Bio Shock

In a market as crowded as the first-person shooter genre, it takes a more than great explosions and firepower to make a game title stand out. The developers of BioShock from 2K Games give gamers more than the average shooter by expanding the standard features in new ways. The storyline behind the game focuses on the city of Rapture-an underwater city built after the last World War as a utopian haven for artists, scientists and industrialists. Completely cut off from the rest of the world, Rapture and its inhabitants are free to pursue their interests without any restrictions. Such freedom has its price though, and after an experiment or two gone wrong, the pristine world of Rapture is now an underwater tomb filled with a crazed mutant population bent on their own survival.

It takes a combination of brains and weapons to make it through, and gamers should get ready for a twisted and tweaked out ride to get there. Rapture has a huge environment to explore and has a more open-ended gameplay (instead of a linear, mission-based style), letting gamers find their way around at their own pace. The underwater world is a little murky and feels oppressive and creepy, lending an ever-present anxiety that some new freak show is always waiting around the corner to take you out. Mutants with names like the Slicers, Little Sisters and Big Daddy, have a distinct advantage over gamers with their genetic powers and abilities. To win the war, gamers must fight fire with fire and do some personal genetic manipulation to even the playing field. With the help of Plasmid Stations located around the city, gamers can choose powerful and even bizarre powers to take on the population of Rapture. A combination of mutated powers and a few modifications to some traditional weapons can give gamers the upper hand even in the stickiest of situations. If you're feeling all shooters are getting to be the same, then BioShock is just what you need.