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BioShock Preview for Xbox 360 (X360)

BioShock Preview for Xbox 360 (X360)

Ultimately, the choice is yours.

January 29, 2007 – With strong showings at both last year’s E3 and X06, 2K Games appears to have a hit title on its hands. BioShock is an intriguing looking first-person shooter (FPS) that will soon be making its way to an Xbox 360 and PC near you. However, the term FPS may be a bit of a misnomer in this case. Because of the incredible amount of freedom and choices that are presented to the player, BioShock will play more like a first-person adventure title. This is precisely the reason why many people are getting incredibly excited about this game.

BioShock screenshot

BioShock takes place in an underwater city called Rapture. Rapture was built directly after World War II as a refuge for the social elite. Here, they would be free to live as they chose, unencumbered by the restraints of society and governments. While this sounds like the definition of a utopian society, things quickly turn ugly in Rapture. Through experiments and the discovery of a sea slug that produces a material called adam, Rapture’s scientists discover ways to genetically manipulate humans for the better. At least, that is how it began. Soon the population began to transform into hideous monsters that only crave more adam.

By the time your character enters Rapture in the 1960s, it is seemingly abandoned. The city is in ruins and your only company comes from the corpses of Rapture’s previous inhabitants. You won’t remain lonely long since there are “big daddies,” “little sisters,” and “splicers” roaming throughout this decaying utopia. “Little sisters” are children who can absorb and recycle adam from the dead. They may initially look fragile and vulnerable until you see their bodyguards. “Little sisters” are always under the protection of a nearby “big daddy.” These hideous creatures are as disturbing as they are massive. Add in difficult to kill and you have a serious fight on your hands if you want to collect the adam from the “little sisters.” “Splicers” also hunt you through this fallen city. Quicker and more agile than the “big daddies,” “splicers” require quick thinking and quicker actions to combat.

BioShock screenshot

BioShock will present players with many more choices than are usually possible in the typical FPS. Conflicts in BioShock shouldn’t be solved by bullets alone, but also with cunning. Throughout the course of the game, players will collect adam and use it to gain superhuman abilities. These abilities can facilitate a seemingly endless number of possibilities in how to deal with your enemies. “Big daddies” can take most of your arsenal and just keep coming. Instead of wasting ammo, you can utilize an ability to make a pustule that irritates “splicers.” Once you’ve stuck the pustule to a “big daddy,” nearby “splicers” will attack it. Since the “big daddy” will undoubtedly still be alive, you can also reprogram a security droid to attack the combating foes. Since “big daddies” don’t like to die, you may still need to use telekinesis to throw a propane tank, turned explosive, into him as a finisher. This kind of freedom is unexpected, yet incredibly welcome in an FPS.

The story in BioShock looks to be as impressive as its combat. With the creepy vibe, claustrophobic feeling, and freakish monsters lurking about, survival is an extraordinarily difficult goal. Between you and your goal lay many choices. How will you fight? How will you survive? Morally, what kinds of things are you willing to do to stay alive? A man doesn’t truly know what he is capable of until he is faced with his own death. In Rapture, death won’t take long to find you since there is nowhere for you to run.

BioShock screenshot

No one has been able to get their hands on the game just yet, so information on gameplay, controls, sound effects, and the like is still a mystery. As soon as this information becomes available, we will be sure to have it so check back for the latest.

Features:

  • Take control of your world by hacking mechanical devices, commandeering security turrets, and crafting unique items critical to your very survival.
  • Upgrade your weapons with ionic gels, explosives, and toxins to customize them to the enemy and environment.
  • Genetically modify your body through dozens of Plasmid Stations scattered throughout the city, empowering you with fantastic and often grotesque abilities.
  • Explore a living world powered by Ecological A.I., where the inhabitants have interesting and consequential relationships with one another that impact your gameplay experience.
  • Experience truly next generation graphics that vividly illustrate the forlorn art deco city, highlighted by the most detailed and realistic water effects ever developed in a video game.
  • Make meaningful choices and mature decisions, ultimately culminating in the grand question: do you exploit the innocent survivors of Rapture…or save them?

  • Preview

    July 24, 2006 – Irrational Games is hoping to disturb a wide range of gamers when it releases what many have called the “spiritual successor” to System Shock 2 on the Xbox 360 and PC sometime in 2007.

    BioShock screenshot

    Taking place in the bizarre retro-futuristic world of Rapture which is one part 40’s throwback and one part underwater sci-fi nightmare, BioShock’s visual glitz combined with its creepy atmosphere and open-ended gameplay, will delight RPG, adventure, action, horror and FPS enthusiasts alike. The focus of the game is to explore this unsettling utopian society gone wrong, where mutants walk the streets wearing diving suits and carrying large weapons of mass destruction. Not quite Disneyland.

    BioShock houses such creepy thrills as an abundance of dead bodies littering the environments, nasty graffiti scrawled menacingly on walls, lumbering mutants called Big Daddies and freakish little girls who drill into decaying bodies looking for “Adam” a substance the player will also need to harvest. Unlike most action shooter games, where the rule of thumb is to shoot anything that moves, Irrational Games has taken a different route. The hulking diving suit clad Big Daddies who lumber through Rapture, will pay little attention to you unless you cross them or startle the “Little Girls” that accompany them. Do so at your own risk as the result is far from pleasant. There are other enemies called Splicers which are far more aggressive and who can leap all over the screen. Needless to say these ghoulish monsters who attack with hooks for hands are much harder to get a bead on than the Big Daddies.

    BioShock screenshot

    Naturally you will have to defend yourself and we were quite surprised to see the throw-together contraption Irrational Games was passing off as an offensive weapon. Forget locating an AK-47 or rocket launcher as BioShock’s weapons are far less conventional as they are made from the discarded parts of various household items. Very interesting.

    While console gamers are used to playing FPS and blowing up everything in sight, BioShock promises to expand upon the genre beyond its simplistic origins, providing a more cerebral experience. There will be several solutions to a single problem and how you interpret the threat or solve a puzzle will have immediate repercussions. Previous FPS PC titles F.E.A.R., System Shock 2, and Deus Ex have shown gamers what can be achieved when developers strive for excellence and we’re extremely optimistic that BioShock will be added to that shortlist. Stay tuned….but with the lights on.

    BioShock screenshot

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