BioShock Infinite Preview

By Oli Welsh Published 12 August, 2010

The shock of the old.

Whether or not you think of BioShock Infinite as the true sequel to BioShock probably depends on your definition of the word sequel. We've already had a numerical and chronological successor set in the drowned world of Rapture, of course, echoing its pressured, clanking undersea horror and iconic art deco imagery.

BioShock Infinite catapults us backwards - and upwards - to a very different world. It's 1912, and we're in Columbia, another failed utopia. But this one is a city flying high in the clouds: islands of whitewashed brick and mortar kept aloft by airship envelopes and giant propellers, studded with trees, connected by a tangle of sky lines, bathing in bright summer sunlight. What happens there seems faster, more spectacular, more overtly fantastical - and more personal.

It's not explicitly set in the same universe as BioShock. It looks and feels very different - and yet strangely familiar. Columbia is largely deserted and collapsing around you, thinly populated by unpredictable people with strange powers. There are faded posters done in immaculate period style, shouting about lost ideals and brands that never were. The soundtrack is defined by the scratch of needle on acetate. And there's that sense of exploring a world that you almost recognise but is also utterly new to you - the sense that defined BioShock but that - by definition - was beyond BioShock 2.

That will make Infinite, in the eyes of many, the true BioShock sequel. That, and the fact that it's being made by Irrational Games and masterminded by its founder Ken Levine.

Levine's on stage in an elegantly chandeliered function room of the Plaza Hotel in New York, an imposing chunk of faux-château that was built in 1907 and perfectly encapsulates the bold spirit of 1900s America that he's talking about. (Later, the black drapes around us will fall away to reveal a 360-degree panorama of Columbia on the walls, suspending us in Infinite's new sky world. Well, almost all the drapes fall away - some stubbornly cling on for a minute, emitting awful mechanical coughs. It spoils Levine's big moment a little, but adds a touch of broken hubris that's somehow very BioShock.)

After showing us the first trailer, Levine explains that Columbia was built at the turn of the century, not in secret like Rapture, but as a very public expression of the economic and engineering might of a nation that had gone from rural backwater to industrial powerhouse in a couple of decades: "the Apollo project of 1900," as he puts it. Ostensibly a peaceable metropolis built in the founding-fathers, neo-classical style of Irrational's home town of Boston, Columbia turns out to be "a Death Star" that's armed to the teeth, becomes involved in a catastrophic and violent international incident, and then disappears.

In a break with Shock tradition, the player is no nameless cipher but a pronounced character in Infinite's story: a Pinkerton agent, a disgraced strike-breaker and strong-arm, rejoicing in the name Booker DeWitt. A mysterious figure who knows Columbia's location employs him to find and rescue Elizabeth, a woman with strange and immense powers who's imprisoned there. DeWitt finds her without difficulty, but Elizabeth is embroiled in a conflict that's tearing Columbia apart, and the pair must combine their powers and form a partnership to escape the city as it crumbles away beneath their feet. (Elizabeth is strictly an AI companion: you won't be controlling her in a co-op mode.)

Levine then introduces a live gameplay demo that, frankly, is almost too good. A condensed barrage of spectacle and set-piece rattles past us, picking out elements of the gameplay just long enough to register but not so long that we can dwell on them. It's a slice of tightly-scripted performance gaming that stretches credibility in places - without ever quite breaking it, to be fair - and raises questions about just how linear and contained the final game is going to be.

You can't fake the magnificent artwork, however, the reach of the new game engine, or the wealth of contextual detail and thought that's been applied to this wild, quasi-steampunk alternate history. BioShock Infinite is a stunning game, every bit as sumptuous as the original but blasting open its snow-globe world and flooding it with light, colour and space. Maybe it's just the palette change, but it seems to have a more hand-drawn, pronounced and painterly look - cartoon would be the wrong word - that brings the Fable games to mind. It's lush.

It was Irrational's mastery of tone and the way it fed details of the city's secret history through the environments and the artwork that set BioShock apart, and from the demo it's clear that Infinite is no different. It begins with a triumphalist poster swimming blurrily into view, depicting a stout George Washington holding the Liberty Bell aloft surrounded by craven, jingoistic caricatures of racial stereotypes. "It Is Our Holy Duty To Guard Against The Foreign Hordes," reads the legend.

