BioShock

BioShock
File:Bioshockcover.jpg
Developer(s)	Irrational Games
Publisher(s)	2K Games
Designer(s)	Irrational Games
Engine	Unreal Engine 3.0
Platform(s)	Xbox 360, Windows
Release	August 21 2007 (US) August 24 2007 (EU)
Genre(s)	First-person shooter, adventure, RPG
Mode(s)	Single player

BioShock is a video game in development by Irrational Games, for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360. It is described by the developers as a "spiritual successor" to their previous PC title System Shock 2 . It has been in development since late 2004 (and in planning for some time before that). On January 9, 2006, Take-Two Interactive announced that they had acquired Irrational Games, and would be publishing BioShock under their 2K Games publishing label, "planned for release in early 2007". The game will be an Xbox 360 and Windows XP/Vista title. The announced release date is reported as August 21 2007 in North America and August 24 2007 in Europe.

BioShock is said by the developers to include a great deal of interactive environments and player-driven choices, called emergent gameplay; with Ken Levine stating its interactivity would be, "unprecedented". While the term has been used for a variety of games, such as the popular Grand Theft Auto series, it is believed that this gameplay will borrow highly from System Shock and System Shock 2. Another point of focus is the "AI ecology", which will dynamically search for opportunities to fulfill their purpose. The player can even exploit the ecology to his/her advantage, making enemies and NPCs turn against each other or otherwise manipulate them into helping the player. Irrational games announced in a Q & A session on January 19, 2007 that there would be no multiplayer element. They also stated that a demo would not be released, but that "[t]hings could change".

A 14 minute video showing for the first time to the public gameplay and introducing some of the AI was released on September 20, 2006.

Initial story

The game starts with the player underwater following a plane crash in the ocean, surrounded by debris. No introductory cut scene is displayed explaining how this happened, leaving the player to decide for themselves why they were on the plane. Nearby, a lighthouse is sticking out of the water, in the middle of the ocean. Upon getting inside and traversing the internal stairwell, the player finds a bathysphere, with a corpse inside. Upon removing the corpse and descending in the bathysphere (having nowhere else to go), the player eventually reaches an underwater city on the ocean floor.

A plot unfolds involving the crumbling city, named Rapture, and the utopian society for which it was built. A man named Andrew Ryan, a former Soviet citizen, built the city in 1946, and the society was envisioned as the ultimate capitalistic and individualist paradise, with the elite achieving for themselves, rather than for the whole. Protected by a network of giant sea walls and consisting of a cluster of enormous skyscraper-shaped hive towers, Rapture was designed to be entirely self-supporting, with all of its electricity, food production, water purification and defense systems powered by undersea volcanic openings. At one point, it is learned that Rapture's population numbered several thousand at its peak during the early 1950s, composed of those people Ryan viewed as the best examples of mankind. A large and tiered economy grew among the people, catering different quality products to different levels of the society. The city itself is inspired by Art Deco and has an appearance merging the futuristic and archaic.

A scientific discovery upset the balance of the society. Two scientists studying ocean-floor dwelling creatures discovered a species of sea slug that secretes pure stem cells. These could be used to enhance one's body, improving physical or mental capabilities, curing diseases and healing injuries. A young entrepreneur named Fontaine invested early on in the research to gain control over the material. The substance, dubbed "Adam", became so sought after in the society, that it became the dominant currency of the city. A "full-scale genetic arms race" broke out between Ryan and Fontaine as Fontaine's monopoly on Adam threatened the current social structure. Ryan eventually won, but everyone in the city was permanently changed. During the war, it was discovered that Adam could be used to modify one's body, combining technology and mutations to adapt and survive the conflict, but losing their humanity in the process. During the conflict, all natural sources of Adam were destroyed, which eventually resulted in a major shift in the "ecology" of the city, as all inhabitants had become biologically dependent on Adam to survive.

When the player arrives in Rapture, the city is in a state of disrepair, its vast underground living areas and laboratory complexes scarred by the effects of the civil war and poisoned by biological weapons. Low-level flooding is also found to be a problem, as the use of high-powered explosives and corrosion weapons during the war created small breaches in the city's sea walls, allowing seawater to enter some of the buildings.

As the player descends through the underwater city, he or she will explore the many levels of the giant undersea base, including the huge living quarters modules and the multi-floored scientific headquarters. Remnants of the last days remain in notes and recordings made by the citizens before and during the collapse of Rapture's society. Not only does this provide background, it also opens new avenues in the player's interaction with the ecology of Rapture.

