Pros: Too many to mention.
Cons: Too few to mention.
The bottom line: The FPS is an old concept. Bioshock takes it, shakes it up, adds a few twists, and actually makes it feel new again. This is game of the year material.
So I just finished up Bioshock, and I find myself at a loss for words. Well, not a loss for words, but rather at a loss for keeping this in as few words as possible. I could a novella on the plot, philosphical messages, gameplay, enemies, and graphics in Bioshock, so I'll keep this as brief as I can.

Bioshock begins with a plane crash. Unfortunately for you (your character, not you, because you wouldn't be playing the game otherwise), the only place to wade to safety is the entrance to Rapture, an underwater city of great design and vision, and a place in which everything has gone straight to hell.

The first thing you'll notice as you take the brief ride to Rapture is the city itself. The view is, quite simply, breathtaking. The neon signs, the art deco design, just awesome. As you take your ride, you'll hear a speech by Andrew Ryan, architect of Rapture, that would do Ayn Rand proud. It is here that you learn that the developers not only set out to create a visually exciting game, but an equally exciting narrative to go along with it.

Once your ride is finished, you're contacted by Atlas, your guide through the game. He gives you hints and tips, and feeds you the narrative on the fly, and your goal: to kill Andrew Ryan. Of course, it's not that simple.

On your way to Ryan, you'll grapple with Splicers, formerly the elite citizens of Rapture, who have now played with their genes so much that they're hideously mutated, murderous, and as the game progresses, pretty powerful. Even with the weaponry in your arsenal, you're really not match for a room full of Splicers.

But not to worry. Soon enough, you'll be given the chance to play with your genes, and acquire powers that dwarf those of the Splicers. These come in the form of plasmids and tonics. Plasmids allow you to fire electricity from your fingertips, set your enemies on fire, freeze them, fire bees at them, etc. Some are necessary at certain points in the game, but most are just there to let you have a little more fun killing your enemies. Tonics are the abilities that you keep with you throughout the game, such as better defense abilities and such, and this is part of what sets Bioshock apart from the FPS pack. Plasmids and tonics allow a few different things in Bioshock: the aforementioned creative kills, a system of balance, a cool new way of seeing a FPS, and part of the drive of the narrative.

The balancing comes from the fact that while there are tons of plasmids and tonics, you're only allowed to have a limited number active. You have a number of slots allowed for plasmids, only one of which is open when you begin, and you'll have to pick which ones to keep on you at all times, and which are interchangeable. You can have as many as you want, but you'll have to keep some in storage in gene banks, which are scattered throughout Rapture. Even better, the plasmids are upgradeable, so if you have, say, the Incinerate plasmid, your great balls of fire will be little more than a nuisance to your enemies. By the time you've fully upgraded it, one shot and the Splicers are doomed, and quite literally, toast.

Now how sick of looking down the same old gun barrels in FPS's. I am. Plasmids are your left trigger weapon. When they're armed, your hand takes shape accordingly. For Incinerate, your hand is on fire, for Winter Blast, your hands is frozen solid, and for some, you hold a big gooey ball to be thrown at enemies, or potential allies. It's not much, but it's something new to look at.

As for the narrative, plasmids are powered by Eve, a chemical that you must always have in order to keep using them. Think of your Eve meter like a magic meter in an RPG. You gain Eve by picking up hypodermic needles, of which you can carry a limited number. Once one is out, you get a grisly little sequence in which you shoot up some more. Think of it as a reload time. Conversely, the life force of Rapture is Adam, the yin to Eve's yang. Adam makes the world of Rapture go round, and the way in which you procure Adam drives the game's moral decisions.

Adam is carried by Little Sisters, creepy little girls who drain it from dead bodies. In order to get the Adam, you're faced with a dilemma: "harvest" the girls, effectively killing them, and getting tons of Adam, or rescuing them, and getting less Adam. You'll need Adam to purchase plasmid and tonic upgrades, as well as new slots to keep them in, so it really can be a tough choice. Further complicating the issue are the Big Daddies, the Little Sister's protectors. Picture the guys in diving suits in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea juiced up and given bionic weapons, and you get an idea of what the Big Daddies are like. Any attempt to hurt the Little Sisters, and you're in for quite a fight.

The Big Daddies are some of gaming's best enemies. I was reminded of the Cyberdemon in the early Doom games. You can hear them coming with their huge, screen shaking footsteps, and/or their creepy, mournful moans, but the developers took them a step further by giving them a unique personality. Their primary function is to protect the Little Sisters, so they won't touch you unless you attack a Little Sister, or them, so you can pass by a Big Daddy and never have to deal with them. There's even a plasmid that allows you to hypnotize them into thinking that you're a Little Sister, and there's nothing like walking into a room full of trouble with one of them at your side.

Now back to the Splicers. You'll run into a few different kinds of them. Some crawl on the ceilings, some just try to pound on you, others shoot at you, and others use plasmids on you. But they, like the Big Daddies, aren't always what they appear. You'll run into one that is actually friendly to you, and many that are just indifferent. There's one sequence in particular where you see them at work, totally ignoring you like any other working person would do to a passerby.

