Whoever thinks that video games cannot be measured as art, they should certainly have a look into 2K’s BioShock Series. After the successful launch of BioShock back in 2007, everyone has been fervently waiting for a sequel worthy of its name. Its not just simple gaming but experiencing the utopia of Rapture is something far beyond expression. BioShock 2 thrives in delivering a powerful, disturbing yet beautiful game thus consequently bringing forth a creditable conclusion.
The year is 1968; eight years since the events of the first game BioShock. Andrew Ryan has died & in his absence altruistic Dr. Sofia Lamb has taken control of the undersea fallen paradise, Rapture. In the beginning through assorted flashbacks, it is soon revealed that in 1958 our playable character Subject Delta was the first ever Big Daddy created; however he was forced to commit suicide by Sofia Lamb. The reason behind this was to sever Daddy-Sister bond as Subject Delta’s Little Sister, Eleanor was Lamb’s daughter.
After almost eight years when Eleanor, now a teenager takes aid of little sister in reviving Subject Delta, their only desire is to be reunited once more. Standing between you & Eleanor is now 'The Family', Lamb’s pheromone controlled Splicers or former citizens of Rapture whose years of using genetically enhancing drugs called ADAM have lead to complete psychosis & physical deformity. For those who have not played BioShock, I will just do a small briefing about this enhancement drug. In BioShock it was revealed that the greatest invention in the city of Rapture was ADAM. This was a form of unstable stem cells harvested from certain kind of sea slug parasite. From this ADAM special kind of serum called Plasmids used to be processed & introduced into the body. This usually led to genetic modification & mutation thus giving the users super power. However excessive use of these drugs often led to insanity. This was the major factor for Rapture’s eventual downfall.
The antagonists in both the BioShock are worlds apart. As Fontaine had the label of evil intensions, Sofia Lamb’s interpretation was quite different. Her hate for Subject Delta was justified as she held him responsible for turning her daughter, Eleanor a Little Sister, even though we all know the truth.
Various new features have been introduced in this new edition, making the gaming experience even more lucid. Making use of plasmids & weapons has never been so easier. In order to survive Rapture’s unsympathetic environment you will need to scavenge for resources. The hacking feature has been moderately improved thus making it less tedious than its predecessor. Moral dilemma related to harvesting of ADAM from Little Sister still remains the same as its original. No matter how you play the game, sooner or later you will face one of the deadliest enemies in the Rapture universe; the Big Sister. They are the former little sisters retrofitted with armor & weaponries very similar to what we have seen in Big Daddy, however their extreme agility makes them a difficult target. They are Lamb’s new line of defense. The eerie shriek of the Big Sister before the battle will certainly send chill.
Graphics looks more or less the same as BioShock; this time we do get the chance to explore the world around Rapture. Just like its original; the playable hours are pretty long depending on the adopted difficulty style. BioShock 2 is more methodical than other shooter games & requires substantial amount of attention.
Whether this is your second visit to Andrew Ryan’s fallen paradise or not, the nostalgia for Rapture is still apparent in BioShock 2. Highly recommended.
Note : This title is available in following formats : PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 & Mac OS X
My Rating : 10/10
Private First Class Chance Phelps was only nineteen when he was killed in Iraq while conducting convoy duty on April 9th, 2004. This is an anecdote of his final journey to his home town Clifton, Colorado through the eyes of Lt. Col. Michael Strobl who had eagerly volunteered to be his personal escort.
For those who are not aware with the procedures involved before the fallen soldiers are finally put to rest, this is a very good place to start with. This movie is not just about Chance’s journey but how his return has moved all the people around, experienced by Lt. Col. Strobl while traveling. There are very few dialogues throughout the movie yet its message is quite profound & memorable.
Kevin Bacon as Lt. Col. Strobl did a brilliant job by enacting as U.S. Marine officer who executed his leadership with utmost professionalism. The bond between the old veterans & young marines also showcase the fact that no matter the age, rank or even the theater of battle they will always value their traditions & undertakings.
Movies like Taking Chance is kind of rarity these days. Any one will be stirred after watching it. Even being an outsider to these events; I feel perhaps this story is universal & connects all the fallen men & women in uniform who gave up their future for our better tomorrow.
The last few lines by Lt. Col. Michael Strobl were most memorable.
Chance Phelps was wearing his St. Christopher medal when he was killed on Good Friday.
Eights days later, I handed the medallion to his mother.
I watched them carry him the final fifteen yards.
I felt that, as long as he was still moving, he was somehow still alive.
