve ADAM yields, Rapture scientists created the "Little Sisters," young girls, each with a slug embedded in her body. Although initially just ADAM "factories," during the war that later broke out, they were repurposed via [[mental conditioning]] to extract ADAM from the dead, and recycle it within themselves.<ref name="IGN water">{{cite web | url = http://blogs.ign.com/Irrational_Games/2007/05/23/55572/ | title = IGN first look at the Little Sisters | publisher = [[IGN]] | date = [[2007-05-23]] | accessdate = 2007-11-04}}</ref> At the same time, the scientists created "Big Daddies" (voiced by [[Stephen Stanton]]), armed and highly enhanced humans in [[standard diving dress|diving suits]], to defend the Little Sisters as they worked.<ref name="bit-tech" />
The development of ADAM&mdash;[[stem cell]]s harvested from a previously unknown species of [[Nudibranch|sea slug]]&mdash;by Dr. Bridgette Tenenbaum further upset the social balance. ADAM's prevalence greatly accelerated [[genetic engineering]] research, creating a [[plasmid]] industry that sold everything from a cure for [[male pattern baldness]] to skills like [[telekinesis]], with non-passive types like the latter requiring a serum, EVE. In order to improve ADAM yields, Rapture scientists created the "Little Sisters," young girls, each with a slug embedded in her body. Although initially just ADAM "factories," during the war that later broke out, they were repurposed via [[mental conditioning]] to extract ADAM from the dead, and recycle it within themselves.<ref name="IGN water">{{cite web | url = http://blogs.ign.com/Irrational_Games/2007/05/23/55572/ | title = IGN first look at the Little Sisters | publisher = [[IGN]] | date = [[2007-05-23]] | accessdate = 2007-11-04}}</ref> At the same time, the scientists created "Big Daddies" (voiced by [[Stephen Stanton]]), armed and highly enhanced humans in [[standard diving dress|diving suits]], to defend the Little Sisters as they worked.<ref name="bit-tech" />

Revision as of 16:01, 20 November 2008

BioShock
File:Bioshockcoverfinalcropped.jpg
Developer(s)2K Boston/2K Australia
2K Marin (PlayStation 3)[4]
Publisher(s)2K Games
EngineUnreal Engine 3 (modified) with Havok physics[5]
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360,[6] PlayStation 3
ReleaseMicrosoft Windows, Xbox 360
PlayStation 3
Genre(s)First-person shooter
Survival horror
Mode(s)Single-player

BioShock is a video game by 2K Boston/2K Australia—previously known as Irrational Games[9]—designed by Ken Levine. It was released for the Windows operating system and Xbox 360 video game console on August 21, 2007, in North America, and three days later in Europe and Australia.[10] A PlayStation 3 version of the game, which was developed by 2K Marin, was released internationally on October 17, 2008 and in North America on October 21, 2008[11] with some additional features.[4] A version of the game for mobile platforms is currently being developed by IG Fun.[12] A sequel entitled BioShock 2: Sea of Dreams will be released in 2009.

Set in an alternate history 1960, the game places the player in the role of a plane crash survivor named Jack, who must explore the underwater dystopian city of Rapture, and survive attacks by the mutated beings and mechanical drones that populate it. The game incorporates elements found in role-playing and survival horror games, and is described by the developers and Levine as a "spiritual successor" to their previous titles in the System Shock series.[13][14]

The game received overwhelmingly positive reviews, and ranks as the thirteenth best video game on Game Rankings based on reviews from critics.[15][16] It was particularly well-reviewed in the mainstream press where its "morality-based" storyline, immersive environment and Ayn Rand-inspired dystopic back-story were all singled out for praise.[17]

Gameplay

BioShock is a first-person shooter with role-playing game customization and stealth elements, and is similar to System Shock 2. Early indication of the style of gameplay and some of the artificial intelligence (AI) was revealed by a 13-minute video released on September 20, 2006.[18]

A Big Daddy defends a Little Sister from two Splicers, while the player watches.

