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BioShock's graphics are an absolute marvel to behold. The developers have harnessed to full power of the Unreal 3 engine to rival the mighty Gears of War in the graphics department. Everything from the enormous undersea buildings to the wrappers on the chocolate bars you find and everything in between are rendered in mind-boggling detail. Since Rapture is an underwater city, it was very important that the developers got the water effects right, and boy, did they ever. Water convincingly flows down stairs, gathers in puddles, reacts to the environment, and even sprays through cracks in the walls that effectively suggest the incredible pressure on the ocean floor. All the characters in the game are both rendered and animated beautifully. One particularly disturbing effect that I noticed was when you set a character on fire, once the flames go out, they are left with a mess of charred skin and unrecognizable features. The game always keeps a very steady frame rate on the 360 version, although you'll need a pretty beefy PC to run this game well. In the graphical hierarchy, the Direct X 9 version looks the weakest, the 360 version is the middle, and the Direct X 10 version looks the spiffiest thanks to its ability to render higher-than-high-definition resolutions. Make no mistake though; any way you play, you'll be playing one gorgeous game.

Complimenting the graphics are phenomenal physics thanks to the Havok engine. Nearly everything reacts exactly how you would expect it to when colliding with other objects, walked into, or shot. The environment reacts as well. If fire gets near a puddle of oil, then the whole puddle will go up in flames, which dance around very convincingly. The physics and graphics combine together to build a city that feels very immersive and almost alive.

Beyond the technical aspects is an art design that is second to none. Rapture is a world that is trapped in time, and the design of the period is very apparent throughout the game. Everything from the fonts on the neon signs, to the recognizable classic 40's tunes shine through. The art design creates a world that is at once beautiful and terrifying at the same time, a very difficult combination to achieve.

What really helps make this game terrifying is the audio. Featuring outstanding full 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound, every creak, footstep, and moan from water pressure shines through in crystal clarity. The music ranges from upbeat 40's tunes such as "Beyond the Sea" to adrenaline pumping orchestral scores that perfectly suit the moments in which they are utilized. The voice acting is also outstanding, particularly those from Andrew Ryan and Atlas, your friendly vocal guide through Rapture.

So after nearly 3,000 words of raving about how amazing this game is, are there any flaws? Sure, but they're small and inconsequential at worst. There's a small glitch that occurs every few hours in which your view randomly shoots off in a random direction, leaving you looking at the ceiling or the floor. Also, I wish the shotgun did more damage than it actually does. It just feels weird to unload a full load of buckshot into a splicer's face at close range and have them walk it off. The biggest flaw I can come up with is how the game handles your death. You will come across "vita-chambers" that are essentially save points. When you croak, you will simply warp to the nearest vita-chamber and continue on. All your enemies will have the same amount of health that they had when you died, which makes the game a little on the easy side. Also, since there are no real consequences to dying, it can occasionally suck the tension out of a certain situation since there is no threat of death. At the same time, I understand that having the vita-chambers in the game encourages you to live with the consequences of the decisions you've made instead of just loading up your old save and taking a new approach. These flaws are barely flaws at all, and almost never adversely affect the game experience one bit. Don't let them dissuade you; I merely put them into the review for completion rather than complaint's sake.

Make no mistake, BioShock is a masterpiece, as pure a gaming experience as exists today. It will take something beyond outstanding and phenomenal to take this game's rightful place as game of the year. My earlier comparisons to film classics such as Casablanca were not meant as a casual comparison and were not made lightly. I make those comparisons while still paying every compliment possible to those artful and important moments that those classic films represent within our culture. The comparison still stands; what Casablanca was to movies, BioShock is to gaming. There's nothing else to say except buy it now, and then buy another copy for a friend.

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