So BioShock Infinite was destined to be one of - if not the - biggest games of E3. It delivered.
I'm not exactly sure how much story information is on the internet right now, but I went into this demo pretty unprepared. It was a rustic room, with classy leather couches. There were antlers and classic art on the wall. "No filming," they said. The lights turned low. The demo started.
A slightly cartoony, yet somehow still realistic world appears. It's bright. You follow your beautiful young ward Elizabeth into a museum of sorts, featuring a variety of American history. Propaganda posters for someone named Comstock line the walls. You're heading to his mansion, apparently. There are shelves of golden George Washington busts lining the walls. "Sale" tags dangle from them. "Solid gold!" Elizabeth says, struggling to lift one and show you. There's a dirty mattress on the floor, the filthiest thing among the pristine history. "Some poor bastard lives here," you sigh. You find a pistol on the table.
Elizabeth ducks behind a table as an explosion rips through the air. A light searches through the window. Looking for you? You hide with her. The light leaves. Elizabeth walks to the museum door to peer outside carefully. It's gone, whatever it was. "Promise me," she says, holding your hand up to her face, "Promise me that you won't let him take me back." She pulls your hand to her throat. She'd rather die than be taken back to "The Guardian," a creature of sorts that has protected her for much of her life, by keeping her prisoner from the outside world. "Going back with him means death," she states simply.
"It won't come to that," you say. You follow her outside.
It appears to be a state of martial law. Police beat citizens in the streets, and force elderly shopkeepers into the streets before bashing them with the butt of their guns. "It'd be best if we keep a low profile for now," you tell her. You walk by. A punk/gang member/crooked cop catcalls your lady. "Hey pretty lady, where ya headed?"
You point your gun at him. "We don't want any trouble, friend." He flips you off before sauntering away. You head inside. The police, bald and red, are holding a postmaster on stage by both arms, in front of a cheering crowd. They'll kill him if you don't stop it. "Hey, he didn't do anything!" you yell. The whole scene shifts.
"It's DeWitt!" They release the postmaster and the crowd turns on you and starts blasting. Elizabeth ducks into cover, but you get shot in the face a few times before getting your head down. You pop out and blast a few with your pistol. One drops a shotgun. You dive for it. You pick it up and start methodically marching down walkways, blasting away the sky cops. Oh, did I mention that you are on what appears to be a floating city, with the same old-timey aesthetic sensibilities as other games in the franchise? It's a little different now though. No underwater dystopias here.
But back to the fighting! It's intense. There seems to be a series of rails criss-crossing all over the city, and you can leap 30 feet into the air and latch onto them with some weird claw tool, ziplining all over the place. The enemies can do it too, however. Leap between rails and work your way to the blimp, where you fly off the rails, destory the blimp from the inside, and zip back to earth. This is stuff you'll really have to see, but I hope I've described it fairly well.
You also have a Force Lift-esque ability, which pops enemies/objects into the air, enabling you to nab a few headshots as they float in slow-mo in front of you. Oh, and we can't forget Elizabeth's powers. It wasn't very clearly explained, but she seems to be able to open "tears" in time around certain environmental objects? Like, she saw a dying horse earlier in the demo, and made a sort of force field around her and the horse, which not only made the horse young and strong again, but it brought the grass back to life, too. She couldn't quite control it, however... She tried again and made a much bigger bubble - one that was obviously from the 80's, as Return of the Jedi was playing on a newly apparated movie theater. "Close it down! Close it down!" you yelled.
"I'm trying!"
She managed to close the tear, but just barely. She can't control her powers completely, but you occasionally come across more tears that will assist you in battle if she "activates" them. Bring a rocket launcher back from the past. Repair a broken train car. Make a long-barricaded doorway open once again.
After you destroyed the blimp, it's back to Elizabeth. There's a moment of calm as she tells you how awesome you are. Ahhh yeah. Enter The Guardian. A giant, beaked, flying robot, with eyes that turn red as it's about to strike. And strike it does. One backhand and you fly 50 feet, bouncing off a wall before it goes black.
You come to, seconds later. You're in a round room. The roof is being torn off. It's the Guardian. Before it delivers the killing blow to your limp, beaten body, Elizabeth saves you. "I'm sorry!" she yells, immediately placating the creature. "I shouldn't have left you. Take me home." It picks her up, leaving you on the floor. Her eyes fill with tears as you reach out for her...
The Guardian flies out the fresh hole in the wall, taking Elizabeth back to where she was presumably just rescued from. You, recovering, leap out after them, zipline hook at the ready.
Cut to black.
One word: incredible. This will be the greatest game of the year.