The player takes the role of Jack who aims to fight his way through Rapture, using weapons and plasmids that give him special powers such as telekinesis or the ability to electrocute, incinerate or freeze foes. Some plasmids even unleash an insect swarm on your foes or enrage them. Security cameras and foes can be evaded by stealth; alternatively, security cameras and turrets can be destroyed using weapons or hacked to use them to the player's advantage.[19] Hacking, which is based on the Pipe Dream game concept, can also be used on health dispensers and vending machines to gain extra benefits, and on locks and safes to gain access to the secured contents.[20]

The main resources in the game are ADAM, EVE, and money. ADAM is a mutagen, which allows genetic changes. Quantities of ADAM can be used to purchase plasmids, EVE, and other genetic mutations at special "Gatherers Gardens" vending machines throughout the game. ADAM can be obtained in several ways, most prominently the harvesting of "Little Sisters" after defeating their bodyguards, the "Big Daddies," who are large, heavily armored, genetically enhanced humans wearing armored diving suits. EVE acts as fuel for "active plasmids" in a manner similar to magic points in other games, while money allows the purchase of items and ammunition, as well as paying to override security elements, such as bots or turrets.[21]

It is here that morality is implemented as an aspect of the gameplay; the player can choose to either rescue the Little Sisters, or harvest their ADAM (resulting in their death). While both choices have their advantages, this element of conflicting morals has an impact on the storyline, and, among other things, on the difficulty of the game itself.[22]

To adapt and advance the character, the player can purchase plasmids, using ADAM. These are grouped under the Combat, Engineering, Active, and Physical technology trees. The "Active" plasmids are abilities that function as alternate weapons; they are powered by EVE, and require activation by the player. The other classes of plasmids, referred to as "Tonics," are passive abilities that work as long as they are selected as equipment ("equipped").[23]

Plasmids are versatile, and can be used by the player both in concert with each other and with the environment to create numerous effects. For example, "telekinesis" can be used on all loose objects: the player can catch and redirect grenades, rockets, thrown items, or hold large objects to form impromptu shields, or use those same objects as projectiles. Other types of plasmids have different practical uses; for instance, using an "electro-bolt" on a body of water electrifies not only the water, but also any beings and machines within it. The player is also encouraged to use critical thinking in the use of plasmids; for instance, a player may use "incinerate" to set an enemy on fire, and when the enemy jumps into a body of water to smother the flames, use "electro-bolt" to kill the enemy instantly. An element of choice is present: since not all plasmids can be equipped at once, the player must decide which plasmids to use, and which to place in storage.[24]

File:Bioshock-hack.jpg
The hacking minigame in BioShock, which requires the player to construct a complete pipe system between two points while avoiding obstacles.

Most plasmids alter the character's appearance, in keeping with the theme of "sacrificing one's humanity," referenced by Ryan in one of the game's trailers.[25] For instance, the incinerate plasmid causes the character's hand to glow red, take on a charred appearance, and radiate flames from the fingers. However, selecting a weapon will cause these changes to revert to normal, suggesting that any physical changes conferred are temporary. Higher levels of the same plasmid will cause more extreme changes; for example, the highest level of incinerate causes a heavier glow, more severe charring, and more prominent flames. In all, there are over 70 unique plasmids and tonics varieties.

Via single-use weapon-upgrade kiosks called "Power to the People" machines, the player can customize weapons to hold larger magazines, consume ammunition at a slower rate, or cause more damage. Each weapon has a selection of three different types of ammunition: normal, anti-personnel, and armor-piercing bullets are available for the weapons found early in the game; later weapons such as the crossbow have more diverse types of ammunition.[26] There is also a "research camera" in the game that analyzes enemies. After taking enough pictures of any given enemy, the player is granted increased damage, plasmids, and other bonuses when facing that type of enemy in future battles. The quality can speed the rate at which these advantages are rewarded.[27]

The player can also access several types of vending machines: the "U-Invent," which combines retrievable spare parts into ammunition, tools, etc.; "The Circus of Values" vending machine sells everything from cakes to first aid kits to EVE hypos; the "El Ammo Bandito!," a machine that vends both normal and specialty ammunition; and other more specialized machines, such as health stations. Most vending machine varieties can be hacked, allowing the player to buy "hack-only" items, and reducing the cost of the previously available merchandise.[28] Glass-walled "Vita-Chambers" can also be found throughout the game, which the player does not use directly. Instead, should Jack die, his body is reconstituted at the nearest one, retaining all of his possessions, but only a portion of his full health.[29]

Plot summary

Setting

I am Andrew Ryan and I am here to ask you a question:
Is a man not entitled to the sweat of his brow?

No, says the man in Washington. It belongs to the poor.
No, says the man in the Vatican. It belongs to God.
No, says the man in Moscow. It belongs to everyone.

I rejected those answers. Instead, I chose something
different. I chose the impossible. I chose...

Rapture.

