Rather than review these games (it's just too late for that, they're both amazing and both must own games if you have a 360) I thought we'd do a bit of the old compare and contrast. I'll be picking up The Orange Box pretty soon, so there may be some three way action going down soon.  Let's see how these masterpieces match up. Oh and there will be some Spoilers, so watch yourself.

Graphics:

Bioshock takes place in mostly claustrophobic enclosed areas. There are a few exceptions, but the fact that the game takes place underwater kinda limits the environments. Halo 3 is far more wide open and many of the area's are simply enormous. Because of this, Halo 3 isn't the graphical stunner that Bioshock is. The map design in Halo 3 is better, but with so much area to cover it's hard to concentrate on every little detail. The game still looks very good, especially the weapons and explosions, but there are a few problem areas like the human faces and some of the textures indoors.  Bioshock is so detailed it's nasty. Every corner of the game is painstakingly detailed, the human faces and lighting affects are incredible and the weapon and plasmid effects continue to impress even after 10 hours of play.  I've got to give a pretty substantial edge to Bioshock in this department.

Winner: Bioshock

Sound:

This is the toughest decision of all, but I swear I’m not going to puss out and declare a tie. This here is a death-match and I plan for blood to spill. Let's start with Bioshock's sound design, which is arguably the most impressive aspect of the entire game.  The soundtrack is filled with 50's classics ringing through crackling speakers and burned out radios, hollowed footsteps giving your position as well as those of your enemies away, you're haunted by that terrifying yell of the Big Daddy, electricity crackles from your fingertips, explosions rip across channels and even the transmissions on your handheld radio have an air of authenticity.  The only negative is how frequently certain lines are repeated by some of the enemies.  Halo 3 has the best soundtrack of the Halo series, which says quite a bit.  The soundtrack ebbs and flows perfectly with the story and swells at just the right times to really heighten the tension during a few enormous battles.  The weapon effects and explosions are familiar but clearly improved.  The chatter of the marines and covenant doesn't get old.  There are far fewer repeats in what seems like thousands of lines of dialogue.  Bungie really went to town in that aspect.  It's hard to choose but I'm going to have to go with Bioshock here.  Bungie did some fantastic work here, especially with the soundtrack and in game chatter, but Bioshock managed to really push the envelope when it comes to the atmospheric sounds of Bioshock. This is a game that sets the standard for sound mixing and editing, and the choice of songs is amazing despite claims that they couldn't get most of the songs they wanted.

Winner: Bioshock

Story:

This one is not so tough to pick. Halo 3 does a great job of closing out the story lines haphazardly laid out in the first two games.  It's a satisfying and compelling storyline if you've followed the series to this point. Someone who's picking up Halo 3 as their first Halo game will be pretty lost, but still mildly entertained. Bioshock's storyline destroys Halo 3. Equal Parts Ayn Rand and the Shining, the story is crazy compelling, densely laired and perfectly paced. The ending to both games leave something to be desired though.

Winner Bioshock

Gameplay:

Bioshock controls like a typical FPS, but the shooting is not exactly tight.  Most people I've talked to used the wrench more often than any other weapon and honestly, that aspect got a bit old.  The plasmids add quite a bit of variety to the gameplay, but many of them don't require much more than pointing in one general direction and firing away while the plasmids do all the work.  The AI is pretty good, but prone to blindly rushing at you when injured and repeating the same acts over and over again at certain points.  Halo 3 is the pinnacle of FPS controls on a console system.  Be sure to adjust the sensitivity to your liking, then marvel at the fine tuning that Bungie put into the way this game controls.  The A.I. is also the best of the series. The Grunts act like typical dumb enemies while they're being protected by a Brute, but if you fell the Brute, these guys will often retreat and take strategic positions or just plain hide. The enemies work together well and your allies (when being controlled by the computer) are helpful most of the time. The companion AI suffers a bit when it comes to vehicles, as they often drive in circles until enemies are defeated and are insanely good when on the turret.

Winner: Halo 3

Replay Value:

To put it bluntly, Bioshock's single player experience is way better than Halo 3's. But Bioshock is meant to be played about twice (Unless they come through with some of that promised Downloadable Content). Halo 3 will probably never die.  The Single player experience is fun, and it demands to be replayed in coop modes. Then there's the Multi player. There is just no touching the Halo 3 multiplayer experience right now.  (Call of Duty 4 promises to be a contender in the field later this year). Aside from the typical deathmatch, capture the flag and king of the hill scenarios and variations, the newest addition is The Forge, a sort of map editor where you don't edit the structure of the map, only the placement of objects, spawnable weapons, grenades and ect.  Very deep system and will add an unlimited amount of replay on even the most familiar maps.  Then the custom games allow you to change the speed, gravity and other effects. Then there's clan battles, saved film editing and sharing etc etc etc.  Halo 3 will easily top the most played list on Xbox live for the foreseeable future. Quite possibly until Halo 4 comes out.

Winner: Halo 3

Overall:

Let's pretend you only have $75 in your budget and have to choose only one of these games. Which to choose?  Well if you're stuck in the stone ages and can't get online or refuse to drop the money for Gold membership after the free time (Included with Halo 3) is up, then Bioshock is the way to go.  It's a better single player experience, longer and meatier than Halo 3. But if you have the ability to go online with your 360, Halo 3 represents the much better value. The single player can be played a couple times with online co op, and the multiplayer is endless. Even if you're getting slaughtered in the ranked matches, hop over to the social matches and find a few friends who are on your level, link up (just tap X after the match) and play to your heart's content.  Halo 3 is playable for the next year at least, Bioshock is good for a few playthroughs at best.

Winner: Halo 3

That about wraps it up. You really can't go wrong picking up either of these games and it should be a pretty tight race for Game of The Year.  I had to give the edge to Halo 3 because of the Multiplayer. IF Bungie didn't do such an amazing job with their online multiplayer system, the choice would have been Bioshock easily.  However, lack of sustained replay value brings Bioshock down a couple tenths of a point.

Lazy Reviews in a Score:

Bioshock: 9.6

Halo 3: 9.8

Mahalo,

Duke