Reviews

Bioshock: The Collection - Xbox One Review

Posted on: 2016-09-28

There is one aspect that you can’t argue about in these games and that is atmosphere with the environments, they can range from dark and ominous to bright and vibrant it’s a great contrast from game to game.

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It has been nearly 10 years since the original Bioshock graced its presence on the PC and Xbox 360 and it left a huge impact on the gaming industry with a complex and intriguing plot with a wonderful blend of first person shooting and RPG elements. 2K games are celebrating this occasion by releasing all three games in one tight little package with a higher resolution, a smooth framerate of 60 frames per second and all the downloadable content for all three games.

The Bioshock games have dark and complex narratives which delve into subject matters such as mind control and time travel, the only game in this collection that doesn’t have a great narrative is Bioshock 2 as it was developed by a different studio.

 

The story of the first Bioshock takes place in the late 50’s in an underwater city called Rapture. The city was founded and built by Andrew Ryan who had an idea that everyone should be able to work for the sweat of their brow and not be bound by government or ideologies. However tensions grow when a product that they invented called Plasmids started to take over and people began to get addicted to it and started become disfigured where they had altered their DNA too much where they then become an entity known as Splicers. People start to hunt children known as little sisters as they hold the genetic currency for Plasmids called Adam but it’s not an easy task as they are guarded by a Big Daddy a massive lump of metal with a drill for a hand that will rip anyone to shreds who get in the way.

Bioshock 2’s story is really simple and uninspired and the reason why I say this is because it takes place in Rapture again, it doesn’t mean the game itself is bad as you get to be a Big Daddy in this game which is a lot of fun but the repeated scenery is a tad boring. The story is basic as all it consists of is that you are a Big Daddy your little sister was stolen and you must get her back and that’s it.

 

Bioshock Infinite is where things get complicated when they delve into time travel and multiple dimensions and it gets very confusing but it’s still a great story. It takes place not underwater this time but in the sky instead in the flying city of Columbia and you have one simple task of finding a girl named Elizabeth and the main character Booker Dewitt’s debt will be wiped. Columbia is a bright and sunny setting compared to Rapture but it is still an oppressive place to live in with elements of racism and class prejudice.

 

Gameplay is a mix of first person shooting and RPG elements where you have the standard arsenal of pistol, shotgun and machine guns but you have powers that can be used to set enemies on fire to throwing a swarm of bees at them which never stops being funny. Each Plasmid or Vigor if you are playing infinite can be upgraded to perform different traits or have a better damage output because enemies do get tougher in the later stages of each game so explore every nook and cranny for money and upgrades.

The first Bioshock’s gameplay hasn’t aged well and it feels very clunky when you’re fighting more than one enemy because you can only use a gun or plasmid at one time and it is annoying switching between two in the heat of battle because I tend to panic. Bioshock 2 and Infinite got it right as you could duel wield guns and Plasmids and the combat overall is a smoother experience compared to the original.

 

The presentation is superb in all of the games and honestly the graphical jump from the 360 and the Xbox One is not that dramatic as I compared all of them, yes the games do like a tad more crisp and it’s nice they run at 60 frames per second rather than 30 but it’s not a huge leap. There is one aspect that you can’t argue about in these games and that is atmosphere with the environments, they can range from dark and ominous to bright and vibrant it’s a great contrast from game to game.

The only problem I had with this collection was the audio mixing in the first game because the audio logs were too quiet and I couldn’t hear them because the gameplay audio was too loud over shadowing it. Dialogue from enemies and main characters were either too quiet or too loud and this wasn’t anything to do with distance they could be right in front of me and I could not understand a word they said. This only seems to be a problem in the first game and not Bioshock 2 and Infinite.

 

The question is should you pick up this collection if you have played them before or if you still own them? The answer is no there is nothing new here and the graphical enhancements are subtle that you will not notice them. This is a great collection if you have never played any of the Bioshock games as it comes with all the downloadable content, but as a player who is already familiar with it there is no point.

4/5

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