You’ve got to hand it to the publicity team over at 2K Games. After the explosive success of the original Bioshock on the PC and Xbox 360, the publisher/developer kept dead quiet on the possibility of a sequel…that is until they silently added a teaser to the Playstation 3 release of the game, confirming that a second installment was on the way. Then…more silence, that is until a week ago when a new viral media site (www.somethinginthesea.com) opened up as a publicity stunt to hype the sequel. And since then we’ve been bombarded with a flurry of information and rumors from magazines, press releases, and community speculation about the hotly anticipated video game.

To add to the current information we have on Bioshock: Sea of Dreams comes more news from the April 2009 issue of Game Informer magazine. Yeah, yeah, old news you say–the cover was released a couple of days ago we already know about the Big Sister, yada yada. Well, now we’ve got some scans and info from INSIDE the popular video game magazine, and they sure reveal a heck of a lot about both the plot AND gameplay features.

In Bioshock 2: Sea of Dreams you play as a Big Daddy, but not just any Big Daddy–you play as THE Big Daddy. The first one. It’s been 10 years since the events of the first game and one of the Little Sisters is all grown up. Now she’s returned as a Big Sister, armor and all, with a pack of fresh-faced little darlings to take control of Rapture. As you progress through the game you can kill other Big Daddies and, like the first game, you can harvest the Little Sisters for ADAM. Alternatively, instead of freeing her, you can adopt Little Sisters who will then extract ADAM from the corpses littering the city beneath the sea. When you take advantage of this feature you will be faced with several waves of slicers who seek to steal your Little Sister for her juicy genetic goodness…at which point it’s clobberin’ time.

And clobberin’ time sure ain’t what it used to be–it’s better! For getting up close and personal you’ll find yourself armed with the Big Daddy drill, and at some point you’ll also gain access to the rivet gun. Tired of guns and melee? Lower your shoulder and charge straight through hordes of enemies. But be careful of how many Big Daddies you take out, for each one will bring you closer to an encounter with Big Sister, as indicated by a progress bar which shows you how close you are to incurring her wrath. Good thing Vita Chambers are still in the game, though 2K Games has admitted to revamping the system (no details yet).

Oh, and don’t worry. Plasmids are still in the game. Earlier this week it was revealed that there are least 2 new ones, Telepathy, which allows you to hear others’ thoughts (revealing secret information like security codes, fears, weaknesses) and another which slows down time. Some other plasmids have changed in function, such as Incinerate which can be upgraded to shoot fireballs or a stream of liquid burnination, which can set existing cyclone traps ablaze. Apparently the whole plasmid system has been improved to make it more customizable using a points system with distinct progression trees, further emphasizing the character development and RPG elements of the first-person shooter.

Can’t wait? Me neither. No release date is set, but 2K Games plans on releasing Bioshock: Sea of Dreams for all 3 platforms (PC, Microsoft Xbox 360, and Sony Playstation 3) in Q4 2009. And who knows, maybe we’ll even see a stripped down version for the Nintendo Wii this time around.

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