5 reasons BioShock Infinite should excite you

When Irrational Games announced BioShock Infinite back in August, the release date felt very far away. Irrational told us to expect the game in early 2012, and because of the peculiar trickery that dates can play on our minds, 2011 seems significantly closer. We haven’t heard much new info in the last few months, but I don’t doubt that the folks at Irrational are planning something big in the near future to reinvigorate our interest their newest tile. While we wait for that, I've got five reasons you should be ecstatic about the upcoming release of BioShock Infinite.

1) The premise is amazing

Freeing themselves from the dark, claustrophobic confines of the underwater city of Rapture, the developers at Irrational are taking players high into the sky to the floating city of Columbia.

Set in 1912 — nearly 40 years before the events of the original BioShock — Infinite tells the story of a city created to demonstrate the scientific might of America: Its makers intended it to be a sort of "floating World’s Fair." A some point after its launch, it came to light that the city was actually a gigantic battleship, armed to the teeth and ready for action. It departed into the clouds and vanished from sight.

The player takes on the role of Booker DeWitt, a private dick from the Pinkerton National Detective Agency. His mission in the floating city is to rescue a woman named Elizabeth, who possesses some extraordinary powers. The problem is that two factions in the city ("the powers that be" and "Vox Populi") seek to control her, and each side wants to keep her out of the clutches of the other — not to mention Booker himself.

2) It’s beautiful

Just look at it. Irrational has replaced all the dank misery of Rapture with bright, sunlit stones and blossoming flowers. Pink and blue hydrangea bushes dot the city, which rises majestically above cobbled streets. The hulking Handymen wear fine, blue jackets and sport perfectly waxed mustaches. Flags, banners, and paintings hang almost everywhere you look.

Irrational commented that the sunlight and beauty is merely false optimism, citing the works of Steven King and David Lynch as examples of the use of bright sunshine to convey effective horror. Whether or not the scares succeed, it's clear that Columbia is just as striking and unusual as the world of Rapture.

3) Things are not all they seem

Much of what we think we know about the mysteries of Columbia is mere conjecture, but when asked whether or not the floating city and Rapture exist in the same universe, Irrational coyly dodged a straight answer. They've also hinted that the title has a special significance that will only become clear during the course of playing the game.

Certainly, the debut gameplay trailer has some peculiarities: A rippling effect changes a banner right before Booker's eyes. Paintings warp and shift, changing from a battle scene to the portrait of an imposing man. Perhaps most interesting of all, the badge of faction leader Saltonstall morphs into the Communist hammer and sickle, a symbol whose earliest incarnation would not exist until 1917.

4) A luminary is at the helm

Every medium has its legends and pioneers. In film, people like Martin Scorsese, Stanley Kubrick, Werner Herzog, and the Coen brothers altered the course of the format through extraordinary works that illuminated places and ideas cinema goers had never seen before.

As a medium, video games have cultivated their share of icons, too: folks like Warren Spector, Shigeru Miyamoto, Sid Meier…and Ken Levine. Levine, the visionary director behind System Shock 2 and BioShock, has an imitable sense of flair and style. He created the unforgettable and fearsome character of Andrew Ryan and conjured the vivid world of Rapture.

His writing and direction provides something new and fresh every time, and one has to marvel at the passion and skill he brings to the medium. The world of BioShock captured my imagination, and I cannot wait to see what Levine brings to life this time.

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5) It’s breaking new ground

Irrational has created levels that are vast in scope, but have the capacity to move into smaller interior sequences. The player can target far-away enemies with a sniper scope, and the citizens of Columbia will return fire if provoked. Buildings can move on demand, with vast levels shifting and changing around the player.

Infinite is working on a completely different engine than BioShock (Irrational moved from a modified Unreal Engine 2 to a modified Unreal Engine 3), which allows for more complex lighting and bloom effects. Irrational reworked UE2 to achieve the distinctive and arresting visual design of BioShock, and with the increased capabilities of UE3, it's likely that Infinite will have plenty of tricks hidden up its sleeve. In the gameplay demo, a massive clock tower collapses — something I suspect would have been impossible with BioShock's tech.

If you're still unconvinced, well, you're the Ebenezer Scrooge of video games. As for me, I'm going to get to waiting around impatiently.