I was talking to a friend of mine a little while ago, and I told her I wanted to read a new book. As simple as that sounds, I was being picky. I didn't want to read just any book. I wanted to read something deep and provocative, intriguing and thoughtful. I wanted to read something that I could discuss with others at length. I wanted something that I felt the need to recommend to anyone and everyone who would listen. I had no idea that BioShock would turn out to be that book.

BioShock begins with a plane crash in the Atlantic in 1960. As you pull yourself from the wreckage, you head toward the only landmark in an otherwise featureless sea, a lighthouse in the middle of the ocean. Inside is a submarine that takes you to the underwater city of Rapture. Rapture was created by Andrew Ryan to be a utopia, hidden away from the rest of the world. The discovery of a chemical named Adam changes all of that. Adam allows for easy genetic manipulation, but it also causes the deterioration of mind and body requiring more and more Adam simply to maintain normalcy. It's not long before Rapture is transformed from a beautiful, idealistic city to a nightmare prison filled with genetically enhanced psychopaths.

BioShock is a first-person shooter. You are equipped with a variety of weapons, from machine guns and chemical throwers to a crossbow and your trusty wrench. Each weapon (except the wrench) can be upgraded twice throughout the game by finding special "Power to the People" stations. The upgrades include things like increased stability when firing, more stopping power, increased damage and so on. The appearance of the weapon will change to represent the upgrade, and the modifications reflect the cobbled together style of weapons in Rapture. I thought this was a nice touch that fits in well with the overall theme.

While all of these weapons are nice, they don't hold a candle to the opportunities provided to you by the use of Adam. By collecting Adam, you can unlock a host of plasmids, genetic modifications that you can use against your enemies. Some of them are offensive in nature, like Incinerate and Electro Bolt and, my personal favorite, Insect Swarm. Others are a bit more subtle. Enrage can be used to make a group of enemies turn on each other and ignore you. Security Bullseye will make your enemies set off the various automated security cameras and turrets. Each power is displayed on your character's hand with blistering skin and flames, crackling electricity or a living hive crawling with insects.

Gameplay is fairly straightforward, but I was really impressed with how easy it is to switch between using your weapons and using your plasmids. Weapons are mapped to the right trigger and plasmids to the left. The first pull of the trigger will switch you over, and the second will fire. It makes quick switches back and forth a cinch to pull off and enables combo attacks with plasmids and weaponry.

I was really impressed with the amount of freedom and creativity in problem solving BioShock allows the player. I described it to a friend of mine as the thinking man's first-person shooter. At one point, I couldn't find the key to get into a locked room. I searched everywhere for it, but it was nowhere to be seen. There was a broken window next to the door, and when I looked through, it I could see something hanging on the wall. I used my Telekinesis plasmid to pull it toward me and discovered it was the key. I never suspected that the key to the locked door would be inside of the locked room. At another point, there was a door that was frozen shut. Normally, I would use my Incinerate plasmid to thaw it, but I had swapped it out for Telekinesis and couldn't change back at the time. Instead, I used Telekinesis to pick up a piece of debris and moved it into a fire that was a few rooms away. I then carried it down the hall and melted the ice. I really enjoyed the fact that I could use "real world" common sense and reasoning to solve problems in Rapture.

The setting and atmosphere are amazing. The rooms and furniture have a very 1940s and '50s style, with opulent dark wood trim, thick carpeting and an overall sense of wealth and privilege. Other places have a very art deco feel with neon signs, fancy painted posters and period appropriate music. And all of this is in a self-contained city on the bottom of the ocean. Through the windows of Rapture, you can see breathtaking views of the city, whales and squid swimming past, volcanic vents, and schools of fish gathered outside. It really is worth it to just stand and look out the windows just to see what there is to see. Of course, the city itself has been torn up and ruined by the conflict that is raging through Rapture, and a feeling of danger and horror hangs over the city. Hallways, windows and connecting passages are damaged and leaking. Slowly, the ocean is reclaiming Rapture.

The story of the fall of Rapture is chronicled throughout the game by interactions with the few coherent citizens left and collections of audio-taped diaries. Left behind by the citizens of Rapture, they show the fear of the citizens as their friends and families descend into madness and turn on each other. It paints a grim picture of the effects of rampant consumerism and scientific progress within a moral vacuum.

The characters are fantastic as well. Atlas, your only friend and guide through Rapture, is the picture-perfect example of an Irish immigrant in way over his head. Andrew Ryan is a man who has total faith in his ideas despite the obvious fact that they have failed. The Little Sisters, young girls who harvest Adam from corpses, are a chilling combination of child-like innocence and violent selfishness. The Big Daddies are like a gentle giant, protective and caring toward the Little Sisters yet utterly brutal when threatened or provoked. Other characters you come across include a plastic surgeon, who performs the surgeries he wants to do, and an artist who uses murder in his artwork. All of these things come together to form a leaving breathing world that you will feel totally immersed in. I have never felt this level of emotional attachment in a first-person shooter before.

BioShock isn't perfect though, although it comes close. My main complaint is that some of the battles that should have been challenging were made too easy by the respawn setup. Whenever you die you are automatically revived at the nearest Vita-Chamber. Everything else continues on, so all damage you have done to an enemy will remain on it. It's too easy to simply shoot, die, respawn, shoot, die, respawn, etc. It robs you of some of the challenge. I found myself creating additional challenges for myself, like planning and executing an attack on a Big Daddy, not just blazing away and respawning. This is really a minor complaint though when viewed in context with the entire game.

I cannot recommend BioShock enough. The setting, the story, the characters and the gameplay all mesh to create an intriguing and suspenseful world full of amazing twists, turns and horror. I guarantee it will be the best book you've ever played.