BioShock

I recently picked up a new game for the PC, BioShock. This game has received a lot of hype over the past few months because of its unique setting in an underwater city gone mad, and the amazing art deco look that the designers have worked into the game. It's great to see games designers creating something that isn't simply a succession of grimy corridors, and instead an environment that really feels alive. Some parts look amazing.



The game takes influences from Aldous Huxley's Brave New World and Ayn Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged; both books about mankind's quest for perfection that ends in tradegy. This is a setting that allows a rich diversity of storytelling and character development, and the experience is quite a harrowing one. The desperation of the last remaining sane inhabitants is communicated through a series of audio diaries, and slowly a tale of best intentions mired by the basic flaws of human nature surfaces, quite literally, from the deep.



The artwork featured in the game is well produced, really helping to add to the illusion of immersion in another world. Sound design is excellent too - often an overlooked feature in video games; here it comes alive with a score that adds so much feeling and emotion to the game. You really believe you're actually there.



The designers even released a downloadable artbook which contains the key stages of artwork development that went into the game, including the logo design.

"Everyone should be able to experience the beauty of BioShock, see the concept art and visualize the evolution of building such a revolutionary game."

http://www.2kgames.com/cultofrapture/artbook.html

All in all, an amazing piece of work, and if you can you should pick it up. The game's out on PC and Xbox 360.