BioShock [X360]

Although Bioshock is mostly a shooter, it's built around character progression. You spend a resource called Adam at gene banks to improve your character. Do you choose engineering skills to make it easier to hack turrets? Do you go for offensive plasmids? Or do you choose passive gene tonics that improve your basic capabilities? The idea behind the game is that you're free to evolve your character, and therefore fight battles, however you like.

Unlike a typical RPG, there are no experience points. The only way to progress is to get Adam from Little Sisters. These are little girls infested with some evil power. They run around with giant syringes, extracting genetic material from dead splicers. Each one is accompanied by her own Big Daddy, a massive protector clad a bulky suit that's part diving gear, part powered armor. These Little Sister/Big Daddy pairs are generally uninterested in you, but you'll have to deal with them sooner or later.

When you kill a Big Daddy, you decide whether to harvest Adam from the helpless Little Sister, or whether to rescue her. If you harvest her, you get an immediate income of Adam, which you can spend at the gene bank. If you rescue her, she goes her own way and you get a tiny fraction of the Adam you would have received. Rescuers will definitely fall behind the "power curve", as Levine calls it. However, there will be some sort of deferred reward waiting for them later in the game. There are mysteries waiting to be uncovered, and plenty of moral ambiguity along the way.

"We wanted a different system than the typical dark side/light side thing, which basically determines whether you get a green or blue light saber," Levine says. "For us, it's all grey side."

"The basic idea behind Bioshock was to create an AI ecology," he explains. "I was watching a nature show. It was with a jackal and deer, or something. From this, I had the idea of an aggressor, a protector, and a passive resource gatherer. The story evolved from this." The Big Daddy was always a huge powerful guy in his bulky suit. But the collector was originally an insect. Things didn't click until someone suggested making the insect a little girl. Little Sisters were born.

It was something of an epiphany for Bioshock. "Empathy for the characters is something first person shooters need," Levine says. "People get that when the Little Sister is a little girl. And making people 'get it' is the first step." Levine says the goal in Bioshock is to create a world that doesn't need a lot of exposition or separate character screens or inventories. You don't generally fuss with your inventory or character development unless you're at a terminal.

"We don't need a tutorial. You know how it usually goes: 'All right, Marine! Now we're going to teach you how to crouch!' We don't need that. We're using things people know. Electricity and water. Fire on oil spreads. The size of the Big Daddy. All of this is visual storytelling and visual gameplay."

And it's to Bioshock's credit that it can accomplish this in a unique and memorable setting. If you're ready for something different from the usual World War II, tactical military, or horror-themed shooters, mark you calendars for August 21st, and get ready to take the plunge.