When they put him down in his grave, he’d stopped moving.
I didn’t know Chance Phelps before he died. But today…I miss him.
My Rating : 8/10
Nolan’s conception of Gotham City has been very rational in his earlier movies. I am interested to see how he brings realism in his next two villains.
It has been confirmed that Catwoman & Bane will be the integral part in the forthcoming final chapter of the dark knight saga. Honestly, I was not expecting Catwoman in the next sequel.
For those who are not familiar with the comics’ world Bane was one of the most intelligent & formidable foe in the batman universe. The specialty which made him different from the rest of the villain fraternity was his sanity & total control of self consciousness. He was also aware of Bruce Wayne’s true identity which made him even more lethal. Bane’s role will be enacted by Tom Hardy.
As for the female leads, Anne Hathaway will be taking up the role of Selina Kyle a.k.a Catwoman. There have been rumors about two more female characters, Talia al Ghul daughter of Ra’s al Ghul & Vicki Vale a journalist who might be Bruce’s likely love interest. Nothing has been confirmed though.
Since couple of months are away before the shoot actually begins so it’s early to talk about the remaining castings. Various information portals have been able to site names like Eva Green & Naomi Watts; plausibility of these Intel can only be confirmed once Nolan breaks silence.
Going by the track records of Christopher Nolan, I have high hopes for The Dark Knight Rises.
Releasing Date : July 30th, 2012.
Probably by now most of you might have heard about the upcoming movie Battle : Los Angeles.
From the trailer it’s quite evident that the story will be centering on global alien invasion. Lots of information is now accessible from the recent trailer. The incursion at first will be mistaken as a meteorite shower; the impression looks very similar to Steven Spielberg’s War Of The Worlds where aliens used lightening storm to conceal intrusion.
With a budget of over hundred million, I just hope the production team has emphasized on the story as well; remember Skyline? In recent times I feel District 9 offered entirely new concept which was also thought provoking. Jóhann Jóhannsson’s song The Sun’s Gone Dim however aptly suites the trailer. The story would work great if it explores the possibility of such invasion. An intelligence coming from few million light years would be having comprehensible technology to defeat us & not the other way round. Just for the sake of cinematic effect we always tend in considering something which is not pragmatic. Just take a look at Roland Emmerich’s Independence Day though visually impressive yet it is filled with series of implausibility which can sway a thinking mind in finding inconsistency.
This year the list of science fiction movies is quite big. Let’s just hope Jonathan Liebesman has taken some initiative to show something special.
After watching the trailer I am actually looking forward to see this movie.
Releasing Date : 11th March 2011
Trivia : The releasing date 03-11 also signify US Marine Corps' MOS Code 0311 for riflemen. MOS Stands for Military Occupational Specialty.
Joseph Kosinski’s Tron Legacy is more of a visual feat than a tangible science fiction tale. Comparing to its’82 prequel Tron, this one was definitely a step up only if you are more concerned with visuals; still at some point the story seemed to lack the essence at certain phase. Here we take a trip to the digital world very similar to what we have seen earlier in The Matrix though the transition was quite different.
Once again we meet Kevin Flynn, a mastermind software engineer & CEO of ENCOM. When he goes missing for roughly two decades shortly after making a breakthrough in cyber technology his son Sam grows up without any parents. Believing his father to be dead; Sam takes little interest in taking active role in Flynn’s company despite assertion from old family friend Alan, who also happens to be the board member of ENCOM. When Alan receives a strange pager message from Kevin’s old arcade, Sam goes to investigate & accidentally triggers a laser which transports him to the GRID; an alternate reality within the computer world. However this world is ruled by his father’s alter ego, Clu a fanatical dictator. Finally when Sam meets his father who happens to be trapped for long, they team up together to escape the GRID & prevent Clu from crossing over to the real world for global supremacy.
The actions are dazzling though there are quite a few of them. Jeff Bridges once again revives the role of Kevin Flynn from Tron. In spite of the limitation in the script he worked out his character eloquently. Olivia Wilde’s role as the protégé of older Flynn, Quorra brought some sensuality & sexiness in her role though it was left less explored. The soundtrack however is really good & might provide some stiff competition for Inception during the upcoming 83rd Academy Awards ceremonial. Tron Legacy had the potential to advance the story after considering the time it had taken to come up, still the visual variety was something which saved this to a great extent.
