Bioshock was groundbreaking in the way it introduced many gamers to an obscure art style and a niché political philosophy; namely art deco and objectivism. Both of these are weaved into the games DNA and helped to create its iconic look, deeply immersive and memorable world, and its well written story and characters.

The opening few minutes are also iconic and almost perfect in the way they introduce the player to these two concepts, as well as to one of the game's antagonists, Andrew Ryan. It is mostly on the rails and involves lots of delightful visual storytelling as well as a recorded speech from Ryan. As the haunting music sores your 'ride' culminates in a sudden reveal of Bioshock's underwater city, Rapture, a place founded by Ryan in the hopes it would become an objectivist utopia.

"I am Andrew Ryan, and I'm 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"

On arriving in the city it quickly becomes clear that Rapture is far from a utopia and that something has gone very, very wrong.

Now I'm no political expert, but it's obvious from Andrew Ryan's opening monologue that this is a world built on objectivism. As I understand it, objectivism, a philosophy cooked up by Ayn Rand, is a form of right wing, hyper libertarianism, married to extreme capitalism. If selfish greed were a political philosophy, it would be objectivism. The needs of the few outweigh the needs of the many, as a mirror universe version of Spock might say.

Bioshock isn't a celebration of Rand's politics though; as you explore Rapture you'll quickly realise through the narrative that this is a critique of Ayn Rand's political philosophy. It turns out that in an underwater city where everyone is working for themselves, nothing useful or necessary gets done and there's no-one to do the menial, less 'creative and fulfilling' jobs; those jobs that are vital to maintaining and running a vast underwater city. There is also no money to pay the people who are needed to do those jobs, and no supervision.

The citizens of Rapture also discovered a substance called Adam. When refined into a Plasmid, Adam rewrites a person's genetic material, giving them superhuman abilities. One of the downsides of plasmids use is their addictive qualities and they can also cause mental and physical degradation when over used. The second 'person' you see in Rapture is a victim of Adam abuse and has lost their mind, becoming a murder happy Splicer. You see them through a small window, gutting the first person you see. So Plasmid use isn't healthy; luckily as the player you will inject yourself with many many plasmids!

In a democratic society, regulation, ethical considerations and/or law enforcement of some kind could have led to better safeguards and more thorough testing of Adam. But in Rapture that would be hampering creative genius.

Then some sort of conflict began on new years eve 1958, between factions loyal to Ryan and those loyal to somebody named Atlas. With plasmids added to the mix things clearly didn't go so well, and this becomes apparent soon after you 'land'. Things are ♥♥♥♥♥♥, to put it mildly.

You piece a lot of this together within the first hour or so through the visuals alone. Rapture's beautiful, clean, simple, symmetrical 1920's art deco face is cracking. The imposing bronze sculptures are tarnished and some are toppled; the gold plaques are grimy, and the green marble and ceramic tiles are pitted, shattered and broken. There are leaks everywhere too; maintenance having been largely abandoned. The city is flooding and large parts of it are without power. Machinery is malfunctioning and there are there are bodies all over the place. Many of the dead are in evening wear that is age worn and tattered. Some are wearing masks, like they died during a masked ball. The Splicers are similarly attired but those without masks are horrifyingly deformed. Mutated.

The atmosphere is unsettling and meloncholic, and sometimes, when the lights are flickering, casting strange shadows and the faint, nonsensical noises of one of Rapture's mad citizens are getting ever louder, and closer, the game is outright frightening.

This would be a decent way to tell a story but there are also audiologs made by the citizens before things went to ♥♥♥♥, and NPCs that aren't currently trying to kill you. When taken together this is world building at its finest. Later on you'll start learning about the player character and their connection to Rapture, the two philosophies of Ryan and Atlas and the ultimate fate of the city. This is the game's story and it's wonderfully paced and told, and incredibly immersive.

I'd be remiss if I didn't talk about the gameplay, but it's only important as a part of the whole, nothing about the FPS mechanics is outstanding. None of the guns are particularly memorable but they sound meaty enough and can be upgraded, as well as fitted out with different ammo types. You can also hack cameras and sentry bots to help you in combat, and these skills, along with heath and energy can be levelled up. You need the energy to use plasmids. There are a large number of plasmids, some of which you find and others you have to buy. They too can be levelled up and range from basic magical attacks like incinerate, winter blast and electrobolt, which are pretty self explanatory, to more tactical ones such as telekinesis, a decoy and one that charms enemies to fight for you.

Enemy variety is a rather limited, there are only a few different types of Splicer, but each benefits from a slightly different approach to takedown, and there are generally plasmids that are better at countering certain Splicers. Encounters can be hectic if there are multiple Splicer types and then there are the big baddies. Not Splicers themselves, these armoured giants stomp around Rapture often in the footsteps of small girls. These little sisters are Adam gatherers* and you need Adam to buy plasmids, but before you can deal with the little sisters you have to get rid of daddy. Now you can just leave these pairings be when you encounter them, and as long as you don't get too close to the child the big daddy won't attack. It's always worth it though, and these fights can be some of the best, and worst when they're messy, in the game, requiring lots of ammo and plasmid use.

This is where the game's morality system comes into play, you can 'harvest' the little sisters for a large amount of Adam, killing them, or release them from their drugged servitude, saving them for little material gain. It's one of those ♥♥♥♥ good/evil binary choices that video games do, that are never really choices because the good option is obviously the one to go, especially if it effects the ending. You're not even really punished for choosing the good option because after you've saved enough little sisters they'll drop off presents stuffed with Adam. It's definitely one of the most poorly thought out aspects of BioShock, along with the hacking mini game. Nothings perfect though.

I've wasted enough of your time. Bioshock is a fantastic game worthy of its iconic status; it's beautiful, dark, deep,, smart, engrossing and unforgettable. Get it.

Now. Would you kindly give me all your points.

*They get it from the dead

If the game were set in modern day, the villains would most likely be a bunch of cryptobros.

Man I sure do love backtracking.