Bioshock hands-on preview

Graphics

So, how good did Bioshock look? Well, imagine the best game you’ve ever played, times that by how much it impressed you at the time, factor in the uberness of the gameplay and then subtract a little bit of polish, but compensate by adding in some fantastic overall drama and an unrelenting pace.

That’s how good Bioshock looks, which is impressive. Still, in case that wasn’t very clear, I better go into some more detail.

Water is the most important element of Bioshock's graphics, which makes sense since a large proportion of the game is spent wading through waterfalls or pools which have leaked into the ocean metropolis and, even when you aren’t wading through puddles, you’ll be electrocuting them or sending the incredibly clever A.I. running for somewhere to douse the flames – something they actually do if set on fire. It’s even possible to send up clouds of steam by using the incinerate plasmid on a puddle of water, so ol’ H20 is at the forefront of the game experience in Bioshock.

Thankfully then, the water is simulated beautifully whether in small drips which fall and roll down the screen or larger waterfalls which pour into the city from the ocean outside, slowly flooding and dooming that particular deck.

Unfortunately, we weren't able to get any screenshots of the water effects, but then they show up best in video anyway. Check here if you want to see what we're talking about in all the glorious detail.


The water is used to tremendous effect at the start of the game and looks frankly fantastic as it reflects the flames of the burning fuselage and there are some utterly jaw dropping dramatic moments in the game when the player, walking through the glass tunnels which connect the various levels of Rapture, hears the pressure of the water cracking the glass just seconds before the brine comes jetting in. Searching desperately for an exit before you drown has never looked so good, nor has it been so fun.

The art deco style which decorates Rapture is rendered in stunningly high detail, though it did make the UI a little confusing and bewildering at first. In fact, the clumsy feel of the interface was one of the biggest problems we had in our hands-on time. This was especially true in the hacking mini-game on the Xbox 360 version.


The hacking mini-game is drastically different from how it has been handled in previous games and the idea of clicking on random nodes in System Shock 2 has been replaced with a Pipe-mania mini-game where players must correctly create a path for the flow of ADAM through the machine's circuits. Difficulty of each hack is different, with the easiest giving the player time to turn over tiles and swap pipes before the flow begins and the hardest hacks starting immediately and dotting the path with broken tiles. Messing up a hack will overload the circuit, shocking the player and costing some precious health, though players can choose to buyout or use one-shot tools to bypass harder puzzles.

The problem is that the control system for the hacking mini-game isn’t as fluid as it could be and the 360 version suffers from having to use analogue sticks, with both versions proving difficult to get the hang of.

There are a few other noticeable weak points in the graphics Bioshock, such as the process of melting ice with the incinerate plasmid, which is needed to open up extra areas and paths through the city. The ice itself doesn’t look too bad on its own, though not anywhere near as good as the rest of the city. When melted though, the model basically sinks in the ground until it disappears from sight, which feels kind of a let down considering how gorgeous the water looks for the rest of the game.


The range of models also leaves something to be desired, with the Little Sisters in particular varying only by hair colour, which feels odd for the game's iconic characters. Most of the other enemies however are both varied and gruesome, using theatre masks to hide the disfigurements caused by over-zealous plastic surgery and addiction to ADAM and a lot of characters are instantly recognisable for the roles they would have held within Rapture.

The ability to spot an enemy and recognise that that person would once have been a doctor, singer or fisherman truly does give the game an eerie quality which leads players to further moral choices about each death they may cause, an issue rammed home by the occasional appearance of the ghosts of dead citizens.