—Andrew Ryan

BioShock is set during 1960, in Rapture, a fictional underwater dystopian city.[24] The history of Rapture is learned by the player through audio recordings as he explores the city. Secretly built in 1946 on the mid-Atlantic seabed, Rapture was entirely self-sufficient and powered by submarine volcanoes. Constructed by business magnate Andrew Ryan (voice by Armin Shimerman), Rapture was envisioned as the solution to what he saw as increasingly oppressive political, economical, and religious authority. The city was populated by those whom Ryan believed exemplified the best in humanity. It was revealed in an audio log that Ryan wanted Rapture to become an "Eden," a concept furthered by the resources ADAM and EVE, which are named after the biblical inhabitants of Eden. During the early 1950s, Rapture's population peaked at several thousand, though an elite emerged, discomforting many of the inhabitants.[30]

The development of ADAM—stem cells harvested from a previously unknown species of sea slug—by Dr. Bridgette Tenenbaum further upset the social balance. ADAM's prevalence greatly accelerated genetic engineering research, creating a plasmid industry that sold everything from a cure for male pattern baldness to skills like telekinesis, with non-passive types like the latter requiring a serum, EVE. In order to improve ADAM yields, Rapture scientists created the "Little Sisters," young girls, each with a slug embedded in her body. Although initially just ADAM "factories," during the war that later broke out, they were repurposed via mental conditioning to extract ADAM from the dead, and recycle it within themselves.[31] At the same time, the scientists created "Big Daddies" (voiced by Stephen Stanton), armed and highly enhanced humans in diving suits, to defend the Little Sisters as they worked.[24]

For several years, Rapture was what Ryan originally intended it to be: a paradise of freedom and wealth. But ultimately, the very reason it was created—Ryan's hatred of authority—caused the city's downfall, and the ideals Ryan had envisaged to be corrupted and lost. To keep his utopia a secret, Ryan passed a single law: contact with the surface was prohibited. This edict made smuggling profitable, resulting in the formation of a small black market. This market came to be dominated by a man with just as much determination as Ryan: former mobster and accomplished con-artist Frank Fontaine (voiced by Greg Baldwin). Unlike Ryan, however, Fontaine wanted control. His wealth, combined with his monopoly on Tennenbaum's research, soon gained Fontaine enough power and followers to challenge Ryan for control of the city.

In late 1958, Ryan lost patience with the conflict and had Fontaine killed, an action that proved useless as another figure, Atlas (voiced by Karl Hanover), took Fontaine's place as the leader of the opposition. On New Year's Eve that year, Atlas and his ADAM-augmented followers fomented a riot involving the lower and upper classes.[32] This sparked a civil war between Ryan and Atlas that eventually spread to all of Rapture, crippling the city. As the war progressed, Ryan began to betray his ideals. The former advocate of reason and self-determination began using torture and mind control in his battle with Atlas. Eventually, he became so unreasonable that a number of his supporters attempted to assassinate him. By the time the player enters Rapture, only the "Splicers"—citizens with severe mental and physical problems caused by excessive ADAM use—are left, scavenging throughout the city. The remaining non-mutated humans have managed to barricade themselves in the few remaining undamaged areas, although most of these people are nonetheless mentally unstable or dangerous in some way.[33]

Story

The underwater city of Rapture

At the start of the game, Jack (the character controlled by the player) is a passenger on a plane that goes down in the Atlantic Ocean in 1960,[34] after ordered society in Rapture has collapsed.[35] After surfacing, Jack finds himself the only survivor of the crash, and swims to a nearby lighthouse, where he finds a bathysphere which he uses to descend into the ocean and enter the failed "paradise" of Rapture.[36] Atlas assists Jack via radio in making his way to safety, while Ryan, believing Jack to be a government agent (though he's not sure which government), uses Rapture's automated systems and his pheromone-controlled Splicers against him. Atlas tells Jack that the only way he can survive is to use the abilities granted by plasmids, and that he must kill the Little Sisters to extract their ADAM. Overhearing Atlas' words, Dr. Tennenbaum intercepts Jack, and urges him to save the Little Sisters instead. She gives him a special plasmid that will kill only the embedded slugs while leaving the girls alive and restoring their humanity, albeit with a much smaller reward of ADAM for Jack. Tennenbaum promises to repay him if he does as she asks.[31] As Jack works his way through the city, he learns about Rapture's fate and history through audio logs, genetically-induced ghostly playbacks of past events, and radio messages. Atlas says his wife and child have been hiding on a submarine, and just as Jack and Atlas reach the bay where it is located, Ryan has it destroyed; an enraged Atlas tells Jack that Ryan must die.

