BioShock
Preview
Save or Harvest? It's up to you
by Liquid306
previewed on PS3
Arsenal
All these enemies need killing and your weapon cache is very healthy indeed. Starting with only a wrench you work your way up to machine guns and rocket launchers. The weapons change as the game progresses as well, you are able to upgrade your weapons as you go and it helps you keep using everything in your arsenal regularly. Ammunition is no longer just plain old led and brass – every weapon has different types of ammo. Splicers got you down? Load up your pistol with Anti-Personnel rounds and watch those mutant freaks fall lifeless to the ground. Later on Big Daddies can get really tough but heat seeking rockets might alleviate some of that frustration. Electro Buck-Shot, liquid nitrogen in your flame thrower – even your wrench can get upgraded for extra damage.
Speaking of upgrading, your weapons aren’t the only thing that will see improvements. And as the game progresses, you will too. After collecting some Adam from little sisters, you can use this resource to genetically enhance yourself with plasmids. These plasmids range from shooting lightning bolts to bees out of your left hand. After the Adam has been spent you just need to inject yourself with a syringe and presto – your full of electricity/bees/fire again and ready to unleash them on your foes. All of these plasmids are upgradable, so increasing the intensity of your lightning or bees is a very viable option later on. The ability to upgrade everything in your arsenal keeps the player using it all right up to the end, not just the machine gun and rocket launcher like some other FPS’s out there.
What’s New?
2K Marin hasn’t forgot about all the PS3 fans out there. The game is coming to you too and with it some extra snippets of gameplay along with a few extra options. BioShock for the PS3 is going to have Trophy support right out of the box and the trophies are almost all the same as the achievements from the 360 version. Survival mode is the new extra hard mode for the PS3 version that has your ammo and supplies greatly reduced while your enemies are considerably smarter, faster and tougher. The developers say: “Every bullet counts in this mode.” Additional downloadable content, some of which will be a carnival environment where you’ll have to do everything in your power to get that little sister off the top of a stuck Farris wheel using environmental tricks and plasmids. The Blu-ray’s space allows for some of the cut-scenes to be in a slightly higher resolution than on the 360 as well.
Save or Harvest?
BioShock is an extremely well-done, story driven first person shooter with detailed environments and intense action. Fighting your way through this underwater utopia – the story gradually unravels and you just can’t help but get sunk in deeper with each revelation. Using this as a launch pad for the PS3, the new features are a nice treat for those of us who have waited for this version. Get ready to tackle the Bid Daddies to get at the Little Sisters for that precious Adam, but the question still remains. Save the girl or Harvest her? The choice is up to you when BioShock ships this fall for the PS3.
