BioShock
Developer: Irrational Games
Genre: Sci-Fi First-Person Shooter
Release Date: 2007
By now, even some of the most vocal skeptics ought to have noticed that the Xbox 360 is making good on its promises of delivering extremely impressive visuals and remarkable gameplay experiences to match. To that end, Microsoft's corner of E3 2006 was packed to the gills with great-looking games coming to its new console. However, no single Xbox 360 game at the show got us worked up quite like BioShock, which was tucked away behind closed doors at publisher 2K Games' booth. Its stunning art direction, remarkably creepy and compelling premise, and intriguingly open-ended design served as a powerful demonstration of what the 360 seems capable of. And, poignantly enough, developer Irrational Games opted to show off BioShock on the 360 in particular, even though it's also headed to the PC and PlayStation 3.
On one hand, it seems strange that a game as impressive as this wasn't shown publicly for all to see and experience amid everything else playable and on display at Microsoft's booth. On the other hand, Irrational's carefully controlled demonstration of BioShock effectively got the job done, providing us with a clear sense of the flow of the game while accentuating some of the remarkable details from both a visual and a thematic standpoint. Key questions linger: Will there be a substantial Xbox Live component? What will the unlockable achievements be like? For now, though, we can safely say that no other Xbox 360 game at E3 2006 got us collectively more excited by what was shown than BioShock.
Finalists
E3 2006 Editors' Choice Awards
In this feature, the GameSpot staff brings its considerable amount of collective experience at covering E3 to bear, distilling all of our coverage down to its most important elements and showing you what the biggest names and events were at E3 2006.
