BioShock trailer on EGTV

By Tom Bramwell Published 23 March, 2007

Rapturous.

We might spend a lot of time talking about new PlayStations and Slitherlinks and all that, but we're usually dreaming of BioShock when we do - and we're not just saying that because 2K Games has given us this rather handsome exclusive trailer to show off.

BioShock is due out on 24th August on PC and Xbox 360, and we're pretty keen on it. Irrational Games embosses this view in greater faith whenever we talk to them, like we did recently when Ken Levine answered some of our questions.

But you'll know why that is if you've been keeping up with it, so why don't we just stop talking and send you off to look at the trailer? You've probably gone already. If not, you could also click on this link to our BioShock first impressions. We wouldn't blame you if you didn't though. It's 5.30pm and we've pretty much checked out. I'm basically just picking at the label of a bottle of Casillero del Diablo I bought at Sainsbury's. It's a good gig if you can get it.

What am I saying? BioShock! Be excited!

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000. Follow him on Twitter.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (41) Latest comment 5 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • FunkyRenegade #1 5 years ago

    Ooooohhhh 24th of August can't come soon enough!

  • EmiliasHorse #2 5 years ago

    Excited? Yes thank you.

  • rhinoxious #3 5 years ago

    Good idea, why am i sitting here reading this when I could be at home playing Virtua Tennis with the wife, and drinking la'r'ger!

    Night all.

  • spliffhead #4 5 years ago

    The Red is nice but the White is appalling.

  • Darkedge #5 5 years ago

    nice environments shown off but actually boring teaser.
    Still can't wait for it :)

  • SomaticSense #6 5 years ago

    Some actual gameplay footage for a change please Irrational?

    I'm asking nicely...

  • ecureuil #7 5 years ago

    I can't understand the hype for this game. The environments look nice enough, but it just looks like another generic FPS.

  • UncleLou #8 5 years ago

    It looks as much as a generic FPS as Ico looks like a generic platformer.

  • ecureuil #9 5 years ago

    What doesn't look generic about it, Lou?

    I watched that long E3 video months ago, with Levine narrating, and it does look like a nice game, but I didn't get all the fuss. He talked about having different ammo types and being able to shoot security cameras like they were brand new ideas. It looks like a fine game, don't get me wrong, but I don't really understand why this has so much more hype than any other FPS coming out on the 360.

  • Nikanoru #10 5 years ago

    iwannitiwannitiwannitiwannit



    I think some of the draw comes from the fact it looks all Myst-ish and stuff.

  • ecureuil #11 5 years ago

    The setting is rather enamoring, which is why I'll certainly get it.

  • MrAtheist #12 5 years ago

    I hope they switch the setting to a bombed out French village during WW2, or failing that an industrial warehouse full of crates.

  • Xerx3s #13 5 years ago

    Why release it at the end of the vacation ffs?! It means that I only have 5 days left for playing this. :(

  • Xerx3s #14 5 years ago

    ecureuil: Install SS2, install the updates, finish the game and then come back. It is just about the best game ever made and it is the spiritual predecessor to this.

  • sanctusmortis #15 5 years ago

    eceuril, you must have no soul. Have you seen the "taking down a Big Daddy" video? It demonstrated beautifully how this game is so different. It's more of an RPG than a shooter; your path to completing your goal is up to you. There's no set path to accomplishing anything, just as there wasn't in SS2. Yes, the items were always in the same place; but how you got there was up to you.

    I'm dying for this. Games of the quality this is promising are 3 a generation.

  • ecureuil #16 5 years ago

    Xerx3s - I didn't know that, but it would explain the hype. I've heard good things about the game, so I'll give it a go. :) Thanks.

  • matrim83 #17 5 years ago

    @SomaticSense - I think they have released more than enough gameplay footage. Anymore would be spoiling it.

  • Yossarian #18 5 years ago

    that is a very mediocre wine, by the way

    like, 4/10

  • UncleLou #19 5 years ago

    What doesn't look generic about it, Lou?

    I watched that long E3 video months ago, with Levine narrating, and it does look like a nice game, but I didn't get all the fuss. He talked about having different ammo types and being able to shoot security cameras like they were brand new ideas. It looks like a fine game, don't get me wrong, but I don't really understand why this has so much more hype than any other FPS coming out on the 360.

    My point was - Ico's core gameplay isn't much else than a slow-paced platform/puzzle game. It didn't matter one bit though.

    To be honest, I never quite understand the "just another [insert genre here]" line. You can say this about pretty much every game unless it really is a completely original one. And "just another FPS" isn't any worse than "just another platformer" or "just another JRPG". It's not the genre that makes or breaks a game.

    That said, like it has been said, this is a sequel to the System Shock games. And if you haven't played these, what the hell are you doing on a gaming forum, anyway? ;)

  • ecureuil #20 5 years ago

    I've got nothing wrong with it being "just another FPS" or whatever, I'm not even criticising the game. I think it looks good, but I just couldn't understand how the game was getting quite so much hype because to me it looks like a regular FPS. There are games that look better than this, that aren't getting anywhere near the same level of excitement around them, and that didn't make sense to me. Now that Xerx3s mentioned SS, it's a lot clearer.

    I know about System Shock, obviously, but I never played it because I didn't have a capable PC.

