We have, of course, written about this opening section of Bioshock in the past. The difference this time was this was our first opportunity to test drive the PC version of the game. It performed as well as anyone could hope and the combat system and the use of fantastic Adam-based powers feels elegant and intuitive on the mouse and keyboard. Clicking the left mouse button brings up the left hand and allows access to Adam powers while clicking the right brings up the right hand for melee and ranged weapons. Rolling the mouse wheel or hitting number keys switches between powers and/or weapons for the hand that's showing. By my second fight with Rapture's mutated citizens I was switching between hands as though I'd been using such a system for years and quickly learned that using a lightning blast followed up by a wrench to the head works wonders on Rapture's more belligerent citizenry. A few minutes later, I started learning to use the environment to my advantage by electrocuting multiple enemies in standing pools of water.
As I traveled through the drowning corridors of the city I came to understand that the landscape itself was telling me its story. I eagerly examined the ads on the walls, reminders of a capitalist utopia where almost nothing was forbidden. I kicked around discarded protest signs in the dock area. The placards were emblazoned with angry messages like "Ryan doesn't own us!" and "We will ascend!" Someone behind me expressed disbelief that I could spend so much time just looking at giant banners that hung from one hall that read "Science," Industry," "Integrity" and the like. Finally, I got a big clue about what had happened when I came to a restaurant that held the remnants of a huge party and a banner reading "Happy New Year 1959!" Suddenly the strange, ragged clothing and the masks that the mutated creatures that had been attacking me made sense. They were in formal wear! Something very bad had happened here on New Year's Eve a little over a year ago and I'd need to find out what if I hoped to survive.
Every building tells a story and the tale Rapture tells is a sad one indeed. It's a tale of a grand dream gone horribly awry. Even better, the tale of Ryan's philosophy, its strengths and its fatal flaws, seems to be a subtext to the more obvious plot of the player's character trying to escape from his predicament. The art design of BioShock doesn't merely create a pretty place to fight against Big Daddies and Little Sisters, it may be the final element that pushes a game over the edge into becoming the first undeniable piece of video game art. For my own taste, the August 21st release date can't arrive soon enough.
