BioShock First Look - Exclusive First Impressions
Take an exclusive first look at the successor to System Shock 2 from Irrational Games.
Irrational Games originally conceived of its cult-classic hybrid game System Shock 2 as a "spiritual successor" to the original game. And Irrational's next game will, in turn, be a "spiritual successor" to System Shock 2. We're pleased to bring you the first official details on BioShock, a new game that will attempt to further the open-ended, emergent gameplay of the previous games by offering even more choices for players to creatively interact with the world around them and to solve the challenges that face them.
While System Shock 2 represented what Irrational general manager Ken Levine describes as "a convergence of technology and commercialism" (that game took place on a corporate-sponsored starship), BioShock will instead represent "a convergence of technology and biological life," or more specifically, genetics. It's important to note: BioShock is not a sequel to any of the System Shock games, nor does it have any official relation to those games. But like the previous games, this one will offer a horror-themed gameplay experience in which what you observe, and what happens to you, will be tempered by your own choices. "[At Irrational], we think emergence is the future," says Levine.
BioShock takes place in a mysterious genetic laboratory. Other than that the complex is strewn with corpses (also for reasons unknown), nothing is clear to you. From what you can tell, the laboratory complex is apparently a holdover from World War II--you'll see remnants of the war as well as peeling paint throughout the complex. Something apparently happened back then that caused the complex to be abandoned by whoever was using it. In fact, the complex has only recently come back into use by the scientists circa the early 21st century, and advanced, top-secret contraptions used for arcane biotechnology experiments have been hastily bolted into the rotting walls of the complex.
You'll explore the complex from a first-person perspective, similar to System Shock 2 or Deus Ex, and you'll find it inhabited by three primary "castes" of creatures, which Irrational is currently referring to as "drones," "predators," and "soldiers"--creatures that might once have been human. We were shown a few concept images of creatures that were part human, part monster. Exactly how these creatures came to be this way isn't clear, but Irrational has suggested that some of them are actually fused with human anatomy: human lungs are grafted onto their bodies to breathe, and the human arm dangling off to the side can still hold and fire a gun.
Yet instead of being controlled individually by different kinds of artificial intelligence, these creatures apparently make up what the developer calls an "AI ecology." Essentially, Irrational decided to try to create an instinctive behavior in the creatures that inhabit the game in lieu of creating individual characters with scripted lines (because characters like these have a tendency to be misused by players in unexpected ways, and eventually they will break down). Instead, each of the three creature types is driven by overriding motivations--a concept that was inspired by, among other things, watching wildlife TV shows with animals and insects that have comprehensible, biologically intuitive, but decidedly non-human behaviors.
For whatever reason, the drones' daily routine involves roving the compound in search of corpses, which they feed on, digest, and process the dead flesh into usable, recyclable genetic material (similar to the way cows digest plant matter in their four stomachs). They then return to the complex with their harvest. Predators, which may have originally been conceived of as warriors for the mysterious scientists, have instead turned on the colony and developed a taste for drones. The extremely tough soldiers were put in place to guard drones, presumably as a response to predators.
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Game Info
- Release Date: Aug 21, 2007
- ESRB: MTitles rated M (Mature) have content that may be suitable for persons ages 17 and older.
- Release Date: Oct 21, 2008
- ESRB: MTitles rated M (Mature) have content that may be suitable for persons ages 17 and older.
- Release Date: Oct 7, 2009
- ESRB: MTitles rated M (Mature) have content that may be suitable for persons ages 17 and older.
- Release Date: Apr 2, 2009
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BioShock
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- Publisher(s): 2K Games
- Developer(s): Irrational Games
- Genre: Action
- Release: Aug 21, 2007 (US)
- ESRB: M
