There hasn't been much information on Irrational Games' BioShock since it was publicly unveiled at last year's E3, where it was decorated with a bevy of accolades (including GameSpy's PC Game of Show). There was no shortage of reasons for the acclaim: with many of the creators of the System Shock games on board, BioShock teased us with a unique underwater setting and accompanying storyline, creepy locations and enemies, gorgeous graphics and open-ended gameplay. Recently, at a special press event in New York City, we were invited to not only to watch several of the levels in action, but also to dive in (pun intended) and experience the world of BioShock for ourselves.
Under the Sea
With so much ground to cover, it's hard to decide where to begin telling the story of BioShock. That wasn't a problem for Irrational, as the press event kicked off with video of the game's entire opening sequence.
Set in 1960, BioShock begins with you flying over the Atlantic (the sight of someone smoking on an airplane is a nice touch) when your plane crashes into the middle of the ocean. After momentarily blacking out -- during which time the game's logo is splashed across the screen -- you quickly regain consciousness underwater and swim to the surface, where you're greeted with the sight of flaming wreckage everywhere in sight. As you swim away from the debris, you spot a lighthouse oddly placed in the middle of nowhere, and swim towards it. Entering the lighthouse, instead of finding stairs leading upwards, you make your way downwards past strange symbols until reaching a bathysphere. The whole thing is very Myst-ian, and being a videogame, your character is of course compelled to forget all about that traumatic plane crash you survived mere moments earlier to take the bathysphere for a little ride to... wherever.
As the bathysphere descends, a small projector screen unfolds to cover the main window and a short film begins playing, foreshadowing the strange world you're about to enter. It's here that you're introduced to one Andrew Ryan, a figure not unlike Howard Hughes or Charles Kane, who welcomes you to the world of Rapture, which you get your first glimpse of as the screen retracts.
Bathed in a blue-green light, Rapture is a fascinating underwater city, with tall buildings parked on the ocean floor and neon signs everywhere. As your bathysphere is about to dock, it floats through a series of rings, each with part of a larger phrase on it: "All Good Things ... Of This Earth ... Flow Into the City." It's a memorable sequence, enhanced by the game's orchestral soundtrack, which swells as your craft approaches the city.