If, however, they are riled, or they're one of the many who have nothing better to do than attack you, they have the brains to back it up. They'll chase you through levels, dodge attacks, heal themselves if they run across healing stations, and basically do what any killer would do: protect themselves while killing their quarry. I hit one with Incinerate, and he jumped into a nearby puddle of water, dousing the flames. I was so impressed with his fortitude that it was almost a shame to blow him away. They'll also hold conversations with each other, and parallel real people in the way that some of them attack you just because you have what they don't: normalcy. You'll frequently be called a "monster" as the Splicer are doing mostrous things to you. And that's one of the themes of Bioshock: almost everything that you kill is at least worthy of an ounce of pity.

Moving on to weapons. Yes, you have your standard melee weapon, your pistol, shotgun, machine gun, etc., but those are also upgradeable, from bigger clip size to less kickback to more damage dealt, and they each have different ammo. You can get explosive shotgun rounds, electric pistol rounds, and so on and so forth. You also have a crossbow, which I thought at first was a useless weapon, but proved quite useful, and tanks with napalm and liquid nitrogen. But beware, ammo becomes sparse pretty quickly. You can buy it from vending machines, pick it off corpses, or find it lying around, but somehow, it just doesn't seem like enough for those of us who like shooting everything in a room. But Bioshock gives you another way to protect yourself, in the form of hacking.

Rapture is littered with RPG turrets, machine gun turrets, and security cameras, all potentially a threat to you, but also potential allies. The security cameras will spot you and give you a warning to get out, and if you don't, the systems sends security bots, little flying machine guns, after you. All of these can be hacked by initiating a mini game in which you put arrange pipes allowing liquid to get from point A to point B. If you mess up, the machine short circuits. If you succeed, turrets will fire on enemies, and security cameras will send the security bots after your enemies. If you grow tired of the mini game, which you will, you can purchase or make one time use autohackers, or just buy the machine out. Mix that up with your standard weapons, plasmids, and tonics, and you've got a pretty good chance of surviving Rapture.

Speaking of surviving Rapture, the death system seems to be the most argued about point of Bioshock. Vita Chambers are generously laid out through Rapture, which save your progress and give you a place to go when you're dead. When you die, you simply come out of the nearest Vita Chamber, and go on about your merry way, only a little worse for the wear. Is this a bad system? Well, it certainly makes beating the game an issue of when, not if. However, my personal thought is that the developers are so proud of what they've accomplished that they want you to get through the game, and see everything that they've created. It's up to you whether or not this is a dealbreaker.

Ok, time to start wrapping this up. Let's just go into the usual breakdown of graphics, sound, and control shall we?

As for the graphics, from the opening sequence to the final sequence, they are amazing. Rapture is a graphical and structural achievement in the world of gaming, and I doubt we'll see anything like it in gaming in a long time, if ever. Every room, every hallway, every single corner of Rapture is designed pitch perfectly. Though it is falling apart, it is still a functioning city. Every level gives you something new to look at, from bizarre labs to medical facilities, to stores to apartments and even a garden. Even when there's not an enemy in sight, the city feels alive. My fiance was watching me play and said it reminded her of a cruise ship, minus all the gore and mutants of course, and really, that's as apt of a description as I've heard. You get the feeling that Rapture was a great place to live at one point in time.

Also, something has to be said for atmosphere. Shadow and lighting effects are excellent here. A number of times I caught something creeping up behind me because of a shadow on the wall. The game is designed to not go for cheap jumps, though there are a few, but rather a general atmosphere of foreboding, in which you know that something is coming to get you, you just don't know when or where. I spent my first few hours in Rapture on the edge of my seat, until I got used to the scares. I have a friend who, while totally blown away by the game, refuses to play, claiming it too "stressful." This isn't to say that Bioshock doesn't use the same scare tactics that say, F.E.A.R and Doom III did, it just uses to better effect, because there's a story behind all the fear.

The sound will also blow you away. The voice acting is ridiculously good, especially considering that the developers didn't even go for the easy way out by bringing Hollywood talent in. When things creep on the ceiling, you hear them coming. Footsteps reverberate off wooden floors. Machines function. There is never a moment of silence in the entire game, and everything sounds great.

Controls, well, they're effective first person shooter controls. They serve their function, and they serve it well. No problems here, but there's nothing here that sets a standard, and not that it should, because FPS controls don't really need any dramatic overhauls.

And multiplayer. There is none. Sorry. Actually, I'm really not. This is one less game I have to hear someone talk smack in, and this isn't a game made for multiplayer. In lieu of multiplayer, Bioshock gives you a longer campaign than any FPS in a while, and a better story to go along with it.

Here's the Deal: I've left out so many of the little details of Bioshock, hoping to give you a look at the bigger picture, but Bioshock isn't just about the bigger picture. If you take it at face value, it's just another FPS to add to your already too big stack of them. Looking at the entire package, the story, the moral choices, the different ways to play, exploring every little room (which is optional but you should), you'll understand why this is a game that has risen the bar, and probably won't be matched for some time.

Parent's Note: This game is just about everything a kid shouldn't play. It has some pretty rough language, it's frightening, grim, and gruesome. Though not adult just for the sake of being so, it's still for adults.