If there ever was a game series that was more underrated and overlooked in history, it would have to be SYSTEM SHOCK. Doing the 3D stuff long before DOOM ever did, SYSTEM SHOCK was a futuristic action game that scared the crap out of me moreso than stuff that id was putting out. Problem was, Looking Glass Studios‘ series was overlooked in favor of the DOOMs, the QUAKEs and the like. Long thought dead after Looking Glass closed up shop, E3 saw the spiritual successor to the series take centre stage: BIOSHOCK.
BIOSHOCK takes place in a mysterious undersea utopia called Rapture. Rapture was built for an experimental society composed of humanity’s genetic cream of the crop, and everything seemed to be going fine until it was discovered that the genetic material known as Adam could be used to further enhance the city’s already exceptional inhabitants. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what the results were. Irrational Games general manager Ken Levine (who are producing the game instead of Looking Glass) explained that the use of the substance began very gradually with a few inhabitants attempting to use the stuff to approve their appearances, until it was discovered that Adam could also greatly enhance one’s physical attributes and abilities. As the stuff became more and more in demand, it at once became much rarer, and eventually led to the breakdown of the sheltered community’s social structure and to the creation of…other things. You arrive at Rapture just after these events have taken place.
E3 saw GameSpot giving its first impressions of the gameplay for the game, slated for release next year. Immediately upon beginning the demo, the player encountered a “big daddy,” a burly diving-suited guy that’s been the subject of recent BIOSHOCK screenshots. Turns out these guys are the protectors of the “little sisters,” which look like little girls from a distance but are clearly something you wouldn’t want for a sibling. Interestingly, neither of these entities bothered to attack the player when he stood still and watched, and the daddy only assumed a threatening posture when he approached, without actually attacking (though when the player got too close, it received a shove as a warning). Certainly the AI for the game is a step above the typical ‘see player, attack’ mentality that’s been prevalent in action games recently. Anyway, the little sisters work as harvesters of sorts, roaming around Rapture and extracting Adam with oversized syringes from any human corpses they find, then subsequently eat it.
However, little sisters will be your only source of Adam as well, which you’ll need to use to adapt your character to this hostile new world, using the game’s unique role-playing system. Unlike other role-playing games which have the clearky defined “good” and “evil” extremes, BIOSHOCK won’t have any kind of reputation system that keeps track of your actions or judges your character’s moral alignment. There may be characters in the game that will reward you if you decide to protect the relatively helpless little sisters—yet if you can kill off one of these tiny worker bees without being noticed by the heavily armed and highly protective big daddies, you’ll have committed the perfect crime. It’s what happens in the moment that affects what will happen next.
Obviously, this is one game that I’ll be watching and waiting for. Do yourself a favor and check out the rest of the preview by GameSpot here.