More Game Reviews: Bioshock, AND some photography thoughts

I was sitting down yesterday, tickering away on the keyboard writing my brief review of Spider-man: Web of Shadows, and I realized something silly. I have a gamer+ otherstuff blog and I haven't done ANY game reviews yet. So today I decided to poke away another review. I think I'll stick to older stuff, because a current thought on an old thing is still quite useful. I'll be brief.

Bioshock is a special sort of game that transcends it's genre of "First Person Shooter" (FPS) to become something that truly adds to the generation of video game that it came from. With the glut of standard to awful FPS games available on the market today, it's simply amazing that there is still the capability of being original in such a well tread avenue of game.

On a personal note, I'm on the side of the fence that HATES FPS games. To me they are typically all the same and offer no new sense of adventure beyond what the original Wolfenstein 3d gave way back when. MOST of these titles tend to be point and shoot, find the key to get to the next room as things get tougher and tougher until you get to the end. You may have bigger guns, you may have prettier environments, but essentially to me they are ALL THE SAME.

Bioshock's one and only flaw for me was that it was a first person shooter. The game's environment and atmosphere, with a compelling story, as well as very pretty and believable graphics make this game able to lay claim to being one of the best games of the 360/PS3/Wii generation. You start out in a plane that crashes into the Altantic Ocean, and you swim to the entrance to Rapture, an underwater city that it filled with mystery and danger. Throught the adventure, you find the usual guns and keys and the like, but you also find what are called "plasmids". These mutate your body to allow you to shoot fire or lightning from your hands. These powers allow you to not only kill more effectively, but to interact with the environment in ways that allow you to melt large blocks of ice, incinerate gas cans, or electrify water pools and anything in them.

The control is fairly smooth, with only the getting over the left trigger for plasmids and right trigger for guns thing the only real hiccup.

The audio is simply amazing, allowing you to immerse yourself fully into the world that is rapture. The crazed citizens, called Splicers, are perfectly demented sounding and the water pouring in through various cracks in the outer shells of the world simply outstanding. The guns sound like guns from the period (the game is based in the 50's) and the voice acting is superb.

I am trying to be as brief as possible, so I will end it there and say that this is a must try title. Given it's less than $10 at most outlets now (pre-played) then there's no reason any gamer should not go out and give it a shot. There's a lot to do in the depths or Rapture.

$69.95 out of $69.95.

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Away from gaming, I have been playing my hand at panoramic photography recently. Unlike the past photo competition, I'm fully prepared to present some great shots. This one is for streets and roadways. I 've tried to stick to my unique perspective on things and come up with things I would like, and I've come away with a few shots I believe are worthy of the group. I won't show any of the shots I've taken for the roads until they are presented this week with the group, but I'll stick one of my favorite panos in for good measure.

C