My Rating : 6/10
Dedication & obsession are two distinct features which can be well understood once you take a look at Black Swan. You don’t need to have a deep understanding of ballet to enjoy this film. The story works more or less as a psychological thriller. Darren Aronofsky has taken his time to emphasize not just the perspective of the art but also the psyche of the paranoid spirit who serves as the heart & soul of this movie.
Nina Sayers is an aspiring ballerina who has long being cared by her controlling mother. A prominent New York ballet company was in lookout for a new star who could take up the role of a Swan Queen for their forthcoming show Swan Lake. This has been the dream role Nina had been prying for so long. However the company’s director Thomas was reluctant to give Nina the role as the new re-imaging version of Swan Queen required the duality of a white & black swan’s persona. Nina’s dance skill was perfect to cast her as the white swan but she lacked the freeness & sensuality to foster the seductiveness of the black swan which was necessary for the show. Thomas was keen to cast Lily; another aspirant, as the black swan as she had the expertise to elicit the sexuality required. Even after winning the role, Nina started to suffer from extreme hallucinations & paranoia as she felt Lily as a potential threat to her career. To what extent a fixation can damage human psyche has been adequately explored through Nina.
This year can be promising for Natalie Portman if she wins the award for Best Actress for the approaching 83rd Academy Awards. The credit is well justified; her role as Nina Sayers electrifies the entire movie. Apart from great acting her intense ballet training did paid off. Almost all the female casts did good starting from Mila Kunis as Lily & Winona Ryder even though her screen presence was limited. Black Swan loves to venture into the darkness & in a way it truly succeeds. The blend of art & passion has never been so intense.
My Rating : 9/10
Coen brothers have done it yet again with their latest western masterpiece True Grit. With a tight script & absolutely stunning performances from Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon & novice Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit proves to be a commendable film & worthy enough to join the league of other legendary westerns like Unforgiven, The Good, The Bad & The Ugly.
The movie begins with the narration from aged Mattie Ross who explains that when she was fourteen her father was murdered by one of his hired hands named Tom Chaney. Before making the final gate way he took her father’s horses & two California gold pieces. Distressed with the chain of events she wanted to avenge her father’s death. After some inquisition she came across one U.S. Marshal Rooster Cogburn whom she promised a reward of fifty dollars provided he tracked Chaney & brought him to justice. In the meantime a Texas Ranger named La Boeuf arrives on the trail of Chaney. He offers Mattie his assistance & reveals that he had been in pursuit of Chaney for several months over a murder of a state senator at Texas. Mattie however rejects Boeuf’s offer when she realizes that Boeuf was more interested in the bounty put up by the Texas government & taking Chaney back would not serve her purpose which was punishing him for murdering her father. So how they square their differences before going for the man hunt is what this story all about.
Jeff Bridges delivers a stupendous performance as Marshal Cogburn, a one eyed drunk. The conflict between Boeuf & Cogburn was well portrayed. Well all the praises cannot be accounted for only male leads, Hailee Steinfeld as young Mattie Ross nailed the character as the head strong girl who was ready to avenge her father’s death. It was hard to believe that True Grit was her first contribution to mainstream movies. This was definitely Coen brothers’ first western movie yet with great cinematography & soundtrack they have flared marvelously their very own classic that will be remembered for the days to come. It’s really elevating to know that such western movies can still be made.
My Rating : 8.5/10
When it comes to boxing couple of movies straight away comes to mind; the most prominent of those are Rocky, Raging Bull & Cinderella Man. Making biographical sports film can be tricky as it might not work if not expertly recounted. The Fighter is not the kind of movie which we have not seen earlier but its presence is highly accelerated by great performances put up by Amy Adams, Christian Bale & Mark Wahlberg.
The film centers the life story of former professional boxer Micky Ward also known as Irish to his fans & his half brother Dicky Eklund. The story opens in early ‘90s on the streets of Lowell, Massachusetts where some crew from HBO has been documenting Micky’s older brother’s daily routine. Although in the beginning they revealed that the short film was supposed to be on how influence of cocaine can destroy lives; Dicky still believed it to be on his celebrated comeback as he himself was a former New England Welterweight Champion. Even though Dicky had some initial success for the time being he had been working as Micky’s trainer although he spent most of his time in crack house smoking pots. When the ineffective training & inept assistance from his mother as manager lands Micky into a bad fight; Micky realizes that some alteration was indeed required. Soon Dicky’s association with criminal activities leads him to imprisonment thus leaving Micky to hire thereafter a new manager & a trainer. When a new girl; Charlene enters Micky’s life friction starts to happen with his already dysfunctional family which threatens to wreck his career. How he works against odds to get a respectable return in the boxing circuit is the main content of The Fighter.
