14 DAY TRIAL // Ken Levine, the leading developer working on BioShock Infinite, says that the upcoming game is designed to allow players to make a number of unusual choices, with the main character able to act as a psychopath or alcoholic.
Kotaku reports that, during PAX East, Levine explained that, “Sometimes we don’t know what’s going to happen. We’re writing a scene where the lead actor is like this psychopathic, alcoholic, because you don’t know what the player is going to do. You have to embrace that lunacy, if you fight it and you lock the player in place it’s not the player’s game, it’s our game – but it has to be your game.”
Player choice has always been at the core of Levine’s philosophy, both when it comes to the moment-to-moment gameplay of BioShock and when he is dealing with the overarching story.
His philosophy also allowed him to create the very impressive twist of the first BioShock, which focused on what choice actually means to the player and how it influences his behavior.
Levine has also talked about Elizabeth, the A.I. companion of Infinite, which he believes is the most complete character he has created and will offer a number of surprises.
He says that, “she’s a giant machine, full of all this different content. All this writing all this acting, all this animation all this motion capture. All these things that can happen, but may or may not. She’s a machine with all this human content put in, trying to yield this person.”
The star of BioShock Infinite will certainly be the floating city of Columbia, where players will have to explore a series that deals with mature themes including religion and slavery.
BioShock Infinite will be offered worldwide on March 26 on the PC, the PlayStation 3 from Sony and the Xbox 360.