Uh, this is coming out in 2012? And play it before you judge?
Fair point, I should've used 'interating' rather than 'annualising'.
And I don't have to play it, I know exactly how it will play: it'll be a poor mix of generic run-and-gun gameplay with selectable ammo types, and under-developed 'Ability' upgrade mechanics that serve more as dot points on the back of the box than as gameplay expanding tools.
This game screams board room, cash in thinking. "Look, this one takes place in the SKY! See, it's different from being under the Sea!". Instead of trying to run with any kind of continual plot or story line (in this case, the pricipal character would actually have been Rapture itself and it's Character Arc) they've gone in the worst possible direction and created the Bioshock 'Formula' to milk.
[Escapist City] created by [Political Ideal] is torn assunder by conflict with [Opposite Political Ideal] from within. [Player] enters the conflicted [Escapist City] due to [Plot Device] and must battle against the twisted Citizens of [Escapist City] to [Goal]. Player will gain [Ability Currency] to allow them to upgrade [Ability Name (like Plasmids)] to allow them to become more effective killers.
Throw in the obligatory plot twist and fetch quests, bump up the visuals a notch, whack a AU$120.00 price tag on it and you've got 'THE NEXT AMAZING BIOSHOCK GAME'.
And people wonder why Games are never taken seriously as an art form! Every time we come close to something amazing, something that could be - one day - considered the medium's 'Citizen Kane', we get thrown sequel after sequel after spin off after re-hash until no one can cares and the original's memory is long since dead, buried, dug up, assaulted, re-buried, burnt, pissed on and then resurrected via pagen magic.
