Alright, I’m officially onboard the Sky-o-Shock Bioshock Infinite train after watching this enthralling gameplay video.
Seriously, if you have or had any interest in Bioshock whatsoever, you need to see this video.
I admit to being a bit nonplussed by the announcement last month, but seeing the game in action goes a long way to mollifying my concerns with the game. Frankly, I just needed some space between this and Bioshock 2. By the time Infinite comes out, I bet people will be frothing at the mouth if this video is any indication of the finished game.
The floating city of Columbia looks to have just as much, if not more character than the underwater city of Rapture did. The interactions with Elizabeth add a little more human drama to the proceedings. As great a device the voice communiques in the original Bioshock were, I’m looking forward to actually getting more face time with my allies in Infinite.
Oh, and apparently some people on the internet are complaining about the linearity of the gameplay in the video. To which i say ptooey. I couldn’t care less if a dramatic and story driven game leans toward the more linear side. As entertaining as you, the player, are, there’s a reason why we pay Irrational $60 to play their game.
But if you lose sleep over that sort of thing, check out this tasty quote from Ken Levine from his interview with The EU Playstation Blog:
“You might choose to take on enemies at extremely long range while traveling on Sky-Lines, or you might engage in close combat,” he says. “You might do both in quick succession. You can jump between criss-crossing Sky-Line routes, allowing you to instantly change direction and evade or outflank enemies. Sky-Lines are there to expand your tactical options, not dictate them.”
(One final suggestion: If you can wait until you get in front of an Xbox 360 to watch it, I recommend grabbing the video from the Xbox Live Marketplace. It’s in hi-def and will look the same on your TV as if you were playing the game itself.)