It's not that subtle, but Columbia is not a subtle place, and you sense that Levine is aiming for a more robust, satirical tone and more pointed engagement with politics this time around. As De Witt sets off down a cobbled street, a broken mechanical horse and cart limps and screeches past, plastered in newspaper headlines shouting, "Anarchists Loose". At the end of the street, a flying church's tenuous grip on the air fails it, and it lurches and falls, its tower toppling and bell crashing into the street in front of us.

BioShock Infinite launch trailer.

"They'll Take Your Gun - They'll Take Your Wife - They'll Take Your Business - They'll Take your Life," read the hustings slogans at a bunting-draped bandstand where a local worthy hectors nobody in particular. We take the hint, picking up a sniper rifle with a burnished bronze scope, and the speaker takes exception. His eyes glow and he assaults us with telekinetic powers, and summons a crowd of bloody-beaked crows to pester us - this power, Murder of Crows, we pick up later by drinking from a handsomely-moulded flask.

Combat is sporadic, and not necessarily triggered immediately. You can't be sure which side the inhabitants of Columbia are on, and whether they'll be hostile. At one point, we enter a saloon - its dark wood, gleaming brass and shaded lamps a strangely comforting echo of Rapture - and there's a tense moment when its patrons look at DeWitt with mixed curiosity and disinterest before one attacks with a shotgun from behind.

When fights do break out, however, they're big. Flaming artillery strikes arc through the sky from one island to the next. We use telekinesis to stop a shell from a steam-cannon in mid-air and send it back where it came from. Zipping down a sky line at a rate of knots using a grappling hook, we use a wrench to smack an enemy coming the other way - frock coat flapping in the wind, Derby hat staying firm - off and into a sheer wall. We grab an enemy's shotgun off him with telekinesis, turn it on him and shoot it while it hangs in mid air.

Things get even more dramatic when we're joined by Elizabeth, big-eyed, dark-haired and buxom in her Edwardian frock. A mob of unruly locals attacks - enemies come in larger numbers than they ever did in BioShock - and she summons a howling wind and darkening storm clouds which, combined with DeWitt's electro-shock power, fries them all at once. At another point, she telekinetically moulds a heap of scrap metal into a molten boulder that DeWitt can then hurl at their assailants. The pair talk a lot, DeWitt and Elizabeth clearly signposting targets and strategies for the player's benefit, although Levine says you can always ignore them to pursue your own path.

Levine (in our interview) says that the power development in Infinite will work similarly to the first game's - although we don't hear anything about an Adam equivalent, not yet at any rate - but your options will be expanded, primarily, by the interaction with Elizabeth and by the scope of Columbia's environments. It's maybe not as quite open as it looks - Columbia being broken up into discrete floating chunks keeps your immediate surroundings tight - but there are still much longer sight-lines, with DeWitt using the sniper rifle to pick out enemies on neighbouring 'islands'.

More on BioShock Infinite

The demo climaxes with the pair being attacked by a man-machine, a Frankenstein's monster of robot with a heart beating behind glass in his chunky metal torso and a pallid, giant human head with a waxed handlebar moustache. He's not as sinister as a Big Daddy - like a lot about Infinite, there's actually something vaguely comical about him - but he is similarly poignant, and impressively tough.

DeWitt and Elizabeth take him down by bringing down the sky-bridge he's standing on, only for a second, much more terrifying threat to appear: a gigantic winged gryphon, leaping from building to building, a black silhouette even in the sunlight, except for one telling detail: his eyes are glowing, barred, bathyscape portholes, exactly like a Big Daddy's helmet.

It's the only visual reference to BioShock in the entire demo; with the playful glimpse of a toy figure in a diving suit at the start of the trailer, it bookends Irrational's unveiling of the game. That's an artful touch, but in truth, BioShock Infinte doesn't need to lean on its heritage even as lightly as this. The demo may be somewhat theatrical, and the questions stacked far higher than the answers, but Infinite very obviously possesses the intellect, intensity, craftsmanship, playfulness and wonder of its predecessor without seeking to repeat it. If only all sequels could say as much.

