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All parent reviews for BioShock
Average rating based on 54 parent reviews:
- 41% say violence is an issue
- 28% say language is an issue
AGE
Good for Kids who are Mature
I've seen alot of reviews on here that only focus on the negatives of the game. Alot of people are misinformed or are the parents who simply take 2 looks at something and make a decision. So here is a brief rundown of the entirety of the game so that you can make a proper decision from somebody who has done the research and played the game in full.
You start as a Character named Jack, whose backstory is never delved into. You are traveling by plane when your plane suddenly and inexplicably crashes into the Atlantic Ocean. Luckily you are the only survivor, and an ominous Lighthouse is nearby. You enter the Lighthouse which is filled with Statues and Propoganda for a City known simply as Rapture. At the bottom of the Lighthouse lies an Autopiloted Submarine-like Pod which flies you through a Fabulous UnderWater Art Deco City while a Man named Andrew Ryan narrates from speakers within the Submarine. Andrew Ryan was sick of all forms of Government and in the 1940s he decided that he would build a hidden city where People would not have to worry about Religion or Politics so that they could be free to focus on themselves and their careers. So he built Rapture to allow a... Rapture. As you enter the City you find out that something has gone horribly wrong. Citizens maul each other for the smalles quantities of a "SuperHero Juice" called ADAM. ADAM is a drug extracted from a Sea Slug and it can manipulate DNA and Spinal Cords to give people special abilities like shooting Lightning out of their Fingers or Telekinesis. There are downsides to using this drug however, including Tumorous Growths and Mental Depravity. Because of this, Citizens or Rapture who abused the drug (which was nearly everybody) have now become insane and bulbous with lesions. You end up using this substance several times (though no effects of Tumors or Lesions ever seem to appear on you) to give yourself superhuman abilities. You take this ADAM by mainstreaming it with a needle into your wrist, which is the closest reference to illegal drugs you will find. You are lead through this City through a walkie-talkie by a man named Atlas who claims that if you help him he will help you. You have to dodge your way pasts hordes of grossly mutated citizens while all the while trying to accomplish these tasks in an Underwater 1940s Dystopia.
Now while this involves alot of Violoence, Gore, and Cursing from a menagerie of characters, what people fail to realize is that this Video Game is essentially an Ayn Rand novel in Video Game form. Look into the plot and you will find so much more. The story is educational and teaches players about Government, Laissez Faire Political Systems, even about the processes of Mental Conditioning. And many have said that there are not Positive Messages in this game but I disagree. The biggest one is this; If you help others, others will help you. Depending on how you play the game you get different endings. If you play as a Liberator you are rewarded. If you play as a Savage who will do anything to survive, the ending of the game will portray you as such.
I don't think age is a Concern, what matters is that your child should be able to look past the Game aspect of it and try and understand the story. Ask them about what they thought of characters, if what they did was for the good or for the bad. For instance, Was Andrew Ryan right for trying to make a society where people could live in peace, but forcing them to stay there? Was Fontaine right for trying to break the laws because he thought it was justifiable?
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AGE
No educational value?
I'm quite surprised the viewer failed to mention the underlying themes of the game. Bioshock is unbdoubtably gratuitously violent, but it is not without educational value. While I don't think its necessary healthy for immature players, Bioshock has a convoluted, character driven colorful story depicting a would-be-Randion utopia gone horribly wrong. The game was meant to be a critique of Ayn Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged, with Andrew Ryan representing Rand's ideas and her character of John Galt. The game explains the political contexts of Marxist revolution and government economic intervention that motivated self-made entrapenur Andrew Ryan to construct a hidden laisezz-faire capitalist utopia for individualists concealed from the "parasitic" societies on the surface which have the power to destroy anything they don't like with nuclear weapons. However, Ryan's philosophy of unfettered markets without regulation runs amok when bio-modification is introduced, leading to the degradation and collapse of his society. Even emergency medical care costs money in Bioshock, and the complete lack of regulation led to the insanity and violent mutation of so-called "Rapture"'s citizens, leaving Ryan a pitiful recluse who violently takes out his anger in vain on his former compatriots. The game leaves much potential intellectual discussion, what brought down Rapture, was it Ryan's (or rather Rand's) laissez-faire egoist philosophy, or was it the irresponsibility of some of its citizens? Is Bioshock an accurate critique of Rand's objectivist philosophy, could something like this happen with the introduction of genetic engineering to madly-consumer driven society? The game also makes references to eugenics. The Reviewer also fails to note the heartwarming ending of the game if the player follows a moral path, an ending where he find's something he never had. I will admit the unecessary and slasher flick level of violence detracts from the positive aspects as it takes attention off the story, and while I'm not the least bit squeamish, I think the game could have been more down to earth with a more realistic level of violence rather than the ridiculously over the top bloodshed it has. Bioshock is an extremely violent and moderately explicit game, but if one is mature enough to wade through it for the story's sake, they can find an intriguing ethical thriller.
