BioShock: The Collection Guide Bioshock Life Underwater

Gameplay Fundamentals

Welcome to Rapture, visitor! You undoubtedly have lots of questions about this mysterious place, so this handy guide has been put together to help get you up and running. This chapter is designed to work as a supplement to the user’s manual that accompanied your ticket to Rapture. You’ll find the answers to basic questions about life (and survival) in Rapture in the following pages, as well as a number of helpful tips for getting around.

Controls

Bioshock utilizes an intuitive control interface that maps weaponry to the character’s right hand (and therefore right controller buttons) and plasmid use to the character’s left hand (and left controller buttons). The following table shows the default control setup for the game.

Action	Playstation	Xbox	PC
Movement	L3 Stick	Left Thumbstick	W, A, S, D Keys
Look/Aim	R3 Stick	Right Thumbstick	Mouse Movement
Reload	Square Button	X Button	R Key
Jump	Triangle Button	Y Button	Spacebar
Use First Aid	Circle Button	B Button	F Key
Interact	X Button	A Button	E Key
Fire Weapon	R2 Button	R Trigger	Left Mouse Button
Switch Weapon	R1 Button (hold for selection redial)	R Bumper (hold for selection radial)	1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 Keys / Mouse Wheel Up/Down
Toggle Zoom	R3 Button	Right Thumbstick Button	Z Key
Fire Plasmid	L2 Button	L Trigger	Left Mouse Button
Switch Plasmid	L1 Button	L Bumper (hold for selection radial)	F1-F6 / Mouse
Toggle Crouch	L3 Button	Left Thumbstick Button	C Key
Switch Ammo Type	D-Pad	D-Pad	Mouse Wheel Click, Q Key
Status Menu & Map	Touch Pad	Back Button	M Key
Pause Menu	Options Button	Start Button	P Key

PC ONLY: Weapon / Plasmid Toggle = Shift Key. Weapon / Plasmid Toggle = Right Mouse Button.

Weapon use

You’ll find a complete guide to all of the weapon types, ammunition, and weapons upgrades in the “Arm Yourself” chapter.

Bioshock, at heart, is a first-person shooter which means that you’ll be using a lot of different weapons and squeezing off thousands of rounds of ammunition by the time you reach the end of the game. Throughout this journey there are several tips you need to keep in mind.

Remember These Things...

Reload Often: This goes without saying for experienced gamers, but if you’re new to this particular genre then this is for you. Don’t ever advance down a hallway or enter a new room without first reloading your weapon.

Pick Up All Ammo: There’s no such thing as carrying too much ammunition and it only takes a second or two to pick up dropped guns (or to search corpses), so there’s no excuse for not doing it. Follow this tip and you may never have to worry about running out of ammunition.

Roam Smartly: Some of the weapons that you’ll come to possess can be considered specialty weapons and are best left for specific situations. When exploring a new area, be sure to carry a versatile weapon such as the Machine Gun or Shotgun instead of, say, the Grenade Launcher. You can always switch if you see an opportunity to use a different weapon.

Make Upgrades a Priority: There are 12 Power to the People weapon upgrade stations in Rapture and finding these machines is paramount to your survival. Be sure to look at the accompanying maps in this book for their locations.

Ammo Selection: The base ammunition is fine early in the game, but you’ll eventually need to work each weapon’s advanced and inventible ammo into the mix. Remember that fleshy enemies are vulnerable to antipersonnel ammo, whereas armored enemies and machines are more susceptible to armor-piercing rounds. You can only carry half as much of these specialty ammunition types as you can the standard ammo, so always switch back to the regular ammo unless you know that a string of tougher enemies is coming.

Plasmid use

The “Evolve Today” chapter includes a complete guide to the locations and effects of each and every plasmid and tonic in the game.

It didn’t take long for the scientists of Rapture to uncover a species of sea slug with incredible healing capabilities and turn it into what is known as Adam. Thanks to Adam, it was possible to create a host of genetic modifications in the form of plasmids (active) and tonics (passive) that improve oneself in a number of desirable—and often violent—ways.

