E3 2011: Bioshock: Infinite “The Good Kind of On-Rails”
A little over 15 minutes of live behind closed doors demo gameplay of Bioshock: Infinite was played before me on a monstrous PC, here’s what I thought.
Tim Gerritsen, Director of product development at Irrational Games, back in August showed off a new locale for Bioshock: Infinite named Columbia that started off as a world’s fair that shared American exceptionalism and American progress around the world on the brink of a brand new era. However, that dream quickly turned into a nightmare when it was discovered that Columbia was fully armed and operational death star. Ultimately, the gun shot heard around the world occurred during the boxer rebellion in China in 1900 where Columbia fired upon civilians. Afraid of backlash, the US government disavowed all connections. Columbia then disappeared into the clouds and from there it turned into the “floating boogie man” that went around the world imposing its order on the world below.
They’ve also introduced a new character, Songbird along with ex-pinkerton agent Booker DeWitt hired to rescue Elizabeth held in a tower at the center of Columbia. Elizabeth is held as pet by Songbird which simply put, acts as a flying BigDaddy who’s extremely aggressive and over protective of Elizabeth. Their relationship is very strange because Songbird acts as her jailer and protector. For the last 15 years Elizabeth and Songbird have been each others only sole contact from the world outside.
Behind closed doors, the live demo took place a third of the way through the game in a place called the Emporia, the center of power for a group called The Founders. They’re the group that turned Columbia from a world’s fair into a xenophobic den of terror. They’re led by a guy named Comstock. There’s also now a new group called the Vox Populi, who started out as a peaceful counter to The Founders, but gained more radical ideologies as they gained followers and power. The Vox Populi now believe that they can run Columbia much better than The Founders. During the demo both factions are tearing the city apart with Elizabeth at the center of it all.
When the demo started, Booker had already escaped with Elizabeth from the tower with the menacing Songbird (giant mechanical bird daddy). However, a new wrinkle has emerged. Elizabeth has powers that she cannot control that she doesn’t understand. In a particular scene in the demo, Booker comes across a dying horse which Elizabeth tries to revive by seemingly reversing time or changing dimensions. As the dying horse regains life, Elizabeth loses control and suddenly both of them are transported to an empty metro street district with a theater marquee that read “Revenge of the Jedi.” They are then transported again once more placed on a collision course with a train which Elizabeth narrowly transports both of you back. Elizabeth refuses to leave the city until you can find the key to the power that she holds. As Booker, you feel that Comstock, the leader of the Founders has the answers so you agree to take Elizabeth to Comstock’s tower in order to find out what the hell is going on with Elizabeth.
There aren’t many gameplay demos that me make sit back, catch my breath, and collect myself, but Bioshock: Infinite was one of them. As you took control over Booker – voiced by Nolan North – the player of the demo walked extremely slow to show off the eclectic architecture seemingly built to punch the face of God. Most the gameplay consisted blending normal run and gun gunplay combined with the effective powers of Elizabeth as she warps in objects for cover and support with her powers. What’s new to the moral dilemmas in Bioshock: Infinite are the encounters. As Booker passed a public gathering, a timed button prompts you with decisive quick time events like Heavy Rain leading to certain events of sparing or killing NPCs in the world.
Important of note is that the gameplay all took place in a giant arena with emphasis on vertical combat using the sky hook that you’ve seen in the first gameplay reveal videos. Each platform of Columbia is linked via sky rails that serve as the city’s transport system from what I can gather. Since enemies can use the sky rails also, it makes for exhilarating fast paced combat while dangling hundreds of feet from the concrete floor below. As the demo progressed, a giant sky ship began reigning down a hail of gunfire forcing Booker DeWitt to take it out via sky rail system getting high enough to land on the Zeppelin, kill some dudes, destroy the engine, and get back down to the ground where Elizabeth is already fending off enemies.The rail way system seems to be relatively easy to use prompting you to hop on with indicators of where you can land highlighted by a small transparent circle on the ground. I say this because the rail way system could seem daunting and unclear of what the player is possible and not possible of doing.
Infinite appears just as fresh and rich with character achieving the same levels of wonder and awe since we first dived deep into the world of Rapture.
