Evan Narcisse: Like most of us, I loved BioShock for its narrative ambitions, flawed as they were. So, with the sequel, the big question is what it'll feel like without Ken Levine at the helm of the development team. BioShock 2: Sea of Dreams might be a better shooter -- more varied difficulty, improved aiming and a decent cover system -- but I won't care about any of that if the story doesn't pull me in. Rumblings on the Internet have BioShock 2 pegged as part prequel, part sequel. From the teaser shown at the end of the PlayStation 3 version of BioShock, Sea of Dreams might feature a grown-up Little Sister as a protagonist. That's a good start, but the game's going to have to have the same kind of mix as BioShock, with different ingredients: hypnotic environments, creepy yet magnetic non-player characters, and enemies like the Big Daddies, which you wanted to kill and pity at the same time. It's a really tall order to deliver without Levine, but I want them to pull it off.

Scott Jones: Ken's not part of this one? That's a bad sign. I'm anxious for this game in the truest sense of the word. Anxious for it to come out, anxious for more details ... and anxious that it's going to stink. I loved the first game so much. Is there more to Rapture to see? Will the city still pack the same punch that it had the first time around? I doubt it. Unless, maybe, there's another Rapture underneath Rapture called Sub-Rapture. If the game moves the action to dry land, I'll cry. Seriously, I will. And if the game features multiplayer -- or if it gets recast as a real-time strategy game, or as a skateboarding simulation -- I'll cry again. Hopefully, it'll remain small and intimate, and as f***ed-up as ever. And hopefully, there will be no tape recorders to listen to this time around.

Outlook: The water's cloudy.

Read more from the Game Trust in Crispy Outlook 2009.