Do you have Halo Fever? Seeing blue glowing spots? Locking on with your knife before cutting something? Constantly wondering where you are only carrying two things at any one time? I recommend BioShock for temporary relief!

I heard so much about this “genetically enhanced super shooter”. Alright, we GET IT, it’s “revolutionary”, Ooo. But, I was quickly silenced. A mere one level into renting this game I just wanted to play another. It’s not just the gameplay, it’s EVERYTHING.  I had to purchase it before my rental period was even up.

While the game is quite linear, exploration of the world is encouraged for extra resources. From the opening scene to your first plasmid (genetic powerup), you want to immerse yourself in the world of Rapture…

On the Xbox, the gameplay was very deceiving. I finished the first 6 chapters (of 15) in a matter of 3 days (about 12 gameplay hours) and thought things were moving fast. Despite the beautiful scenery, the wonderful graphics (HDMI at 1080p just plain rules), I had a feeling the game was being rushed. Don’t get me wrong, the storyline is fantastic, you get bits and pieces and find yourself saying “WTF went on down here?” many times.

Then the game kicked into high gear. Just as you were getting used to the “same old enemies” and your weapons getting stronger, you can hack anything… they turn up the difficulty (and challenge-factor) by throwing stronger versions, enemies attack smarter (a lot less “Which way did he go, George?”) and even a skilled gamer has to use his Autohack Tool.

All in all, I’m just put the game for a moment to write this because my eyes needed a rest and my girlfriend (my laptop) is starting to feel neglected.

If you want the real challenge, pick up the Xbox version. The Xbox 360 version has achievements which track your progress, while the PC version does not (Vista does, XP does not). Of the 50 achievements for the game, only half are part of the game (impossible to complete game without doing). This gives the player the choice if they want to explore the world of Rapture. During the course of playing the player is well on the road to completing the rest, s/he just needs to do a little detouring. Many detours to complete achievements do, in fact, help gameplay; storylines are expanded and upgrades of yourself and weapons are available.