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Genre: First-person shooter
Format: DVD
Developer: 2K Boston/2K Australia
Mac Publisher: Feral Interactive
Mac Port: Robosoft Technologies
System Requirements: 1.8GHz Intel Macintosh, Mac OS X v10.5.8, 1.5GB RAM, 128MB VRAM, 8GB hard drive, DVD player, mouse
Review Computer: 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo aluminum MacBook, 2GB DDR3 memory, NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics
Network Feature: No
Processor Compatibility: Intel only
Price: $49.95
ESRB Rating: M (blood and gore, drug reference, intense violence, sexual themes, strong language)
Availability: Out now
Demo: 2GB Torrent

You want to beware a fellow who’s motto is “No gods or kings. Only man.” Chances are that such a man would fill those voids himself if given the chance.

That’s pretty much what you’re up against in Bioshock, Feral’s latest Mac release. The game originally came out for the PC and Xbox 360 in 2007, but you wouldn’t guess this game’s age by looking at it. Bioshock is one of the prettiest, most enjoyable, violent and disturbing games I’ve ever played on the Macintosh. I can safely say I haven’t been this engrossed in a first-person shooter since Deus Ex.

The reasons for this are varied, so I’ll get right into them. First, there’s the story. I won’t reveal too much, as it’s better to discover what’s going on as you progress. I will say that it starts with a plane crash, of which you’re apparently the only survivor. You manage to swim to a nearby island, which contains a submarine of sorts that you take under the ocean to the underwater city of Rapture. This city isn’t in a bubble, the buildings are right there in the water, lights and all. It’s a preposterous idea (No algae? No rust? No leaks?), but it’s gorgeous. I’m a sucker for art deco design, and this game doesn’t disappoint in either its interior levels or exterior shots, which call to mind Dark City, Metropolis and Tim Burton’s Batman, only with a more vivid color palette across the board.

Once you’re down in the, you quickly realize something is wrong. Buildings are in shambles, loudspeakers blare incessantly, bodies are strewn about…and people (things?) are trying to kill you. How did Rapture get to this point? No time to worry about that, as you’re instantly thrown into a fight for your life, aided by a disembodied voice over a radio. This fellow calls himself Atlas, and he wants you to help him find his family. In exchange, he’ll guide through the city and to freedom. Do you trust him? You have no choice, but if there’s one thing I’ve learned about video games, it’s that voices from beyond are never to be trusted.

Immediately, the violence takes over. Your first weapon, after all, is a monkey wrench. This game is brutal. Your enemies are mostly human, but they’re deranged, whacked out on ADAM; a deep sea parasite that produces new stem cells in its host. Originally harvested for medicinal and cosmetic purposes, such things are legal in a society with “no gods or kings,” after all, and…well, you’ll see how that turns out.

ADAM doesn’t just provide your enemies, however, it also provides plasmids, which are genetic modifications you can use as weapons to supplement your more traditional guns and such. You flip between them with the right mouse button, and most of the enemies are more effectively dispatched by a combination between the two. It’s a bit confusing to manage at first—I often switched weapons when I meant to attack—but it becomes second nature before too long. Throughout the game, you’ll be presented with new plasmids to use, increasing your attack power. You’ll also be able to equip gene tonics, which are used for more passive abilities: resist damage, increase intellect, boost reflexes, etc.

Bioshock is a first-person shooter, but the gameplay is not relegated to running and shooting. There are various machines scattered about—gene banks, ammo banditos, vending machines—that can be hacked for lower prices or items that aren’t for sale otherwise. Hacking them involves playing a quick game of Pipe Mania, more or less, in which you must redirect the circuit flow to a certain point by rearranging tube tiles. Finish the puzzles, and you’re rewarded. Fail, and you’re duly punished. You’re warned of the difficulty before the hack, so you’ll know ahead of time if it’s worth the risk.

This does a good job of breaking up the flow of the game, but it doesn’t interfere. In fact, nothing does. Not even saving. You can save your game at any point, but you can also save a checkpoint by simply running past a Vita Chamber. Die, and you start over from there, not from your last save. It’s a wonderful gameplay element that will prevent you from having to replay large levels if you haven’t been saving.

I’ve spoken of the game’s fantastic visual design and its brutality, but not yet of its creepiness. Bioshock can freak you out at points. Consider the Little Sisters, creepy little girls with syringes, usually found hovering over the bodies of the dead or dying. They’re always accompanied by Big Daddies, robot behemoths with a drill for one hand a fish as large as their head for the other. What are these girls for? What are they doing? They seem as violent and crazy as everyone else, but they’re just little girls, right? How you deal with the Little Sisters will impact your game, but trust me…you will have to deal with them.

You’ll also have to deal with Splicers. Sure, they want to kill you, but because they have vague recollections of their previous life, you’ll find them arguing with people who aren’t there, singing lullabies to guns in a baby carriage (I think it was a gun…maybe it was a plasmid), etc. All the while, you’ll stumble across random diaries of the citizens and the video rantings of Andrew Ryan, the founder of Rapture and owner of Ryan Industries. He’s your ultimate target, right? I mean, he has to be the bad guy. Look at what he’s done to this city, after all, and Atlas sure isn’t fond of him. You can trust Atlas, right? Right?

Another item that bears mentioning is the game’s performance. Macs all the way down to a Mac mini will run the game, provided you’ve got at least a GeForce 9400M graphics card and Mac OS X v10.5.8. Robosoft did their usual fantastic job with this port, but I found it frustrating on my 13” MacBook. There were some frame rate issues, and I had to dumb the visuals down to maintain playable levels, but that’s not even the issue. Bioshock has such a unique visual style and such gorgeous graphics that it begs to be played on a larger screen. You really need to see this on an iMac or Apple Cinema Display.

And finally, people (PC users, mainly) will suggest that playing this game is pointless since it was first released in 2007. This is idiotic. Should you not watch Blade Runner because its nearly 30 years old and its special effects are dated? Should you not read Neuromancer because its ideas have been copied many times since its release in 1984? Age doesn’t render most games obsolete, especially when that game isn’t even three years old.

Bioshock isn’t a game I want to just play, it’s a game I want to talk about. It raises questions and themes that bear discussion, while leaving most everything open to your interpretation. Is there a right and wrong in Rapture? Likely, but the developers aren’t going to tell you what it is. You’ll have to work that out on your own. One thing’s for certain, though; if a society without gods and kings is destined to end up like Rapture, then I don’t want to be a man living there, no matter how gorgeous the architecture.