Gonzo

Bioshock musings- part one: Spray that fucking Splicer, whiteboy!


Remember E3 2006? Well screw Miyamoto and his comical attempts at conducting. In Bioshock, 360 and potent PC-owners get their chance to orchestrate some seriously fucked up shit- and I think that's the best way to summarise my experience of what's shaping up to be one of the finest adventures a videogame'll take you on. Yes, adventure. Yes, it is technically a shooter. And sure, it all goes down in first-person- but to describe it as an "fps" risks a misunderstanding with those who've excluded the likes of Deus Ex from the ambit of that genre. It's not an RPG either, like the aforementioned nerdfodder (or System Shock, for that matter).

I was told by the PR dude that the atmosphere was a lot like System Shock. I wouldn't know, as I never played it. But if that's the case, I must have missed out- sound and visuals mix to make a game as frightfully ambient as anything that came before. The game did seem to take some of the best features from some of my great gaming experiences. The excellently timed and plotted spawning of scenarios from Half-Life 2, as well as the bypassing-your-environment school of thought when it comes to progression through the levels. The vicious, brutal melee combat of Condemned (I refer to the Splicers here -the hitherto regular, but now utterly batshit inhabitants of Rapture- forget the Big Daddies. Nothing in a videogame has ever hit as hard as they do). It has the character customisation and skill progression of just about every western RPG in the planet- but has the sense to limit it to designated vending machines, rather than a clunky, constantly tempting, menu. But above all the way that it put me in control of more than a mere hand-holding-a-gun cypher instantly reminded me of Deus Ex.

Perhaps I should have suspected as much, from the moment I saw the banner which introduced me to Rapture, the idyllic-yet-surreal, retro-yet-advanced, setting for Irrational's superb title. "No Gods or Kings- Only Man"- the theme of men and women forsaking received theocracy and established power structures to focus on unfettered individual liberty -and ending up bettering themselves at any cost to their humanity- certainly rang a few bells. But it was mostly the way it put me, the player, in control of combat situations through means not limited to pointing a gun and firing. The interaction between plasmids and weapons is one way: starting off with Electrobolt-then-melee, and progressing to all kinds of cool shit; Telekinesis and enflame producing the Molotov teddy-bear being an example. Enflame and Electrobolt being another- set fire to a splicer and she'll run screaming to the nearest pool of water. Ambush her there, zap the water, and she's done.

That's only one facet of the conducting, however. At all times, the player's awareness of his environment- of enemies (and class of enemies), of pools of water or oil, of turrets and cameras and drones- and what he does with it, makes the difference between a desperate, downbeat gun fight, where survival barely feels like an achievement on account of the scarce ammo spent, and supreme empowerment, a kind of "Shaft has hit Rapture- get outta the way, dorks" moment. It's a superb feeling when that comes together. And it's not something Deus Ex ever did achieve.

What a brilliant way to synthesize a number of the best features from modern games, and still end up showing the way forward. The future of shooters, as technology evolves, is likely to end up in that very word- shooter- being questioned as a functioning title for a genre. Bioshock is no more about shooting than an orchestra is about the violin. The contrast between the chaos of charging in, and composed, deliberate, directing of the action, is set to be one of the best feelings in any videogames ever.

I've only played a level and a bit of this. So it may yet go wrong- but I'd be surprised. More later. August 24 people. Shame the Limited Edition don't come with a Big Daddy Helmet.

PS- The opening intro has the loveliest water EVAR. My notes say there was a dedicated member of staff working on just that. Nice to see someone in videogames taking introductory impact seriously. One to note, and learn from, for the makers of Resistance 2, should that title ever come to pass.