Bioshock preview

We recently visited legendary Irrational in New York for a special hands-on preview of its stunning new FPS for PC and Xbox 360. Video of gameplay included. So sweet.

Xbox 360 gameplay video:

Download video: 17.7MB Flash (On2 VP6)

Watch it streaming

NEW: Download the 272MB, Mpeg2 high res version. Right click and select 'save link as' RIGHT HERE




A plane crashes. Amid the burning chunks of passenger jet, you come to. Looking around you realise you shouldn’t be alive. You have entered the seemingly-abandoned remains of an undersea city, though that impression is short-lived. Danger is ever present. Strange creatures inhabit the world. You have a thousand unanswered questions.

It’s not Lost. It’s Bioshock.

It’s 1960 and a year earlier a species of sea slug has been discovered deep down that has special biological properties. 'Rapture', an underwater utopia built years earlier is turned over to researching the slugs. Experiments in DNA altering and messing with “genetic building blocks” ensue. Eventually, as is always the way, a rift develops between two factions of scientists which ends in tears.

It all goes to shit and that’s when you arrive.



What a wonderful world
The world is stunningly beautiful, with art deco touches and plenty of brass and rivets. You’ve been told you’re lost in a scientific research station, but at times it feels more like a five-star hotel. The fittings are all class and a feeling of wealth and bohemian decadence pervades. Poster ads for cigarettes adorn the walls, leaving you in no doubt this is a world that pre-dates political-correctness.

It’s all served up spectacularly in the opening sequence, as you arrive via an automated mini-sub you happen upon after your plane crash. For an underwater city, it sure as hell looks like an enormous hotel in Miami. Utterly implausible touches like giant underwater neon signs may raise a few eyebrows, but it looks so amazing you’ll care little.



In fact, the Bioshock we see today bears little resemblance to the original version the team created, which had a harsher, more realistic industrial look. Irrational’s GM and creative director Ken Levine told us that “we took that notion a little too slavishly at the beginning – everything was boxy and boring. So we started from scratch and aimed for more suspension of disbelief.” Which is why Bioshock’s world looks so beautiful and crazy, and is just a fascinating place to be in.

Your first entry to the Bioshock world is a deserted lobby, and it’s clear trouble and strife have recently emptied the place and left damage everywhere. Think GTA: Vice City meets System Shock 2 and you get the idea. Indeed, it’s often been said that Bioshock is the “spiritual successor to System Shock”. Including by Irrational. But spiritual is the only connection. This is an all-new universe.