Bioshock

Bioshock
$49.95
It's difficult to put into words in any sort of new way the accolades of compliments this game received from professional publications whereas I wouldn't come across as sophomoric. I'll begin, then, with something small that sets me apart from those publications; personal computer specs!

MacPro (Early 2009 Edition)
Mac OS X 10.6.2/Quad-Core Xeon W3520 2.66GHz
3GB RAM/640GB HDD/2 SuperDrives (DVD-RW)/ATI Radeon HD 4870 512MB

My intention is not to gloat I hope, I get a new computer every few years and this is the latest- I had an MDD G4 1GHz/1GB RAM/Radeon 9800Pro for years.

If you've played the console editions as I have the one noticeable lower quality is in the introduction where your character is on the plane- on the console versions, if I am not mistaken, this is rendered in real time using Bioshock's [Unreal 3] engine... here, it is video- until you crash, which is quite a short amount of time from when you click New Game anyway, and here's where the computer version shines (read; outshines).

The graphics are amazing- you have to *see* the water effects to really appreciate it. Almost every little detail of the game's locales has a very deliberately unique feel to it and the storyline will suck you in as it is tightly wound up in your actions. For a really good, visual review of this game I'd hunt down the Bioshock review on the GameTrailers com website.

As an extra note: This game takes advantage of multiple core CPUs and hunting down the INI located at "~/Library/Preferences/Feral Interactive/Bioshock/MacInit/Bioshock.ini" look for "HavokNumThreads=2" and change the "2" to the number of CPU cores you have. In my case this is "4". The game will not recognize a number higher than the amount of PHYSICAL CORES you have so forget about the hypothetical Hyperthreading number, FYI. The fluidity of the game was immediately noticeable after changing this value. For more on tweaking check out TweakGuides com's Bioshock page- just about anything applicable to the PC version is applicable to the Mac version.

My Dell monitor's maximum resolution is 1680x1050 and Bioshock runs quite well at this resolution with all settings at maximum... the consoles max out at 1080p with the optimum set-up and can't compare to the computer version's resolution or textures/graphics.

Now, utilizing flip-flop politics, I digress to the storyline. Again I can't go into much detail because I won't regurgitate what's already been said, but as was the aphorism of Reading Rainbow(tm); "...but don't just take my word for it!" Even if you don't like first person shooters- and I've read a handful of people comment agreeably from that camp- you will very likely enjoy this game.

Get it.

BioShock and Elder Scrolls: Oblivion Bundle
$29.99
Be warned. You will NOT get the Game of the Year Edition of Oblivion. You will get just the original Oblivion game. You will NOT get the Shivering Isles expansion or the Knights of the Nine content.

I liked the original Oblivion game very much and so I ordered this for the additional expansion and content as described. All I got was the original Oblivion game, which I already had! I returned it to Amazon and told them this product was not as described. Today I got a refund for only half of the amount I spent and their description still hasn't been fixed. I bought the real GotY edition over at a competitors website in the meantime and am very satisfied with it. I am very disappointed with Amazon over this issue.

Bioshock & The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion Bundle
$39.99
Both of these games are AMAZING... see the reviews for each game to see why! However when you do that you might notice that there is a GOTY edition of Oblivion which contains Shivering Isles and Kights of the Nine which are both amazing. Therefore if you don't have either game already this might be a decent option for you to get two great games however i personally suggest you get the GOTY copy of Oblivion which is far superior and then a used copy of Bioshock, which would be cheaper!

BioShock
$19.99
this game is pretty good. it has a lot of originality and innovating things for a new game.