Jack makes his way to Ryan, who offers no resistance to Jack's efforts, but instead reveals why Jack has come to Rapture: Jack was actually born in Rapture a mere two years ago, genetically modified to mature rapidly. He is Ryan's illegitimate son by an affair with Jasmine Jolene, an exotic dancer.[32] Ryan further reveals that, after purchasing Jack's embryo, Frank Fontaine designed him to obey orders that are preceded or followed by the specific phrase "Would you kindly." Jack was then sent to the surface when the war started to put him beyond Ryan's reach. When the conflict between Fontaine and Ryan reached a stalemate, Jack was sent instructions to board a flight with a package. At a designated time he opened the package to discover a gun and instructions to hijack and crash the plane next to the lighthouse, enabling him to return to Rapture as the cat's-paw of Atlas. Ryan calmly demonstrates Jack's lack of free will by forcing him to follow his commands using the trigger phrase, "Would you kindly…" which Jack then realizes Atlas has been using since his arrival. Ryan then orders Jack to kill him, so as to die on his own terms. Atlas, in complete control of the city as a result of Ryan's death, reveals himself to be Frank Fontaine, having faked his own death and adopted the alias and persona of Atlas to throw Ryan off his trail. With Ryan dead, Fontaine no longer needs Jack, and leaves him at the mercy of the reactivated security systems. Nevertheless, Dr. Tennenbaum and her Little Sisters help Jack escape through the vent system, where he falls and loses consciousness.

When Jack awakes, Dr. Tennenbaum has already deactivated some of his conditioned responses and assists him in breaking the remaining ones, among them one that would have eventually stopped his heart. During their subsequent pursuit of Fontaine, the doctor predicts that the only way to get through the last few obstacles would be to assemble a Big Daddy diving suit and follow the rescued Little Sisters through the passageways that only they can open. By the time Jack reaches him, Fontaine has injected himself with vast amounts of ADAM, becoming an inhuman monster. Jack and Fontaine battle, and Jack eventually prevails, allowing the Little Sisters to subdue Fontaine, by swarming over Fontaine and stabbing him with their needles, killing him by draining all the ADAM out of his system. Here the game ends.

Three endings are possible depending on how the player interacted with the Little Sisters, all narrated by Dr. Tennenbaum. If the player rescued all the Little Sisters (therefore saving their lives), the ending shows the rescued Little Sisters returning to the surface with Jack and living full lives under his care, including them graduating from college, getting married, and having children; it ends on a heart-warming tone, with an elderly Jack surrounded on his deathbed by all of the adult Little Sisters. If the player harvested (and therefore killed) more than two, but not all, of the Little Sisters, the game ends with Jack turning on the Sisters after defeating Fontaine, presumably killing them all and taking their ADAM. Tennenbaum's voice narrates what occurred, condemning Jack and his actions. Later in the second ending, a ballistic missile submarine carrying a nuclear missile comes across the wreckage of the plane and is suddenly surrounded by bathyspheres containing Splicers. The Splicers kill all hands aboard the submarine and take control of it.[37] If the player harvested all of the Little Sisters, the player is shown the same movie as the second ending, though the tone of Tennenbaum's voice is angrier.[38]

Development

Official system requirements
Minimum Recommended
Windows[39]
Operating system Windows XP with Service Pack 2 or Windows Vista
CPU Pentium 4 2.4 GHz (single core)Intel Core 2 Duo or AMD Athlon 64 X2
Memory 1 GB2 GB
Free space 8 GB of free space
Graphics hardware DirectX 9.0c compliant card with 128 MB RAM (NVIDIA 6600/ATI X1300 or better, excluding ATI X1550); must support Pixel Shader 3.0DirectX 9.0c compliant card with 512 MB RAM (NVIDIA 7900GT or better) or DirectX 10 compliant card (NVIDIA 8600 or better)
Sound hardware 100% DirectX 9.0c compliant cardSound Blaster X-Fi (optimized for EAX ADVANCED HD 4.0/5.0 compatible cards)
Network Internet connection required for activation

Original story

Originally, BioShock had a storyline which was significantly different to that of the released version: the main character was a "cult deprogrammer"—a person charged with rescuing someone from a cult, and mentally and psychologically readjusting that person to a normal life.[40] For example, Ken Levine cites an example of what a cult deprogrammer does: "[There are] people who hired people to [for example] deprogram their daughter who had been in a lesbian relationship. They kidnap her and reprogram her, and it was a really dark person, and that was the [kind of] character that you were."[32] This story would have been more political in nature, with the character hired by a Senator.[32] By the time development on BioShock was officially revealed in 2004, the story and setting had changed significantly. The game now took place in an abandoned World War II-era underground laboratory, which had recently been unearthed by 21st century scientists. The genetic experiments within the labs had gradually formed themselves into an ecosystem, centered around three "castes" of creatures, referred to as "drones," "soldiers," and "predators." This "AI ecology" would eventually form the basis for the "Little Sister," "Big Daddy," and "Splicer" dynamic seen in the completed game.[41]

