Bioshock 3

Mesaje : 165 Data de inscriere : 2012-01-17

BioShock Infinite is an upcoming first-person shooter video game, and the third game in the BioShock series. Previously known as "Project Icarus", it is being developed by Irrational Games for an October 2012 release on the Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 platforms. BioShock Infinite is not a direct sequel or prequel to previous BioShock games, taking place in an earlier period and different setting, though it features similar gameplay concepts and themes.
Building on the ideas of American Exceptionalism in the early 20th century, the game's protagonist, former Pinkerton agent, Booker DeWitt, is sent in 1912 to the floating air-city of Columbia to seek out a young woman, Elizabeth, who has been held captive there for the last twelve years. Though Booker rescues Elizabeth easily, the two are pursued by warring factions on the collapsing city: the Founders that strive to keep the city for pure American citizens, and the Vox Populi, a hodgepodge group of several smaller factions trying to seize control from the Founders. Booker finds Elizabeth to be central to this conflict, and that she also holds strange powers to manipulate rifts in the time-space continuum that ravage Columbia. Ken Levine, the lead designer for the game, took inspiration for the story and setting from both historical pieces at the turn of the 19th century, as well as more recent events including the "Occupy" protests. Levine took an unorthodox approach with the voice actors for Booker and Elizabeth, Troy Baker and Courtnee Draper, respectively, by developing the script and details of the story alongside them during their voice work, allowing them to help define the characters and deliver more convincing performances within the game.
The player controls Booker throughout the game, eventually teaming with the computer-controlled Elizabeth. Like previous BioShock games, the player uses a combination of weapons, psychokinetic powers granted through "vigors" and "nostrums", and Elizabeth's own powers to fight off hostile foes and make their way through Columbia. In contrast to the limited spaces of the underwater city of Rapture, the open-air city of Columbia provides for more combat challenges, including combat that takes place aboard the city's Skyline rollercoaster-like rail system. The game will also feature a "1999 Mode", harkening back to games like System Shock 2 where decisions made by the player will have a more permanent impact on the game, possibly leading the player to an unwinnable situation and requiring a restart from an earlier saved game.
BioShock Infinite has received early pre-release attention, winning several awards including the "Best of Show" at the 2011 E3 show.

