Witness How Much BioShock Infinite Has Changed Over The Past Few Years

Kotaku - Yes, the critically-acclaimed shooter has changed quite a bit over the past couple of years. Blame it on the rigors of development, or maybe it's just director Ken Levine's creative style. Maybe Levine and his team at Irrational Games just intended to show off what BioShock Infinite could look like, not what it would look like.

[RedDeadLB]

It seems the world was far bigger and more immersive than the final release. It's a shame, I can swear I felt that the world was a lot bigger before the whole time I was playing. Makes me wonder why did they scrap so much material?

I mean it's not like I can find fault with it. A bigger Columbia to explore would have been wonderful. I want to play the version they showed in 2011 too :(

[oof46]

There were probably bugs they couldn't iron out to make it work 100% of the time, but I remember in the version they showed previously, Booker and Elizabeth could do tag team/combo with her powers and his vigors. But the game that remains is still awesome.

[Bimkoblerutso]

I'd say it's probably because for the longest time the game was under a quietly publicized threat of cancellation.

Developers were sacked and hired and funding was iffy for quite a while if I remember correctly, so it's probably just a matter of them parring down the scope to account for that uncertainty.

[SHORYUKEN]

Off topic.

Spoiler Alert!

[brodychet]

The game does seem a lot less linear, but I'm sure the changes were for the good of the game in the end.

[DigitalRaptor]

Back in those demos, the skylines seemed to expand above huge towering buildings, Elizabeth's powers were more impacting on combat. Certain parts of Columbia were absent for exploration such as the Lincoln mask part, horse euthanization part, public execution part etc. and story moments were cut/juggled that I thought would've driven the narrative to higher places.

Sad this guy was cut - a lot of potential there. http://bioshock.wikia.com/w...

Can't say I'm dissatisfied with what we got - the game is a marvel - but something itches at me that we could've had something grander if the technology/budget constraints allowed for it.

[Amazingmrbrock]

I'm betting that lots of cut content will reappear as dlc.

[DigitalRaptor]

I hope so because honestly, I'm craving more. The ending, as satisfying as it was, just left me wanting more of Columbia, more of Elizabeth, Lutece and the Comstocks, more of Songbird, more of the troublesome politics of the world, and more of the interesting characters we only got glimpses of.

[sway_z]

The E3 2011 demo looks superior to the final cut. I was disappointed with the final version shown in the comparison video.

Not to say BS Infinite is not a good game...I mean, look at all the reviews.

Just saying the 2 year old demo looks better IMO...Don't stone me to death for it ;)

[HammadTheBeast]

Sacrificing a more open world for immersive graphics? I can live with it I guess. There is a lot going on in the screen now.

[SatanSki]

Reviews mean nothing. But still its a good game.

[fossilfern]

First good article/video out of Kotaku I have seen in a long time. I wanted to hold out until the hype for Bioshock infinite dyed down because I found the game just above average and if I said that earlier I would probably of been bubbled down!

The game had potential, the clip were you had the choice to euthanize the animal or the choice to stop the public execution or just let him be executed without you being thrown into combat was something I was hoping to be included and expanded upon in the game.

The whole game was just another shooter with powers which had a lot more potential

[cleft5]

We 100% got the lesser game and it shows in the gameplay. Bioshock Infinite has a great story, but I want the gameplay from 2011.

[oof46]

I haven't finished the game yet, but with all the material scrapped from the main game, I'm very curious as to what the 3 DLC packs will bring. Play as side characters? Flesh out their story lines?

[FantasyStar]

If you haven't finished the game: you need to get off the internet until you finish it. That, and because it might answer what kind of DLC we could expect.

[FantasyStar]

The only difference I could tell was that they ax'd a lot of player choices. Other than that, the 2k11 video and the final game is pretty close to each other.

Well, if one is looking for reasons that this game doesn't deserve a perfect score: here's one.

[ReubenPatrick]

The developers rewrote the game at some point. If you watched the E3 demo it showed that Elizabeth and Booker are trying to get to Comstock to acquire his aid and the Vox Populi are more aggressive than what we saw in the final game. That is why we didn't get those parts we saw during E3 2011 because some of the things in the Demo didn't quite match up in the final game. I would also say the they were also bounded by hardware limitations since we all know the devs need to cut and scrap somethings in the game to make it playable and in a way the doesn't hamper performance. A shame really... Don't be too hard on Irrational they crafted and delivered a beautiful game with a stunning ending, who would ask for more.

[ziggurcat]

well, there's DLC coming, so you never know what we're going to get.

[Picnic]

In the early footages it seemed that characters like Saltonstall had a demonic light behind their eyes, fitting in with the streaming sunlight seen coming through buildings in the game. Probably a metaphor for being blinded by - and trying to blind others with - ideologies including religion.

There was a folksiness about that early footage that seems to have been abandoned in favour of an entirely 'elegant' set of people. I was expecting that, from time to time, I might be speaking to real off the wall friendly, quirky characters who stand out from the crowd and that this might all take on a kind of 'Wizard of Oz' vibe. Instead it stubbornly wants to stick with being a history play with a rollercoaster attached.

I was expecting the levels to feel more like Uncharted 2, where I might unexpectedly be climbing up a building and going through windows. And I was expecting to sometimes be battling people who were ALSO using the skylines like me (maybe even needing to race them to get to a certain situation before they do).

Instead I doubt that I have ended up going through a window in the entire game (so far)- apart from the skylight towards the start. When I go in to a building I am rarely inhabiting some terribly foreboding place. Instead I'm exploring a post-Victorian museum at my leisure with battle times carefully arranged and signposted by the audio.

I think that I was expecting the game to be a bit more abstract-feeling. That the geometry of the levels would feature many small rooms on different levels that I could crash in and out of on a skyline. There are certainly a fair few small rooms but they serve only to have more ammo and salts in them.

I probably also thought that they weren't going to as strictly adhere to having a 1912 aesthetic throughout. That they were going to try some very romanticised, Disney theme park style, settings. Some of the most memorable parts of the game are when Elizabeth is being girly. There's the odd hint to art nouveau but only really in signage.

It just seems a far more sober game than I was expecting.
The original Bioshock was more randomly scary for the sake of it.

However - there is a level many hours in that seems like a homage to Silent Hill that is interesting.

I have so many good things to say about this game (and I think I have in previous posts). But I think that it could sometimes used more 'set pieces' based around its Edwardian settings (could we have seen a steam train battle or is that too cliche?) rather than using it as window dressing.

So - plenty to do in an expansion pack - or even sequel - so that Infinite becomes not merely the prequel to the main course.

[mediate-this]

Tis a great game