Levine: The next time we show it, we're really going to be focusing on some of the gameplay stuff. I think our first demo was really about the world of Rapture and the world of BioShock and showing people what we were trying to do on the high level. The next things we'll be showing are the AIs and your interaction with the AIs and the interface, and the user experience. The AI is so critical to this game.GameSpy: So far, we've only seen three or so enemies/characters in the game. Can you tell us about some others?
Levine: You saw the little sisters and the big daddies; well, there are going to be many different varieties of them. There are three major different types of big daddies actually. And there are also some subtypes too, and then of course you have the splicers too (the scary women that crawled on the ceiling in the last demo). There are tons of different splicers in the game and they all have different genetic powers that you face up against. Unlike a lot of games where you have generic enemies, any of our characters can have any of the powers in the game. So just like you, they are genetically (modifiable), and really unpredictable. We really did that to try and move away from the standard FPS genre. Because our enemies are spawned dynamically and because they move through the world with their own goals and intentions, we really see all these combined to create a world that exists on its own terms.
GameSpy: Will we be dealing with any boss-type enemies in the game? Will there be an antagonistic personality to face like SHODAN?
Levine: There are two ways to define bosses. We have an antagonistic -- the guy who created Rapture -- called Andrew Ryan who still rules over and is blind to the fact that the world has fallen apart, and views you as a threat. And then there are numerous characters in the game that serve as bosses -- but you will not be jumping on anybody's head and knocking over their turtle shell in this game. Our bosses are more powerful than the other guys, but because our toolset is so broad and the player can express themselves in so many ways, we don't want to prescribe a way to defeat any of these bosses.GameSpy: "Adam" is pure stem cells secreted by an underwater sea slug. Did you choose this because of the current controversies over the use of stem cells?
Levine: It was a very natural thing to be thinking about. They really are one of the most compelling stories today both on a political level and a sci-fi level. What are the possibilities here? Sure, there are social implications, but I don't think we're making a polemic here about stem cell research in any way, shape or form, but rather BioShock is talking about people who take any belief system and just turn it into an extremist belief system. That's the thing that tears Rapture apart: beliefs that cannot be compromised on. The Adams are simply the accelerator to the destruction. People say guns don't kill people, people kill people. Uncompromising ideas are the things that drive conflict, and in this case, Adam is the vehicle that drives the conflict.
