BioShock Infinite



BioShock Infinite is the third game in the BioShock series. Announced on August 12, 2010, it is Irrational Games' newest project, slated for release in 2012. BioShock Infinite is not a direct sequel/prequel to any of the previous BioShock games, and it takes place in an entirely different setting, although it shares similar features, gameplay and concepts with the previous games.

Plot
The game is set in 1912 and takes place in the floating city of Columbia, where the player assumes the role of Booker DeWitt, a disgraced Pinkerton agent. Booker has been given the job of finding a woman named Elizabeth in Columbia, who has been confined by a hulking beast called Songbird.

Following in the footsteps of previous BioShock games, the world of Infinite explores the chaos that results when strong ideals are taken to the extreme. At the time of DeWitt's arrival, Columbia is a hotbed of ultra-nationalism, specifically American exceptionalism, as shown by the copious numbers of flags, patriotic music, and propaganda posters that boldfacedly spurn the idea that the Columbia could be a 'haven' from the so-called 'unwanted' of the world.

Gameplay
DeWitt will possess extraordinary abilities, called Vigors and Nostrums. They are similar, but not identical to, the Plasmid and Gene Tonic abilities of the BioShock series.

Infinite features a range of environments that will force the player to adapt different weapons and strategies for each situation. Interior spaces will feature close combat with enemies, but unlike previous games set in Rapture, the setting of Infinite contains open spaces with emphasis on sniping and ranged combat against as many as fifteen enemies at once. Combat will also take place while the player is traveling at great speed along the Sky-Lines, a major transport system of Columbia.

Once DeWitt has found Elizabeth, she will accompany the player at various points in the game. Elizabeth has her own set of abilities complimentary to Dewitt's, and can combine them with his for unique and powerful attacks. An example is where Elizabeth creates a rain cloud and the player uses a lightning attack. The player will not be able to directly control Elizabeth, but instead she will react to the player and the current situation. However, using Elizabeth's abilities also has consequences, draining her of strength and possibly harming her.

Infinite features several varieties of enemies. These range from seemingly average humans with weapons, to the iconic Handyman seen in the trailer. Unlike the previous BioShock games, many enemies will not attack on sight, but instead will remain neutral to DeWitt unless the player performs an action that causes them to become hostile. Other powerful opponents, such as the Handyman, can act as leaders for other enemies, augmenting their abilities. The most powerful creature in the game, known as Songbird, is the most feared creature in all of Columbia, but his bond with Elizabeth prevents Booker from fighting Songbird without damaging his relationship with her.

BioShock Infinite Debut Trailer
right|300px The trailer debuted on August 12, 2010. It can be viewed at the BioShock Infinite official website.

The video begins with a reference to the introduction of Rapture. The view moves along a sea floor, past a figure that resembles a guarding Big Daddy, to a grand reveal of what would seem to be Rapture's dark cityscape. A fish swims by behind the city, and the view lights up. The fish is revealed to be a goldfish, and the cityscape is, in reality, a mock up of the "1893 Chicago World Fair."

Muffled screams can be heard, and the camera is quickly pulled up, revealing that it has been following the perspective of a man who was being drowned in a medium sized fish tank. The man is thrown to the floor, where he hears creaking sounds. Looking towards the fish tank, the man sees the figurine which had previously appeared to be a Big Daddy has also fallen to the floor, and is crushed by a large metal boot. A mechanical hand, segmented and noticeably different from a Big Daddy's, reaches down and grabs the man, dragging him across the floor. The viewer's only glimpse of his assailant is a beating heart suspended in yellow liquid behind a dome of glass on the mechanical being's chest.

The assailant throws the man out of a nearby stained glass window. After brief blindness, his vision clears and reveals a view of a city in the sky adorned with American flags. As the slow motion view returns to normal speed, the man resumes his falling, screaming before landing on the canvas cylinder of a small zeppelin. He grabs onto it, ripping the canvas skin but stopping his fall. Trying to catch his breath, he looks around at the city, seeing a panorama that is bright, and still very much intact, with American symbolism and flags spread across it. The view turns to see a nearby billboard depicting a woman clad in clothes reminiscent of the American flag, holding a baby while shunning another sickly one being held away by her. It is captioned "Burden NOT Columbia with your Chaff!" Turning from this billboard, the view shows a man standing on a balcony conducting to a recording of "You're a Grand Old Flag" by Bill Murray of the American Quartet as it plays on a phonograph.