Enemies

File:Bioshock Protector.jpg

A resident of Rapture, a "Big Daddy".

Four main categories of enemies are encountered:

• Aggressors: (splicers) Deformed, genetically modified Rapture citizens who are now remnants of Ryan's army, the Aggressors cannot survive in an oxygen atmosphere due to their extensive biological modifications. They wear little or no armor, and normally roam the levels of Rapture, searching for other inhabitants to kill and steal Adam from. As their name would suggest, they are aggressive and violent, and will use their enhanced physical strength, group tactics and, sometimes, semi-biological weapons to kill all in their path.
• Gatherers: (Little Sisters) Originally to be portrayed as slug-like, genetically modified sea creatures, the Gatherers were created by a scientist named Tanenbaum as a solution to the Adam shortage. They extract Adam from the dead with the tools they carry and eat it, their bodies reprocessing it into a usable form, known as Eve. The team designed them so the player would have a moral conflict in killing children to obtain Adam as well as severe difficulty due to their relation to the Protectors as their charges. According to lead designer Paul Hellquist, the Gatherers have a direct link with the main character. In a recently released audio file, Levine described how the player cannot do anything cruel to Little Sisters, only harvest them (which kills them). One cannot shoot the little sisters or set them on fire. Rewards for not killing Little Sisters are given by Tanenbaum, although the rewards are as of yet unrevealed by Levine.
• Protectors: (Big Daddies, or Mr. Bubbles as some of the Gatherers call them) Mute, lumbering bio-mechanical monstrosities, created to protect the Gatherers. They are heavily armored and wield high-powered weaponry, including a large drill. Their armor somewhat resembles a large diving suit. Most of the inhabitants stay out of the way of the Gatherers and Protectors. According to lead designer Paul Hellquist "Once you mess with them, you find out why no-one messes with them."
• Security Bots: Throughout the city of Rapture, there are various security cameras. When disturbed, a siren will sound and an unlimited supply of security bots will pour out. The only way to take them down is to destroy the camera or, like in the demo, shut off the security system. Security bots appear to hover and fly using the same method as helicopters and are armed with machine guns.

File:Bioshock-Little Sister.jpg

A "Little Sister" attempting to procure Adam.

Customization

To adapt and advance their character, the player can spend Adam to gain upgrades called "Plasmids" to modify themselves and give themselves new and/or enhanced abilities and weapons. These are grouped under trees that are Weaponry, Engineering, Active, and Physical.

One of these abilities, as mentioned in a GameSpot preview of the game, is Aggressor Irritant, which causes all nearby Aggressors to attack the target of the plasmid. There is a Plasmid that allows the player to sound like a Gatherer, gaining Protector aid and scaring away some Aggressors. A screenshot released in August 2006 shows a fire-related plasmid ability along with video revealing a plasmid allowing the player to produce a horde of wasp-like creatures from his veins.

A BioShock Developer Walkthrough video also revealed the existence of "Speed Boost" (temporary superspeed) and "Security Beacon" (causes security devices to detect (and attack) the target). Also during the video, when accessing the "Plasmi-Quik" (a device to change plasmids), there is a fire-based plasmid. Recently released pictures also revealed a lightning-related plasmid ("Electrovolt"). Interviews on the website also refer to an ice-based plasmid. Recently, a new in-game video released on March 2, 2007, on the GameSpot web site displayed the use of two Plasmids: one allows the main character to use telekinesis to manipulate objects in the world with his/her mind and another Plasmid allows the main player to teleport to a pre-determined point.

It is hinted that some (if not all) plasmids alter the character's appearance (some screen shots show the character's hands with a texture similar to some of the splicers' skin), keeping up with the theme of "sacrificing your humanity" referenced by Ryan in one of the game's trailers .

In addition to self-modification, in the 15 minute gameplay demonstration video, Ken Levine states that weapons can be modified to shoot different kinds of bullets, to hold bigger magazines and to shoot more powerfully.

Weapon modification

In the 15 minute gameplay demonstration video, Ken Levine states that weapons can be modified to shoot different kinds of bullets, to hold bigger magazines and to shoot more powerfully.