While the gameplay with this story was similar to what resulted in the released version of the game, the story underwent changes, consistent with what Levine says was then-Irrational Games's guiding principle of putting game design first.[40] Levine also noted that "it was never my intention to do two endings for the game. It sort of came very late and it was something that was requested by somebody up the food chain from me."[42]

In response to an interview question from the gaming website IGN about what influenced the game's story and setting, Levine said, "I have my useless liberal arts degree, so I've read stuff from Ayn Rand and George Orwell, and all the sort of utopian and dystopian writings of the 20th century, which I've found really fascinating."[43] Levine has also mentioned an interest in "stem cell research and the moral issues that go around [it]."[43] In regard to artistic influences, Levine cited the books 1984 and Logan's Run, representing societies that have "really interesting ideas screwed up by the fact that we're people."[44]

According to the developers, BioShock is a spiritual successor to the System Shock games, and was produced by former developers of that series. Levine claims his team had been thinking about making another game in the same vein since they produced System Shock 2.[45] In his narration of a video initially screened for the press at E3 2006, Levine pointed out many similarities between the games.[46] There are several comparable gameplay elements: plasmids in BioShock serve the same function as "Psionic Abilities" in System Shock 2; the player needs to deal with security cameras, machine gun turrets, and hostile robotic drones, and has the ability to hack them in both games; ammunition conservation is stressed as "a key gameplay feature"; and audio tape recordings fulfil the same storytelling role that e-mail logs did in the System Shock games.[46] The "ghosts" (phantom images that replay tragic incidents in the places they occurred) from System Shock 2 also exist in BioShock,[47] as do modifiable weapons with multiple ammunition types. Additionally, Atlas guides the player along by radio, in much the same way Janice Polito does in System Shock 2, with each having a similar twist mid-game. Both games also give the player more than one method of completing tasks, allowing for emergent gameplay.[48]

Game engine

BioShock uses an enhanced Tribes: Vengeance game engine, the highly modified version of the Unreal Engine 2.5 technology used by other previous Irrational Games titles including SWAT 4, and SWAT 4: The Stetchkov Syndicate. In an interview at E3 in May 2006, Levine announced a switch to a modified Unreal Engine 3.0. However, despite Levine's claim, BioShock is still built on Unreal Engine 2.5 technology. Irrational/2K Boston/2K Australia integrated some Unreal Engine 3 features into BioShock, but at its core, it's still Unreal Engine 2.5. Levine emphasized the enhanced water effects, which he claimed would be very impressive: "We've hired a water programmer and water artist, just for this game, and they're kicking ass and you've never seen water like this."[49] This graphical enhancement has been lauded by critics, with GameSpot saying, "Whether it's standing water on the floor or sea water rushing in after an explosion, it will blow you away every time you see it."[50] The Windows version of BioShock can utilize Direct3D 10 (DirectX 10) features and content, if the system meets the hardware and software requirements,[51] but it will also run on DirectX 9, if these requirements are not met, or if the video options are changed.[52] There are a few differences in image quality between the two APIs, such as additional water reflections and soft particle effects,[53][54] but are otherwise subtle from the player's perspective.[55] BioShock also uses Havok Physics,[51] an engine that allows for an enhancement of in-game physics, and the integration of ragdoll physics, and allows for more lifelike movement by elements of the environment.

Chris Kline, lead programmer of BioShock from Irrational Games, deemed BioShock as "heavily multithreaded" as it has the following elements running separately:[56]

  • Simulation Update (1 thread)
  • UI update (1 thread)
  • Rendering (1 thread)
  • Physics (3 threads on Xenon, at least one on PC)
  • Audio state update (1 thread)
  • Audio processing (1 thread)
  • Texture streaming (1 thread)
  • File streaming (1 thread)

Demo

A demo was released on Xbox Live Marketplace on August 12, 2007,[57] and the PC demo was officially released on August 20, 2007, and announced during Larry Hryb's (Major Nelson) interview with Ken Levine on his podcast.[58] The demo contains the first 45 minutes of the game and includes a cinematic opening sequence that established the setting and initial plot lines, and the tutorial phase of the game.[24] The demo also contained some differences from the release version such as an extra plasmid and weapons, alongside an earlier security system presence. These were introduced to give players access to several features of the full game. In nine days, the BioShock demo outperformed every other demo release on Xbox Live and became the fastest demo to reach one million downloads.[59] The Steam demo was released on August 20, the day before the Steam release, and the Playstation 3 demo was released on the Playstation Store on October 2, 2008.

