Bioshock - Xbox 360

BioShock for Xbox 360

BioShock for Xbox 360 is a first-person shooter in which you discover the underwater city of Rapture after a plane crash. Behind glass corridors and decaying ballrooms lies a society that failed to fulfil its promises. You search for a route through the city, collect supplies and listen to residents telling their side of the story through recordings. What initially seems like an escape increasingly becomes an investigation into the people who shaped Rapture.

Firearms are only part of your toolkit. Plasmids alter your body and grant powers that let you use electricity or fire, for example. You can hack security, turn the environment against attackers and save different ammunition types for a difficult opponent. Taking a look around a room before rushing in therefore pays off. Your available health, energy and supplies determine which approach you can sustain when several enemies come at you together.

The armoured Big Daddies and their Little Sisters make the city distinctive. Decisions about those girls reach beyond the spoils of a fight. BioShock alternates these moments with searching, listening and unexpected attacks in confined spaces. You play the campaign alone. This is the original Xbox 360 game from 2007, not the later remaster. The product title identifies the edition you receive; extra downloadable content or other games are not automatically included.

Region and language

Our Xbox 360 games are PAL editions and come with a Dutch or English box, unless stated otherwise. By default, you receive the version for the European market. We note it in the product details if the region is different or the box is in another language. In almost all cases, the game is playable at least in English, and often in the other five common European languages too.

Manual

BioShock for Xbox 360 includes the manual unless the product title states otherwise. If the booklet is missing, the title says “No Manual”. This lets you see before ordering whether the game comes with a manual.

The manuals included with our games usually contain at least English and often around six European languages. The exact languages vary by edition, so Dutch is not always included. The booklet explains the controls and the main rules. You can use it to check how to control the game, which actions are available and how its different features work.

The history of BioShock

Irrational Games developed BioShock, which 2K released for Xbox 360 and PC in 2007. The studio had previously worked on System Shock 2 and brought its interest in a coherent world full of usable systems to Rapture. In a 2007 interview, lead designer Paul Hellquist explained that an early prototype had a very different setting. After working on SWAT 4, the team resumed the project. The eventual underwater city became a place where story, visual design and choices during combat influence one another.

The story is told in several ways. Conversations guide you onwards, but individual audio recordings and the arrangement of rooms reveal what residents experienced earlier. You receive information while walking around and searching for yourself. That gives the city meaning beyond the main conversations. The choice between weapons, bodily modifications and hacked security fits this approach: you discover Rapture's history while learning to use the systems left behind.

The original Xbox 360 release stands at the beginning of the BioShock series. BioShock 2 later returned to Rapture with a Big Daddy as protagonist, while BioShock Infinite introduced another city and another main character. The later remaster must also be distinguished from this disc. This copy is based on the original presentation and campaign from 2007. Its historical significance lies in linking a shooter with environmental storytelling and choices about the people you meet in that world.

Similar games for Xbox 360

BioShock 2 takes you through Rapture again on Xbox 360, now as the Big Daddy Subject Delta. There you can use weapons and Plasmids simultaneously, and protecting Little Sisters becomes more prominent. The first BioShock focuses more on discovering the city for the first time. Both let you prepare encounters, but your position within the same world changes noticeably.

BioShock Infinite moves the action on Xbox 360 to Columbia, a city above the clouds. Booker DeWitt travels with Elizabeth and uses supernatural powers alongside firearms. The family resemblance lies in the carefully constructed world and its hidden conflicts. Rapture more often keeps you in enclosed corridors; Infinite gives combat more verticality and movement through Sky-Lines.

Dishonored likewise combines a world with its own political order, unusual powers and several ways of approaching an encounter on Xbox 360. Corvo can sneak past enemies and approach targets in different ways. BioShock puts greater emphasis on shooting and exploring connected city districts. In Dishonored, remaining unseen is much more explicitly a complete play style.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution uses bodily upgrades, hacking and a conspiracy on Xbox 360 to support choices between different routes. Adam Jensen can also use conversation to bypass obstacles. BioShock connects its upgrades mainly to combat and survival in Rapture. Both reward looking around, but Deus Ex offers more social solutions and a larger role for stealth.

Batman: Arkham Asylum also gives you an enclosed location on Xbox 360 whose history you learn through exploration. New tools open routes and you study enemies before attacking. Batman uses stealth takedowns, detective work and close combat. BioShock lets you experiment with weapons and powers from a first-person perspective, with supplies remaining a constant consideration.