With the sequel released in a few days , I've been playing Bioshock on the PC after buying it on the Steam sale.. That's even after I completed it twice on the X-box 360. Why? Well for starters I Bioshock has become one of those special games to me, in the same way GTA: Vice City and Deus Ex are. I can go through the game almost in my sleep, but just to exist in the world they present is so intoxicating that even though the story and gameplay are familiar, the game seeps into my imagination and it becomes a welcoming place despite all the danger and death. And just like the Hong Kong stage in Deus Ex, there is one special level in Bioshock, the kingdom of Sander Cohen, Fort Frolic.

Fort Frolic is interesting because as you arrive, Cohen manages to take you away from your quest to meet and kill Andrew Ryan. Cohen blocks out all radio messages from Atlas and Ryan, and instead commissions you to finish his new work of "art". The word art being used loosely there, as after you arrive Cohen kills a young man playing at a piano by detonating a load of explosives strapped to the piano. Urged to take a phot of the young man's corpse, you then are charged with taking a photo of his remains and posting it on a jumbled collection of frames. Cohen tasks you with killing 3 other individuals who he favoured before they became doubters. Deliver the pictures of their corpses, then you can proceed on your journey.



So let's talk about Fort Frolic the place: if I were to show someone a single level from Bioshock to sum up the game's visual appeal, it's this level. Bioshock art design is beautiful all the way through, but the other levels all have their functional purposes at the forefront, as they should. The Fisheries, the medical bay, the forests of Arcadia all look great, but Fort Frolic takes the noveau and art-deco stylings and runs with it. Fort Frolic is about leisure, shopping and entertainment, so why not go whole hog on the neon and the posters and the decadence? Fort Frolic almost demands an over the top visual style. It's also one of the most homely levels; most games suck me into their world by asking me "Do you want to live here?". The shady lanes in Hong Kong are dangerous, but inviting; the main strip of Vice City would be an over-crowded tourist trap, but it's bustling with activity. Most of Fort Frolic is un-touched by the chaos in Rapture that you find yourself wanting to visit for a browse. Why not look around the cigar store? I mean, I don't smoke but when I see the Native American statue, I can smell the sweet aroma of a cigar. It's a bit of a shame the Record Store is burnt out, but all the shops, bars and clubs all portray a suitable and unique vibe.



Fort Frolic works so well because it immediately detaches you from the story to a large degree and asks you to absorb the area you're in and the task you've been set. Just like designer Jordan Thomas' other signature level, Thief 3's nightmarish Cradle Asylum, it's a level that changes the rules a bit. Fort Frolic gives you three, almost mini-bosses to be taken out one at a time. It also benefits from Sander Cohen's strong personality; his delusions or grandeur, his artistic pretensions, hispsychotic outbursts, his "art" strewn all over the level. He makes more of an impression than Steinman or Peach Williams, because he dominates his level. His audio diaries detailing his feud with Anna Culpepper, his rants about the doubters, his deranged outbursts about his obsession with taking the ears off..... even the little touches like the spot lights following you around the levels give you the impression of simply being an actor in his performance. Surely the best part however, is after delivering the second photo Cohen has a, le's say, psychotic episode and sends waves of splicers after you. The first time I experienced the level, I was running around, gunning the white-clad spider splicers as theyback flipped and danced around me, all the while classical music blared all around me. It was surreal and suddenly I realised I truly was in one of Cohen's performances.



Replaying Fort Frolic has proven it to be much more enclosed and smaller than other levels in Bioshock, but it's so much more unique and filled with standout moments. The plaster clad splicers stalking you in the basement of the Wine shop. The ghostly and revealing flashbacks in Jasmie Jolene's room, the pac-man cheese on the ground..... Fort Frolic is packed with more character and standout moments than a dozen lesser games. What has me excited about Bioshock 2 is that Jordan Thomas, the level designer behind Fort Frolic (and Thief 3's masterpiece level, The Cradle) is the creative designer on Bioshock 2. If he can fill the game with the same atmosphere and smart designs from Fort Frolic into Bioshock 2, then I'm gonna be a happy man come Thursday.