BioShock’s Infinite Potential

The reveal in the original BioShock is one of the finest moments in gaming. Whilst the deep characters, triumphant setting and the sublime gameplay were all components to help make a great game, it was the gradual build up of the plot, the eventual twist and the consequent fallout that made BioShock a true classic.

The crumbling Rapture played the crucial role in the game, however, and it’s arguably one of the greatest locations in recent games. One that just urges you to explore it. One that you just need to know more about – how exactly was it built? True fans of BioShock want to return to Rapture and explore it more, so it didn’t seem to make sense at first that Irrational Games decided to change location with Project Icarus, which would become what we now know as BioShock: Infinite.

[drop]It all makes sense now, though; we’ve already got to grips with Rapture in the original BioShock, with this familiarity continuing on in the sequel, where we discovered more of the wonderful world under the sea. The rest can be left up to our imagination, spin-offs and books that all let us know more of Rapture – to be truthful, it’s that bit of mystery that helps make the setting just so special. It works for Portal’s excellent Aperture Science as it does for Rapture; they’re both unique settings with a great amount of mystery to keep them fresh.

I’ll admit the second instalment in the BioShock series wasn’t quite up to scratch with the plot. Other things had been improved – the gameplay was unmistakeably improved with dual wielding Plasmids and weapons – it was a superb game, but it just couldn’t keep up with the first game story-wise. And after all, that’s the the most important thing; the thing that puts the original BioShock above the rest. Perhaps it was due to the use of the same location; we saw it from the other side and it worked well, but it was nothing as strange or compelling as Jack’s (and our) descent into the sea.

Infinite, as you know, is set in 1912 above the sea… way above the sea, in the floating world of Columbia. This completely new setting in the BioShock universe gives it the potential to be as groundbreaking as the first game in terms of the storyline. We don’t know too much about Columbia, and if it stays that way, then we could be in for a treat when we gradually discover just how this world floats, who is behind it, what their motive is and what role you play in this. I have faith that Irrational will pull this off and that both the setting and story will be solid.

That’s not the only reason – it’s not even the main one – why I firmly believe that Infinite has potential to be up there with the greats. I’ve been saying that the lure of BioShock was the excellent build up of the story, rather than just the setting. Well, something we got a glimpse of in this fourteen minute section of gameplay (seriously, watch it) threw me right back to that bit in BioShock and made me think about the possibilities with the story in Infinite.

[drop2]Your presumably faithful (you can never be sure these days) companion, Elizabeth uses her abilities to try and heal a horse, and ends up with a ‘tear’ in the fabric of the universe, that leads to somewhere else. Where? Well, the 1980s we can assume. It’s not our 1980s, however – you’ll notice the sign on the movie theatre for Revenge of the Jedi – the original title for Return of the Jedi that was never used. This short section, showing an apparent glimpse to an alternate reality makes me more excited than I’ve been about a game since we saw the overgrown Aperture Laboratories in the Portal 2 trailer, over a year ago.

The success of BioShock: Infinite will really be determined by how it deals with these ‘tears’ throughout the plot. I envisage them only appearing as a gameplay element at first, where you can warp cover to appear in front of you, or on top of the enemies to kill them quickly. Then, as the game progresses I expect a narrative push of these; where they have subtle differences to 1912’s Columbia at first and as it builds up towards the end the differences will become more apparent, leading to a tale of alternate realities and time travel. If that’s how it’s going to work, then it’s a stellar concept which could lead to big twists and turns throughout. Infinite’s story will be more than just exploring a city in the sky and solving your own problems, evidently.

There’s a lot more that has me excited too: the mysterious, menacing Songbird which looks to be Columbia’s counterpart for the Big Daddys; Elizabeth’s Rapunzel-esque backstory; the founders of Columbia and other (no doubt) corrupt characters that will appear and the hopefully more open world gameplay – those sky rails make it look as if you can travel around more freely than you could in the previous games. It seriously looks as if it has the potential to better the original BioShock – if we get twists and a reveal as good as that, we’re in for a treat.

It’s safe to say that when Infinite releases next year, I’ll no doubt be on top of the world.