Review - “When Picasso became bored of painting people, he started representing them as cubes and other abstract forms. The world called him a genius! I've spent my entire surgical career creating the same tired shapes, over and over again: the upturned nose, the cleft chin, the ample bosom. Wouldn't it be wonderful if I could do with a knife what that old Spaniard did with a brush?” Dr. Steinman

After a terrible plain crash, you end up in an astonishing under water city called Rapture which is gradually falling apart. Inhabited by the Splicers, the parody of what the original population of the city was, Rapture is at the same time a place or marvel and doom. Although clearly insane, its inhabitants still have a sparkle of humanity which somehow shines through from their carnival masks, while they wander around desperately looking for ADAM cells.

These cells were originally extracted from sea slugs and then produced on a larger scale via the horrifying procedure of implanting slugs into the stomachs of orphan little girls. The Plasmid Industry was set up to sell to customers a variety of enhancements of their genes which required ADAM cells and which practically granted them super powers by enhancing their body structure. How to get the ADAM then?

You can harvest it from the little girls but by doing so you will kill them. You are granted a choice throughout the game: extract the ADAM or save the girls by performing a sort of exorcism. Your choices will eventually influence the ending of your quest. The little girls aren’t completely defenseless as they might seem though, because there is always a huge creature in armored diving suit called “big daddy” which will defend them.

As an FPS, Bioshock delivers some truly inspired visuals with a very atmospheric setting. The characters you will meet are charismatic and breathe the madness of a collapsing universe. Voice acting is dramatic while you’ll come across some devastating truths which will maybe make you sympathize with this world gone mad. Bioshock is certainly noteworthy in its tale of decadence and psychotic genius. It’s a game worth playing.

Bottom line: Buy it, "would you kindly..." ? 8,5/10