Plasmids as such add great variety to the nitty-gritty of the gameplay. Taking a somewhat old-school approach (similar to what we saw in games like System Shock *wink, wink*, and Deus Ex), players can decide which type of fighter they want to be. Whether they want to be good at hacking the security systems (hacking handled through mini-games), and generally using plasmids which utilize the environment or the enemies themselves as tools, or if they want to take a more straightforward shooter approach, mod their weapons and go into every fight all-guns-blazing.
The truth is most players will likely take a mixed approach, thus keeping the action as diverse as it can be in BioShock. Even so, diversity is something that BioShock lacks in certain aspects. Going back to my little overture about high profile releases in this day and age, it is important to realize that for all that is good about BioShock, this is not a perfect game, nor is this the best first-person shooter I have ever played. It ranks high up there, but once the media frenzy has settled, people will begin to approach this title in a more objective manner. During their stay in Rapture, players will spend 99% of their time indoors, often in pretty tight spaces in Rapture. This inevitably makes the game feel claustrophobic at times. Concept-wise, one could argue that this is perfectly justifiable; nonetheless, shooters like Half-Life 2 have another dimension to them, simply by being able to take the players out of confined and gloomy spaces and into the sprawling outdoor environments.