Though the story is fairly predictable the performance from Christian Bale as Dicky was purely exemplary; if I need to put this in one word. In order to bring forth the drug addiction Bale lost weight which I assume was not hard as he had earlier mastered that feat in The Machinist. The drama elements were natural & the entire castings did great to make the fractured family look believable. The settings did work out giving the notion of the downtown Lowell. The chances are that this movie might get some nominations for 83rd Academy Awards with Bale as the frontrunner for Best Supporting Actor.
My Rating : 9/10
The X Files have been one of the most celebrated television series ever screened by Fox network. For those who are not familiar with the franchise, these series dealt with various conspiracy theories like the government cover up related to existence of extraterrestrial intelligence & other paranormal phenomena. This series what I can say has defined the era of ’90s & have since then became a part of our lives. The name X Files were given to all the unexplained or rather I should say unsolved cases by FBI. Such cases were investigated by FBI Agent Fox Mulder a believer & Dana Scully a skeptic; these names became the legendary icons of the series ask any ardent viewers & you will know what I meant. It was not far off to expect a movie based on the series. As original as the series itself the movie was really good & it will not only be enjoyed by its fans but also the newcomers. Though some of the aspects were taken from the television series lots of unrequited features from the series were explained in the movie bringing conclusion to our generic understanding.
The movie opens in North Texas, 35,000 B.C. where a deadly secret kept buried in a cave is first encountered by two doomed Neanderthal men. Now in present day somewhere in Texas when a small boy falls into a hole while playing & stumbles to some deadly substance something bad starts to happen. With the X Files closed, agent Mulder & Scully were assigned to different tasks. When a terrorist bomb destroys a federal building in Dallas, Mulder & Scully are drawn into a treacherous conspiracy beyond anything they have faced in their career. When they try to unfold the mystery they soon come across a virus which may have some extraterrestrial origin that could prove a greater threat to the very existence of planetary life. As the duo catches up with the secrecy they soon find themselves against a faceless syndicate who will stop at nothing till they accomplished in keeping their secrets safe. Whether all the incidents are sporadic or do they have any real connection is for you all to find out.
Rob Bowman succeeded in keeping the movie true to its series. David Duchovny as Mulder & Gillian Anderson as Scully were the best choices ever made by Chris Carter (The original creator of the series). Without this duo I cannot imagine how the series would have gone. With one of the most memorable soundtrack this had been one of the best transitions from television to movies ever. Even if you are not familiar with the series try to watch The X Files Movie, who knows this might pit you for liking the series after all.
The Truth Is Out There
My Rating : 8/10
After not so memorable 2003’s adaptation on Hulk, Universal Pictures’ reboot on one of the greatest Marvel Comics character The Hulk proved to be rewarding. For those who are not familiar with this character, Hulk is a raging humanoid giant green monster & an alter ego of Dr. Bruce Banner, a physicist who after a terrible accident involving gamma radiation caused him to undergo transformation. However his uncontrolled alteration was not permanent & rage was the triggering factor for him to change.
During the opening credits the back story of the Hulk is told. It is revealed that Dr. Bruce Banner naively became pawn to a military scheme under the leadership of General Ross who wanted to revive a Second World War era super soldier program through controlled gamma radiation. The experiment however fails & transforms Bruce into a raging monster. During the commotion general’s daughter Betty (Liv Tyler) gets injured who also happens to be Bruce’s love interest. Now on the run from the army Banner takes refuge in a small town Rocinha at Brazil working at a soda bottling factory. Banner tries to find an antidote for his condition & refuses to share this power for military purposes. Situation gets worse when Ross brings in Emil Blonsky a meaner & deadly Royal Marine; subjecting him to the super soldier program hoping to confront Hulk which ultimately fails resulting to an even greater debacle.
Louis Leterrier’s The Incredible Hulk can be professed as a worthy addition to the Marvel Studios. Edward Norton suited perfectly as the emotional Dr. Bruce who was not in control of his impulsive alter ego. Tim Roth as Emil Blonsky proved to be a creditable adversary during the climatic battle against Hulk. The special effects in particular the facial expression & the skin tone of Hulk was much better than the 2003 version. The fast pacing also made the overall experience appealing. Of course this movie cannot be compared with legendary The Dark Knight or even Iron Man nevertheless this movie still serves as a righteous sketch of one of the terrific character from the Marvel universe.