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AGE
While the shooting violence is not as bad as some I've seen, it can be pretty bad. Mainly, it is the melee moves that earn an M, in my opinion-in particular, there is a scene that I would hesitate to let a 15-year-old see, regardless of their maturity. Simply know that it deserves the M, and leave it at that.
On a different note, I would like to note that the stroy here is exellent.
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AGE
Good, but don't play alone 10 or under
This game is great, but it can really scare the sh** out of you. For example, you are walking by and you see a guy shivering walking around singing "Jesus loves me, Jesus loves me". Your enemies are very bloody. People often mistake that the Big Daddy wants to have s** with the Little Sisters, but that isn't true. Give the game a shot, but don't play it alone if you are 10 or under.
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AGE
A brutal and somewhat creepy FPS. Definetely not for kids.
I don't have many mature games, but this one is probably the most brutal of them all.
There is content that I do find questionable. There's use of bad language, including the Lord's name being used in vain, there's items of alcohol and cigarettes that act as healing items, and there is plenty of blood, especially as you hack away at psycho's with a wrench, although at times the blood looks fake, like strawberry jam.
Some of the psycho's (known as splicers) are heard singing "Jesus loves me". I found this somewhat offensive as a Christian myself, since it almost seems like the game is trying to portray Christian's as mentally unstable maniacs.
If you look past all of the iffy stuff, than you got yourself one of the most innovative FPS's in recent years.
I would only recommend this to mature players who are fans of FPS's, but for the love of big daddy, if your going to play this at all, then keep it away from the kids.
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AGE
Its a breathtaking game, the underwater city is marvelous, it captures my mind and brings me back in time to see how life was like in another world. This is one of my favorite games of all time. I even let my kids play it (I believe they are mature enough) because the story is that good.
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AGE
good for 13 and up
well the game its self is kinda dark and u are scared every minutes you play when u play it for first time bu then it gets easy to play cause u get use to random things popping at u
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AGE
Just don't understand common sense...
Alright... I think Bioshock and Bioshock 2 are great games.I have seen my son play it before and yes there is blood and language in it but you can't keep your kids from that stuff forever!they will eventually see violence either on tv or even in real life.they will hear bad language!!common sense in my opinion exaggerates too much on these "gory bloody sexual video games" stuff!!! I never ever ever shelter my kids and never will.call me a irresponsible mother there my kids not yours I'm sorry to be mean but it's the truth!common sense says this game isn't for kids but in reality kids play these kinds of games!common sense wants us in my opinion to hide all the negative stuff from our children out there but eventually there going to see it.you can't hide them from it for long.I recommend everyone to read this review for I think I have a point actually!common sense can tell us what's good and what's bad e.t.c for our kids and what they don't recommend and what they dont but they can't tell us how to RAISE our children!! in the end the way you want to raise your kids is up to you!
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AGE
Great game but....really creepy!
This is one of those games that might get hard to play in the dark after an hour or two. It gave me chills when I first started playing it, and there are times when my heart starts beating really fast! This is also quite a difficult game. I don't think most kids younger than a teenager or older preteen would be able to figure this out/have the skill to play it without getting frusterated. The main thing is, its very gory but in a distubing way. You see dead bodies everywhere; on the floor, rotting in coffins, bleeding underneath desks, lying on abandoned operating tables; and you really have to search every dead body you come across in order to have enough supplies such as bullets and money to survive the game. Every inhabitant of the world of Rapture (which is underwater) has gone completely insane because they are addicted to a drug that gives them powers. They run around like wild junkies and attack and attempt to kill you, and you have to either kill or be killed.