Updates

On September 6, 2007, the Xbox 360 version of BioShock received an update: "Improves general game stability, especially when loading autosaves. It also tweaks the way enemies use health stations and fixes a slight audio glitch during menu loading."[60] Users were prompted to download the automatic update when they next started the game.[60] The update has, however, been criticized for introducing several problems to the game, including occasional freezes, bad framerates, and even audio-related issues.[61] The problem seems to be with the game's caching, and can be corrected by the user.[61]

On December 4, 2007, a patch for the Windows version, and a title update and free downloadable content for the Xbox 360 version were released. In addition to correcting bugs in the software, the patch/new content introduces a horizontal field-of-view option, new Plasmids, an option to disable Vita Chambers, and an additional achievement in the Xbox 360 version for completing the game without using any Vita Chambers on Hard mode ("Brass Balls," 100 points). Vita Chambers need not be disabled to earn the achievement, and quick saves can still be used.[62]

An update for the PS3 version was released on the 13th of November to fix some small graphical problems and rare occasions where users experienced a hang and were forced to reset the console. This update also incorporated the Challenge Room feature.

Other versions

In an August 2007 interview, when asked about the possibility of a PlayStation 3 version of BioShock, Ken Levine had stated only that there was "no PS3 development going on" at the time;[63] however, on May 28, 2008, 2K Games confirmed that a PlayStation 3 version of the game was in development by 2K Marin, and it was released on October 17, 2008.[4] The director for the PlayStation 3 version will be Jordan Thomas. 2K Games' senior producer Melissa Miller has stated that there are no graphical improvements to the game over the original Xbox 360 version,[64] however 2K Games' Jake Ikten has stated that the widescreen option called "horizontal plus" which was introduced via a patch in the 360 version will ship with the game and the cutscene videos are of a much higher resolution than in the DVD version.[65] Additional add-on content will also be released exclusively for the PS3 version.[66][4] One addition is "Survivor Mode," in which the enemies have been made tougher, and Vita-Chambers provide less of a health boost when used, making the player become creative in approaching foes and to rely more on the less-used plasmids in the game.[67] BioShock will also support PS3 Trophies. A demo version was released on the PlayStation Store on October 2, 2008.

On February 12, 2008, IG Fun announced that they had secured the rights to develop and publish a mobile phone version of BioShock. IG Fun CEO Sean Malatesta promised "to offer a whole new gaming experience and unmatched excitement amongst mobile gamers the world over."[12]

Sequels

In response to the game's high sales and critical acclaim, Take-Two Chairman Strauss Zelnick revealed in a conference call to analysts that the company now considered the game as part of a franchise.[68] He also speculated on any follow-ups mimicking the development cycle of Grand Theft Auto, with a new release expected every two to three years.[69][70] On March 11, 2008, Take Two Interactive officially announced that Bioshock 2 is being developed by 2K Marin, and is expected to be released before the 2009 holiday season.[71] In an August 2008 interview, Ken Levine mentioned that 2K Boston was not involved in the game's sequel because they wanted to "swing for the fences" and try to come up with something "very, very different."[72] BioShock 3 has also been announced, with its release likely to coincide with the Bioshock film.[73]

The first information about BioShock's immediate sequel came in a teaser on the PlayStation 3 version of the game, revealing that the second game is to be titled BioShock 2: Sea of Dreams.[74][75] This teaser used The Pied Pipers' version of "Dream" in much the same way that the first Bioshock's soundtrack used Great American Songbook tunes. A 2K developer stated that the game "is part of a prequel and at the same time is a sequel."[76] BioShock 2 is destined for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Windows PC[77]

Reception

BioShock has received wide critical acclaim:[88][89] mainstream press reviews have praised the immersive qualities of the game and its political dimension. The Boston Globe described it as "a beautiful, brutal, and disquieting computer game ... one of the best in years,"[17] and compared the game to Whittaker Chambers's 1957 riposte to Atlas Shrugged, Big Sister Is Watching You. Wired also mentioned the Ayn Rand connection in a report on the game which featured a brief interview with Levine.[93] The Chicago Sun-Times review said, "I never once thought anyone would be able to create an engaging and entertaining video game around the fiction and philosophy of Ayn Rand, but that is essentially what 2K Games has done ... the rare, mature video game that succeeds in making you think while you play."