BioShock Infinite is planned for release in 2012 on PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Picture of Oli.

About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

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Comments (90) Latest comment 1 year ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • clearblue #1 2 years ago

    Yes please. That will do nicely!

  • Scimarad #2 2 years ago

    I went from "Oh no, not more Bioshock" to "Oooh, yes please!!" very rapidly during that trailer:)

  • evilrobot #3 2 years ago

    America.....again.....seriously.

  • b00n #4 2 years ago

    The trailer did it already, the article even more. Straight to the top three of my most-wanted list.

  • Laserbream #5 2 years ago

    Trailer seems promising enough.

    Although seriously cyborgs - stop putting your vital organs on show. It doesn't lead to happy endings for you.

  • mister_moo #6 2 years ago

    I got Bioshock 2 there for under a tenner brand new

    My theory is that to counter the somewhat tepid reaction by fans to Bioshock 2, or indeed the idea of any sequel to the original, the game was brought down to budget price post-haste so that more people would be tempted in and would THEREFORE express more interest in Infinite once they realised that Bioshock 2 wasn't all that bad

    Also, 'Infinite' is a lot better than just a number. Bioshock '2' sounded cheap compared to the originality of the first game

  • spekkeh #7 2 years ago

    Awesome creative talent. And I like the idea of only sparse amounts of combat (I hope it stays that way). In the end I found the Bioshock games to be too much of a standard run-and-gun corridor shooter and I never could get myself to finish them.

  • Ged42 #8 2 years ago

    Well I wasn't expecting a new Bioshock to look like that, I can say.

  • justice-ste #9 2 years ago

    I loved the first Bioshock, couldn't get into the second. But this... wow, I'll be keeping an eye on this one

  • MaoZedong #10 2 years ago

    Post deleted at 09:40:08 17-12-2011

  • darkmorgado #11 2 years ago

    Looks more like a "spiritual successor" than a sequel to be honest, much like how Bioshock was a spritual sequel to System Shock. Couldn't they have given it a new name? SteamShock or something?

    I guess it's to capitalise on "brand awareness" thoguh, and all those other lovely corporate terms that are slowly choking the games industry.

    Looks awesome though, and has really come out of the blue.

    EDIT: Why the neg? The game itself looks absolutely bloody awesome, I just don't understand why it's called Bioshock and not something else, and Ken's explanation still didn't make sense.

    EDIT: Ah, some positives... the balance is restored ;-)
    Edited by 2 at 12/08/10 @ 20:18

  • Osahi #12 2 years ago

    Why do they anounce it so soon? 2012 seems so damn far away.

    But it looks very interesting to say at the least. Can't wait to get my hands on this

  • bad09 #13 2 years ago

    Bioshock in the sky? LOL!

    Still trailer looked interesting so if they don't cripple the PC version with removing the analogue movement of a pad like in BS2 I might have a look but after reviews and feedback as a lot of feedback does suggest the poor PC team on BS2 helped me dodge an average game....with DLC on the disc ;)

  • Chufty #14 2 years ago

    This actually sounds pretty awesome, the trailer is great. Loving the art style.

    Shame it's so far away!

  • Stomp224 #15 2 years ago

    Why did we need Bioshock 2 again? Id much rather have waited the full 5 years for this, than had that abominable stop-gap fan game any day.

    This has got me equally as excited as the Walkthough demo of the original. Awesome.

  • spekkeh #16 2 years ago

    Why did we need Bioshock 2 again? Id much rather have waited the full 5 years for this, than had that abominable stop-gap fan game any day.

    We didn't, but good sales on an original IP, simple twist possible on the story, and of course being able to reuse a lot of assets is a definite ROI

  • Liam64 #17 2 years ago

    Well this came out of nowhere.

    In a 'winning the lottery' sort of way as opposed to 'I've just found out I have an illegitimate son I can't afford' sort of way.

  • dirtysteve #18 2 years ago

    2012, waaay to early to get excited.

  • Widge #19 2 years ago

    This looks excellent

  • Markitron #20 2 years ago

    Cant wait for this but why all the hate for Bioshock 2? It was a quality game that told a very good story and refined alot of the problems of the first (eg the combat). It didnt alter the Bioshock universe significantly, just told a different story in a fascinating enviroment that I really wanted to revisit and see more of. Whats so unnecessary about that?

