The long awaited Bioshock has finally got itself a place on the marketplace in the form of an absolutely stunning demo. For anyone on the borderline as to whether to get it, the demo should settle your restless mind.

The game starts off with our main character in a plane, which shortly crashes into the sea. After some time you'll reach the surface, gasping for air and get a nice look at the game's water effects. The reflections look fantastic and the fire looks great too. The 2 combined make for a great insight into the visuals in the game. We progress through the water while part of the plane explodes with a subtle audio clue. Taking a quick look to the right grants you a look at the entrance to Rapture. The moonlit sky behind is fantastically creepy and sets the atmosphere before you even step into it. The entrance has clearly been flooded, as you walk up the stairs there are broken lights which flicker, lighting up the steps in front of you magnificently. It should be noted here that the game uses normal maps heavily, but realistically.

At the top of the steps you find a door ajar. Except for a thin strip of light from a light outside it is pitch black. As you make your way inside you have no idea what to expect, and as you perhaps turn around to walk out, the door closes and lights flicker on throughout the room, lighting up Rapture's founder. The texture work is incredible, it's very clear that countless hours have been spent on designing every last sign. Music greets you as you progress and sets up the idea that you're back in the 60's. Taking a walk downstairs, you'll find where the music is emanating from; a bizarre looking capsule. It's worth taking your time to look about before doing anything. If you look up, the detail in the ceiling is amazing. Stepping inside the capsule, there is a lever to pull, and when pulled it'll start your journey to the world of Rapture. The volumetric light in here is stunning. The light in the roof of the capsule causes the dust particles to appear animated.

After pulling the lever, the door closes and you move slowly down into the sea, and into the world of Rapture. But before you get there, you're shown a little scene on a projector, giving you an insight into what the world of Rapture really is. The music catches the environment perfectly, and as the capsule moves through Rapture you see countless signs. There has been no detail too small for the 2K Boston team. The capsule (known as the Bathysphere) makes its way up through the level and all you can see outside is a Splicer ready to attack an innocent man; right in front of your door. The darkness makes this all very very spooky, and the audio is brilliant. The splicer jumps on your roof as it sees you, whacking it back and forth like a toy. The service radio on your left lets you talk to Atlas, who helps you throughout this demo in a quest to find his children; you are his only hope.


This area is clearly a departure lounge for the Bathysphere. Luggage lines the walkways along with picket signs from what must have been a protest. "Ryan does not own us!" "Rapture is DEAD" "We're not your property". Looking out the window is a view of Rapture with its interconnecting walkways. The detail outside, once again, is phenomenal with signs adorning each building. Fish slowly swim by in schools and bubbles rise from the ground below. The audio really helps to put you in your characters feet. Waking up the seldom lit stairs is quite scary, as you reach the top an explosion goes off to your right, with a display of sparks and signs falling over. The security camera ahead shows the outline of a splicer. Fortunately for us, Atlas calls upon a security bot to take it down for us, making the way safe for us. If you look up at the ceiling here you can see the flickering lights of a departure board for the Bathysphere. Everything is "cancelled". The camera casts incredible shadows off all the scenery in front of the passageway we need to get through. But it's blocked up, we need something to break it down. Luckily, a wrench sits right in front of the door for us to grab and smash through the wall with.

You're not given a nice welcome though. A sofa on fire rolls down the stairs accompanied with manic voices. You need to jump to avoid being hit by it. At the top of the stairs (which are covered in signs) you'll meet the splicer that just did this, and your wrench makes a great tool for clobbering him around the head. The lighting here is great, with volumetric rays shining down the stairs illuminating the dust particles. Upon entering the area above, you'll see a sign saying "Entrance to Rapture", but the door is jammed shut. Sparks pour out from a nearby control panel and bounce delicately off the floor. Trash cans and chairs litter the floor with a few goodies to pick up. Bags of crisps restore your health. A sign to the left advertises "Plasmids" which change your DNA allowing you to shoot fire from your fingertips, become stronger as well as many other effects not shown in the demo. A little girl's hand lights up regularly brightening up the advert which also has a rather amusing audio.



Turns out there's a Plasmid right here. The stairs next to you have a huge glowing neon sign; "Plasmids" hinting at you to climb the stairs. A Plasmid machine sits at the top of the stairs, partly fallen into the ground below. The Electro Bolt Plasmid is sitting there for the taking, and clicking A takes you through a cutscene. As you inject it into your wrists, the pain is too much for our character. Atlas says calmy to hold on, everything will be fine but we tumble over the balcony into a heap on the floor. A splicer meets us as we regain conciousness constantly referring to us as "fishy". We also get to meet a Big Daddy and Little Sister. His big feet echo across the floor and the Little Sister approaches us, ready to try and get out Adam. Eventually we're back on our feet, with a fistful of electricity.

