BioShock
More than a little shock
Come in, come in! You've never seen anything like it! People with the most impossible acrobatic contortions and magicians with god-like abilities! Meet Big Daddy and Little Sister, stroll along the Shopping Miles, visit the countless bistros and stores! Face to face with the deep sea! Dive into a fantastic world many miles under the sea, where you can be whoever and whatever you want! Visit Rapture!
This is how the underwater world of the BioShock-series could be advertised if a few important details were omitted. Because Rapture, the main location of BioShock and BioShock 2 and a planned utopia for the rich and beautiful who want to escape government control such as taxes or regulations around 1940, is no longer an idyll for plantation owners and cocktail sippers. Instead, the inhabitants have been degenerated by the super drug ADAM into murderous plasmid junkies who wildly hurl fireballs at unwelcome guests.
After a plane crash over the sea, we are the only survivors to reach a lighthouse, complete with diving bell to the seabed colony. Our involuntary visit to the deep-sea terror is accompanied by an exciting story, wacky antagonists and challenging gunplay. In other words, a paradise for fans of cultivated horror shooters, for whom the game world and gameplay are more important than the next jump scare. Even today, the game is still worth a recommendation, especially as the story forms the basis for the sequel and even BioShock: Infinite to some extent. But is the music still worth listening to? Would you kindly follow me to the review section ...
The soundtrack was written by Garry Schyman, an American film and video game composer who had already been nominated for several awards before his work on Bioshock , including for the music to the Alien classic Destroy All Humans!. However, the thriller specialist really came into his own with his work on 2K's horror shooter. And rightly so, it should be noted, as Schyman's worldbuilding work lends the underwater world its oppressively eerie atmosphere. Main instrument: strings, especially violins - what worked for Hitchcock in the shower also works on the ocean floor.
The themes of the sunken utopia alternate wonderfully in the game, with nothing standing out as disturbing or out of place in the mix of fast-paced action in the battles and oppressively gloomy horror interludes. Particularly beautiful are the pieces that sound like regret turned into music: The Ocean on His Shoulders, Dancers on a String (Reprise), Empty Houses (Reprise), all emotive, all calling out to you: 'See your creation, see what could have been, and what it has fallen to.' Combined with the backstory of each character and the tragedy surrounding the duo of the little sisters and big daddys, it's an absolutely coherent impression.
The action pieces, on the other hand, are powerfully driven, the strings playing like an angry swarm of bees chasing us through the corridors. This is particularly noticeable in the theme of the first boss: Dr. Steinman, the crazed surgeon who sews up faces Frankenstein-style in his quest for optical perfection. First the violins shrill towards us in the style of a 60s horror movie, then, like in Jaws , the dam-dam-dam-dam is heared, like snapping at its prey. Panic is breathing down our necks, flight becomes fight. The piece develops into a Bioshock-typical battle track with brass and percussion, everything sounds powerful and overwhelming. The overall mix is excellent, the transitions seamless.
If we compare this with the music from other games of this type, such as the horror game Amnesia: The Dark Descent from 2010, the different levels of skill become clear. Although we can't defend ourselves against the horrors of the dark mansion there, Amnesia is also about conveying the horror acoustically. Here, too, the strings are heard, as well as piano and even organ, sometimes with operetta vocals. The whole thing works, the horror sets in. However, the soundtrack lacks identity; we could be listening to the music to any other horror game.
Bioshocks music, meanwhile, bursts with references to the sea without becoming stereotypical. Ambient effects resonate in many tracks: In The Docks (Prelude) we hear the creaking of wooden beams like on an old sailing ship, or the groaning of the glass construction under the pressure of the water masses. The Engine City sounds like the powerful ups and downs of an engine's pistons, and in the wonderfully brute All Spliced Up you can even hear the shrill ship's whistle that is used to call the crew on deck (or, in the case of the old Star Trek-series, always sounds when someone steps onto the bridge). In keeping with the Jaws-parallel, just listening to the soundtrack not only makes it clear that it's going to be scary, but also wet.
In addition to these tracks, the OST is joined by classical pieces such as Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite or swinging feel-good songs from the 30s, 40s and 50s. Just Walking in the Rain by Jim Reeves or (How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window by Patti Page sound light-hearted and carefree, in the game they serve to contrast vision and reality, what was and what is. These zeitgeisty atmospherics are nice, but if you're not into record player acoustics and grandma's dance music, you'd better skip them.
What you should definitely not miss out on is Cohen’s Masterpiece, which serves as the theme for the mystically murderous entertainer Sander Cohen. It's a beautiful piece, which soars up and down the piano in the style of old grand masters such as Chopin and Liszt and on which many a brother of mine has broken his fingers while practicing. Full of grandeur, imposing, then quiet as a mouse, it is an ode to classical music and, along with the first sad, then sinister The Ocean on His Shoulders , the highlight of the soundtrack.
And before I finish, I have to point out that the score comes in an awful lot of different variations. Sometimes it's called BioShock: Orchestral Score, then Sounds of Rapture or I Am Rapture, Rapture Is Me - always with differently named tracks, of course. My version, a conglomerate of all the tracks and probably best understood as a gamerip, is no exception. But that shouldn't change the rating of the tracks, because anyone who has read this review up to this point will hopefully listen to it independently of my recommendations and make their own judgment.
