If you are really into playing video games on your Playstation 3, Xbox 360 or Nintendo Wii console, or even on your PC or PSP, then get ready to be thoroughly entertained and possibly even blown away by some impressive new game releases in the year to come. There is a whole new crop of games that will be released in 2007, but Bioshock is one that certainly deserves some extra attention.



A highly anticipated game from Irrational Games that has been in the works since 2004, Bioshock is the "spiritual successor" to the cult-classic System Shock 2. It will be released in the spring of 2007 for Xbox 360 and PC.

Bioshock is a futuristic/post-apocalyptic game about people fighting science experiment mutants gone out of control in the ruins of a city that was built under the sea in the 1940s. The storyline and the graphics are as creative as any video games on the market, but the most engaging part of this game is the problem-solving aspect. The user is continuously challenged to figure out what has happened to this underwater ghost town in order to move the game along.

Like the other games from Irrational that came before it, Bioshock is a dazzling, complex and highly interactive experience that challenges gamers of all levels to solve its mysteries as they interact with adversarial beings and creatures. It has a dark and cryptic look to it that brings to mind the mines of Moria scene from the Lord Of The Rings where the Fellowship battled the Balrog in the abandoned dwarve empire under the Misty Mountains.

Bioshock is set primarily in a broken-down underwater complex that seems to be a relic from the World War II era. Players move through the game with a first person perspective as they battle mutant creatures that roam the halls and streets of this decaying city.

Nothing is quite clear to the user at first, such as what the complex was originally used for, and why it is being used again, but things become more apparent as they progress through the game. What is eventually apparent is that a utopian city was built and genetic experiments were performed in the 1940s, and then the complex fell into disrepair for reasons unknown. Sixty something years later the complex is revisited and we find out that it has been overrun by mutant genetic experiment creatures that have a taste for human flesh.

Ken Levine, the general manager of Irrational Games describes Bioshock as a convergence of technology and biological life in which genetic experiments are featured. It is by no means a sequel to System Shock 2, whose setting was a corporate-sponsored starship.

Bioshock has no story connection to System Shock 2 other than the fact that they are both horror-themed. The similarity is in the way the game is played as the player gets to decide what they see and interact with by the decisions they make during each step of the game.

According to Ken Levine, the interactivity level of this new game will be "unprecedented". The player becomes immersed in the interactive environments and confronted with a series of player-driven choices. This creates a style of play the developers of the game call emergent gameplay.

Another impressive aspect of this game is the AI ecology which dynamically searches for opportunities to fulfill their purpose. The player can even manipulate the AI ecology to work in their favor, turning enemies and NPCs against each other.

Of all the games that will be released in 2007 for Nintendo Wii, Playstation 3, Xbox 360, PSP or PC, Bioshock is sure to be one of the best. It is a hybrid first person shooter game that combines elements of science fiction and role playing genres with interactive environments and player-driven choices.

This is a challenging and engaging video game that allows you to literally be in the middle of the action and decide how the game plays out. If you like your video games to be as creative as they are engaging, then Bioshock is one you will thoroughly enjoy.