With stunning visuals and an almost psychotic attention to detail on the part of the designers, Bioshock is by far one of the most meticulous, distinctive and utterly orignial game worlds that i have ever encountered.

It draws you in like krill to a basking sharks mouth from the get go. From the amazingly detailed, and thank fuck, playable opening sequence in which you survive a plane crash and are left whirling through the churning atlantic ocean. You manage to struggle to the surface, gasping in your first breath surrounded by fire and waves and in the shadow a mysterious, art deco lighthouse. You swim over, putting Virginia Woolf to shame, and find yourself at the entrance to a steam punkesque diving bell AND YOUR TRAPPED! from this moment the amazing afore mentioned attention to detail, brilliantly concieved characters and calculated almost evily designed action flow and pacing leave you more immersed than a Rapture swimming pool floor tile.

The visuals are tight are consistent, and this really helps to bring this under water dystopia to life. At times, with epic use of stillness and tension, the game slips elegantly into the dark and disturbing, which is egged on by brilliant animation, clever scripting and horrendously awesome use of voice. Just to add to that, throughout the game, whether it be screeched threats from the splicers, the crackling tape recordings that document Raptures decent to madness, or the comforting thick belfast accent of your support character over your radio, voice just adds that dash of phwoar, to an already tight and impressive game.