Let me preface this. This is going to be my narrative as I play the game Bioshock. You will experience with me the process for playing the game for the first time through my eyes. When I say no spoilers, I mean no spoilers from you, the people who have already played. I will reveal what are technically spoilers for people who have not played as I encounter as I play, so if you are interested in this game but don’t want to know what happens in the game, this is not the thread for you.
So, as many of you know I have been polling around asking what games I should purchase for my shiny new Xbox 360. Many people had different suggestions, but one suggestion was consistent through all the forums and people I talked to:
Get Bioshock.
I spent the first week of getting to know my Xbox 360 playing Lego Star Wars. I know what you are going to say, but for my purposes it was perfect. When I only have an hour or two to play something at night this was a great way of popping something in and accomplishing something.
So today my nanny was sick, wife was in the city so I had to stay home. Once Lil’ Solai went down for a nap I checked my work email and saw nothing pressing. I went over to the family room and fired up the Xbox for some lunchtime fun. I decided I would finally pull the trigger and play a game that would take some focus and commitment: Call of Duty 4. I put it in twice but it didn’t work. Closer inspection revealed that Gamestop had given my a Playstation 3 copy. GAH!
Not wanting to go back to Assassin’s Creed quite yet I surveyed my remaining options, and there was Bioshock.
Here is the funny thing…everyone recommended this. Everyone. However, when I was at Gamestop and looking around I told the salesperson what I didn’t want: No zombie games. I don’t need to get freaked out playing a game or have my heart jump. Zombies and I don’t get along. I play games to escape, not to have the shite scared out of me. Life is scary enough sometimes, why invite that in?
So I drop Bioshock in and immediately think this is going to be sweet. Beautifully stylized in classic art-deco and placed in the late 50s this feels like it is going to be awesome. I find myself in a plane which is what? Crashing! Ack! What did I do to deserve this?
I find myself in flaming water. I swim to shore and black out. I wake up in a capsule of some kind. It is really dark. I hear scuffling near me but my eyes won’t focus. Suddenly I hear a shriek of terror and the sound of someone being eviscerated. What the frak was that? Whatever did the damage moves quickly through the shadows and I see the faint glimpse of a rusty metal scythe in place of a hand. Wait. What was that?
I pickup a radio and some guy starts babbling at me. It seems I am in a forgotten underwater city. Something is clearly wrong. I pick up a wrench to help a person calling for help when something jumps out of the shadows…
…and it isn’t human. Not really. Humanesque. Ghostly skin. Dead eyes. It starts swinging a club at me and I pound him down. As I search the corpse I realize that I, Solai am sitting on the edge of my seat. My heart racing, literally leaping up and down in my chest.
It would seem someone pulled a bait and switch on me. It would seem I have been tricked into actually playing a zombie game, and it would appear that although it may give me a heart attack I am already really, really enjoying it.
More to follow. Remember, if you know what is coming don’t say so. Feel free to comment on what has happened up to this point. I have now completed the Welcome To Rapture Level so I have the whole bio-engineered hand shocky thing.
Coming next: Zombie women cradling handguns in baby bassinets and more.
