BioShock Infinite’s narrative style an experiment – Levine

By: Musa Afridi

  |   December 29th, 2012   |  

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Ken Levine, the game’s creator, explains how they are moving into uncharted territory with the latest BioShock game and how it is a bit of a gamble.

There is no denying the fact that BioShock’s strengths lie in its rich atmosphere, well-written story and memorable characters, however, Levine is hoping to take that to the next level albeit with a slightly experimental approach.

“When we made the decision to make Booker talk, we knew we were opening up a whole can of worms there.” Explained the game’s creator, before continuing, “And not just talk, his story with him and Elizabeth – it’s a story of their relationship set against this fantastical backdrop.”

It seems as if Levine really put in a considerable amount of effort, along with the rest of the studio, in terms of developing the characters and trying to get the first-person shooter narrative forward. Half-Life is perhaps the best example of how a story can be told in a completely first-person view and the game’s protagonist does not utter a single world in any of the games.

It will be interesting to see how Levine and his team at Irrational Games manage to do that with Booker, the game’s protagonist. However, Booker alone will not be moving the story forward as Elizabeth, who will spend a majority of the game alongside the protagonist also has plenty to add.

Levine explained, “Part of the fun for me as a writer was learning about the pair of them as we moved forward.”

The creator of the series explained his approach to the narrative of the game by pointing out that he opted to leave the character’s background a mystery and allow players to ‘discover’ Booker as the game progressed.

He said, “I could’ve brought Booker on and introduced him and gone ‘he did this, and he did this, and he did that’. Or there’s the option of slowly revealing who he is over the course of the game.”

Levine elaborated, “It sounds like a small thing but it’s one of the more interesting experimental things involved in making Infinite – figuring out how to walk that line, because this notion of trusting who you are is very complicated.”

One can sense a bit of a twist coming here but if there is anyone who is good at surprising audiences its Levine and his studio, Irrational Games.

So what do you think of what you’ve heard about BioShock Infinite so far? Is it set to surpass expectations and go on to bag a number of awards or is it venturing too far away from the core principles and feel of the original BioShock games? Let us know in the comments section below.