  • UncleLou #21 5 years ago

    Well, fair enough. :)

    There are games that look better than this, that aren't getting anywhere near the same level of excitement around them

    Hm, that I disgree with. Artistically, Bioshock is absolutely top drawer. I am hard-pressed to name a single game in development that looks as good.

  • Feanor #22 5 years ago

    Meh, Call of Duty 3 on the Wii looks better.

  • UncleLou #23 5 years ago

    No doubt, but that's already out. I specifically said "in development".

  • Feanor #24 5 years ago

    Heh, sorry, I was just being ridiculous. COD 3 on the Wii actually looks pretty hideous & Bioshock will be what makes me finally get a 360.

  • Xerx3s #25 5 years ago

    I do have the feeling that it is going to be dumbed down a bit. I.e. While SS2 forced you to actually 'hack' a machine to get it to do what you want, this is simplified to just the press of a button. I also get the feeling that most skills or actions here are combat related.

  • UncleLou #26 5 years ago

    Heh, sorry, I was just being ridiculous. COD 3 on the Wii actually looks pretty hideous & Bioshock will be what makes me finally get a 360.

    Um, yes, I understood you weren't serious. It wasn't that hard to figure out. :)

  • morriss #27 5 years ago

    Looks bootiful. Can't wait to get immersed. If the rumours are true about Halo in September, I'll need some serious gaming time to get through this before its arrival.

  • ArcMonkey #28 5 years ago

    Might be hard retuning to halo after this :D

  • Yossarian #29 5 years ago

    apart from them being first person games where you can shoot, they have nothing in common

  • NthSimulachum #30 5 years ago

    Don't install the graphical updates to System Shock 2. The original low-poly models are far scarier. Especially the Midwifes.

    "Trioptimum reminds you there are only one hundred twenty-six shopping days till Christmas. An extra work cycle, just once a month, will give you the funds to make this holiday, a very special one."

  • YourMessageHere #31 5 years ago

    I think the point System Shock fans are trying to make is that practically everything in that game could be done in more than one way, and being a spiritual successor to SS2, we hope the same holds true with Bioshock. The video shows the player shooting, yes, but the point is that you can probably do what you need to do without shooting, i.e. by misdirection, by getting A.I. characters to fight amongst themselves, or maybe even by co-operating with the likes of the Big Daddy things. Disc's mention of a hacking mechanic supports this too. Hurry up the August!

  • mattigan #32 5 years ago

    I think that the previous clips of this have been quite missleading in that they all show the player in various gunfights, it totally misses the choice element of this genre, and by choice I mean that there are different ways of doing things to choose from, when playing SS2 I quite often found myself stuck unable to get any further with my current abilities, but then tried a different strategy that I wouldn't have first thought of and found a way round the problem. That is what this game is all about, and that is the great thing about it, I guarantee you that there is no better feeling than getting one up on the enemy AI by the use of your superior intelect, and I predict that there will be many such moments when playing through Bioshock.

  • bonker #33 5 years ago

    This has certainly caught my attention, particularly due to the art design, I'm a real sucker for Art Deco.

    I have to say though that since seeing screenshots of guns being shot etc, it's turned me off completely (sorry but I typically abhor FPS games).

    I'm still hopeful that the game is as intelligent as it looks but we'll have to wait and see.

  • Xerx3s #34 5 years ago

    And, no, I have not played System Shock. Can I still have an opinion in this?

    No. ;)

    As for the people saying this looks very much like an fps: It's most likely the marketing pitch as ss2 was wasted on the masses because it was so much more complex than a standard fps. The PR knows that many 360 owners are hardcore fps gamers. It would be logical to target them with fps elements.

  • cyber_nicco #35 5 years ago

    Looks great!

  • UncleLou #36 5 years ago

    rdexter, read the Gamespot E3 report if you like. It explains things a bit.

  • NthSimulachum #37 5 years ago

    The good old days

  • dirigiblebill #38 5 years ago

    I'm going to repeat what I said on the trailer thread- to my uninitiated eyes this game has the ps1 Oddworld titles written all over it, and not just in terms of the ghoulish, future-retro look and satirical undertone. Both games have you taking advantage of AI routines to progress- pitting Splicers and Big Daddies against one another smacks of using Sligs to blast Scrabs (or whatever those crazy centaurish nasties were called).

  • Yossarian #39 5 years ago

    to my eyes it's basically System Shock: Terror from the Deep. which is fine by me. and yes all the trailers have focused on the combat elements, but there were leaked screenshots (since removed from the Internets) of the hacking minigame -- which reminded me somewhat of that old PC desktop game Pipe Dreams -- and of UI for the PlasmiQuick/Gene Bank etc., which suggests to me that while it may be more combat-focused than SS2 was (it doesn't appear to have the same wealth of researching, repairing, inventory juggling etc. that game had), the role-playing and exploration aspects that are hallmarks of the Looking Glass-esque first person games are intact.

    the fact that people who never played those same games are coming away from these trailers thinking 'standard FPS with spooky underwater setting' tells me that this game is being marketed wrongly. or rightly, depending on how cynical you are about the 360 audience.
    Edited by Yossarian at 25/03/07 @ 13:48

  • Azazel #40 5 years ago

    damnit

    /goes to play SS2 again

  • smoothn00dle #41 5 years ago

    BioShock, I remember two games sounds like this name before. Both won praise from critic but sale miserably. Good Luck!