My Rating : 7/10
‘This is my rifle, there are many like it but this is mine. Without my rifle, I am nothing. Without me, my rifle is nothing.’
I am sure you all might be thinking about this idiom taken from Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket, well this time it’s Sam Mendes’ Jarhead. This is based on the chronicle of U.S. Marine Anthony Swofford’s first hand experience in First Gulf War. If you are expecting another gun blazing war saga then you might fairly be disappointed because this movie is actually a drama rather than a war biopic.
The movie starts with Swofford’s a.k.a Swoff joining the Marine Corps & undergoing the dehumanizing process very similar to what we have seen earlier in movies like Full Metal Jacket but by far less charismatic drill instructor; who can ever forget the legendary Gunnery Sergeant Hartman from Kubrick’s masterpiece. After boot camp Swoff is sent to Camp Pendleton where he is drafted to scout sniper course under the command of Staff Sergeant Sykes. Soon after Kuwait’s invasion by Iraq, Swofford’s unit gets dispatched to the Persian Gulf as a part of Operation Desert Shield. Eager to see action which never actually arrives he becomes jaded, frustrated & disillusioned. Eventually after the long stand when Operation Desert Storm begins, his unit never gets the chance to get into real fight. Soon after the end of war Swofford realizes that his entire tenure was actually spent on crossing never ending desert, running into burning oil wells lit by retreating Iraqis & marching through Highway of Death.
Jake Gyllenhaal as Swofford did pretty decent job to bring out the life of a Marine Corpsman yet it would have been better if he had shown some depth to the actual emotional turmoil & frustration Swofford went through during the campaign. Rest of the castings did great to depict the routine of the marines including Jamie Foxx as charming Sergeant Sykes. The overall cinematography made it look more like a concrete documentary rather than a movie.
Jarhead cannot be measured against Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker ; still if you like to experience the First Gulf War from the marines perspective who never got the chance to fight give this a try.
My Rating : 7/10
After Ridley Scott’s grand de tour with Alien, it was natural to expect a creditable sequel. With Aliens, James Cameron not only refined the franchise further but created a masterpiece even better than it’s original. Apart from the horror elements already seen in its prequel, Cameron had taken a different approach & flared the story with heart pulsating action.
Events in Aliens kick starts right after where it ended in Alien. After surviving the horrors from the space freighter Nostromo, Ripley gets drifted into space for fifty seven years until she gets rescued & revived from hypersleep. Things turn murky when her employer Weyland Corporation cancels her space flight license for dubious action taken for destroying Nostromo as they were not able to ascertain the alien life form. Ripley’s testimony is even met with cynicism as no sightings of alien eggs were reported by colonists at LV-426 who were now working to establish terraforming colony. When all of a sudden communication is lost with the colonists, the company requests Ripley to act as an advisor & escort a group of high-tech colonial marines back to LV-426 to establish the situation. Initially Ripley refuses but sooner she realizes that the only way to surmount her fear is to confront it head on.
The movie is irrefutably well scripted but it’s the actors who have fleshed out the story so well. Sigourney Weaver’s stupendous performance as Ellen Ripley earned her an Academy Awards’ nomination for the best actress back in 1986. The character of Ripley is still measured as one of the most significant & memorable persona in the movie history. By the time the end credit starts rolling you will all be depleted. Truly, some times it makes me actually think that James Cameron was born to make this epic tale. Aliens is not only one of the Cameron’s best conception but also one of the most treasured science fiction sagas in history.
My Rating : 10/10
Andrzej Bartkowiak’s Doom is based on one of the most admired video game series of the same name. Having not played this game, this movie had been some sort of first hand experience for me. As you all might know that Hollywood never did well when it came to movies adapted from video games, I had been very skeptic before actually seeing it. Honestly, I never hated this as most people really do but definitely this movie has its share of flaws. How much credible story was in fact taken from the game is quite difficult to say but as a stand alone science fiction horror film, Doom was quite acceptable.
It is revealed that in the year 2026, archaeologists working in Nevada desert discovered a portal to an ancient civilization on Mars. They called this portal the ARK. Scientists were baffled by the technology & wondered why it was really built & what happened to that mysterious civilization. Twenty years later when scientists stationed at Mars working for Union Aerospace Corporation gets attacked by an unknown entity, Dr. Carmack’s last message about a Level 5 security breach brings in special marines known as RRTS ‘Rapid Response Tactical Team’ to access the situation & deal with the threat. What happens to these marines & the doomed people is what this movie all about.
