BioShock pretty much rocked our socks off last year on both Xbox 360 and PC, so the success of the slightly-improved PS3 release is probably a foregone conclusion. Still, playing through Lead Developer Ken Levine's epic a second and third time was still astonishingly fun... and a bit of a trip down memory lane. Make no mistake, however, that if you've yet to experience the tortured dystopia of Rapture, you're really only cheating yourself out of one of the best-designed and entrancingly atmospheric games of this generation.

A Man Chooses

Perhaps the most innovative portion of BioShock is in its self-awareness and how it uses the typical gaming tropes to play with the notion of player choice. This is a game that is fully aware of the limitations of its medium, but it uses these to trick you into thinking that it's deeper than it really is. By providing a wealth of methods for solving a ceaseless parade of obstacles and giving you the option of playing the "good guy" (by saving the cute-yet-freaky Little Sisters) or the "bad guy" (by exploiting the poor li'l things), BioShock teases you with the idea that you're in control.


You are, however, never fully in control of anything in any video game. But play BioShock and see if that knowledge actually helps you, because the beauty of this game is that its such a complete experience that you'll likely forget this sage advice by the time it's relevant in any meaningful way.

You are not playing BioShock, BioShock is playing you.

Old Dog, New Plasmids

Standing in for magical spells are BioShock's plasmids and tonics: genetic upgrades that imbue you with special abilities like shooting ice from your fingers. The PS3 version features a handful of new plasmids and tonics (including a "force push" that rounds out a suite of Jedi-esque powers), but given the fact that BioShock's gene pool already runs deep with abilities, these are more like icing than another layer of cake.