Note

Inject Regularly: Plasmids consume a serum known as EVE which must be injected in the user’s arm via hypodermic needle. You will automatically inject a new EVE Hypo if you run out, but this could leave you exposed to enemy attacks. It is a good idea to top off your EVE levels before big battles, or whenever the EVE Meter starts to run dry.

Needle Collection: You can only carry up to 9 EVE Hypos at once and although more can be purchased at most Circus of Values machines, it’s far more cost-effective to collect them from the environment. Look for the telltale blue glow of an EVE Hypo and use Telekinesis to get it—many are on ledges and hidden behind objects, so look around.

Trust the Basics: It’s always fun to test drive a new plasmid, but don’t discount the versatility and reliability of the ol’ standbys. Plasmids like Electro Bolt and Incinerate don’t ever go out of style, however they do lose their effectivemess over time. Be sure to switch back to either of these plasmids (or Winter Blast) when moving onward into a new area.

Plasmid First, Shoot Second: You’ll find that it’s far more effective to soften up an enemy with a plasmid before opening fire with a conventional weapon. For this reason, you should do most of your exploring with the character’s left hand—his plasmid hand—ready to unfurl a bolt of lightning (or fireball) at any moment.

Make Room for Tonics: Don’t underestimate the low-cost tonics available in the Gatherer’s Garden machines. Oftentimes, it is the passive enhancements done through tonics that have the most profound impact on your success. It’s easy to see a fireball burn an enemy and think of it as vital, but the effects of the Physical, Engineering, and Combat Tonics are every bit as important. Once you have the basic plasmids in your arsenal, be sure to buy extra slots for tonics before making additional plasmid purchases.

Exploration

Although the previous tips may lead you to believe that your time in Rapture will be spent in a never-ending firefight, that’s not necessarily the case. In addition to combat, you will have to excel in puzzle solving, navigation, and general exploration of the city as well. With so many hazards lurking around every bend, it’s important to have a solid understanding of what it takes to make it out alive.

Note

Stay Healthy: First Aid Kits are your friend. You can carry up to 9 of them at once and, although they can’t refill your entire Health Meter (without upgrades), there are plenty of ways to find more. For starters, search containers and loot corpses to find additional First Aid Kits. Another good source is the Circus of Values machine—hack it to lower prices. Lastly, use a weapon or plasmid to destroy a Health Station and collect the 1 to 3 First Aid Kits that fall out.

Loot the Body: It might seem like an obvious thing to say, but it’s easy to get caught up in the action and forget to search the corpses you leave in your wake. The sheer volume of ammunition, items and invention components that can be gained from thoroughly searching the corpses of your victims can not be overstated. Additionally, be sure to employ the Scrounger tonic as soon as you can as the ability to “re-roll” a search of a container or corpse will oftentimes net you more valuable items than the preliminary search would (it also sometimes reduces the items you’ll find, so beware).

Find the Diaries: It might not be polite to listen in on the Audio Diaries scattered throughout Rapture, but if these people wanted their thoughts kept private, they should have done a better job of hiding them. There are 122 Audio Diaries in Rapture, some of which reveal information critical to your progress. But even those that aren’t essential do add a significant depth to the story and really help you understand what life in Rapture is really like.

Snack Up: First Aid Kits and EVE Hypos aren’t the only way to replenish your life force. There are tons of snacks and beverages scattered throughout the city ranging from potato chips to thermoses of coffee. The majority of these snacks restore a small amount of Health and/or EVE. Keep in mind, however, that alcoholic drinks will replenish some Health, but only at the expense of EVE. Also, if you drink two or more alcoholic beverages in quick succession you will become drunk and your vision will blur. Cigarettes also restore EVE, but they do it at the expense of Health.

Status Check: The Status and Map Screens give you insight into everything you come in contact with in Rapture. Press the appropriate button to call up this screen to inspect the map, to re-listen to radio messages, and to read notes on the various gameplay systems and weaponry.