The devs told us: "If you asked me what we’ve done to make this different – then one of the main things is that we’ve created an 'ecology' in this world. We’re harnessing the power of next gen consoles to have a world where everything in it is living and breathing and goes on about its life whether you are there or not... The security system in the world is one of these 'creatures' essentially, and you can interact with it in some pretty interesting ways to make it do some cool things."
For example, if you set off a security camera, you'll soon be surrounded by flying security droids that are immediately alerted to your presence. You can either choose to try to shoot the droids down, or – if you want to protect your limited ammo resources – try to shut down the security system in that zone. One of the other great things you can do is to hack into these droids to make them follow you around and act as your guard. Some of the security systems in the game are fairly rudimentary. For example, one of the rooms the character entered in the demo had a machine-gun tied to a chair, which automatically opened fire on you as you opened the door.
Another hugely cool feature in BioShock is the fact that everything in the game is physically modelled. Everything can be destroyed, searched or used in some way. Plus, there are multiple solutions to each of the problems in the game, unlike many more traditional and linear first person shooters. BioShock, we very quickly came to realise, is perhaps one of the greatest examples to date of something games developers have been chasing for years -
true open-ended, problem-solving based gameplay.
As the devs stressed to us: "We feel very strongly that the next generation of gameplay is about the player telling the game designer how he wants to play the game, rather than a designer saying 'here is a problem, solve it like this.'"
"What we are doing with BioShock is saying – here is a problem, here are your tools for solving it, you tell us how you want to solve it?"
So the most noticeable difference which BioShock has, when compared with more traditional, linear FPS titles, is that you are much more than a "digital janitor moving from one room to the next cleaning up" in the words of the guys from Irrational.
BioShock also makes use of role-playing elements as well as being a very fine first person shooter – every player having a range of powers they can use to change the world around him. You build up your character using 'plasmids' which are essentially genetic modifications which give you special powers. We were given the example of our character using a 'speed-up' power in order to get beyond a gunner who was blocking our path. You can find new plasmids at the 'Plasmi-Quick' vending machines dotted around Rapture.
Perhaps the main 'theme' of BioShock is that of water crushing you. There is an all-encompassing feel of alienation and isolation. You are basically alone at the bottom of the ocean and everybody around you has either carked it, or is totally demented.
After the Big Brother and Little Sister duo, one of the first properly shit-scary lunatics we saw in the game was what they call a 'ceiling monster' or a 'splicer', which, if you’ve seen the scene in Exorcist III where the elderly hospital patient is seen quickly whipping across the ceiling unbeknown to the main character, you’ll have a good inkling of what were talking about. And much more of an idea of how genuinely, butt-clenchingly scary this game is shaping up to be.
Water is the main theme of the game and, as such, and as would really be expected, the water 'effects' in the game are simply stunning. The devs showing us the game spoke of 'depth layered fluid simulation' and 'real-time refraction and reflection' and we have to admit to not really understanding what they were going on about, until the character in the game walked into a flooded public toilet and we were mesmerised by the water effects. Not often you can say you were mesmerised by a flooded bog!
Indeed, there is both a dedicated artist and programmer on the BioShock team whose entire professional lives are dedicated to recreating water. Aside from the obvious fact that these guys must surely have developed some kind of deep-seated water aversion by now, it’s beyond question that their work is central to the entire look and feel of BioShock.
"You should always retain the sense that this world is slowly drowning, that you are being crushed by the ocean... the ocean is trying to reclaim this space" the devs repeated throughout demontrating the game.
In trying to enter a record store on the level we saw, we are faced with the pant-soilingly scary Splicer on the one side and a Big Brother/Little Sister double act on the other. Instead of blasting away at the Ceiling Crawler to get past her, you have to try to be a little more creative about how you solve the problem. In this case we get our player to use an 'aggressive irritant' plasmid power, which he throws all over the Big Brother character. This means that the Ceiling Crawler instantly attacks the Big Brother character, thus allowing us to get by her and into the record store.
In the record store, there’s another Ceiling Crawler seemingly speed-crawling around in circles talking to herself. You’re immediate response is exactly what the game designers want, as you think to yourself, "what the fuck is this all about?". You also notice another security camera in the corner of the store, so you are faced with another dilemma – shoot the Ceiling Crawler and draw attention to yourself, thus having to face off with more security bots? Or try to divert her attention in a quieter, more creative way?
Whilst BioShock’s "AI Ecology" means that you are constantly unsure as to the reactions of any NPC’s in any particular situation, you quickly come to realise that there are patterns to their behaviour, which helps you figure out how you might manipulate the characters to your own ends. Splicers want to kill Little Sisters. Little Sisters just want to harvest dead people for ADAM. Big Brothers only want to protect Little Sisters. You might, for example, find a plasmid which enables you to trick Big Brothers into thinking that
you are a Little Sister, suggested the devs. SPOnG is sure there will be many more such powers to enable you to cleverly trick the characters into assisting you as you progress through the game.
Back in the record store our character discovers an audio log from a previous inhabitant of Rapture – in this instance the ravings of a mad musician who had murdered a rival singer, because they were ripping off his work. These logs provide vital clues as to how you progress through the game, a direct nod to the same gameplay mechanic which worked so well in System Shock 2.
That was unfortunately all the Irrational guys had to show us on this awe-inspiring game. The version of the game we saw was running smooth-as-you-like on an Xbox 360 dev kit and it really struck SPOnG after the BioShock demo that developers have only been scratching the surface of what this machine is truly capable of.
BioShock is due sometime in 2007. It's currently hovering around the top of SPOnG's most wanted list, so we’ll be pestering 2K Games over the coming months to show and tell us more, so we can relay to you how the game is shaping up. Watch this space for the SPOnG interview with Ken Levine, the bossman over at BioShock, in the very near future.
Suffice to say SPOnG walked out of the demo room with a big smile on our faces and one thought in our tiny brain: "Games are just going to get better and better and better." (Insert big smiley emoticon here).
Videogames are NOT becoming standardised, homogenised, sequel/license-led and predictable experiences, as many cynics in our industry would have you believe. Yes, sure, there are many examples which can be wheeled out to back up such an argument. There is and always will be average to downright appalling dross in every area of entertainment – movies, music, television, videogames, you name it. One look at BioShock will convert any such cynics into true believers again.
