‘BioShock’ is still one of the most atmospheric, desperate shooters around
nme.comHit Reload is a weekly column on everything first-person shooter. This week, Andy Brown revisits the halls of Rapture to explore why BioShock is still one of the genre’s all-time greatest titles. 15 years later, and BioShock‘s underwater city of Rapture is still one of the best settings in gaming.
Terrifying, gorgeous and meticulously detailed, Andrew Ryan’s pretentious libertarian nightmare has as much worldbuilding depth as the cold Atlantic Ocean it’s rotting in.
But all of Rapture’s fantastic worldbuilding would be for nothing, if 2K hadn’t ensured it was a delight to tear through.Moments after a plane crash sends the player careening into the city, you’re handed a wrench and plenty of bloodthirsty foes to sink it into.
In BioShock, that wrench stays your best friend for a long time. By making ammo scarce, 2K keeps a watery boot on your neck – a smattering of bullets makes short work of Rapture’s human Splicers, but can you really afford to pull the trigger?
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