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How much you get out of BioShock’s story really depends on how much you’re willing to explore Rapture, because the majority of the story is told via tape recordings left by those who were alive before Rapture went to hell, as well as ghostly projections of events that took place in the past. There are some conventional cutscenes too, but as a whole, if you really want to enjoy the fantastic story that BioShock has to offer, you had better be willing to listen to all of the tape recordings that you find.

I’ll stop there with all of the story talk because I’m starting to get dangerously close to spoiler territory. BioShock is definitely a game that deserves to be played by a player with no knowledge of any of the important plot points and twists that take place throughout the story. For that matter, do not look at the achievements list before you play the game because one of the achievements is the granddaddy of all spoilers that BioShock can offer. So, with that out of the way, let’s get to the gameplay.

While BioShock does have a fairly heavy RPG element, the game is still first and foremost a first person shooter. You wander down the halls of Rapture following an arrow that leads you from point A to point B, completing whatever objective you currently have, and killing all bad guys that stand in your way. There are very few puzzles to break up the action, and the ones that are present aren’t going to give your brain a very thorough workout. What sets BioShock apart from other shooters, strictly from a gameplay perspective, is its focus on choice and letting the player play the game the way he wants to. Every challenge in BioShock can be approached in several different ways. This is thanks largely in part to the various plasmids you can acquire over the course of the game.

As I mentioned earlier, plasmids are genetic modifiers that are injected into the user’s body to grant them super human abilities. The first and most useful plasmid you find is the electrobolt, which allows you to shoot bolts of lightning out of your hand to temporarily shock and stun an enemy. In addition to stunning enemies though, the true power of the electrobolt shines through when you manage to lure a group of enemies in to water and zap it to immediately fry the whole lot of them. Having trouble luring them into the water? Try using the incinerate plasmid to light them on fire, causing them to freak out as they try and find water to put the flames out. Once they dive into the water, switch to the electrobolt, and they’re fried. No water in the area but there are lots of explosive tanks and barrels? Use the telekinesis plasmid to hurl explosives at enemies and take a group out instantly.