  • thedaveeyres #21 2 years ago

    Looks fabulous. Great concept.

  • patchbox360 #22 2 years ago

    a city in the sky with buildings floating by use of hot air ballons?? there is such a thing called rational, or is there?

  • Kami #23 2 years ago

    Much more like it. I guess I echo the "Why call it Bioshock?" question, but it looks gorgeous and even if it is linear, if it is enjoyable in combat and narrative and the islands are suitably crammed with subtle and amazing details like diaries and such forth, then why complain? Linear isn't always a bad thing, it's whether you have fun along the way and this looks like a riot!

    2012 eh? A fair few games are pinned for then, if the world ends it's likely because every gamer will have locked themselves away for their title of choice...

  • Feanor #24 2 years ago

    Bet they screw up widescreen and mouse control for the PC version. Again.

    Bet no gaming journalist has the balls to ask Ken Levine why he thinks it's OK to do that to PC gamers. Again.

  • Kami #25 2 years ago

    Maybe that's a question for closer to release, who knows, they may surprise us.

    At least, I hope they do...

  • SpaceMonkey77 #26 2 years ago

    I like it. Going retro steampunk is a good move, laced in its turn of the last century americanisms.

    2012, though, that's a long ass time to wait.

  • Pirotic #27 2 years ago

    When I read the title I feared the worst, another shoddy tribute game. Nice to see the weak sales of Bioshock 2 got them to pull the finger out and get the original team back.

  • joydivision84 #28 2 years ago

    'ratpure'..lol, nice editing.

  • Emmit_Assassin #29 2 years ago

    They got a working demo (even if it is heavily scripted) and its not out till 2012? How dare they do this? Prick teasers, thats what they are. They're teasing my gaming shlong, I tell you! Play nice, Irrational!!

  • yrg_autumn #30 2 years ago

    If they really do keep Bioshock's style of storytelling in this new and unrelated setting, I don't think there's anything to complain about in them also keeping the title. It'd be nice to have a series of games related only by style rather than by recycling half of the environments and enemies (or, well, ANOTHER series of games etc.).

  • yrg_autumn #31 2 years ago

    As for Bioshock 2, it was just unnecessary, and it cheapened Bioshock somewhat. With the first game, they created this great world and told us its story, they made a point using that setting, and then they were done. Then along comes Bioshock 2 and says "no, actually, it wasn't done, we could also tell THIS story. You got Ryan vs human-nature (0 - 1) ? then how about ... Ryan vs Communism!?". I was REALLY hoping for Ryan vs enlightened monarchy next... You could play a liitle sister out to save her Big Daddy that'd been drafted in the king's military, it was going to be, like, TOTALLY original...
    Edited by 1 at 12/08/10 @ 21:32

  • Stomp224 #32 2 years ago

    @Markitron
    Not arguing about Bioshock 2 being a better game, as the mechanics were polished quite nicely. But its plot, characters, themes and level design were very poor in comparison to the original. And it was those very things that rose BioShock from average fps to one of the landmark titles of this generation.

    edit: bloody italics
    Edited by 1 at 12/08/10 @ 21:31

  • karaokequeen3 #33 2 years ago

    Very nice art direction if you ask me.

  • Xardan #34 2 years ago

    Holy hell this could be great.

  • patchbox360 #35 2 years ago

    from sea to air, a robot with organs instead of a big daddy, an elite society falls, the end

    bioshock's greatness tarnished again by the blood sucking sequel whores.

  • Talbot #36 2 years ago

    Booooring.

  • riz23 #37 2 years ago

    This looks good but no need to hate on bioshock 2. Turned out to be a damn
    good ride and exceeded my expectations.

  • jambii267 #38 2 years ago

    Why all the hate for Bioshock 2? It was still a very good game.

    This looks brilliant and i'm very excited.

  • darkmorgado #39 2 years ago

    When I read the title I feared the worst, another shoddy tribute game. Nice to see the weak sales of Bioshock 2 got them to pull the finger out and get the original team back.

    a) Bioshock 2 sold well and was actually a very good game
    b) This has obviously been in development for a while now, especially considering it's built on a brand new engine. The fiction and art direction alone would have taken months to sort out.

