E3 2011: Bioshock Infinite (Part 1)

Dear readers, I title this post Part 1 as the video shown above is only the first two minutes of the fifteen minute behind-closed-doors demonstration of Bioshock Infinite given to the press at this year's E3. Next week, on July 7th, Gametrailers and Spike TV will be debuting the demo in its entirety, a demo that, to date, has received Game of the Show from over 30 different publications (so, naturally, I have been very excited to get a look at it).

I am a huge self-admitting Bioshock fan - despite paying little attention to the first game until a playable demo was put on Xbox Live back in summer 2007, I was hooked from the first time I played it. To date, I have played the first game several times, as well as having played its sequel, despite its paint-by-numbers nature. Everything about Rapture and its universe was utterly captivating and compelling, and changed the way I look at games. Whether it be Bioshock introducing the concept of an unreliable narrator in a video game, to the moral choice of saving or draining a child for your own personal gain, everything about the 1960's underwater dystopia reaffirmed in me every reason I love being a gamer.

When Bioshock Infinite was first announced, I was over-the-moon excited that Ken Levine and his studio were back behind the reins on the series, after 2K Marin (and various other 2k studios) developed Bioshock 2. Instead of playing it safe, Irrational Games has brought the series into the skies above the United States, with the game taking place in Columbia, a city held aloft by a fleet of hot-air balloons and existing as, essentially, a floating World's Fair to demonstrate the might and ingenuity of America. While there is a whole lot I could tell you about the warring factions in the game, the captor holding the "damsel in distress" your character, Booker Dewitt, is tasked with saving, or even the methods of travel you will use in the game, I will instead leave you with the above video from this year's E3, as well as last year's demo in its entirety. Enjoy!