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Bioshock Infinite

Bioshock Infinite

Columbia, Songbird, Booker and Elizabeth. We seen the latest Bioshock Infinite demo...

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Everywhere we went people were going on and on about Bioshock Infinite at E3. Journalists and developers alike were awestruck by Irrational Games offering and after witnessing it ourselves it was easy to see why - it simply looks stunning and the gameplay also seems innovative and fun.

What had us excited about Bioshock prior to its release was Rapture and Columbia, the city that plays host to Bioshock Infinite has the same kind of effect on you. A flying city amongst the clouds in full turmoil as a civil war of sorts is going on in the streets. And the streets are perhaps what's most exciting about what we've seen from Bioshock Infinite so far. There is a vibrancy and colour to the people and characters around we just haven't seen before. The entire demo looked so incredibly tight that I had to make sure I hadn't just witnessed a cutscene.

If Columbia is a great replacement for Rapture, then Songbird is an even better replacement for Big Daddy. The giant singing mechanical jailor, is as enigmatic and intriguing as video game characters come. Who made him? What is he? And what motivates him to chase down Elizabeth? Is it just his programming? When it comes to Songbird there are a lot more questions than there are answers.

The E3 demo of Bioshock Infinite started with Booker DeWitt, the character you play, and Elizabeth, the girl he was sent to Columbia to rescue and bring back, in a store. As they look for items that might be of use to them as they try and make their way through the tumultuous city, Songbird comes peering in through the windows, screaming for Elizabeth to show herself. The developer explains we are roughly one third into the game and Booker has just managed to save Elizabeth from her prison where she was guarded by Songbird. It seems Songbird's soul purpose is to watch after Elizabeth, and their strange relationship of captor and captive seems to be one of the central focuses in the early part of the story and perhaps the entire game.

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Another strong theme is Elizabeth's strange powers that allow her to bring forth objects through tears in the space time fabric (or something like that). When she tried to bring back a dead horse with her powers she accidentally opened some kind of portal and a cinema showing "Revenge of the Jedi" (original title for Return of the Jedi) came into view. Elizabeth does not want to leave Columbia until she is told what her powers are really all about and Booker has sketched out a plan to take to Comstock, leader of one of the warring factions - the Founders, to try and find out what these powers are all about.

Songbird passes by outside the store window and Booker and Elizabeth take to the streets. If the detail and care put in to decorating the store was breathtaking, the outside view of Columbia is even more impressive. The floating city was designed as a World's Fair at the turn of the century (Bioshock Infinite takes place in 1912) by the United States. But after the city dropped bombs on civilians during the Chinese Boxer rebellion, they were disowned by their makers and has since just floated around as a menace bringing trouble wherever they go. You can see its festive past in parts, but the current rebellion that sees Founders and Vox Populii (the voice of the people) fight in the streets have taken its toll on the city. As such it reminds me of Rapture, but if you came to Rapture after everything had gone wrong, then it would seem that Columbia is still very much going through an active conflict.

On their way to try and reach Comstock's mansion Booker and Elizabeth come across an on-going execution. You as a player has the choice of walking by or intervening and in the demo Irrational chose to show us what happens if Booker tries to verbally intervene. Well, it seems the Founders didn't like that much and a firefight ensued. The combat in Bioshock Infinite is fast and frenetic, but there is also a cover system to take into consideration, and perhaps more importantly Elizabeth's abilities to take into consideration. During a confrontation she had the ability to bring forth three different object through tears - more cover, ammunition or a door that gave us an opportunity to flank the enemies. Other tears may bring more immediate death to your enemies, such as the time when Elizabeth brought forth a freight train to run over those in her way. Her abilities serve both a tactical purpose, mixing things up and forcing you to keep an eye out for opportunities in your surroundings, but they are also simply spectacular to behold at times.

In order to get to Comstock, Booker goes riding the skyrails with enemies following him and the chase that follows is so intense that it's hard to keep up. Irrational later tells us that you are free to change direction at any time or jump off the rails so don't think that this is just some "on rails" section. We also saw Booker pick up an RPG, and the large scale of the environments make heavier weapons more relevant than in either of the previous Bioshock titles.

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Just before Booker and Elizabeth reaches Comstock's mansion they are caught by Songbird. He seems none too happy about Elizabeth escaping, and now they are both his captives. We can't wait to see what happens next, but we are all going to have to wait until sometime in 2012 to see what will happen next to Booker and Elizabeth.

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