  • Amblin #40 2 years ago

    I pity the fool that doesn't buy this game.

    I ain't getting on no flying island tho!

  • Stuz359 #41 2 years ago

    See developers? This is what happens when you use your imagination.

  • Luk333 #42 2 years ago

    This goes directly in my top five most wanted games. An AAA title with a premise and art direction like this happens too rarely.

  • slivir #43 2 years ago

    Don't know why they need to attach Bioshock to the title, possibly to increase sales from brand recognition or will there be some plot element linking it to Rapture? I hope it's the latter!

  • PearOfAnguish #44 2 years ago

    Hahaha that spam above is brilliant. He's probably been waiting forever for someone to mention blimps so he can post.

  • Ryboy #45 2 years ago

    Wow. I wasn't expecting this one! Get in. Do want, will be pre-ordering.

  • Mr_Sleep #46 2 years ago

    Is that Vince Cable with friendly mutton chops in the picture on the front page?
    Edited by 1 at 13/08/10 @ 02:02

  • Darren #47 2 years ago

    Sounds interesting and one I'll be keeping my eye on because while I adored the original BioShock (that's putting it mildly; I thought it was magnificent, memorable, beautiful, engrossing, a classic basically), I found the sequel a predictable, by-the-numbers retread with little in the way of new ideas or excitement. I was honestly glad when I completed the campaign, something that would have shocked me had I thought that for the original game. I was left very disappointed basically and it only reinforced my view that BioShock didn't need a sequel in the first place. Hopefully this 'true' sequel will make up for that and expand on the original game in ways that the sequel didn't.

  • Bulbatron #48 2 years ago

    This looks as though it could be an amazing game. I hope the A.I. partner doesn't ruin the game by being crap though. Still, looking very good.

  • muscleblade #49 2 years ago

    This is the true sequel to Bioshock i believe.

  • Redfive1983 #50 2 years ago

    How about a Bioshock MMO?

  • AgentBalti #51 2 years ago

    Someone's been watching 'UP'...SQIRLS!!! (sic)

  • Kerome #52 2 years ago

    Awesome. Work faster please Irrational ;)

  • kangarootoo #53 2 years ago

    Where the fuck did THIS come from. I feel like I've just woken up from a coma or something.

    Looks very nice. Awesome trailer. Great sense of height, especially at the end. I could use another Bioshock sequel quite frankly, so long as they have a few new ideas. But hey people, keep those "I'm not interested in another sequel" comments coming, they just NEVER stop making for interesting reading.


    Oh and,
    "a city in the sky with buildings floating by use of hot air ballons?? there is such a thing called rational, or is there?"

    ...worst critisism of a video game, ever.

  • pauleyc #54 2 years ago

    A promising concept, the game appears to be much more interesting than I expected it to be.
    Edited by 1 at 13/08/10 @ 09:48

  • kangarootoo #55 2 years ago

    The way I see it, what we are looking at is a first person steam punk game. If we took the Bioshock label offit, half the naysayers here would be happy (except for the few that are never happy, about anything).

    And for the record, I love steam punk. If it was a person, I would marry it (changing my sexuality if necessary) and father a load of children with it. If steam punk were a fire engine, I would write to Jimmy Saville asking if he would fix it for me to drive it. So I'm not remotely objective :)

  • kangarootoo #56 2 years ago

    Btw, that title is rubbish.

    A friend of mine just suggested Skyshock, which I think is ace.

  • rojjer #57 2 years ago

    If you would kindly give us a demo...

  • Deckard1 #58 2 years ago

    They're gonna struggle to make it as atmospheric as rapture was, just because of the dark and claustrophobic nature of the underwater setting, but they needed to change it up as rapture is kind of played out now. Hopefully they can still get some scares in there. Other than that, its sounding pretty amazing.

  • Dylbot #59 2 years ago

    Well, this came the fuck right out of left field. Definitely looks like it has the potential to be fantastic.

  • Machiavellian #60 2 years ago

    "Why call it Bioshock?"

