Just one level of Bioshock Infinite writing and the amount of character interaction we have is probably three or four times as much writing as in all of Bioshock 1.
That's the word from Irrational Games lead Ken Levine about the shooter-to-watch this holiday season. Speaking with Eurogamer, Levine detailed how the relationship between the two main characters adds to that level of dialog:
When I first came up with these characters Booker and Elizabeth talking to each other and interacting with their world, I didn't consider how much writing that was going to be. I'm doing the vast bulk of it and it really is… it can get overwhelming. But on the other hand it's a world that I absolutely love to write. Mostly because it's a new challenge. Thinking how these scenes are going to play out, how we keep them interactive and how you communicate the ideas.
It would be so much easier just to write tons of cut scenes; I could tell the story much more easily. But my gut feeling, which probably comes from being forever changed by playing System Shock 1, is to keep the experience going.
As a critic, Bioshock Infinite is one of those games I actually dread. If the original Bioshock games are any indication, I know this one will be incredibly dense, with a high probability for delay. Sometimes looking at things like this through a critical eye can actually damage the gameplay experience.
It can be too easy to stare straight into the face of all that writing and narative and judge the game on those merits alone. Bioshock Infinite will land on store shelves for Xbox 360, PS3, and PC October 16th in North American and October 19th in the rest of the world.
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