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What is so great about this game?
Well, everything, really. Where to start? Well, at the beginning...

It is year 1962, and you are on the plane over the Atlantic... It is cold war era, remember? You are sitting in your seat, smoking, unwrapping a gift, when suddenly, everything goes black... You find yourself underwater, struggling to get to surface, trying to avoid plane parts that are sinking below. Once on the surface, you see fire, plane parts, and complete silence of the ocean... or not? There is one single lighthouse, and you, or character by the name of Jack, to be more specific, somehow get there and enter inside.

Yes, I would, in that specific situation, wait on the stairs for someone to come and rescue me, but it is just a game, so I entered inside (and so will you) and the doors closed behind me... creepy...


Once inside, you will find a lot propaganda and strange statues, chain symbols, and in the end - a bathysphere (some kind of submarine) that will lead you to Rapture, a whole underwater city built after WW2, by rich US industrialist Ryan. You hear voices over intercom (or shortwave radio, whatever) and realise someone is to welcome you... But, as you approach, you see that poor soul sliced up by a... something scary... A slicer, you will find out in a moment. Same creature will try ti break in to get you, but that submarine of yours is a tough one, so you are safe...


Then, after the slicer is gone (not really gone... just hiding in the shadows) you hear a voice telling you to pick up a radio. He's name is Atlas, and he will lead you, but you have to trust him... Oh boy, Von Braun all over again :)


So, if you played System Shock 2, you already know the drill - you start with the wrench... But, there is something better - this time your weapon will not stop working - you can use your machine gun as long as you have ammo, and even reload it. And instead of PSY powers, there are plasmids now - tonics that rewrite your DNA and give you special abilities...

So you are guided by this Atlas dude trough the underwater paradise that has become a ruin, with survivors barricaded in sealed areas, with splicers crawling all over the place... Why is that so? Well, you will find out in the game. It is enough to say that Ryan brought people there to be equal and have a chance to prosper, but as always, people ruin everything that is good in theory, and idealists are the worst of all leaders...


You will have more then one moral choice while playing, but there is one that is most important - little sisters - you can kill them and harvest ADAM substance, that is used to buy slots for new plasmids, or save their lives, and get... less ADAM. Atlas, your buddy, will tell you to kill them, that they are not girls any more, but if you listen to that female doctor, you will see that they are... What will you do is up to you... (And there are three different endings - for saving all girls, for killing one to two, and for killing all of them)


Ingame graphic is fantastic. Even in DX9. Yes, you could compare it to Crysis, and say that there are no large, open areas like there, but, this is a game of claustrophobia, screams in the shadows, dark corners and poor lit rooms, ruined corridors, falling apart while you pass them... Town of ghosts, settled under the ocean, below tons and tones of cold, icy water... And atmosphere depicts just that - claustrophobia and tension...


For those who don't like exploring every corner and finding out every complex detail, there is arrow that will guide you trough the levels, and keep you on the fastest route. If you, like me, like to explore, touch everything, search for a treasure, and listen to tapes (remember hacking emails?) then go slowly and look everywhere... And don't mind the fishes swimming on the other side of bulletproof glass... or is it bulletproof?


So, in the end... Is this game better then the Witcher, am I going to say that Bioshock is game of the year for 2007?
I don't see why not. And I don't like FPS games too much, either... Best recommendation would be to buy both games. Looking back, there are no many games in 2007 that deserve to be bought... But Witcher and Bioshock do.

Graphics: 10/10
Gameplay: 10/10
Freedom: 9/10
Overall: 9.7/10