    Because like Final Fantasy, brand name sells. I can see Levine doing this for all of his projects. Call it Bioshock stay in sort of the same universe but have a new game with new memorable characters etc. Do not be surprise if Ryan Adams isn't born from one of these settings

  • Quint2020 #61 2 years ago

    Oooooh, a proper sequel, not just a rehash? Sounds excellent.

    A game I'm excited about? It's a miracle!

  • Machiavellian #62 2 years ago

    They're gonna struggle to make it as atmospheric as rapture was, just because of the dark and claustrophobic nature of the underwater setting, but they needed to change it up as rapture is kind of played out now. Hopefully they can still get some scares in there. Other than that, its sounding pretty amazing.

    Rapture played out with only two games and you have games like Call of Duty, GTA4, Mario and friends with mutiple games under their belt. No, Bioshock is far from played out. It's no different from GTA or Call of Duty giving their games brand recognition but being different games from the previous. It works, and it does increase sells so I see no reason not to do it. A developer has to get paid.

  • Ryboy #63 2 years ago

    I must have ignored that poster previously, I can't see this epic spam! Cant someone post it for me please.

    Ta.

  • darkmorgado #64 2 years ago

    @Ryboy

    I think the poster's been banned, as the spam has now disappeared.

  • andywilkie35 #65 2 years ago

    Very excited about this - the true sequel to BioShock. The game never needed a sequel but if there's going to be one, I'm glad its set in a different time, and a different setting (I'm ignoring BioShock 2 as a sequel.)

    Shame its got a fucking awful title.

  • Machiavellian #66 2 years ago

    After reading the interview, I like where IR is going. You get your sequel but instead of just copying the same game and throwing a few new ideals, weapons, instead you go for something new but keeping the concepts of the same universe. Think of Marvel Comics. If Rapture dealt with the ocean and Infinite deals with cities in the clouds, I guess the next frontier would be space taking IR back to their roots.

  • Harlequeen #67 2 years ago

    It strangely reminds me of Ratchett and Clank. Which isn't a bad thing

  • YoshiMcTaggis #68 2 years ago

    That trailer actually looks brilliant. I've got a real hard on for cities in the sky, so I think I'll get this. Might need to play Bioshock 2 first though.

  • seanyboycorben #69 2 years ago

    Bioshock was brilliant, Bioshock 2 was just as good and this looks even better. Hearing the initial haunting strains of the violin, so synonymous with Bioshock, at the start of this trailer harks me back to many happy hours of gaming.

  • Ryboy #70 2 years ago

    @Machiavellian - Erm you mean Andrew Ryan surely sir?!

    Or IS Bryan Adams in this game? Amazing! "You know it's true, everything I do, I do it for youuuuuuuuuuuuu."

  • kangarootoo #71 2 years ago

    Anyone interested in giving Bioshock 2 a whilr, play.com are selling the 360 and PS3 collector's editions for £25. £25!

    PC version is £30.


    Its one of the best collector's editions out there, and the only one I've ever purchased.

    [link url=http://www.play.c om/Games/Xbox360/4-/12761852/BioShock-2-Special-Collector-Ed ition/Product.html
    ]http://ww w.play.com/Games/Xbox360/4-/127...[/link]

    Run!

  • space_ace #72 2 years ago

    great tease, they really sent us to cloud nine. now what are we going to do till 2012?

  • anomagnus #73 2 years ago

    My stomach actually dropped watching that video (i hate the idea of falling)

    Fantastic trailer. And i;m glad they got rid of rapture. Bioshock 2 was a disappointment to me, and iw as worried that the enxt installment would be in the depths, but this couldn't be more different. Instead of crushing, tight spaces, it's bright, open and your biggest problem might well be a lack of crushing space.

    I'll watch this, but as others have said, 2012? thats unfair.

  • Sunyavadin #74 2 years ago

    I couldn't agree more with those who say it doesn't need the Bioshock name.

    Don't burden it with images of sequelitis, let this original title stand on its own feet, it certainly looks like it is capable of that.

  • swissorc #75 2 years ago

    Two things.

