BioShock Preview

When she climbs out of these vents in the hallway, she wriggles her way out of this vent, and hops down on his shoulder, and he helps her to the ground. Then she runs ahead and yells 'C'mon, c'mon!' and he sort of tries to keep up with her, and he grumbles when she gets too far ahead. We spent a lot of time building up this whole relationship and making a believable relationship between them. Almost like a fraternal relationship. This is something we really wanted to do, to give a sense of these characters having a real existence in this world. And, we also have a security system that has these bots and security cameras. And you have a whole range of tools that you have to interact with these guys. They range from, obviously, just fighting them to turning one against the other. Or you can use a plasmid, which is our genetic power-up to make these Protectors think that you're one of the Gatherers, and they'll follow you and protect you for a period of time. So you can turn the security system against the Protectors, we call this tool the 'Gatherer Cry,' and they imprint upon you. So, the first thing you have to do is that you have to observe the relationships in the world, and then you can engage and take advantage of those relationships."

Dentist waiting room?

Are those Cubans near her bleeding crotch? Wow.

This was really the focus of the E3 presentation itself, as Irrational is not yet ready to announce any details about the plot or any other finer points of the single-player campaign. For now, we know that one of the driving forces behind the game will be the AIs that have understandable, consistent relationships that you can interact with.

From the 20-minute gameplay demo, one could construe what the gameplay is going to be about however. In addition to the open-ended design of the main story, each individual task will allow for multiple approaches. So far, we've only been shown a few weapons. One that loosely resembles a homemade, makeshift shotgun, and a strange-looking pistol with an ammo feed that is made from a tomato tin and a model airplane engine used to power the automatic chamber. But yes, guns will be an option for solving a number of problems. One of the bigger draws of the game, however, will be the bio implants - using 'Adams' to modify yourself, you will enhance your body (speed and other abilities) at the expense of certain other things. Each particular situation will offer several ways of getting by security or dealing away with the enemy. It also helps in those regards that none of the AI actions will be scripted.

Naturally, it's still very early to say anything conclusive about the gameplay at this stage of the game's development. Judging by the creepy art style and the amazing Unreal 3 technology (stuff like real-time reflections, multiple animating normal maps with distortion, as well as refraction effects for the water), you *could* suspend your inherent job-related skepticism for a moment and enjoy the carefully arranged glimpses of the game presented at the demonstration (Ok I can read between the lines. How much is the new video card going to cost me? -Mo).

It seems to me like Ken Levine and the rest of the team at Irrational have a lot of passion for this project. Most of the people that worked on System Shock 2 are working on this one as well, so if anything, we should expect to see an evolution of the concepts introduced in System Shock 2. At this point, we can only trust the team and their ability to deliver on their promises. Look for BioShock some time in 2007.

Quote by Ken Levine taken from the following IGN interview:
http://pc.ign.com/articles/705/705454p1.html