Though Ken Levine wasn’t on hand to guide us through the presentation, there was plenty to go around with the rest of the Irrational Games team, complete with an art deco booth loaded with old-time posters and plush leather couches. From there, they started the demo, and we got an idea of what it was like to be in Columbia. The city itself looks like a routine 1920’s villa, with posters and banners and such, but there are hints of futuristic décor, including a video wall with confessing sinners and thugs carrying around modern-day weapons like shotguns. But it’s definitely got that nouveau Bioshock touch to it, with something old, something new. What impresses us technically about the demo, though, is its visual design. It runs at a near rock solid 60 frames per second, even when you’re moving at rocketing speed along the city’s elaborate railway system.
Ahh, yes, the railway system. This is clearly an innovation that Irrational has nailed in Bioshock Infinite as well. You’ve got access to a sky hook, which allows you to grab along rails and slide along for the ride, then jumping free and grabbing onto another one in the distance, despite the possible risk of high falling. It’s a clever system, and one that provides more of the thrilling moments throughout the game. You’ll also need to use it to your advantage from a defensive perspective, should enemies get the jump on you and close in. It helps to rocket to a new area, formulate a plan, and go on the attack. We only saw a few minutes of railway riding within the demo, but the effect it provides is a true rush, along the same lines of what you might experience from going up and down hills in a roller coaster. We wonder if it will have some kind of effect in a multiplayer sort of way. Can you imagine how crazy railway chases would get? But anyway, we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Let’s talk more about the dramatic heft that the demo provided. When we start out, Elizabeth is rooting with Booker through a classic gift shop, but soon find themselves interrupted by the Songbird, who’s peering through the windows, seeking the two of them out. Seeing something of interest makes its eyes light up red. Seeing nothing turns it green, meaning that your characters are safe – for the time being, anyhow. Once the Songbird vanished, the pair proceeds into Columbia, stopping once to see to an injured horse on the ground. Using her special superpowers, Elizabeth is able to revive it – but inadvertently triggers an alternative timeline, to when Columbia was back in prosperity. She closes the window before some double-decker bus creams the both of them, and she begins to wonder if she’ll ever control her powers at all.
From there, the pair go looking for Comstock, one of the higher-ups in the city. However, before they reach him, they find a bunch of goons, who ambush Booker upon recognizing him. It’s here that the game’s action element is introduced, with plenty of lively first-person shooting action and some interesting abilities that come into use, including the power of making someone levitate and shooting them in mid-air. What’s more, you can actually target enemies while you’re riding around on the railway, a tricky yet helpful maneuver that keeps you safe as you slide to your next objective In this case, it was a large zeppelin, filled with criminals attacking the city. During the demo, Booker managed to glide his way up to the blimp, kill all of its pilots, set off some sort of detonation event and escape just before it came crashing down. It’s this kind of incredible scope – and over the top execution – that makes Bioshock really stand out from the norm. The option of mixing up special techniques and gunplay is a nice touch, too – though that’s the usual Bioshock standard. Nothing beats using a tonic.
What shook us the most, however, was the end of the demo. Booker and Elizabeth had finally reached Comstock’s establishment, but the Songbird crashed the party, swooping them up and taking them back to his hideout, way up in the sky. Songbird is just about to kill Booker when Elizabeth, in tears over being in captivity again (it kept her prisoner for 15 years), pleaded for his life. He agrees to spare Booker, on the promise that she come home. The final frames of the demo show Elizabeth reaching out to Booker helplessly, with the detective replying in kind, and pursuing the Songbird as it swooped into the heart of Columbia. Really, the dramatic depth, insane action and mind-boggling presentation that Bioshock Infinite provide truly make it stand out amongst 2012’s better game offerings. We still don’t have a specific release date as of yet, which is a shame, because we’d be counting the days until its arrival. We’ll just have to wait and see what 2K is up to. One thing’s for sure, though – it’ll be a long and painful wait. Even without Big Daddy.