Shouting Meets Explosions In BioShock Infinite Launch Trailer

Earnest Cavalli

New member
Jun 19, 2008
5,352
0
0
Shouting Meets Explosions In BioShock Infinite Launch Trailer


BioShock Infinite hits retail this week, and Irrational Games has dropped a bombastic trailer to herald the game's arrival.

Ostensibly, the purpose of any videogame trailer is to entice players into laying out $60-plus of their hard-earned cash for the title in question. There's a number of ways to go about this, but personally I prefer the classic approach: Pack your trailer with as much action as a mid-1980s Schwarzenegger flick and watch as the dollars pour in. Apparently somebody at Irrational Games feels the same way, as the newly-released launch trailer for BioShock Infinite might be described as a "white-knuckle thrill ride" were it an actual film and I a hack movie critic.

Despite my personal fondness for all things that go "boom," this is kind of an odd approach to take when promoting BioShock Infinite. As fans of the series will attest, while BioShock falls into the "first-person shooter" genre, the true draw of the franchise has always been in its cerebral story and detailed, clever gameplay design that, while liner, makes a player feel as if they have true agency within the virtual world. That concept was the actual plot of the original BioShock, so it seems bizarre to focus a trailer for this latest sequel on explosions and people shouting.

Then again, it's probably really difficult to convey the nuances of Randian Objectivism, the horrors of free will and the inherent depravity of man in a little over a minute of videogame footage, so the safest way to promote BioShock Infinite is probably to just focus on the shiny bits. Like a baby raccoon entranced by a ball of foil, the average consumer is easily placated by pretty aesthetics, so given the time constraints, it's perfectly understandable that this trailer focuses on the less thought-heavy aspects of the game.

But forget all of that. Did you see those explosions?! They were all like "BOOM! POW BOOSH!" and then that big bird thing was all like "PUNCH! ATTACK! MENACE!" and so on. Needless to say, we're kinda excited for BioShock Infinite.

Source: YouTube [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8f3XJePYPpo]

Permalink
 

Legion

Were it so easy
Oct 2, 2008
7,190
0
0
It feels kind of odd having the review released before the launch trailer.

As for the content of the trailer, I think it is the same reason as for the bro-tastic cover. The people who are already into the game/series don't need advertisements to get them interested, these are for people who may otherwise not pick the game up. They are doing the whole "trying to appeal to a wider demographic" malarkey. Or to put it more honestly, they want to make sales from the people who like shooting stuff and explosions.

That said, I don't think it was any more action packed than the previous ones.
 

Quiet Stranger

New member
Feb 4, 2006
4,409
0
0
Please help me, I am in a dilemma.

I ordered the Song bird edition of this game way long ago and I don't know if I should get it or not (song bird edition and the game itself) I already have tons of games I still need to play, right now I'm playing Star Ocean till the end of time and recently bought Final Fantasy 12. I still need to finish Dark Souls, Demon Souls, 3D Dot Game Heroes, Fallout New Vegas, I've got so many games still to get done. On top of that I'm a student and don't have a job and all the money I have right now is all student loans.


Help me out here guys, I just want to know what you would do. It looks so good
 

Legion

Were it so easy
Oct 2, 2008
7,190
0
0
Quiet Stranger said:
Please help me, I am in a dilemma.

I ordered the Song bird edition of this game way long ago and I don't know if I should get it or not (song bird edition and the game itself) I already have tons of games I still need to play, right now I'm playing Star Ocean till the end of time and recently bought Final Fantasy 12. I still need to finish Dark Souls, Demon Souls, 3D Dot Game Heroes, Fallout New Vegas, I've got so many games still to get done. On top of that I'm a student and don't have a job and all the money I have right now is all student loans.


Help me out here guys, I just want to know what you would do. It looks so good
What it comes down to is: How badly do you want that statue?

It answers both questions really. If you really want it, then by cancelling it you would be risking missing out on it, as it'll be fairly expensive to try and get later off of Ebay once the shops completely run out. If you don't care that much then you could always get the regular edition at a later date when you have more time and money.
 

RJ 17

The Sound of Silence
Nov 27, 2011
8,687
0
0
Eh, I like the Beast of America trailer better. :p

Also, does anyone know what - if any - the connection story-wise between this game and the original is? Is this to be a quasi-reboot? Granted I'll be finding out tomorrow when I get the game. Still, though, just wondering.
 

Candidus

New member
Dec 17, 2009
1,095
0
0
Really not interested.

That protagonist bothers me too much. I'm sure he's not as bad as some whose games I've bought, but rough-white-man fatigue is magnifying the annoyance to intolerable levels. He was designed by the developers for the publishers. He exists for no other reason than to be a conduit for Elizabeth's story, because as Jim pointed out this week: as a woman she isn't allowed to tell it herself.

I can't support that. I'll watch it on Youtube over the days ahead and pick it up in a few years time. Second hand, on a console.
 

