BioShock (PS3)

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We reckon most BioShock fans will be more than pleased come November 20

The console war used to be such a simple thing. You could get this game on this format, and that game on that one. Mario on the SNES, Sonic on the Mega Drive. Final Fantasy on the PlayStation, Halo on the Xbox. But these days the console war is a much more complicated battle. With the third-party console exclusive an endangered species, platform holders have begun scrambling for new weapons for use in the battle for gamers' hearts and minds. One of these, perhaps the most devastating, is downloadable content.

Microsoft's efforts to tie up exclusive DLC for the 360 have been well documented. While the amount of money it's forked out for the two upcoming 360-exclusive GTA 4 episodes has not been disclosed, you can bet your bottom dollar it didn't come cheap. Then there's the exclusive DLC for Fallout 3 and Tomb Raider: Underworld, and God-knows what else in the coming years.

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Sony has been less aggressive in the pursuit of exclusive DLC, to the disappointment of some PS3 owners. It would prefer, as Sony Computer Entertainment UK managing director Ray Maguire told us in a recent interview, to invest money in R&D than "paying other people a huge amount of money to stop people playing their product". Meow.

Despite Maguire's words, Sony does have an exclusive DLC weapon of its own inching ever closer to release, and it comes in the form of three brand new challenge rooms for the PS3 version of 2K Games' stupendous FPS BioShock. This time the impact of the DLC is less potent, since the 360 and PC versions of the game have been out for a year. But, however improbably, there are still some of you yet to play what was for many (although not us) 2007's best game. And so, if you're still umming and ahhing over which version to pick up, you'll want to know if the DLC makes the PS3 version the one to fork out your cash on. Indeed, even if you've already played the 360 or PC versions, perhaps even finished the game, you'll want to know if the DLC makes buying the game all over again, and then the additional £6.29 for the DLC, worthwhile. After a solid hands-on session with two of the three challenge rooms that will be available to download upon its November 20 release, the answer to both those questions looks like an enthusiastic 'yes'.

You've probably already read and seen much on A Shocking Turn of Events, the challenge room 2K Games demoed to press when it first announced the PS3 exclusive DLC, so we'll concentrate on the second, Worlds of Hurt. The title gives you a good idea of what it's all about. Here, a Little Sister is trapped in a glass chamber in the centre of a large room. Vending machines sit next to it, where you'll be able to spend cash and Adam on upgrades, just as you do in the main game. A number of corridors, each with a symbol above its closed door entrance that gives you a visual clue to the challenge you'll face inside, lead to rooms where you'll be charged with beating very different, and often very elaborate, challenges. The Little Sister, with a sad, puppy dog face, points to one of the corridors - the first two rooms act as a tutorial, which has to be completed before the rest of the rooms open up.

The three challenge rooms are each quite different

Every room has a glass ceiling designed to allow you to get an idea of what you're about to face and to plot a strategy - something you'll have to do given weapons, ammo, cash and Adam are on short supply. To start you simply fall through a hole in the ceiling, but be warned - there's no Vita Chamber back in the hub, once you're in you're not getting out till you quit or win.

The first room presents a simple challenge - kill a single splicer. Once done you get an auto save and a Little Sister pops through a hole in the wall, exactly the same kind the red-eyed girls use to travel through the bowels of Rapture in the main game. She gives you a gift, and it's a good one - all the weapons in the game, and $200. The only problem is, you've got zero ammo and no plasmids, but you'll find a weapon upgrade station in every room, allowing you to tailor your weapons to the challenges you'll face. Once you've finished with that, you'll be able to teleport back to the main hub, and the trapped Little Sister.

The picture hanging above the corridor entrance that leads to Worlds of Hurt's second room is crystal clear - defeat a single Big Daddy. At the hub we buy some electro bucks for the shotgun and the Photographer's Eye combat tonic - researching the various enemies will be an efficient way of improving your effectiveness against the brutes - even more important here than it is in the main game, and nigh on essential when playing on hard or the PS3-exclusive Survivor difficulty. Looking through the glass ceiling, we see the Big Daddy milling about in a flooded room with a single outcrop of rock in the corner. Our strategy is simple - keep the Big Daddy in the electrified water, and away from us, by pumping him with electro bolts. This works a treat - we're saving ammo as the stunned Big Daddy takes damage from the water, and we've got time to take a few snaps, improving our effectiveness against the monstrous, er, monstrosities.

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