The Los Angeles Times review concluded, "Sure, it's fun to play, looks spectacular and is easy to control. But it also does something no other game has done to date: It really makes you feel."[94] The New York Times reviewer described it as: "intelligent, gorgeous, occasionally frightening" and added, "Anchored by its provocative, morality-based story line, sumptuous art direction and superb voice acting, BioShock can also hold its head high among the best games ever made."[95]

At Game Rankings, BioShock holds an average review score of 95.4% for the Xbox 360, making it the third highest rated Xbox 360 game released to date, behind The Orange Box and Grand Theft Auto IV.[96] In the PC ratings it achieved 95.2%, making it the third highest rated PC game released to date, behind Half-Life 2 and The Orange Box and the sixteenth highest ranked game of all time.[97] GameSpy praised BioShock's "inescapable atmosphere,"[98] and Official Xbox Magazine lauded its "inconceivably great plot" and "stunning soundtrack and audio effects."[84] The gameplay and combat system have been praised for being smooth and open-ended,[82][33] and elements of the graphics, such as the water, were praised for their quality.[31] It has been noted that the combination of the game's elements "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."[80]

Reviewers did highlight a few negative issues in BioShock, however. The recovery system involving "Vita-Chambers," which revive a defeated player at half-life, but do not alter the enemies' health, makes it possible to wear down enemies through sheer perseverance, and was criticised as one of the biggest flaws in the gameplay.[99] IGN noted that both the controls and graphics of the Xbox 360 version are inferior to those of the PC version, in that switching between weapons or plasmids is easier using the PC's mouse than the 360's radial menu, as well as the graphics being slightly better with higher resolutions.[33] The game has been touted as a hybrid first person shooter role-playing game, but two reviewers found advances from comparable games lacking, both in the protagonist and in the challenges he faces.[100][101]

Awards

At E3 2006, BioShock was given several "Game of the Show" awards from various online gaming sites, including GameSpot,[102] IGN,[103] GameSpy[104] and GameTrailers's Trailer of the Year.[105] BioShock received an award for Best Xbox 360 Game at the 2007 Leipzig Games Convention.[106]

After the game's release, the 2007 Spike TV Awards selected BioShock as Best Game, Best Xbox 360 Game, and Best Original Score, and nominated it for four awards: Best Shooter, Best Graphics, Best PC Game, Best Soundtrack.[107][108] and the game also won the 2007 BAFTA "Best Game" award.[109] X-Play also selected it as "Game of the Year," "Best Original Soundtrack," "Best Writing/Story," and "Best Art Direction."[110]

At IGN's "Best of 2007" BioShock was nominated for Game of The Year 2007,[111] and won the award for PC Game of the Year,[112] Best Artistic Design,[113] and Best Use of Sound.[114] GameSpy chose it as the third best game of the year,[115] and gave BioShock the awards for Best Sound, Story and Art Direction.[116] GameSpot awarded the game for Best Story,[117] while GamePro gave BioShock the Best Story, Xbox 360 and Best Single-Player Shooter awards.[118] BioShock won the "Best Visual Art," "Best Writing," and "Best Audio" awards at the 2008 Game Developers Choice Awards.[119] Guinness World Records awarded the game a record for "Most Popular Xbox Live Demo" in the Guinness World Records: Gamer's Edition 2008.

BioShock is ranked first on Game Informer’s list of The Top 10 Video Game Openings.[120]

Sales

The Xbox 360 version was the third best-selling game of August 2007, with 490,900 copies.[121] The Wall Street Journal reported that shares in Take-Two "soared nearly 20%" in the week following overwhelmingly favorable early reviews of the game.[122] Take-Two announced that, as of June 5, 2008, over 2.2 million copies of BioShock have been shipped.[123] In a June 10, 2008 interview, Roy Taylor, Nvidia's VP of Content Business Development, stated that the PC version has sold over a million copies.[124]

Windows technical issues

Overlay of two screenshots, one taken using widescreen settings, and one taken using standard 4:3 settings, demonstrating the differences in the field of view. The red tinted areas are those present in the standard image only.

Since BioShock was released, several issues have been found, with most uncovered in the Windows version.[125] In both the BioShock demo and release version, it was observed that the field of view (FOV) used in widescreen was set such that it appeared that there was less visible in the display compared to the 4:3 format,[126] conflicting with original reports from a developer on how widescreen would have been handled.[127] This was a design decision made during development.[128][129] In patch 1.1, released on December 4, 2007, the "Horizontal FOV Lock" option was added to the Options menu.[130]

