Ravenspire

Basics: FPS, Linear, Unreal Engine, Save Checkpoints (Plus you cant actually die other than 1999 mode), 2 Weapon Limit + Vigors (Plasmids), weapon upgrades, choices have no effect on the ending

Its 1912 and you have a simple mission, get the girl and wipe away the debt. One small detail is the girl (Elizabeth) is on the flying city of Columbia which is run by a prophet who can see the future, and he knows you are coming.

As you can see from the screen shots the game looks amazing and the atmosphere is great. The beginning starts much the same as bioshock 1, a light house from which you gain entry into the city. From there the game takes some time to build up the city and a host of NPC and mini games along with the main concepts of the game are introduced.

Thought the game you will hear various bit of music and songs played in the style of the time, however you will find that the songs do not belong to that age

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“Booker, are you afraid of god?” ”No, but I’m afraid of you”

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Story: The story to start with includes christian overtones in particular, forgiveness of sins and rebirth through baptism. You have essentially entered the prophets promised land. The game is driven by the story much like the other bioshock games. However this time around two major changes to help out, our character (Booker Dewitt) is voiced and we spend about 75% of the game with our little helper Elizabeth who provides health, ammo and salts during combat, lock picking outside of it and conversation throughout the game. The ending is fairly good, some of it should have been worked out by the player by finding the voice recordings and paying attention, but other aspect leave the feeling of plot holes (How could Booker or Elizabeth not have realised) I was a little disappointed with the very end of the ending and felt with a few changes to the dialog, in particular the reasoning behind what happens, it could have been just as effective and actually make sense.

As a side note I feel that sometimes time travel and dimension shifting etc really cheap a story as they remove real choice and consequence the problem been from a universe point of view if you don’t get the outcome you want, well just change it. In particular in this game they talk about having infinite possibilities, however the ending seeks to control them all and the reasoning behind why is paper thin (but in the other reality evil is still wining!… so what its an alternative reality some of them are going to be bad by virtue of them been infinite)

Thought the game you are attacked by Elizabeth’s protector/jailer the Song Bird. Now this is no big daddy, its claws are the size of a man and he does not like you.

The FPS: From the FPS point of view we have a full load out of traditional weapons. From your standard pistol, shotgun and machine gun upto a RPG and frag launchers. You will find yourself switching more often that not because of ammunition shortages. RPG elements such as money, upgrades, equipment selection (which provide bonuses for various things) and vending machines all play there part. There are a few “boss fights”. The game includes a element know as sky hooks that fly you around a particular area gunning and jumping and really help the game areas to feel open and that you really are on a floating city.

Technical Point: The PC Version took about 1.5 hours to install from DVD and just when I got started, 5mins in the game crashed display driver. Try number 2 6mins in crashed display driver again. I have an AMD 7800 series and the game needs beta driver to even work, this is the first game to do this to me in ages, they have learnt nothing from Bioshock 2 on the PC. Very disappointing start.

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There is always a man, a lighthouse and a city.

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Overall 8/10 and looking forward to the DLC to come, the game shows us rapture at the end, perhaps we might even go there again.

As for the next Bioshock game well, where to next, my 3 guesses are, a space station, the moon (1970 era) or an underground city (Victorian influence) also the next protagonist will be female.