Incoming 2012: BioShock Infinite

What we know:

BioShock Infinite is the upcoming first person shooter title masterminded by Ken Levine and currently in development at Irrational Games, the studio behind the massively successful BioShock 1 game.

As opposed to the first title in the series, BioShock Infinite takes place quite a few decades before the first game, in 1912, and is set on a floating city called Columbia. This is where the player, who controls Pinkerton detective Booker DeWitt, is sent to rescue a young girl named Elizabeth.

While he finds her pretty easily, escaping Columbia proves a different matter altogether, as the floating city is engulfed in a civil war between the Founders, a group of people that want to keep the location safe from outside interference and immigrants, and the Vox Populi, a group of different factions that just wants to take down the Founders.

In between this war, Booker gains special powers by drinking vigors and nostrums, which take over from the tonics and plasmids encountered in previous BioShock games. What’s more, Elizabeth can also wield special powers that teleport her and Booker through different dimensions and time periods.

While all this sounds great, it’s also worth mentioning that BioShock Infinite is still a shooter at heart, and will feature huge areas that are linked by Columbia’s Skyline system. As such, players will have to fight against enemies not just in regular locations, but also through the Skyline system by kicking them off the rails.

We also heard that hardcore gamers will be treated with a special 1999 mode, in which all of their choices will have a bigger effect on the story, even leading to situations where the player can no longer win.

Why it matters:

Irrational and Ken Levine have proved they can deliver a stunning experience with the original BioShock and the new Infinite is looking even more impressive, with a more fleshed out story, better characters and improved mechanics.

As with the previous titles in the series, you can expect Infinite to have a huge impact not just on players but also on the gaming culture as a whole.

BioShock Infinite is out this year on the PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.