    One I wont play this. I hate heights and the thought of playing a whole game susspended in mid air is my idea of hell. I didn't prince of persia for the same reason. I could take no pleasure in messing around in mid air the thought of it alone gives me sweats worse still my gf bought it and was so proud she picked out a good game i didn't have the heart to tell her that i didn't like it.

    Secondly. I would like them to drop the Bioshock name. Just call it Infinite. The bioshock part seems nailed on to help americans realise this is not a "new" game and infact a sequel. Some gripe I grant you though.

    Anyway will be great I reckon and I look forward to the next installment on solid ground hopefully. Maybe as desert oaisis.

  • 32768Colours #76 2 years ago

    Yes yes yes yes yes!! Where the hell did this spring up from?

    Bioshock is one of my all-time favourite games and I really enjoyed the sequel (the combat if nothing else, was much tighter than the first).

    Hopefully they manage to retain the oppressive and downright scary atmosphere of the first Bioschock even with the Sonic-style blue skies!

  • metalangel #77 2 years ago

    This hasn't tickled my fancy the way it has for so many of you, alas. I can't help but see it as Rapture, but in the sky!

    The trailer, too, felt far too much like that really gruesome one for the original Bioshock (remember, horribly trying to stop the Big Daddy's drill with the palm of his hand?) and I had this sad feeling the whole way through that I could see where it was going.

    So another technological marvel/utopia city ahead of its time, where there's been a great insurrection, and now it's populated only by kooks with telepathic powers who go about their eccentric lives as the place slowly crumbles around them.

    I'm sure I'll be absolutely crucified for saying this but I can't help it if all I can muster in response so far is a resigned sense of deja vu.

  • yonatan_z #78 2 years ago

    Ten bucks "Infinity" relates to the main character's immortality? Vita Chamber 2 anyone?

  • yrg_autumn #79 2 years ago

    @metalangel

    I admit I may have been wearing rose tinted glasses, but to me it seemed like they were going for a different feel. I really hope that will be so

  • Grievous1976 #80 2 years ago

    Hmmm interesting, could this be Rapture before it fell from the Skies and could that be Andrew Ryan listening to the gramaphone?

  • smoothpete #81 2 years ago

    Is Lando the final boss? ;)

    Looks great, will buy.

  • skyship007 #82 2 years ago

    Hi folks,
    If you like funny stuff about airships see: http://www.airship.me the worlds only lighter than air comedy web site, with lots of funny pictures, jokes and U tube links.
    Regards JB

  • AOFanboi #83 2 years ago

    <em>America.....again.....seriously</em>

    Well, that was where Ayn Rand defected to and lived until she turned into a control freak paranoiac. You DID notice the series is more or less inspired by her "objectivist" mumbo-jumbo yes?

  • CHAZBIGPOTATO #84 2 years ago

    I bet there will be an achievement called "Grape soda badge"

  • SFG_Clan #85 2 years ago

    NO NO NO they ruined it!
    It just looks weird! I went from oh god to OH GOD. They completley killed it for me, didn;t like it at all

  • bigbadbeasty #86 2 years ago

    Wasn't sure at first, but the trailer looked good. I expect them to play out lots of falling and acrophobia game scenes.

    Early days yet, but I do hope they cut back on the combat. There was far too much in the second game.

  • Smerdyakov #87 2 years ago

    It appears from the trailers and images released that we can expect another almost-on-rails shooter with some lovely but lifeless environments, and an intriguing but underdeveloped story - limited, probably, by the run and gun nature of the game.

    If it's more BioShock than System Shock, then I'm really not interested.

    I know that this is not widely held view; most people seem to adore BioShock... so, um, feel free to ignore this crazy man.

  • pevans34 #88 1 year ago

    I like the weirdness of it. As a concept thats really what it has going for it, the fact that you dont know who might attack you, or how they might do so, or what everyone motivations are. The random and fantastical element really makes the idea.

    The political mumbo jumbo I could do without. Im so sick to death of politics.

  • Cronan #89 1 year ago

    Steampunk - when goths discover brown.

  • SheffieldSteel #90 1 year ago

    Sky-o-shock?
    Sign me up!

    I wish there were fewer American flags evident in the video - I'd have preferred to see a strong identity for the city based on an original flag, an evolution of the stars'n'stripes even - but you can't have everything.