BioShock (PS3)

BioShock is inbound on the PS3, but is it still relevant?

I wish I was able to erase my memory and play a video game as if it was the first time. I wish I could experience all the plot twists, the jump out of your seat shocks and jaw-dropping graphical bombshells once again without knowing that they are coming. This is the feeling I experience as I boot up the PS3 version of 2K Boston, 2K Australia, 2K Marin and Digital Extremes' port of the Xbox 360 and PC classic BioShock.

I've been there, done that, got the T-shirt of course. But, despite what some might think, we here at VideoGamer.com realise that not everyone has an Xbox 360, or even a PC. We realise that there's a hefty proportion of our dear readers who own a PS3 and looked on last year with no little amount of jealousy as Xbox owners enjoyed one of the greatest shooters ever made. Well, this is for you. Your time has finally come.

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And so, since we know that not everyone knows about BioShock, here's a catch-up. Set in 1960, the game begins with what we still reckon is one of the best video game openings ever. A plane crashes over a pitch black Atlantic ocean with you on it. Somehow you survive, making your way into a mysterious tower that protrudes from the sea. Inside the lights flash on and you discover a bathysphere, which takes you deep down towards the ocean floor. A monologue from one Andrew Ryan kicks in, the genius behind what you're about to see, the underwater dystopian Art Deco-inspired city of Rapture. It's stunning stuff, and will stick with you for many years to come.

2K Boston's greatest achievement with Rapture was in telling an adult, intelligent and entrancing story without the need for cut scenes. Indeed there's only one cut scene of note in the entire game. The story is instead unveiled through character logs and the city itself. During the first hour of play you'll find yourself in pursuit of a plastic surgeon gone mad, an enemy who grows more fearsome by the minute as you listen to his discarded personal logs and those of his 'patients', and look in horror at the blood-splattered walls of the Medical Pavilion. The boss fight itself is almost irrelevant when you eventually track him down - the fun comes from the increasingly tense build up.

BioShock's story is one of the best we've ever experienced in a video game

BioShock's amazing story is almost bettered by its ingenious combat system, which centres around DNA re-writing plasmids and buff-based gene tonics. With plasmids you're able to shock enemy Splicers - the now mad citizens of Rapture - burn them, lift them up into the air with telekinesis and even let loose a swarm of bees. Combining the plasmid attacks with the environment - shocking multiple Splicers by electrocuting water, for example, is tremendous fun, and beats the hell out of the in comparison weak traditional first-person weapons shooting.

So, with the catch-up complete, it's now time to discuss what's new with the PS3 version. The first thing to point out here is that the story has been left well alone, and we're glad. We hate it when developers fill in plot holes with campaign chapters we should have had in the first place. The second is that, to our eyes, we can't notice any difference in graphical quality. For the record, we're playing preview code of the game on a 'test' PS3. Apart from some frame rate drops when there's a crowd of angry Splicers on screen at once, it's as you were. And, given that there's still some time left for optimisation, we're hopeful these frame rate drops will be ironed out before release.

That's not to say BioShock on PS3 is a straight port. The four-studio strong development team has introduced some subtle differences fans of the 360 and PC versions are sure to notice. There's a mandatory 10 minute or so install, which we're not nearly as bothered about as the rest of the internet. The loading screens have changed. You're now able to cycle through a number of helpful hint screens with R1. All the 360 Achievements make an appearance, but they're also supplemented by some exclusive Trophies, including A Man Chooses - rewarded for completing the game on the new, ultra hard Survivor difficult - and, hardest of all, I Choose the Impossible - rewarded for doing A Man Chooses except this time without using a Vita-Chamber. Good luck with that.

On top of that, everything made available through patches and DLC for the Xbox 360 and PC versions has been included, including the ability to turn the Horizontal POV Lock on (you can, if you wish, revert it to the original view) and the extra plasmids. So, in a sense, you might consider BioShock PS3 to be the definitive version of the game.

The R2 button is used for firing your weapon, which we don't like. You can't change it either.

It's not all juiced up Adam and wide-eyed genetic engineering though. The R2 button handles weapons fire, which we hate. The worst thing? There's no option to change the controls around to put firing on R1, the best button the Sixaxis pad has for that kind of thing. Apart from that though, we can't see any reason why the PS3 version of BioShock won't get the same score as the 360 and PC versions when it comes out - that is, a whopping 10/10. Even a year after its release, BioShock is still one the best games you can play on your 'next-gen' console.

That's not the entire story, however. There's the little matter of the PS3 exclusive DLC, which we've actually seen twice this year, both at E3 and Games Convention. Called Challenge Rooms, these one-off puzzles are set outside the original story but within the confines of Rapture itself. The only Challenge Room revealed so far is Shocking Turn of Events, which sees a Little Sister, one of the iconic characters of the BioShock universe, stuck at the top of a malfunctioning Ferris wheel. The control panel is activated by electricity - only problem is, there are no Electrobolt plasmids anywhere in the level, so you have to think about how you'll get the Little Sister down to safety. We've been shown a few of the ways you'll be able to achieve this goal. One, by firing it with an electro bolt obtained from a hidden safe, the other by equipping the Static Discharge combat tonic, which triggers an electric pulse whenever you are hit by a melee attack. Luckily enough, Splicers are on hand to do just that.

We don't know enough about the Challenge Rooms to tell you whether they make it worth buying the PS3 version if you've already forked out for the 360 or PC versions. We'll have to wait till closer to release to make that particular judgement. But what we do know now is that the PS3 version is shaping up to be at least as good as the 360 version, and that's definitely a good thing. PS3 owners might be late to the BioShock party, but it's a party that's still banging loud and clear.

BioShock is due out for PS3 on October 24.