Good — but grim and gory

Bioshock brings new intelligence, depth, and care to first-person shooters — so much so that the actual shooting quickly gets tedious. Its creators have crafted an astonishingly vivid and detailed world in Rapture, a decaying underwater city whose gloom and despair are balanced by gorgeous art-deco flourishes and colorful neon. The game also has an unusual amount of pathos, and a delightfully savage critique of Ayn Rand’s Objectivist philosophies, both of which are rare in its genre. But beware: When it’s not trying to make you think or elicit dry laughs, it’s straight-up trying to scare the pants off you. This game is mean, and it doesn’t play fair, to the point where some levels can get viscerally unpleasant. (Despite its name, you will not have a fun time in Fort Frolic. Those “statues”… brrrrrrr.) Its spookier sequences are undeniably effective, even beautiful. But playing through them often feels more harrowing than fun. You don’t _want_ to look around that next corner, because something horrible will inevitably spring out at you when you least expect it. And the levels offer little if any break from BioShocks relentless gloom, misery, and decay. (Seriously, there are so many, many corpses in this game. Literally wall-to-wall corpses.) Bioshock is a cut far, far above the average shooter, and definitely earns its plaudits as one of the best games ever. It just isn’t always much fun. Go into it with a strong stomach and steely nerves, or stick with something a bit more lighthearted.

Nato about BioShock