Visuals:
Bioshock is a dark game over all, mainly to create atmosphere for the player. However, it does have the player set the brightness at the beginning of the game to make sure that the player can see the right amount of details. The brightness can also be adjusted through out the game.

This game also offers “Art Subtitles” that can be turned on if the player so chooses. Art subtitles identifies some objects in case a player may have difficulty making out what they are, but may enjoy knowing what they are. They could be labeled “Propaganda,” “Quote from Andrew Ryan,” “Statue” or so on. These art subtitles help the player make out the objects around him during the game.

Bioshock also highlights any important objects, especially those important to gameplay, to call the player’s attention to them and make them easier to find in a game that is overall very dark.

Although most of the interface is red-green color blind friendly, there are moments when it becomes difficult. Difficulty on hacking and whether bots are friendly or enemy are both indicated by red or green. However, there are other in game clues that allow the player to determine what state these items are in. It’s playable, but not ideal.

Controls:

Bioschock only comes with one control layout, so this game is not for players who need remappable controls. It also requires the use of both triggers, switching back and forth between guns and plasmids. This means this game is likely not friendly to the one handed gamer.

The only controller options are adjusting the controller sensitivity and inverting the y-axis.

Precision:

This game does offer an auto-aim option, but it is very slight. This game requires precision. If you have issues with other fast paced first person shooters you will likely have difficulty with this game.


Subtitles/Audio:

Bioshock does offer subtitles. The subtitles cover all major story lines. Unfortuneltly, the lines are often ahead of actual game play. This causes moments where the cinematic or scene is still playing although the subtitles have already stopped playing.

Additionally, the game does not always subtitles enemies, such as the splicers. This leaves gamers with a hearing impairment at a disadvantage. Rather than hearing them early and being prepared, the gamer must physically see the splicer. The same problem occurs for the big daddies, which are never subtitled and so the player will not know they are near one until they are visible.

Other:

Bioshock has several other features that can make it more accessible. This includes Adaptive Training, which is help text that helps players understand and use new items, weapons, and plasmids. The game also offers a quest arrow to point the player to the next objective to help prevent the player from getting lost.

Bioshock also has “Vita-chambers” in case of death. When a player dies, they are returned to the nearest chamber with all their items, some health and some eve. Any enemies that were harmed before being sent to the vita-chamber keep the same amount of health they had at the time of the player’s death. This is true for all enemies, except the final boss fight.

Bioshock also offers three difficulty settings.