CPU Scaling:

The final question that we wanted to answer was how well the game scaled with CPU speed, and also the number of CPU cores available. To do this, we tested both the ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT 512MB and the BFGTech GeForce 8800 GTS OC 640MB with three different CPUs – one quad-core and two dual-core.

We used the same manual run through as we did for our graphics tests on the previous pages using DirectX 10 mode. We set the in-game quality settings to their maximum values and set the resolution to 1920x1200.

The following components were used for this portion of our testing:

Asus Striker Extreme motherboard (nForce 680i SLI); 2 x 1GB Corsair XMS2-8500C5 (operating in dual channel at DDR2-800 with 4-4-4-12-1T timings); BFGTech GeForce 8800 GTS OC 640MB; ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT 512MB; Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 200GB SATA hard drive; Enermax Galaxy DXX 1000W PSU; Windows Vista Ultimate x86; Nvidia nForce standalone drivers version 15.00 WHQL.

Processors

• Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 -- dual-core, 2.13GHz, 4MB L2 cache
  
• Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 -- dual-core, 3.00GHz, 4MB L2 cache
  
• Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6850 -- quad-core, 3.00GHz, 2x4MB L2 cache

Interestingly, we saw some scaling on the Radeon HD 2900 XT when moving from two cores to four, but there was virtually no increase (or at least no noticeable increase) in performance across the CPUs tested on the GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB at 1920x1200 with maximum in-game quality settings.

Conclusions:

BioShock is, quite frankly, one of the best games I've played in a long time – the story is awesome and is put together in a way in which everything you do, or hear, is relevant in some way or another. With the risk of spoiling the story for anyone that hasn't played the game yet, I'm not going to say anymore about the plot. However, I have to say that I do feel sorry for those PC gamers that refuse to install the game because of the copy protection malarkey.

I can certainly understand why people refuse to install it, but those that choose not to are missing out on something that many have described as art - I have to agree with that sentiment. If there was ever a game that you could put forward as a piece of art then this is certainly it. BioShock is right up there with the all-time gaming greats, even despite its fairly linear gameplay. The thing is, the story helps to hide its linearity pretty well because everything you do has a purpose.

With regard to the graphics, we've shown you the differences that there are between the DirectX 9.0 and DirectX 10 versions of the game and it is ultimately up to you whether you want to buy Windows Vista (if you don't own it already) to play the game with the additional effects which, despite being subtle in some cases, do help to make the game feel more realistic.

It's not the best-looking game we've played this year, but it's certainly up there – one thing that's definitely worth a special mention is the game's water, which is without doubt the best we've seen.

If you can live with the copy protection 'problems' (which will eventually be removed) and have a PC that's powerful enough to play BioShock, there's simply no reason not to go out and buy it.