BioShock: The Collection

BioShock

We take on the role of Jack, who finds himself within a beautiful underwater city known as Rapture after a plane crash. Upon arriving Jack see’s that Rapture is falling apart and everyone has gone mad, turning into “Splicers”. With the help of a man named Atlas, you must take down the sinister tyrant of Rapture known as Andrew Ryan and save the day. But guns aren’t the only way to deal with the Splicers and soon enough you start using substances known as plasmids in order to survive. These create spectacular powers such as creating fire, electricity or swarms of bees which help take down even the biggest of foes.

I must say that, even after nine years, Rapture is still an amazing world to explore and cause mayhem within. There is a great use of exploration, lateral elements and combat in the gameplay which become more dynamic with the use of plasmids. You are able to hack various items such as security cameras, turrets and vending machines which in return reward you with fire power or decent loot. There is a large assortment of plasmids and tonics to choose from making you into a superhuman killing machine and the variation of choice to tackle different obstacles is decent overall.

But in all honesty there really are only a handful of plasmids and tonics that feel truly useful in a way of tactics and even the choices at hand for interactions with the game world and your enemies doesn’t feel so grand or complex. You may find yourself sticking to using the same couple of plasmids, such as fire and electricity as they have other benefits in the world. Whereas the security, or ones that alter behaviours of your enemies, feel a little redundant as you can hack any turret to help you out.

BioShock has some great horror elements and some interesting story dynamics that really engross you through your progression. Save for the plot twist halfway through the game, which is mixed as one part is very clever, but for the other half which reveals the true villain it's underwhelming. The introduction of Fontanne as the main antagonist is dire and he’s nothing more than a stupid goon with no personality or point.

Another major problem is that BioShock does become very repetitive after a while as the formula for most levels are the same. You enter a level, see the exit in front of you, the exit closes and you have to kill a psychopath to get the key. Rinse and repeat. By the third act you can see the game just runs out of steam as it does nothing new or exciting and just throws a lame boss to finish things up on. Overall, BioShock is a little dated and very over-hyped in my opinion but a good FPS that was needed at the time.

4/5

BioShock 2

Returning to Rapture with more depth and complexity this time round as you take on the role of a Big Daddy with a heart and a mission. We finally see a world that had an economy and it collapsed. We see a greater range of people’s lives affected and the true grasp of power Andrew Ryan had on the people and how he lost it. The story has more of an emotional attachment to the player as you’re more than just some random guy with no name that we don’t really care about.

Playing as the Big Daddy invites dynamic elements that makes the game feel more interesting and holds off the repetitive nature the original had. You can now take Little Sisters to harvest Adam from certain corpses and reap the greater rewards. Thankfully, the third act is stronger and the game’s pacing feels more energetic with interesting level designs, new enemies and set pieces that include you taking the role of a Little Sister. Also, the endings are more meaningful and satisfying depending on your choices.

Combat is much more energetic and complex as the game allows you to use guns and plasmids at the same time. With some new weapons such as the Rivet Gun you can combine them with the use of plasmids more effectively. Your tactics will grow and you don’t have to annoyingly switch in-between either. This is more a combat focused game rather than an RPG as elements like hacking are simplified for the better. True, you can still hack everything but now it’s all live during gameplay and doesn’t feel massively drawn out.
BioShock 2 actually rights a lot of wrongs from the previous game and, to me, is the best of the series.

5/5

BioShock: Infinite

What BioShock: Infinite does well is introduce yet another amazing game world to explore. It’s stunningly beautiful and hugely immersive as the floating city of Columbia is rich with history, mystery and engages you on an emotional level for so many reasons. The depth of the story is fantastic, with a range of great characters such as Booker Dewitt, Elizabeth and Comstock and with one of gaming’s best twists to end things on a high and devastating note.

The gameplay is solid with strong FPS mechanics including the Sky Hook which is pretty energetic and some new powers (which are now Vigors) which look amazing with the updated graphics. However, the majority of the gameplay is heavily focused on shooting and in better terms it’s extremely generic. The dynamic elements such as Elizabeth’s tearing power just feel a little one dimensional without much complexity to it. It feels aimless at most times and requires little thought or tactics to survive. It didn’t help that there are a number of segments which just dragged on and where dull. Such as the prolonged Ghost boss fight and the end set piece where you must defend the ship’s generators with the use of Song Bird. However, Song Bird requires a cooldown timer and the relentless, braindead enemies just keep coming.

There’s the tactical aspect of combat where you can shoot and use your powers at the same time, thankfully, but the range of weapons are pretty uninspiring and the powers are again just mostly rehashed from the original game. So the pacing suffers as there are very little lateral elements to break up the shooting. This is best played in short bursts as it can become majorly stale to play for more than an hour or so. But one of the best aspects here is Elizabeth who helps out most times and provides to be a decent AI character.

But the most compelling aspect of BioShock: Infinite is the Burial at Sea DLC which is included. This two part story shows a return to Rapture with Booker and Elizabeth who must find a long lost daughter. It’s very slow at first but actually delivers some good action and set pieces even if it doesn’t introduce new elements as such. But it brings the whole story of BioShock full circle and offers some impressive storytelling techniques that many games don’t have.

3/5

Overall, The BioShock Collection is a great buy for those who’ve not played any of the games and the revamping of BioShock and BioShock 2 with additional features in place is well worth the price tag. The worlds here are amazing; the gameplay is solid and there is a variation of gameplay styles between the games to keep everyone happy. That said, all three games show us that a clever FPS is not limited to the PC.

So, “Would you Kindly” go and buy BioShock: The Collection? I recommend it.

+ BioShock 2 is an unrated classic with great FPS action
+ BioShock has great horror and exploration elements
+ BioShock Infinite’s great story and solid mechanics
+ Awesome additional content

- BioShock’s poor third act
- Having to unlock the Director’s commentary
- BioShock Infinite’s repetitive nature

An Xbox One Copy of BioShock: The Collection was provided by 2K Games for the purpose of this review