The man turns again, briefly blinded by the sunlight, and sees a building supported by hot air balloons rising out of the clouds. Jets of fire beneath the balloons cause the structure to rise rapidly, narrowly avoiding a collision with the zeppelin. Ripping is then heard, and the man looks back up as the canvas he has been clinging to begins to tear off. The strip tears free, sending the man plummeting face first towards the ground, seemingly miles below him. Suddenly, a stream of red roses shoots out from a nearby balcony into the path of the man's fall. Whispering is heard, and the man slowly drifts toward the balcony. He turns to see a woman, Elizabeth, on the balcony, surrounded by a small garden of the roses, with her hands outstretched toward him, her face fear-stricken. As the man draws closer to the balcony, Elizabeth reaches out as if to grasp his hand and draw him to safety. However, at that moment a mechanical hand, similar to the one seen at the beginning of the video, emerges from the doorway behind her, grabbing her. For a brief moment, Elizabeth gazes in horror at the man, before letting out a short scream as she is pulled out of sight behind the closing doors. With this, the man resumes his fall toward the pastureland below. He plummets face first into one last lingering rose, which blocks the view as the screen cuts to black. The "BioShock Infinite" insignia appears amongst the sound of wind and radio static.

BioShock Infinite Gamescom 2010 Gameplay Trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThG7-3TfXI8

A gameplay video was shown at Gamescom 2010, featuring an early build of BioShock Infinite. BioShock Infinite won Game of the Show and Best Xbox 360 Game by IGN at Gamescom 2010. It went live September 21 on Xbox LIVE and Xbox.com, and September 22 elsewhere online.

The gameplay demo starts off with a close up of a propaganda poster, depicting stereotypical foreigners crowding around what appears to be George Washington with a Liberty Bell and the Bill of Rights in his hands. The "foreigners" seem to be eager to take the American ideals from Washington, as the inscription below the piece reads "It is our Holy Duty to guard against the foreign hordes."

It appears that the protagonist, Booker DeWitt was in a daze, gazing at the poster. He looks around, mumbling "That thing took Elizabeth, I've got to find her." He walks up a street, past a mechanical horse drawing a newspaper carriage (with a missing wheel), with papers reading "Anarchists Loose," and a man in the back. As DeWitt continues up the street, he finally comes to an edge of the Sky-Line. An unscripted event occurs, where a floating bell tower ahead of Booker destabilizes, wobbling violently until finally toppling over and disintegrating, the bell landing at Booker's feet.

Booker takes a right on the intersection and to the immediate right a bubbling and shimmering can be seen on a fallen banner. He walks past what seems to be a woman sweeping in front of a store called Harper's Grocery that is engulfed in fire. He then gazes up at a rather large statue of a lady reaching out to Columbia, draped in an American flag. Walking past a decaying horse's corpse, Booker DeWitt eventually sees a man preaching about nationalistic ideals to a few rows of empty chairs. Walking by some of his propaganda posters, it appears the old man's name is Saltonstall, and has a very conservative agenda concerning foreigners. He seems oblivious to Booker, until DeWitt grabs one of the rifles next to Saltonstall.

Saltonstall becomes infuriated, shouting "Who are you?!" at DeWitt, while vibrating in a seemingly inhuman fashion. His eyes begin to glow, his voice deepens, and his American patriot button shifts into that of the Soviet Union's Communist symbol of the Hammer and Sickle. He then calls upon his bodyguard Charles to deal with Booker. Charles uses Murder of Crows to attack DeWitt. DeWitt kills Charles by throwing him off a ledge and onto a below freight carrier, but not quick enough to stop Saltonstall from fleeing. Using his telekinetic ability to take the Murder of Crows Vigor from Charles' corpse, the protagonist mutters "Well, would you look at this." and drinks it. His gaze becomes blurry, then a bloody crow, holding what would seem to be flesh in its beak, appears on his hand. Unfortunately for Booker DeWitt, Saltonstall is firing a rather heavy cannon at him from a distance. Booker equips a Sky-Hook, telling himself "Nothing ventured, nothing gained..." and latches it onto the Sky-Line to chase Saltonstall. Traveling at an uncontrollable rate across the Sky-Line, he knocks a man coming at him off of the rail, splattering him against a building, soon after he lands hard near the cannon Saltonstall has commanded on him, hearing "Fire!" shouted from it. Booker flees into a nearby building, entering a solemn bar. The song "Everybody wants to Rule the World" by Tears for Fears plays in the style of forties big band music. The gentry give him rather rude looks, but continue on with their business. All seems normal, until a painting in front of Booker shifts from a blue herd of horses with a Statue of Liberty in the background, into a portrait of a somewhat important man. At the same time, one of the inhabitants shouts "We're closed, get out!" while firing a shotgun at DeWitt. The protagonist makes short work of him by taking the gun from the man's hands using his telekinetic ability, then using the same ability to fire the gun back at him.

