No, I don’t have it yet, but if the game is half as good as the demo was, I’m going to be a total recluse for the next few weeks. The television is MINE! MINE I tell you, MINE! MY PRECIOUS!!
(ahem)
I’m okay now.
BioShock has been called the spiritual successor to System Shock II. I say spiritual because, while most of the development team for BioShock also worked on System Shock II, they do not have the rights to the title. However, the gameplay and atmosphere is similar – you are placed into an area with no idea what’s going on, no idea what happened before you got there, no idea who any of these people are, or even what it is you’re supposed to do other than “get out alive.”
System Shock, as a quick refresher, placed you in the role of a young hacker who was caught breaking into the security systems of TriOptimum Corp. Instead of going to jail, Edward Diego makes a deal with you – do some special hacking for him and he’ll wipe your slate clean and give you the latest in bionic implants. The game opens up with you waking up on Citadel Station, a space station run by a master computer called SHODAN. You find that there are dead people everywhere, and SHODAN has gone rogue. You have to figure out what is going on, and ultimately stop SHODAN. The gameplay was unique in that you didn’t run around talking to people to find out what happened, and do things for them in order to progress – you would find log entries and e-mails that your bionic implants allowed you to play back. By doing this, you not only learned what happened, but you got involved in the former lives of the people on this station. The voice acting was dead on, and you actually felt like you were a part of their lives. You felt sorry for them, and that alone drove you forward.
System Shock II put you in the role of a Space Marine assigned to a new space craft. Again, you awake from a deep sleep to find half the crew dead and the other half turned into brainless zombies, and once again you have to find out what is going on, again by listening to logs and e-mails. You spend the first part of the game trying to connect with a doctor who is still alive and is trying to help you, only to finally reach her and find that not only is she dead, but SHODAN is back and has taken over the ship. You have to keep telling yourself that this is just a game, yet the emotional letdown you feel when you find that first the person who has been helping you is dead, and may have been dead the whole time, and then the surge of excitement when you hear “I AM SHODAN.” In my opinion, no other game has come close to this kind of immersion. Many games have had better graphics, but they have not sucked me into the story like System Shock and SS2 did.
BioShock starts out with the typical narrative walkthrough – it’s 1960, and you’re on an airplane to – someplace. Doesn’t matter where, since you never get there. The plane crashes in the water, and you’re washed up on an island. You discover an elevator to an underwater city called Rapture, the brainchild of Andrew Ryan, who says he created this utopia because he was tired of being pushed around by “the man.” He poses the question, who owns the sweat from your brow? The US Government says it belongs to the poor, the Church says it belongs to God, and Russia says it belongs to everyone. (Interesting premise so far.) Ryan created a city where people could directly benefit from their labors, and you are now entering that city. Sounds great, right? You never get the chance to enjoy it – as soon as you arrive you get a radio message from someone who tells you that the city is in ruins and people are destroying each other. This “walkthrough” level is to give you a feel for the controls by introducing you to weapons and Plasmids – genetic upgrades that allow people to use telekinetic powers. Apparently the people of Rapture were able to make fantastic scientific discoveries, but they used those discoveries to destroy themselves and each other, and now you’re right in the middle of it. BioShock uses the same methods for learning information as did SS and SS2 – you have people sending you radio messages, and you find logs left by people who may or may not still be alive. Once again, you can drown in their sorrows and be changed for it, and this drives you forward to find out what happened, and more importantly, what you can do about it.
The game comes out on the 21st, although Toys R Us broke street date and there are copies out there.