2K Games' BioShock is, without question, one of the finest examples of interactive entertainment you'll find in 2007, on any platform. You're a survivor of a plane crash in the North Atlantic. After swimming through flaming debris you reach land on which a lighthouse stands. Inside, an elevator takes you on a one-way ride down into Rapture, a hidden underwater city that has been torn apart by civil war. This once idyllic society that served as a secret refuge for the world's elite is now dominated by biologically mutated citizens, robotic enforcers and little girls who steal life-giving fluid from the dead. Not only must you find a way out alive in this non-linear underwater world -- how you choose to do it varies from player to player -- but you will solve the mystery of what happened here.

BioShock is an exhilarating 3-D shooter with role-playing elements; you can modify your character's skills with genetically altering material, allowing for superhuman powers including pyrokinesis and telekinesis. Gamers will also solve challenging puzzles, such as hacking into computers to unlock doors and open safes, bypassing chained areas and disabling turrets.

While BioShock takes place in 1960, Rapture has a 1940s-esque Art Deco style, complete with neon signs, hand-drawn advertisements and classic architecture, as well as crackling recorded messages and fitting music you'd swear was playing on an old phonograph record. More so than any other game in recent memory, BioShock is dripping with atmosphere and intrigue, and it's one of those rare titles where story, dialogue and character development are just as important as the action sequences.