This month will mark the 10th year anniversary of the "Bioshock" series. In what seems to be a celebration for this, Mac players will finally be able to experience the remastered collection released last year. The brainchild of Ken Levine, the series has been well regarded for its emphasis on narrative, moral choices, and experimentation in terms of different abilities.
Would you kindly?
2007's "Bioshock" changed the expectations of narrative-heavy first-person shooters for years to come. Players ventured forth into the haunting world of Rapture; a former utopia turned-nightmare based on objectivism philosophy and genetic engineering.
The creator of Rapture, Andrew Ryan, envisioned the city as a place where the wealthy and the great would not be constrained by the weak or poor. Unfortunately, greed and addiction turned the city's inhabitants into unstable and mutated freaks. Also littered throughout the city were mutated children called "little sisters" who were protected by hulking monstrosities called "big daddies."
Testing players' survival skills and morals, Ken Levine and Irrational Games hit them with one of the most memorable plot twists in gaming. While detractors criticized the game's hacking minigames, its ending, and similarities to "System Shock 2," "Bioshock" became one of the most acclaimed games of 2007 -- quite a feat when competing with the likes of "Super Mario Galaxy" and "Portal."
Return to Rapture
Its sequel, "Bioshock 2," didn't really add anything new to the formula, but addressed some of the issues of the first game and added a brand new multiplayer component.
The sequel was handled by 2K Marin and neither Ken Levine nor any members of Irrational had any part of it. The sequel put players in the shoes of a prototype Big Daddy as they braved the horrors of Rapture to save a little sister named Eleanor from a grisly fate at the hands of a deranged scientist named Sofia Lamb.
While still well-regarded, the sequel didn't quite reach the level of praise of its predecessor and was described by Gametrailers as having "a certain 'direct to video' feel" and "evoking the original without ever really eclipsing it."
Wipe away the debt
The final game of the main series, "Infinite," was considered to be a much worthier successor to the first game and received the same level of acclaim that its predecessor failed to achieve.
Taking players further back into an alternate 1912, Irrational put them in the shoes of a former soldier and mercenary named Booker Dewitt. When some unknown employers task Booker with locating a mysterious girl named Elizabeth, his search leads him to a city in the sky known as Columbia.
Despite the initial beauty of the city, racism and elitism abound. Blacks are used as cheap labor and mixed couples are frequently stoned for the public's amusement. When Booker finds Elizabeth, he discovers that there's more to this girl than initially meets the eye. The two then band together to stop the forces of Comstock, the tyrannical ruler of Columbia.
Release
The three main games in the series and the episodic DLC entitled "Burial at Sea" were remastered by Blind Squirrel Games and released on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One in September 2016. Mac users can get their hands on the game on August 22nd.