Gameplay

Like Bioshock, BioShock Infinite is a first-person shooter with role-playing game and Survival Horror elements similar to the previous two games. As Booker, the player moves about the various structures of Columbia using a grappling hook, a series of railways connecting the buildings called the Skyline, and other transport means to search for Elizabeth. The player will gain weapons which can be used in numerous ways within the environment, including on the Skyline, to defeat enemies. Booker gains powers and abilities by using vigors and nostrums that are found through Columbia, the equivalent of BioShock's plasmids and tonics. Vigors grant activated powers such as telekinesis, electricity manipulation, or animal control (as seen by the manipulation of a flock of crows within the gameplay demo), while nostrums are passive abilities that can improve the player's strength or damage resistance. Unlike BioShock in which the player was able to use special Gene Banks to alter the loadout of plasmids and tonics they had, the choice to imbibe a certain vigor or nostrum is permanent and cannot be changed later in the game, placing emphasis on the consequences of the player's choices throughout the game. Infinite does not use EVE, the equivalent of magic points, for powering abilities gained by vigors or nostrums. Each container of vigor has a limited number of charges in it, and while more can be found around the game's environment, the player can only carry a limited number of vigors into battle, with more powerful vigors containing fewer charges. Nostrums are permanent changes to the character and cannot be removed once used. These come in two types, stable and unstable varieties, the latter referred to as "potlucks". Stable nostrums are more expensive, but the player knows exactly what effect applying the nostrum will gain them. Unstable nostrums are cheaper or can be found lying around the environment, but upon use, require the player to select one of four random effects to alter their character, an idea inspired by Heroes of Might and Magic according to Levine.
Once reunited with Elizabeth, who also has a set of such powers, the player must work together with her to escape Columbia. For example, Elizabeth can create a localized rainstorm on foes, which the player, as Booker, can then fire upon with an electricity-based attack, electrocuting the foes. The player will not be directly in control of Elizabeth, but instead she will react to the player and the current situation in a manner similar to the AI Director in Left 4 Dead, according to Levine.However, using Elizabeth's powers also harms her, an action compared to the choice of killing or saving the Little Sisters from the previous games. Elizabeth also has the ability to interact with the tears in the fabric of space-time, pulling objects from the other side to use within Columbia, escaping from battle through these, or repairing them. The player will need to protect Elizabeth, but will not need "to babysit and hand-hold" her through the game. Levine has stated that working with Elizabeth in the game is "in no way, shape, or form is this an escort mission", identifying that players reacted negatively to a late-game stage in the original BioShock in which they were tasked to protect a Little Sister.
Several different human forces are at work opposed to the player's progress within the city. Furthermore, the player and Elizabeth are chased by Songbird (sometimes simply referred to as "Him"), who is attempting to snatch Elizabeth from the player after being her guardian and companion for the last twelve years. A set of larger, mechanical enemies created by the Founders, dubbed "Heavy Hitters", act as mini-bosses through the game, demanding new tactics from the player. One type of these are the Handymen, so named for their large porcelain doll-like hands; they are robotic-like monsters housing a human heart and head, with the ability to jump large distances and easily throw the player- and non-player characters alike. A second class are the Motorized Patriots, once used as tour guides for the city, decorated in patriotic colors and wear a wax mask of George Washington, assaulting its foes with a "peppermill" automatic machine gun. The player will have several options of approaching the Heavy Hitters, such as by using stealth to bypass the encounter, or to hack into the machine and take control of it.The Boys of Silence are men in foppish outfits locked into a metal helmet with giant ears; the humans inside are blind but due to the helmet have super-human hearing, and act as Columbia's security system, requiring the player to chose to carefully between stealth and a direct assault, whereupon the Boys can scream to call in back up. Finally, the Siren is a mysterious, completely enshrouded female figure, based on the Spiritualism movement near the end of the 19th century, that can revive defeated foes during combat, requiring the player to decide whether to concentrate attacks on the Siren or the newly-revived enemies.
The Skyline is a rail-based system (originally designed for moving cargo around Columbia but later used for personnel transport) similar to the concept found in the Ratchet & Clank games and described by Levine as "a roller coaster, over another roller coaster, over another roller coaster"; players activate a wrist-mounted tool that Booker and enemies wear to jump and hang onto the self-powered tracks. Players can jump onto, off of, and between Skyline tracks at any time, and may face enemies that use the system to attack; the player can use weapons in Booker's free hand to defend the character. The freedom of movement along the Skyline allows for several varieties of combat, including flanking, cover, and area-of-effect attacks through creative uses of the system.
Irrational Games has stated that the game's set pieces are not heavily scripted; this statement was made in response to reaction to a gameplay preview video released during the week of September 21, 2010, which, within ten minutes, demonstrated numerous elements of the game. The development team called the game's pacing "like BioShock 1", and that while there will be some scripted set pieces, the developers want the player to be able to explore Columbia at their own pace. Unlike Jack or Delta, the silent protagonists of BioShock and BioShock 2 respectively, and who are guided by radio commands from a third party, Booker will be a vocal character, with dialogue designed to aid the player in leading Booker to complete his mission.
In addition to the normal game mode, BioShock Infinite will include a "1999 Mode", so named for the release year of System Shock 2, a game worked on by Levine and several other Irrational Games developers. 1999 Mode is a more challenging version of the game, requiring the player to make mutually exclusive specialization choices, such as choosing which weapon type that Booker is proficient at, which may make later parts of the game difficult to complete, and may require the player to reload from earlier saved games to manage their resources better.
At the present time, Irrational Games has not committed to including a multiplayer element within the game. While the team will experiment with concepts for a multiplayer component, Levine has stated that they would only proceed forward if it had elements not otherwise found in multiplayer games like Halo or Call of Duty.
During Sony's E3 press conference on June 6, 2011 creative director Ken Levine announced on-stage that BioShock Infinite will support the PlayStation Move. Though some reports believed that a new Move controller would be produced for the game based on information from Sony, 2K Games debunked these stories, stating that no new hardware is being developed for the game.