There are also little girls called Little Sisters that have parasitic slugs in their stomachs and gather fluid from dead bodies called ADAM, which they drink and collect in order for it to be sold again to the junkies. You have to defeat their body guards and you either get the option of ripping them open and taking the slug to pump the substance into your own veins, or you can save them and get significantly less ADAM so that your character is very weak and its difficult to survive the other crazed inhabitants of Rapture. This game is intense...there are levels in which you travel through operating tables and have to kill a crazy doctor who is dissecting long dead patients. The whole world is very disturbing and incredibly made, the game is excellent, a triumph in gaming really, but....not for most kids. This is really a teenagers only game. Its just too chilling for most kids that are younger.
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AGE
Not in our house
My 16 year old daughter has been after me to get this game for her. After reviewing it and seeing the graphic nature of this game she will not be getting this game, period, end of discussion.
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AGE
Bioshock, more like Buy-a-Taco!
This game contains no fighting, no violence, no language, no sex, nothing. The only thing is product placement. The entire game is a person named "Big Daddy", who is a very large father of many children, known as "little sisters" (the developer, Tubisoft, was terrible at distinguishing sisters and daughters)
Big Daddy encourages to have players buy tacos, but he is a great role model and teaches kids about not drinking orange juice without checking the "sell by" date or not to look too far in the toilet when you wear a hat, as it could fall of and you would not want to wear your hat. Or at least, i would hope not. Well, anyways, I have to go clean my pet refrigerator, so bye!"
Oh by the way, happy Leif Erickson day! Heinga Dingah Dergan!
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AGE
No one younger than 15.
This game is for older kids, but then agian, it depends on the family. The violence is bad, but it's not much of an issue in my family. This game is art, and should be viewed as such, the foul words are common and I turn down the volume. Some scenes involve torture and insane docter people, which can be disturbing for younger children. If your 13 or 14 year old is mature, and won't be frightened, there are almost no sexual themes, or content, and the violence is livable.
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AGE
Great for adults, bad for kids. Ultra violent, bad language including the F words and GDs, drinking booze and injecting things to obtain health and powers.
Game changes based on the moral decisions that you make. You can save or sacrifice little girls. For a rational thinking adult it will really stretch your mind. The complexity will be lost on most youth and they would not benefit from playing this game.
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AGE
Adult gamers must play and then decide if your kids play.
This game was a fantastic addition to my game library. Full of stunning visuals, excellent plot, fun gameplay and high replay value.
However, as much fun as it is to play it's a bit gory and violent for kids. In addition the plot and higher ideas presented may be over many kids heads. Finally morality decisions simply affect game play and there is no real "right" moral decisions.
For adult gamers you must have this game, for kids, parents rend or borrow a copy to play and understand the level of violence and mature themes before letting younger kids play.
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AGE
Very gory.
This game is very gory, Almost too gory for most people. A lot of blood obviously, Hitting people over the head with a wrench and such. Its far too violent for young people. You find dead rotting bodies everywhere. This shows skin being burnt off, Surgery and a lot of spine tingling bits. The sex has an advertised strip club, Just about it. Quite a bit of language, but not that bad really. Overall its a really really mature game.
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AGE
i believe this isn't to bad i don't know i say 12 and over and the games amazing too so yeah 12
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AGE
Perfect for 15 and up
The Kids in Mind website has officially said that this game is perfect for 15-year-olds. this game has the occasional bad language but not that much and it is very faint. You can also see the outside of a strip club and nothing else. This game is just like any other first person shooter where you actually are the main character. The violence is less that Call of Duty and a little more than Halo. The game has the best story line which is perfect for 15-year-olds and up.
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AGE
Great for the teen kids imagination and even better for 15-year-olds.
I love this the game. my 12 year old boy and girl love this game. i watch them play and i have discovered that the "M" ratings are for the parents to decide what is appropriate because like Halo and Bioshock, it is really unrealistic and totally all sc-fi.
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