That headline used to read "Bioshock Infinite 2" till my brain woke up to the absurdity of (a) adding to or multiplying infinity, and (b) the famously cerebral Irrational Games ever stooping to the level of a numbered follow-up. Gah, Mondays. Level designer Shawn Elliott insists that Infinite's lofty setting and opened-out combat demonstrate that sequels don't have to be superficially overblown, fundamentally reductive experiences - and if the new game's achievements are anything to go by, the Bioshock brand has a very bright future indeed.
"I think if we pull this off and people are satisfied with it we'll have proven that the Bioshock brand - no pun intended - the sky's the limit on it," Elliott told me in a lengthy, fascinating interview, the bulk of which you'll read this week.
"It's not a lie to say that this is Bioshock, not by any means," Elliott urged elsewhere. "But we all got to the point where we were like "this is Bioshock - but it's a tremendously different game." And so you get a little bit of both worlds there: you get the freedom of a new IP, but you also have the pedigree of the franchise.
"A lot of people clearly are going to be looking to see if we are repeating ourselves, dipping back into the same well to try to shock or amaze people with the same toolset that we used before," he elaborated. "We want to, you know, approach all that in an entirely different way - in some ways defying very specific expectations.
"The introduction is about that: oh, here's what you expect, there's the lighthouse. But instead of arriving in this subterranean city that's very closed-in, thick and heavy, governed by an art deco motif, it's light and it's airy, it's about moving at high speed through this new environment where the buildings themselves are moving around and shifting."
Ken Levine reckons the ending is the best thing he's ever done. We're looking forward to putting his claim to the test.
11 comments so far...
Clanger67 on 14 Jan '13 said:
To me they have always pushed the boundaries and are responsible for some of my fave. games ever.Bioshock,System Shock 2.Have real high hopes for Infinite and think the change is good.Would like to see another Bioshock or something similar underwater again one day,but like he says the skys the limit about where they can go.Have a lot of faith that whatever they do i will enjoy it immensley.
CunningSmile on 14 Jan '13 said:
Sign me up now. Take my money Mr Levine!!!!
FishyGinger on 14 Jan '13 said:
Did someone say system shock 2 is one of the best games ever? My mouth is frothing again...
Clanger67 on 14 Jan '13 said:
Both System Shocks and the thief series are still some of my fave. FP on the pc ever.After the mention of wanting a SS 3 before xmas i had a bit of a search around and there seems to be a bit of mystery over who owns the rights to the name.From what i gather it is up in the air.Given todays tech i would love another one in space maybe a carry on from the end of the second one.
CunningSmile on 17 Jan '13 said:
I remember reading somewhere that the rights are screwed up so much that one of EAs studios (red something or other) own the name rights but a completely different studio owns the rights to make the game itself. How on Earth the rights to the name and the development ever got seperated I have no idea but it looks like with them split up no one can ever actually make a Systems Shock 3 (although Gamesradar have an interesting article on games that changed in development and Dead Space apparently started as SS3)
FishyGinger on 17 Jan '13 said:
I read that, EA were making SS3 but due to owning the name but nothing else they basically turned it into dead space. I sort of guessed that given that it was the nearest thing to system shock recently, ignoring bioshock.
Clanger67 on 17 Jan '13 said:
Yeah i got my info. from here.
http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/7 ... tem-shock/
While i think DS was good it didn't have the magic ingredients of Ken and his team.I can't see EA giving the name up despite not being able to do anything with it.According to the article i posted the rights to make the game are in the hands of an insurance company and the reason they were split up in the first place was a "screw you" to EA.
CunningSmile on 17 Jan '13 said:
I think we can all get behind that
Whilst I know SS2 has a lot of love out there (I've never played it myself) do we even need a third? As you say the magic is with every intelligent gamers permissable man crush rather than the franchise name and if he's planning on mixing up future Bioshock's we may well end up with a scifi Bioshock in the future to fill the gap.
Clanger67 on 17 Jan '13 said:
Yeah i alluded to that in this thread about the sky's the limit where they can go.So many games have taken the baton and run with it since though like Mass Effect.Think a space one in the vein of Bioshock with Ken's team behind it would be the Mutt's.
FishyGinger on 17 Jan '13 said:
I should trout slap you squire. It was essentially, if you didn't know, Deus Ex style game control-wise set in space meshed with bioshock (psi powers instead of adam, story style and twists) plus it was one of the greatest spooky games. There weren't many enemies but psychic monkeys are such an underused game character. Shame really.
I'd be happy if Bioshock did go into space but it can't use the same characters and it'll most likely just be a shooter without the rpg elements. I liked being able to choose between combat, hacking and psionic.
Looking forward to this though.
Clanger67 on 17 Jan '13 said:
Yeah it's a damn shame given the rights to make it are up for sale.Like the article says though you would probably have loads of grief from EA about using the name "i can't have it so you can't either".Yet how many games have they made along similar lines Mass effect,Dead Space.
It was spooky and well ahead of its time.I used to like the malfunctioning Protocol droids "oh hello sir" before blowing up right next to you.