Engine

Bioshock was originally going to run on an enhanced version of the Tribes Vengeance engine, the highly modified version of Unreal Engine 2.5 technology, used by previous Irrational titles Tribes: Vengeance and SWAT 4 and SWAT 4: The Stetchkov Syndicate. In an interview at E3 in May 2006, Levine has revealed that, " we've moved to Unreal Engine 3.0, we've done a lot of modifications on top of it," particularly to the way the engine handles water effects, which he claims will be very impressive, "we've hired a water programmer and water artist, just for this game, and they're kicking ass and you've never seen water like this."

Bioshock will utilize DirectX 10 feature set when available, but will also run on older DirectX 9 hardware.

File:Bioshock-Gunshot Wound.jpg

An Example Of Unreal Engine 3.0 Capabilities.

Influences

Levine has stated in an interview with gaming magazine IGN that the project has drawn on many influences, mostly from utopian and dystopian literature; "And I have my useless liberal arts degree, so I've read stuff from Ayn Rand and George Orwell, and all the sort of utopian and dystopian writings of the 20th century, which I've found really fascinating." He also states that he wanted to confront challenges that face the modern world such as, "stem cell research and the moral issues that go around." In fact, Levine admitted the chief antagonist, Andrew Ryan, is named after Rand.

In an interview appearing in gaming magazine EGM, Levine says, "As a kid, I was obsessed with 1984 and Logan's Run. I love exploring what happens when good ideas fall apart. [...] This world is self-contained. It has its own products, its own culture, its own movies ... even its own advertising. Rapture is populated with real entities who do their own thing. They have their own goals. Take the Big Daddies and Little Sisters: all they care about is harvesting genetic material from corpses. If you don't get in their way, they won't bother you. Live and let live. But if you mess with them - watch out. The Big Daddies aren't the forgiving type."

Similarities to System Shock series

Since the game is a spiritual successor to the System Shock series, and is being developed by former developers of that series, many features and themes are revisited in the game. Levine pointed out many of the similarities during his narration of a video initially screened for the press at E3 2006:

• The theme of a once-bustling habitat now overrun with mutated humans and robot adversaries.
  • The shopping districts in Rapture resemble the mall of the Von Braun in System Shock 2, in particular.
• "Plasmids" serve the same function that cybernetic modules (cybermods) did.
• Audio recordings serve as the same storytelling device that email logs did, such as "the musings of a demented musician who went mad with rage at a rival singer's constant parodies of his work - and eventually had her killed."
• Andrew Ryan serves the same role that SHODAN and the Many did, communicating with the player remotely and working as a God-like antagonist/puppet master.
• Adam, like the Nanites in System Shock 2, serves as a currency in the game and can be used in vending machines called "Gene Banks".
• The player will be subjected to dealing with an environment "full of security cameras, turrets, and drones", and will sometimes be forced to hack security systems.
• Ammo conservation will again be stressed as "a key gameplay feature".
• One of the weapons in the game is a Wrench.

Limited Edition

On March 29, 2007, Take-Two Interactive responded to a fan-created petition for a special edition of BioShock, stating that if the petition received 5,000 signatures, they would publish a Special/Collector's edition. Five hours later, the petition met that number and reached 14,000 by the next day. Soon after the petition reached its requirement, a poll on the Cult of Rapture website was posted where visitors could vote on what they would most like to see in a special edition, and the developers would take this poll into serious consideration with their final verdict. On April 23, 2007, the Cult of Rapture website confirmed that the Special Edition would include a Big Daddy figurine, a "Making Of" DVD and a soundtrack CD, with the box featuring an embossed graphic designed by a graphic competition winner. On May 18th, the design by Adam Meyer was named the winner. [1]

Pre-Release Awards

At E3 2006, Bioshock was given the "Game of the Show" award from various online gaming sites, including Gamespot , IGN , GameSpy and GameTrailers's Trailer of the year

References

• "BioShock First Look - Exclusive First Impressions", GameSpot, October 8, 2004, retrieved January 12, 2006.
• Unknown. (2006, March). BioShock. Game Informer, 154, 44-53
• E3 06: BioShock Interview Transcript, Advanced Media Network, May 18, 2006, retrieved May 23, 2006.
• Interview with Ken Levine, Gamespy, September 6, 2006
• Issue 206. (2006, August). EGM
• Yahoo description of E3 2006 press video
• Developer video Previewing player Abilities in Tackling and Defeating a "Big Daddy", GameSpot, March 2, 2007

External links

• Official BioShock website
• The Cult of Rapture