Gamers were recently dealt a setback to their Christmas wish lists. The fall launch date for BioShock Infinite, announced in March, got pushed back by more than four months, to February 2013.

Besides the fact that there are still new Halo, Call of Duty, Resident Evil, and Hitman titles coming in this year’s final four months, 2K Games is at least dropping plenty of information about this third BioShock game to keep gamers excited.

Most notably, we’re getting a good look at some of the more powerful enemies we’ll face in the futuristic version of 1912 we’ll be visiting next year. They’re dubbed heavy hitters, and these four new adversaries are the Big Daddies of the game.

• Siren – Inspired by the late 1800s and early 1900s fascinations with contacting the afterlife via séances and such, sirens are the ghosts of dead female singers. And they’ll provide you with a particular headache and choice of action. That headache is that when you encounter a siren, she’ll use her song to resurrect the fallen in her vicinity, which will in turn start attacking you. You can go to take out the more immediate threats, the ghostly enemies firing at you, but that doesn’t take care of the siren. Conversely, you may make a rush to take out the siren, knowing that dispatching her will also send all she’s brought back to life back to their graves, but taking that route means you’ll be ignoring the resurrected’s attacks and take a lot of damage in the process. The choice is yours.
• Handyman – The Handymen have their name for a reason. Even though they’re large creatures in their own right, their out-of-proportion porcelain hands make them stand out and afford them tremendous attack potential, be it with a slap or grabbing large items to hurl at you. The smart player may be able to coerce conditions where a Handyman will pick up another enemy and fling it at you, knowing that a quick dodge will mean no damage to you and a lot of damage (or death) to the smaller enemy. As if that’s not bad enough, their huge bulk doesn’t come at the expense of speed or maneuverability; they can leap like Carl Lewis and race at you like Usain Bolt. Luckily, they do have one weakness—an exposed heart in the middle of their armor plating. We’ve also been told like that many Criminal Minds unsubs, there’s a great sadness to how Handymen come to be, but the game designers are hoping to keep the specifics secret until the game releases.
• Boy of Silence – These infernal creations look most like the original BioShock’s Big Daddies, wearing blue uniforms and suffering the indignity of having giant brass helmets locked to their heads. They’re blind, but have giant ear trumpets attached to those helmets that imbue them with exceptional hearing—and they’re listening for you! Think of them as being walking microphones trying to detect you as opposed to fixed cameras looking for intruders. And like sirens, if you’re ‘ear-witnessed’ by one, they’ll send out a hue and cry for reinforcements who will most definitely be able to see you and attack. They’re another monster that gives a choice: avoid them by going around perimeters and staying safe, or attacking to get whatever reward they may hold. Your current health level may make the choice for you.
• Motorized Patriot – If you’re like me, you often sit around thinking, “videogames are okay, but my life won’t be complete until I’ve fought a creepy automaton of George Washington that assaults me with a Gatling gun.” Well, our wait is nearly over. These fearsome faux first presidents may be slow, but their gun packs a powerful punch. Working against them is their limited mobility and complete disregard for any sort of defense; they won’t stop coming after you until you dispatch them, and they’ll never seek cover. You can also get a couple great benefits when you run into them: like some earlier BioShock machines, it will be possible to hack them for your own use; or if you destroy one outright, you can salvage that Gatling gun for your own use (and that’ll actually be the only way to get that gun). So if you’re feeling bold and willing to potentially take a lot of damage, you may in return be able to dish out a ton of damage yourself for a while.

BioShock Infinite is available February 26 from 2K Games for Xbox 360, PS3, and Vita. Rating pending.

Jeff is currently playing Dragon Quest IX: Sentinel of the Starry Skies; follow him on Twitter at JKLugar.