BioShock for Mac announced

Ken Levine’s 2007 classic BioShock has been announced for Mac by London based developer Feral Interactive, with release likely scheduled for the end of the month:

On October 7th, prepare to descend to the depths of the undersea city of Rapture when Feral Interactive releases the critically acclaimed BioShock® for Mac. Developed by 2K Boston and 2K Australia, and originally published by 2K Games, BioShock introduces gamers to an exciting world filled with fascinating characters, intelligent enemies and complex moral choices that define the foundation of the game’s world. With its rich story, meticulous attention to visual detail, tense action and infinite replay value, BioShock delivers the perfect blend of storytelling and first-person action.Barely surviving a plane crash, the player lands in icy uncharted waters and discovers the undersea city of Rapture, a failed utopia whose citizens had embraced genetic engineering before descending into pure anarchy. Power and greed have run amok and the city has succumbed to civil war. To survive, gamers must turn everything they find into a weapon, use their powers of observation to piece together what happened and make the difficult decisions necessary in order to escape a paradise gone badly wrong.

Fans have embraced BioShock’s mysterious world filled with powerful technology and creative gameplay. BioShock is also renowned for its rich visual detail depicting a gorgeous Art Deco world set deep beneath the sea.

“The look and feel of BioShock is breathtaking,” said Feral Interactive’s David Stephen. “Combined with the remarkable depth and sophistication of the storyline, as well as the pure adrenaline rush of playing, BioShock will set new benchmarks for Mac gaming.”

I played BioShock when it was released some two years ago for PC. I fell in love with Rapture, BioShock’s crumbling underwater city, inhabited by bizarre and violent splicers – those who have genetically modified themselves to insanity. BioShock is the 1950′s vision of the future; underwater art-deco cities, technology that mechanically splutters and coughs.

Rapture was a city where artists, scientists, the rich, could exist without the “petty moralities” and limited visions and constraints of world powers or religions. But without restrictions people were unable to moderate themselves and Rapture became a place of twisted personal visions, genetic modification and power struggles, that inevitably lead to conflict.

BioShock is technically and visually startling, coupled with a story that’ll challenge and surprise. Just writing this makes me want to revisit Rapture – to bask in the murky submarine light, walk the dilapidated halls and arcades full of echoes and shadows.

System specifications:

Minimum system requirements for BioShock include a 1.8 GHz Intel Mac, 1.5 GB RAM, 128 MB graphics card, DVD drive, 8 GB of hard disk space and Mac OS X v10.5.8 or later. The game does not support Intel GMA integrated video chipsets, but does run on the latest generation of MacBooks and Mac Minis.

I’ve been playing the beta for a while, and I’m happy to say that the game runs wonderfully on my Mac Pro. For those of you with older Macs, I did speak to Feral about running BioShock on a first-generation Intel iMac. With all settings to Low and a reasonable resolution, you’ll get over 20FPS most of the time. You will need 1.5GB RAM, more is better. You won’t be salivating over high definition, anti-aliased graphics if you’re using this first-gen Intel Mac, but you’ll still experience the best elements of BioShock: its story and its atmospheric presence.

Look out for a review soon. Now, would you kindly take the plunge?