Bleidd Whitefalcon

New member
Mar 8, 2012
257
0
0
RJ 17 said:
Eh, I like the Beast of America trailer better. :p

Also, does anyone know what - if any - the connection story-wise between this game and the original is? Is this to be a quasi-reboot? Granted I'll be finding out tomorrow when I get the game. Still, though, just wondering.
I'm pretty sure there isn't a story connection between this and the original. All the connections are most likely thematic in nature.
 

Sight Unseen

The North Remembers
Nov 18, 2009
1,064
0
0
Candidus said:
Really not interested.

That protagonist bothers me too much. I'm sure he's not as bad as some whose games I've bought, but rough-white-man fatigue is magnifying the annoyance to intolerable levels. He was designed by the developers for the publishers. He exists for no other reason than to be a conduit for Elizabeth's story, because as Jim pointed out this week: as a woman she isn't allowed to tell it herself.

I can't support that. I'll watch it on Youtube over the days ahead and pick it up in a few years time. Second hand, on a console.
If you played as Elizabeth, then you wouldn't be able to have Liz tell her story the way that Irrational chose to tell it. Irrational doesn't like using cutscenes and it wanted to do a first person game. If you were playing as Liz, you wouldnt be able to develop any of her characterization so she would just be the blank slate character. As the most important character in the story, it makes sense to have her be an NPC companion who can be animated, characterized, and developed to a much greater extent than your camera POV character can be.

It also wouldn't make sense with respect to the story. Why would Liz break out of her prison and just start wrecking shit for no reason. Booker gives a much more plausible reason for her breaking out and for causing all the chaos in Columbia, even if the story does start off sounding like a typical cliche'd sexist videogame trope (pretty woman trapped in castle, go save her)

That said, Booker is still a character in his own right, and he has his own personality and characteristics. Strictly speaking, he isn't a blank slate character. However, it will never be possible to properly develop the character of a person who is played through a first person perspective without the use of cinematic cutscenes, which Irrational doesn't like to use because it disrupts the agency of the player.
 

RJ 17

The Sound of Silence
Nov 27, 2011
8,687
0
0
Bleidd Whitefalcon said:
RJ 17 said:
Eh, I like the Beast of America trailer better. :p

Also, does anyone know what - if any - the connection story-wise between this game and the original is? Is this to be a quasi-reboot? Granted I'll be finding out tomorrow when I get the game. Still, though, just wondering.
I'm pretty sure there isn't a story connection between this and the original. All the connections are most likely thematic in nature.
That's pretty much what I figured. Just wondering if there were any tie-ins. Didn't think there would, or even could, be.
 

Bleidd Whitefalcon

New member
Mar 8, 2012
257
0
0
RJ 17 said:
Bleidd Whitefalcon said:
RJ 17 said:
Eh, I like the Beast of America trailer better. :p

Also, does anyone know what - if any - the connection story-wise between this game and the original is? Is this to be a quasi-reboot? Granted I'll be finding out tomorrow when I get the game. Still, though, just wondering.
I'm pretty sure there isn't a story connection between this and the original. All the connections are most likely thematic in nature.
That's pretty much what I figured. Just wondering if there were any tie-ins. Didn't think there would, or even could, be.
We might have cameos due to Elizabeth's dimensional abilities. Nothing says she can't open a portal to Rapture
 

RJ 17

The Sound of Silence
Nov 27, 2011
8,687
0
0
Bleidd Whitefalcon said:
RJ 17 said:
Bleidd Whitefalcon said:
RJ 17 said:
Eh, I like the Beast of America trailer better. :p

Also, does anyone know what - if any - the connection story-wise between this game and the original is? Is this to be a quasi-reboot? Granted I'll be finding out tomorrow when I get the game. Still, though, just wondering.
I'm pretty sure there isn't a story connection between this and the original. All the connections are most likely thematic in nature.
That's pretty much what I figured. Just wondering if there were any tie-ins. Didn't think there would, or even could, be.
We might have cameos due to Elizabeth's dimensional abilities. Nothing says she can't open a portal to Rapture
Gotta say that'd be pretty sweet if at one point you get a chance to "summon" a pissed off Big Daddy.
 

Atrocious Joystick

New member
May 5, 2011
293
0
0
Candidus said:
Really not interested.

That protagonist bothers me too much. I'm sure he's not as bad as some whose games I've bought, but rough-white-man fatigue is magnifying the annoyance to intolerable levels. He was designed by the developers for the publishers. He exists for no other reason than to be a conduit for Elizabeth's story, because as Jim pointed out this week: as a woman she isn't allowed to tell it herself.

I can't support that. I'll watch it on Youtube over the days ahead and pick it up in a few years time. Second hand, on a console.
Your call. It seems a little narrow minded in my opinion to not get a game you want because the protagonist is the wrong sex.

Besides, having the protagonist be a different person than the one the story is really about isn't particularly unusual. Often it it takes the form of the narrator and protagonist encountering an interesting person which is then the focus of the story, or he is sent to look into someone because of something and then the someone becomes the focus of the story.

Especially in FPS games the character you are playing as is often virtually just a camera with a gun and the focus is on the other characters.