BioShock for Windows (both the retail version and that available through Steam) utilizes SecuROM copy protection[131] software, and requires internet activation to complete installation. This was reportedly responsible for the cancellation of a midnight release in Australia on August 23, 2007, due to 2K Games servers being unavailable, as the game would be unplayable until they were back online.[132] Through SecuROM, users were originally limited to two activations of the game. Users found that even if they uninstalled the game prior to reinstallation, they were still required to call SecuROM to re-activate the game. The issue was worsened by the fact that the incorrect telephone number had been included in the printed manual, as well as essentially forcing customers outside the United States to make expensive international calls to the US. In response, 2K Games and SecuROM increased the number of activations to five before requiring the user to call again. However, as no information had been provided by 2K on the existence of these measures prior to the game going on sale, or on the retail box of the game itself, many remain dissatisfied. Users also found that it was necessary to activate the game for each user on the same machine, which was criticized by some as an attempt to limit customers' fair use rights.[133][134] 2K Games has denied that this was the intent of the limitation.[135]

Two months after the initial release, 2K attempted to alleviate customer complaints by developing a special pre-uninstallation utility to refund activation slots to the user.[136] This tool however does not address situations where the game has been installed on a PC which uses more than one user account as it only works once per PC (unlike activations which are counted per user-account), nor is it able to revoke an activation if the installation has become unusable, for example by hard disk failure, effectively rendering such activations permanently lost. 2K Games has specifically mentioned each of these issues in the revoke tool FAQ,[136] and have stated that until software solutions are found for such situations they will handle any further requests for additional activations past the five-activation limit on a case-by-case basis.[137]

As of June 19, 2008, 2K Games has removed the activation limit, allowing users to install the game an unlimited number of times. However online activation remains mandatory.[138] The deactivation of the system was promised by Ken Levine in August, 2007, after retail sales of the PC version of the game were no longer an issue.[139]

Alerts from virus scanners and malware detectors, which can be triggered by SecuROM software, led to some debate about whether a rootkit was being installed; this was denied by 2K Games.[140][141][142] However, an uninstallation of BioShock does not remove the files installed by SecuROM or the registry keys used, and some of these files are impossible to delete in a conventional way.[143][144]

BioShock was also criticized for not supporting pixel shader 2.0b video cards (such as the Radeon X800/X850), which were considered high-end graphics cards in 2004–2005, and accounted for about 24% of surveyed hardware collected through Valve's Steam platform at the time of BioShock's release. User efforts to create a pixel shader 2.0-compatible version of the software have met with some success,[145] but 2K Games has issued no statements regarding possible pixel shader 2.0 support being added by an official patch.[146]

Versions and merchandise

Limited Collector’s edition

Following the creation of a fan petition for a special edition, Take-Two stated that they would publish a special edition of BioShock only if the petition received 50,000 signatures;[147] this number of signatures was reached after just five hours.[148] Subsequently, a poll was posted on the Cult of Rapture community website (operated by 2K Games) in which visitors could vote on what features they would most like to see in a special edition; the company stated that developers would take this poll into serious consideration.[149] To determine what artwork would be used for the Limited Edition cover, 2K games ran a contest, with the winning entry provided by Crystal Clear Art's Owner and Graphic Designer Adam Meyer.[150]

On April 23, 2007, the Cult of Rapture website confirmed that the Limited Collector's Edition would include a 6-inch (150 mm) Big Daddy figurine (many of which were damaged; a replacement initiative is in place), a "Making Of" DVD, and a soundtrack CD.[151] Before the special edition was released, the proposed soundtrack CD was replaced with The Rapture EP.[152]

Art book

BioShock: Breaking the Mold, a book containing artwork from the game, was released by 2K Games on August 13, 2007. It is available in both low and high resolution, in PDF format from 2K Games's official website.[153][154] Until October 1, 2007, 2K Games was sending a printed version of the book to the owners of the collector's edition whose Big Daddy figurines had been broken, as compensation for the time it took to replace them.[155]

Soundtrack

Main article: BioShock Original Soundtrack

2K Games released an orchestral score soundtrack on their official homepage on August 24, 2007. Available in MP3 format, the score—composed by Garry Schyman—contains 12 of the 22 tracks from the game.[156] The Limited Edition version of the game came with the The Rapture EP remixes by Moby and Oscar The Punk.[157] The three remixed tracks on the CD include "Beyond the Sea," "God Bless the Child" and "Wild Little Sisters"; the original recordings of these songs are in the game.

In BioShock, the player encounters phonographs that play music from the 1940s and 1950s as background music. In total, 30 licensed songs can be heard throughout the game.[158]

Film

Industry rumors after the game's release suggested a film adaptation of the game would be made, utilizing similar green screen filming techniques as in the movie 300 to recreate the environments of Rapture.[159] On May 9, 2008, Take Two announced a deal with Universal Studios to produce a BioShock movie, to be directed by Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Caribbean, The Ring) and written by John Logan (Gladiator, The Aviator, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street). It is said to come out Summer 2010.[160]

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