BioShock: Irrational Games Interview

Kikizo talks to BioShock boys Joe McDonagh and Joe Faulstick to discuss the stunning title that could change the way we think about first person shooters.

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Kikizo: Can you tell us more about this interesting power-up system you have developed?

Joe F: We call these plasmids, they're basically like personal mutation - the society found ways to mutate themselves to make themselves smarter, brighter, faster - and so you've got all these different tools - pyrokinesis which is your ability to cause fire, we also have a similar ability for incineration, but instead of throwing fireballs you actually cause items to envelope in fire, and they will catch other people and other items on fire. We have this security beacon that tricks the security system into thinking other enemies or AI entities are you... there's a whole diverse range of powers, that affect your ability to use weapons, that affect your ability to manipulate the environment, and that allow you to directly assault the other AIs.

Joe M: My favourite plasmid is called mimic, and you can mimic the noises that the little girl makes, which makes a big brother think you're one of them, so he will protect you and if anyone attacks you, he'll fuck them up. Everything is a threat and an opportunity.

Kikizo: This is kind of the spiritual successor to System Shock 2, how do you think it extends from that game and what big similarities can fans look forward to?

Joe F: Fear, and hunger. It's a real good start! And also it's taken the player choice and open endedness of System Shock 2 but offered in a more accessible manner - it's easier to get into than System Shock 2, so we're hoping we're hoping we can bring that same amount of gameplay to a larger audience.

Joe M:We did a lot of analysis of what made System Shock 2 scary, and I think key to it was that you're always hungry, you're always desperate, and you've never got enough of anything. In here you've never got enough.

We have this enemy, one of the first in the game, called the cieling crawler, just using bullets isn't very effective against her. What's interesting about her is we had about six or seven versions of her, and got rid of them all because they were all 'monsters'. And we were watching The Shining one night and realised that monsters aren't scary. What's scary, are fucking mad people - like Jack Nicholson in The Shining.

Kikizo: How shocking does the content get? We've already seen stuff that is totally not for the family audience in the demos, how far are you planning on taking the shock value?

Joe F: As far as we can. It's going to be tough in some regions but we're going to take it as far as we can because we want it to be visceral, we want the player to feel like they're immersed in this and like have an emotional reaction and attachment to the game.

Joe M:The sound is really important. This is kind of a left field analogy, but I've always thought that good horror, is like good porn. Less is more, because it's about suggestion. And that's why sound is such an effective way of telling a story. Because what we can show a player is never as effective as what he can create in his own head. It's the stuff you can't see that's on the periphery of your imagination, that's really scary.

If we can get one person to play this game with the lights off, then we'll have achieved what we're trying to do. We really want it to scare the crap out of you.

Kikizo: Will there be an equivalent of Shodan from System Shock?

Joe M:That would be giving it away! Of course. That was before my time at Irrational, but look: Shodan is one of the great villains of computer games. And if we can get anywhere close to getting a Shodan character in there it'll be great. Our network at work is called Shodan actually which is... kind of cool.

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Our thanks to both Joes and the friendly Take 2 people. Here's to more interviewees that like to swear lots!

Click here for Kikizo's interview archive.