This angers the residents of the bar, who form an angry mob chasing down Booker. Although his Murder of Crows and rifle prove effective against some, he cannot fight them all off. DeWitt flees the bar, facing the hostile cannon once more. However, this time DeWitt grabs one of the mortars with his telekinetic ability and throws it back at the cannon, destroying it. Booker continues to flee the mob, even using the Sky-Line for a momentary jump forward from them. However, he is eventually cornered and forced to fight with what he's got left.

Luckily, Elizabeth shows up to DeWitt's left, conjuring up a storm and telling him to "Hit it now!" (with electricity). This causes a lightning barrage that kills many of the enemies. The two flee, trying to fight off more angry Columbians along the way. Elizabeth uses her powers to form the surrounding objects into a heated mass, commanding Booker to take it. Picking it up with his telekinetic ability, he fires it at the citizens, killing them. Elizabeth is knocked down, coughing and wheezing from the energy it took out of her. She says "I just need a moment...," then sees something in the distance muttering "...a moment we don't have." A Handyman leaps from the sky, jumps in front of the two and knocks DeWitt down. As a horse panics and tries to cross the bridge, the Handyman grabs it by the legs and swings it at Booker and Elizabeth. Booker tells Elizabeth to hit a floating support of the bridge, which he precedes to shoot and collapse the bridge. He shoots the and fires attacks at the Handyman until it finally slips free and falls from Columbia. Elizabeth is physically damaged from using the power, but is optimistic saying "Three cheers for us, eh?"

Booker asks if the Handyman was the one chasing her, which Elizabeth negates. Instead she points and says "That's him!" to a flying, winged creature from behind DeWitt. Songbird emits a long, low noise similar to that of a Big Daddy as he swoops down on the player, blocking the view and ending the gameplay demo.

BioShock Infinite E3 2011 Gameplay Trailer
Booker and Elizabeth enter Major's Notions, Sundries and Novelties in search of resources. They find an old bed where someone likely slept. He finds Bucking Bronco, and Elizabeth points out false gold busts. He moves along, with Elizabeth fooling around with an oversized Lincoln head mask. He then finds the Nostrum Pot Luck. He moves along to search a cash register, when Songbird approaches outside and they must hide behind some boxes. After Songbird moves on, Elizabeth moves to the doors of the shop, stating that if Songbird should take her that he should kill her. They move outside, where Booker notes Comstock's house in the distance, but Elizabeth wonders off. He finds her caring for a horse, where Booker offers to kill it to stop its continued pain. But Elizabeth denies the option and states she can open a Tear to save it. At first, she can not hold them open. The first time it opens, the horse is pure white. The second time, it has white splotches on brown, and the last time it is a brown horse with showhorse accessories on it. The last time, they view upon what appears to be the future, showing "Revenge of the Jedi" on a movie sign. Booker and Elizabeth are fearful, having no idea what they are seeing, and hearing an approaching siren. She struggles to close the Tear, doing so just in time before a firetruck hits her. They move forward a little, shooken by the experience, where she notes him to have been right not to try. As they move toward Comstock's house, they encounter Vox Populi terrorizing the people of the area. One throws a molotov at a banner of Comstock, then proclaiming profanity to the people around. As they continue, they witness people walking away, with Vox Populi throwing a man down stairs for offering his monocle as payment to them. They pass a storefront, where a man speaks profanely to Elizabeth. She asks Booker to deal with him, so he aims his gun at the man and tells him they don't want any trouble, causing him to run off laughing under his breath. They continue up, where Elizabeth states that being taken back is death or something so much like it she can't tell the difference. Booker suddenly moves to a vandalized statue, where he finds Murder of Crows next to a corpse. Elizabeth offers Booker two paths: one directly to Comstock and another which might yield more supplies. Booker immediately takes the path directly to Comstock, where they here more Vox Populi harassment of people. A woman is heard struggling, accompanied by gunshots that startle Elizabeth. Ahead, Daisy Fitzroy's voice is heard with her projection on red cloth, speaking of seeing a man's eyes in a strong accent. Ahead, a different projection of a man speaking of aiding in a conflict is seen, with a mailman being tortured on the platform of Columbia Mail. Booker proclaims "he's just a mailman!" bringing the Vox Populi's attention, sending many of them to a signal wagon that can call heavy Vox Populi forces to the location. He stops them as they attempt wine it up, but many more Vox Populi come to fight.