I suppose that should come in handy to open that jammed door, and indeed, blasting the control panel with lightning opens the door. As we walk in, the screen judders and door behind us slams shut. Part of the plane crashes into the tunnel in-front, allowing water to spew in. It rushes past your feet with surprisingly realistic splashes as it sloshes against the walls. In a bit of luck, the plane lands in such a way that we can pass through it to the other side. Water breaks through the glass as we walk through and the walls creek urging you to rush on. Another tunnel in front smashes open and as the pressures builds up, the door connecting this tunnel to it bends and water seeps through the sides. Fish flop about helplessly on the steps casting shadows from the light above. A door in front beckons us in and opens to let us through. The red light from another door bathes the room in red. The door behind, again, slams shut and leaves us wandering around the room. To the left, a trash can spookily slides across the floor casting shadows and an EVE Hypo lies on a couch for us. These are basically your Plasmid "ammo". Looking back to the door, a splicer like the first one we ever saw slides across the floor and out the other door. On closer inspection we are attacked by 2 more splicers, which are easily killed with an electro bolt and a swift hit to the head. The other door is now open, a sign above says "Airlock Active". If we look to the right before we go through, water is pouring through the ceiling and running down steps in little waterfalls. It looks incredible.




The stairs beyond this door are battered and broken, a testament to the detail in the game, and a set piece initiates at the top. An elevator crashes down from above into the elevator lobby in front of you. It bursts into flames and a splicer attempts to kill you, but is swiftly killed. Upon walking into the lobby, the damage takes its toll. A window above starts cracking and eventually smashes and water pours in, slowly filling the lobby. An interesting point to note here is that items float. When the water reaches a certain level, a sign starts bobbing on the water. An electricity cable from the broken lift spews out sparks and lights up the entire lobby with an eery blue glow. There's 1 elevator still operational, and on stepping in the cage promptly closes and we begin our ascent. Atlas now tells us about his family and how he has been cut off by splicers. The lobby at the top is overshadowed by a huge piece in the wall in front. "The Great Chain is Guided by our Hand" with a huge hand holding a chain from the wall. Plants decorate pots around the balcony and to the left is a grave with a teddy, pep bar and flower pot, which satisfyingly smashes.

The path to the right has a large sign above, "Kashmir Restaurant" and perhaps the most spooky scene in the demo. A splicer with a pram is silhouetted on the wall before we even get around the corner. She mumbles all sorts of bizarre things, and upon killing her we find she is cradling...a gun. A pistol to be specific. Now I'd say we're ready to head on in. "Happy New Year 1959" a sign says to the left. A little more to the left is a huge statue, the water below reflecting waves onto its surface. A trip to the right brings you to a set of toilets. The "dames" has a rather creepy ghost in it, the screen turn black and white when you're around her. She eventually leaves and at the end of the room is a brand new Plasmid. The incinerate Plasmid. This unsurprisingly, lets you set enemies on fire, and they will slowly burn to death. Outside the toilets is a set of stairs. At the bottom is a splicer clawing at a door. If you use the incinerate plasmid on him he will amusingly run to the water by the statue and jump in, to no avail. His charred body is evidence of that. The room he was guarding houses another splicer with a bit of pistol ammo on her, always handy. It turns out to be a kitchen, a little further in there's a cash register on the floor with money to take. When you exit the kitchen there are 2 more splicers in the water, an electro bolt will take care of them with no trouble whatsoever. We can exit from the Restaurant by using the Gents toilet which has a great hole in the wall.

This takes you to the footlight theatre. Atlas tells you to lower your weapon, and tells you about how right and wrong in Rapture is so different from on land. A Little Sister is extracting Adam from a body below. Sneaking across the catwalks lets you reach the bottom and watch a Big Daddy mutilate a splicer who tried to attack the Little Sister. When they exit you're free to use your weapon again to smash the lock and open the gate at the bottom of the theatre. You can walk into it now if you want to. The door casts brilliant looking shadows from the light in the theatre. When you're done here, you can continue down from the theatre. A dead body lies on the ground with a machine gun next to his body, but the outline of a splicer on the wall in front alerts you to the fact that you'll need to kill it first. The machine gun is a classic Tommy Gun with a fairly large clip. The next room houses a security camera. These look around the room and if they find you they will dispatch security bots which will hunt you down for a minute. Your best move here is to destroy the camera before it sees you. This lets you move freely around the balcony and down towards the bottom of the room. 2 splicers and a dead Big Daddy lie on the steps ready to be zapped with electro bolt as they are standing in water.

When you hit the bottom there is a neon sign in front, the Neptune's Bounty is to the right, but when you approach it you better be ready for a shock as it slams shut and waves of splicers are sent to you. Luckily, a lot of them decide to jump into the water which makes them easy to shock. A security bot lies on the floor near the entrance to Neptune's Bounty so it's wise to hack into it so it will fight alongside you. The hacking minigame is simple. You simply line up tubes from one part of a grid to another while fluid slowly moves along it, much like those old flash games where you direct the oil. You can also buy it out for $10 which may be a good idea in this case since there's nothing to spend your dosh on. Once the enemies are all killed, Atlas will open a gate to the Medical area. Once you get in though, you're trapped. A video starts playing on the screen in front of you with fantastic volumetric lighting. You find out a little more about Rapture here, and then the demo is over.

It's 1.3gb on the marketplace right now, and you HAVE to download it. It's phenomenal. The game is out on the 24th of August here in the UK.

(There's a neat trailer at the end too, but I'll let you watch that yourself)