In my mind, there is no doubt: BioShock is one of – if not the – best game of the last console generation. And it’s currently on sale on the App Store for $2.99. BioShock is the spiritual successor of System Shock 1&2, released in 1994 and 1999. System Shock was truly ahead of its time and offered a great setting and atmosphere, but was a bit held back by the technical limitations back then (at least System Shock 1 – the controls were pretty crazy). Although I really like the System Shock premise, I believe that BioShock presented the most atmospheric setting ever: Rapture. An underwater city, built by and for the brightest minds of the world, who want to break free of the shackles that are artificially imposed upon them by their government or for religious reasons. “No Gods or Kings. Only Man.”. It’s a first person shooter at heart, although it does have some sort of RPG layer on top of the shooting mechanics: Plasimds. Plasmids are genetic mutations that you will be able to find and/or buy throughout the game that will give you a wide variety of abilities: Shooting fireballs, lightning bolts or summoning insect swarms. It’s great fun experimenting what tactics work with different weapon/plasmid combos.
Unfortunately, the iOS port of BioShock has suffered quite a bit of a graphics downgrade. This does hurt the atmosphere a little bit and you will notice that this game wasn’t developed with touch controls in mind. However: It’s still an incredible game at its core and if the setting intrigues you just a little bit, I can’t recommend BioShock enough. And for $2.99 it’s an absolute steal.