During the ensuing fight, Elizabeth brings a wagon through a Tear to block gunfire, allowing them to Sky-Hook to the enemy and kill them. They move behind cover as Vox Populi run toward them with melee weapons and are blocked momentarily by enemies. Booker users Bucking Bronco to levitate them in the air while Elizabeth brings a cargo crate through a tear to smash them. They then move up to where a Vox Populi with a Rocket Launcher is and kill him, taking the weapon. At this point, a large amount of Vox Populi come in on the Sky-Lines, making war cries similar to Native Americans as they fire on Booker and Elizabeth. A Vox Populi manages to get to the signal wagon, sending out a large flare that calls a Vox Populi armed airship to the area. At this point, Booker inquires Elizabeth to bring a turret through a Tear, but she says it is too soon. He takes cover as the airship begins firing rockets, and decides to take it out personally. He follows the Sky-Lines without Elizabeth, avoiding cargo crates moving along by jumping between lines, and fighting several large groups of enemies. As he finally reaches a Sky-Line close to the airship, he jumps on top of a walkway piece on the side of it and precedes inside. Killing the enemies inside, he shoots an explosive tank, setting the airship ablaze. He jumps out of a hole in the bottom of it, landing hard on a Sky-Line and showing definite damage onscreen. He meets up with Elizabeth on the ground, and they move to the Columbia Transit that leads to Comstock's house. As Elizabeth thanks you, Songbird suddenly flies up and attacks them, picking up Booker and throwing him into the Columbia Mail building hard enough to go through the side of the building. As Booker regains his vision, Songbird pulls off part of the building and moves inside. He pins down Booker, readying his sharply knuckled fist to kill Booker, when Elizabeth appears trying to stop him. She eventually reasons to go back with Songbird to save Booker. As Songbird moves away, they reach hands, but miss. He quickly gets up to follow Songbird as they fly away, landing on a Sky-Line. The video ends abruptly.

Development


Prior to its announcement on August 12, 2010, Irrational Games had used the moniker "Project Icarus" to describe their next game, creating a teaser site in late July 2010. Over the weeks leading to the announcement, the animation on the teaser site slowly built up to an animated infinity symbol on the day prior to the announcement. Employees of Irrational Games later revealed that the moniker "Icarus" began as an internal codename for the project, used in email correspondence etc, to avoid any leaks about the nature of the game.

Irrational had been working in secrecy on Infinite for two and a half years since completing the original BioShock. The original BioShock engine, a modified Unreal Engine 2.x, was inadequate to support the game mechanics of the new game, thus the development team chose to work with Unreal Engine 3, modifying it with their own lighting engine and means to simulate the movement and buoyancy of the buildings in Columbia. Because of this, all of the assets for BioShock Infinite had to be made from scratch.

This new engine and technology allows the buildings to work dynamically from any scripted events. They float on their own and can be affected by changes in weather and such without assigned fashion. During a demo, a bell tower tilted over and collapsed, with the bell breaking off and sliding to a stop right at the players feet. This entire event was unscripted, and was generated by the combination of the physics engine and the in-game weather system.

Trivia

 * Billy Murray's version of a song "You're a Grand Old Flag" (1905) (link) can be heard in the Debut Trailer. It is odd that, if Elizabeth was captive in the city for 15 years, and it being 1912, that a song from 1905 could exist in the city unless this captivity was inconsequential to the interaction with the surface.
 * This is further suggested with the 46 Star US Flags in the teaser. Although it should be the 48 Star Flag due to Arizona and New Mexico entering the Union, the citizens of Columbia probably hadn't been able to replace the flags, or were either unable to learn of their admittance due to a radio blackout around or after 1907.
 * The strange shimmering effect DeWitt sees in the Gamescon 2010 Gameplay Trailer were later explained to be Tears, which cause momentary changes to pictures, banners, and people in this case.
 * In the gameplay demo, a woman's voice can be barely heard on a phonograph in the bar that DeWitt enters, singing the lyrics to Tears For Fears' "Everybody Wants To Rule The World", a song that wouldn't be known to the general public for another 73 years from that game's timeframe . This is likely a reference to Tears, and might actually be explained by one.
 * The demo includes an image of the hammer and sickle, despite the game taking place five years before the Bolshevik Revolution in October 1917, when the symbol was created. Again, this could be explained by Tears.
 * Oddly, there are various buttons for different similar actions in the game. Picking up a Vigor asks the player to press B. Picking up a weapon asks the player to press Y. Examining containers asks the player to press A. This seems impractical, although explanation might be made in the future.