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BioShock Preview June 08, 2007 John JCal Callaham |
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Summary: The epic, long-awaited BioShock is nigh upon us! JCal shares his hands-on "experience".
 Introduction | Page:: ( 1 / 4 ) |
The developer then did something curious for its next two games as it created solid but ultimately unmemorable new additions to already established game franchises (SWAT IV and Tribes: Vengeance). As it turned out, these work-for-hire style games were set-ups for what the company was really itching to work on: BioShock.
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Last April, FiringSquad traveled to New York City to attend a press event for BioShock (published by Irrational's owners 2K Games) where a number of journalists gathered to be among the first outside the developer to actually play a portion of the game for the first time (specifically the game's first couple of levels plus a small intro level). It took us a bit over two hours to play the portion we were allowed to play but it was more than enough to sell us on BioShock's merging of first person shooter and RPG with a little adventure game stuff thrown in. Since the build of the game we played was in early April and the title is due for release in late August we went in on the assumption that the title would be a bit buggy but aside from some lengthy load times in between levels it played and looked great. There's a couple of things we want to mention before we get started. First, if you simply want to know that the game is looking great and looks like it is going to be worth buying in a couple of months, the answer is a resounding "Yes".
Now if you want to be completely surprised by what happens in the game stop reading now as we will be getting into some plot details that will occur in the first two or so hours in the game. The other thing we want to mention is that we played the game with the Xbox 360 console and controller. Unfortunately, 2K Games did not bring a PC version of the game to play at the press event so we can't comment on how that version looks and plays with a keyboard and mouse compared to the Xbox 360 port. Both versions will be released at the same time in late August and according to the Cult of Rapture community web site the PC version will have DirectX10 features along with DirectX9 graphics.
| Setting and story | Page:: ( 2 / 4 ) |
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You quickly learn that Rapture was created a number of years ago and headed up by the character Andrew Ryan who wanted to create a Utopian society dedicated to expanding human technology. You hear Ryan's voice at the beginning of the game describing the lofty ideals that Rapture was supposed to fulfill. However as you begin exploring the city you know that this utopia has turned into anything but the perfect society. The place is a wreck with water leaks everywhere, as well as splats of blood. This combo of style combined with ruin is one of the big attractions of BioShock. There are hints of Myst in the game's art style but unlike the static world that game, BioShock is interactive and alive. Indeed, it's alive in more ways than one. As you progress in the game you get to see how Rapture's remaining population has changed.
The humans have been altered by what the game called Adam; a biological substance that can give humans super human abilities. Unfortunately for the citizens of Rapture and for your character it also mutates humans into strange and hostile creatures that attack you at every turn as you explore the city. From creatures that can crawl up and down walls and ceilings to grenade tossing enemies to the Big Daddy (an underwater suited enemy that's slow but powerful and tough to kill), you won't lack of enemies to fight in the game. There's also automated turrets that you have to disable or avoid as well.
The game's RPG aspects start up once you start taking out enemies. You can search dead bodied (as well as non-organic items like desks, containers and the like) for ammo, money, weapons, and food among other things. You have a number of weapons in the game from simple melee items to pistols, machine guns and more in BioShock but you can also customize your weapons with special ammo. There's also machines and other items that you can use for money or you can "hack" them. Wen this happens you are taken out of the game world to face puzzles that usually make you move pipe-like sections of a machine so that a moving circuit can be completed. Some puzzles are easy while others are pretty tough (there's the adventure game elements for you).
| Adam powers | Page:: ( 3 / 4 ) |
Creature AI has always been one of the toughest things game developers have had to deal with in single player action games. Half-Life and its sequel were solid examples of enemies that seemed to think on their own and Bungie's Halo games also had solid AI. Playing through BioShock we realized that we could add Irrational's game to the short list of well programmed enemies. One great example is one of the last battle scenes we played where we had to tackle a particularly tough Splicer enemy. We weakened him enough to almost kill him when he tried to get away and get health back from a health kit. We finally figured out that the room we were in was partly flooded so when he went to get his health we got to a safe place and used our electro-bolt power to electrify the water, killing the enemy before he could get to the health kit.
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We have already talked about the art style of the game but we want to go into a little more detail as we have never really seen a game like this take full use of a developer's art team. It helps that BioShock's graphical basis is Epic Games' Unreal Engine 3 which is a good place to start. However, the game's levels are rich with detail as BioShock gives the player a sense of truly being in a world that was created by humans but which took a weird turn along the way. 1940's style billboards adorn the walls and the fact that you are underwater gives all the locations a sense of being closed in with water dripping everywhere. You never get a sense that you have played this level before in some other game. This is not a standard corridor shooter by any means. Mention must also be made of the game's sound. In addition to having spooking 1940's style music playing in the environment from time to time you also get some spooky sounds coming from the creatures themselves.
| Final thoughts | Page:: ( 4 / 4 ) |
The player character is also faced with choices early in the game. At one point he can take out one of the creatures called a Little Sister by either killing her and taking all of her Adam or simply turn her back to being human and taking only some of her Adam. Supposedly we will find out later in the game how either killing or saving Little Sisters will change how the game is played. And while Andrew Ryan is heard on speakers in the game we never actually encountered him during our playtime. Will we face the creator of Rapture at some point in BioShock and if so will he be a good guy, a bad guy or something in between?
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It's actually hard to write about BioShock for this preview article. There was so much to do and so many options we had to play with in the game but we also know that we only scratched the surface so anything we write about for this preview will only be expanded upon when the full game is released. We also know that talking about the plot of the game might be a moot point since there are developments in the storyline that we just don't know anything about and likely won't until the game itself is released. But that's a good thing in the end.
It's been a long time since we have played a single player action title and not be able to predict with some certainly what will happen in the end or indeed if there is more than one ending to the game depending on what your character does and encounters during his exploration of Rapture. Will he use up Adam too much that he turns into a creature? How will the civil war between the two factions in the game end? Just who the heck is Andrew Ryan? Will you find your way out of Rapture and if so what happens next? Irrational and 2K Games have us guessing and we couldn't be happier. So far BioShock is turning out to be the game we expected to be and more. It's a first person shooter that has a deep gameplay design and a setting and storyline that looks like will have us on the edge of our seats. Oh, and it just happens one of the best looking and most unique games we have ever seen. It's going to be a long wait for us to get to the end of August to find out how BioShock continues from where we had to stop playing that night at the press event back in April. We think (and hope) it will be worth it.
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