BioShock – Consumer Guide

According to ESRB, this game contains: Blood and Gore, Drug Reference, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, Strong Language

Parents should keep the wee ones away from this one. It's graphic and very intense, with themes that are more suited toward adults. The combat is frequent and bloody, and the game carries with it a philosophical nuance that may be too complex and mature for young children.

PC Gamers might want to pass and get the 360 version if possible, or purchase the game online from either Steam or Direct2Drive. There have been many problems with activation issues with the retail version of the game, relating to the SecuROM copy protection. Also note that there have been widespread reports of stability issues with the PC version of the game. I experienced crashes to desktop and system hangs on a regular basis, and in some cases was able to duplicate the crashes at the same point in the game. If you have troubles, download nVidia's beta 163.44 drivers, which contain optimizations for Bioshock and update DirectX.

Fans of Deus Ex and System Shock can't go wrong here. It's right in the same alley and features many identical gameplay elements. The upgrade system reminded me a great deal of the "Biomods" in Deus Ex: Invisible War and indeed they function very similarly. It's more of a straight-on shooter than Deus Ex—few opportunities are given to play the game without direct conflict—but the fundamental ideas are very similar.

Deaf and Hard of Hearing gamers needn't miss out on anything essential, as there are subtitles. The game does rely fairly heavily on audio cues, however, such as approaching enemies shouting, or unaware enemies rambling on incoherently.