At first blush, it sounds like any other preteen fantasy. You're tasked with exploring ruined undersea paradise Rapture, a fallen utopia now inhabited by homicidal freaks, the remains of once-privileged debutantes who foolishly tinkered with human genetics. But dig a little deeper into the tale, and you'll realize BioShock -- a spiritual successor to cult favorite sci-fi/horror hybrid System Shock 2 -- is the most adult, psychologically disturbing role-playing adventure in ages.

Exploring recently abandoned ballrooms, dress shops and cantinas, you'll engage and do battle with an array of strikingly intelligent, wall-crawling humanoids and cybernetic defense systems. There's no single solution to any encounter. Wily players needn't simply shoot opponents; they can create distractions to sneak past rivals, hack into security systems and take command of gun-toting droids, or use DNA-fueled abilities to pit enemies against one another. Once finished polishing off baddies, consider enhancing your own skill and performance by juicing up on a range of collectible plasmids and claiming items used to upgrade your arms/armor or solve mind-bending puzzles.

That each adversary has its own individualized personality/routine is just an added bonus. Ditto for a stunning aesthetic that's equal parts violent bloodshed and vintage Americana.

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