Since this movie was a science fiction action flick it was natural to see less characterization. We don’t get to know much about the RRTS members except a few before they move into the research facility at Mars. The major issue with this movie had been the light effects; too many critical situations were shot in the dark making it difficult to understand what was really happening. In the final stage the forceful inclusion of the third person shooter view was quite superfluous. The weapon gears for the marines were quite imposing but again it was nothing new which we might have not seen earlier in similar genre movies. Though there had been some cool technologies like the Nano wall or the ARK travel itself, lots of features seemed to be left unexplained like the civilization which had been responsible for bioengineering chromosome 24. Karl Urban as Reaper & Dwayne Johnson as Sarge did pretty well considering the script. By the second half it was quite predictable to know which members will make out alive from the facility. Whether this movie can really be said as the best video game to movie transition ever is for you all to decide. Just enjoy this movie as it was meant to be.
My Rating : 6/10
I had always longed to pen down some afterthought on this incredible game. If you are into FPS (First Person Shooter) games then you should certainly check this one out. Years have taken for the shooter games to evolve but very few were there which had provided such a riveting experience. BioShock not only promises adrenaline packed action but also successfully delivers beautiful yet dark story. If any game deserves to be made into a movie, BioShock aptly suits the commendation.
The year is 1960; it begins with our shadowy hero Jack flying across Atlantic. When the passenger plane crashes due to reasons unknown, our protagonist seems to be the only survivor. However a distant lighthouse saves Jack from imminent drowning. While investigating the lighthouse, he comes across a bathysphere which he uses to descend. The oceanic deep soon reveals a beautiful yet mystifying city called Rapture. The idea behind the city seems to be the brainchild of a man named Andrew Ryan. Suspecting Jack to be an agent from the surface world, Ryan activates different defense system to kill him. Before I can go into some details lets just talk about this baffling city. At the very beginning it is revealed that due to various governments’ ideologies lots of restriction were imposed on scientists & artists who wanted to have unrestrained creativity freedom. Their dream was answered by Ryan who withdrew himself from the surface & created the city of Rapture which was not abided by any laws.
Though Andrew Ryan had such a great vision for creating Rapture, the first couple of minutes into the game would make you realize that the ordered society has failed thus replacing it with heightened anarchy. Throughout the game you will come across various service audio diaries which bear the voice recording of various residents of Rapture; helping you to understand the current predicament of the society. At the beginning your playable character would be assisted by a person named Atlas, who was keen to rescue his entrapped wife & child from a nearby submarine. In order to survive Rapture’s hostile environment a very critical component named Plasmids were required. Plasmids were special serums processed from ADAM which introduced stem cells into the body thus allowing genetic modification & mutation giving the person what we call as ‘super powers’. ADAM was actually the raw form of the unstable stem cells harvested from a type of sea slug parasite. These parasites were harvested by embedding them into the lining of host’s stomach. In this game such purposes were met by small girls called ‘little sister’. I would prefer not to get into much details but it was rather disturbing to know the harvesting procedure. Excessive use of plasmids leads to addiction & mental instability this had been the main cause for Rapture’s downfall.
Let’s talk about the overall game. The graphics is simply awesome; since water plays a critical part in the game the texture quality used was mesmerizing. Through out the game the voiceover is excellent thus bringing forth great character depth. It really makes us believe to such city’s existence. City of Rapture is an open world, anything can be possible & all the weapons used can be customized to some great extent with three different types of firepower depending on the need. Since the A.I. used are not dumb so scaling up the difficulty level will surely provide greater challenge to the gamers. This game is not just about simple shooting around but you need to focus on how to use your plasmid powers & other conventional weapons to survive. Machines or robot sentries can be hacked which brings forth great flare into the game as you can use them for your own defense from enemies. The greater challenge is presented by ‘Big Daddy’ who are the guardian of ‘little sister’; mark my word if you are playing this game in some moderate difficulty you will feel the heat while fighting these creatures. This game also provides some moral issues when it comes to either harvest or saving little sisters for ADAM. How you have played the entire game will present you with alternate endings. The story is complex & offers some great twists.
Since I have played the PC version of this title I would strongly recommend getting the same because for its versatile & easy key usage. Powerful rigs will definitely help to enhance the game’s full visual potential which was originally meant for. The playable hours are pretty long depending on what difficulty mode was prior selected. If you are interested to play a game with great story & graphics just get this title. 2K Games’ BioShock is truly an amazing experience.
Note : This title is available in following formats : PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 & Mac OS X
My Rating : 10/10
