Irrational Games has released what amounts to a very full-featured cinematic trailer for the fifth game in their loosely-related series of Shock games:
Is it just me, or does this seem a bit… conservative? As always, no judgments are laid upon a mere trailer, but a lot of the thematic elements in this clip – the elitist exclusive society, the nigh-magical city hidden from the common world via fantastic technology, a hulking mechanical monster, the young girl in need of rescue, the haunting sensation we get from a dangerous place redolent of naiive American protoculture – seem terribly familiar. I’m willing to cop that these are themes that have been explored in pop literature for some time. Still, I would have been more excited to see the creative folks at Irrational pop out something that suggested a bit more reach outside of their comfort zone.
-ssr
I’m curious about the new game, I never played 2 but enjoyed the first all the way through the incredibly lame final boss fight. I do agree that this looks like “Bioshock 1: in the sky” and hope it ends up being somewhat cool.
Well, it’s still called BioShock. So it’s fitting that narrative mold. This is just an iteration in natural progression. The “Infinite” tag seems to imply to move to some sort of MMO?
The Irrational people have to walk the line between doing something cool and original, doing what they are good at, delivering a product that is familiar without violating expectations too much and good or bad, delivering a product that is going to turn a profit.
I mean, God of War involves an angry dude seeking revenge in a setting based on Greek Mythology. The games were a bit repetitive both in mechanics and thematically, but that doesn’t mean they weren’t fun as hell and well worth playing.
Right, see, I was hoping for something *besides* another Bioshock, themes and all.
It’s not an MMO, tho.
Your point about GoW is perfectly true; I’m sure Bioshock Infinite will be well-made and entertaining. Like you said though, original not so much.
It’s sort of ironic, and maybe I’m being perverse, but the first Bioshock was so vibrantly original that I kind of associate “different” as one of the title’s defining characteristics; the tentative, cautious titles that have followed from the first Bioshock seem like they’re from a different series.