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[Christian Knudsen]

New gameplay footage:

http://gamevideos.1up.com/video/id/31513

Looks pretty impressive but also quite heavily scripted...

[gimymblert]

Gameplay footage won me completely

[Sorano]

Wow, instead of showing the aftermath of the social revolution, like in Bioshock, they're showing the downfall of Columbia during the gameplay sequences. Also, I'm a sucker for compelling ai characters.

That's some good demoing.

[Chris Whitman]

Yeah, but how does the game actually play?

[st33d]

Do I have to play the game at Industrial Light and Magic for it to look that good?

Just a bit too perfect...

[JoGribbs]

Yeah, seemed like a CG movie.

[deathtotheweird]

Yeah, but how does the game actually play?

Fast forward about 6 minutes and there's plenty of gameplay footage to watch. It seemed much like the combat of the original Bioshock but with humans instead of splicers. Couple guys with melee weapons rushing you, some have guns, he uses his powers against them (which every power seems quite similar to Bioshock, the bird flock attack power looks like just the bee power and he still has telekinesis and lightning strike). It's hard to believe it's a new engine because it looks mostly the same. Still looks great.

Looks pretty impressive but also quite heavily scripted...

The one bad thing about scripted scenes in most games (call of duty, half life 2) that is if you die, you have to watch the scripted sequence again. It really takes me out of the game when I see something twice. The original Bioshock solved this quite well with the Vita-Chambers. Scripted sequences work best when you only see them once, or else it's like rewinding a movie and rewatching a scene the first time you watch it (I've seen people do it, it's infuriating).

[Chris Whitman]

The game would be pretty much unplayable with that level of scripting, is the thing, so this does give a pretty dishonest view of gameplay. It's set up to look like someone actually playing it, but it contains scripted events that simply wouldn't work if the player wasn't standing in exactly the right spot at the right time. I understand that, when videos like this do represent an in-engine recording, they're typically heavily rehearsed, so the tester is playing to a script to make sure they don't miss any of their cues. It really might as well be a pre-rendered movie.

I understand that this is how marketing works -- you lie to people to get their money -- but it doesn't mean I don't find it creepy.

[Tadeon]

The game looks really unique and amazing like the first Bioshock. The only bad thing is that the protagonist speaks. Of course this way they can probably tell the story more intensively. In my opinion it is much more easier to jump in the world when the hero is silent. (e.g. Metroid Prime Trilogy, The Legend of Zelda and Half Life).

[Hangedman]

Or maybe they'll just go the Half-Life 2 route of having in-game cutscenes that don't require you to be standing in exactly one spot. I didn't see any of the set-pieces in the trailer that really required you to be in one exact place.

Actually there are a few clear moments that show it's a person playing.
One is that he misses a whole lot and takes unnecessary shots, especially with the Lightning attack. He also makes unnecessary turns and paths, and doesn't look straight at a lot of things.
Sure, the in-game events are scripted, but it's much more likely that the player knew where to look because he is one of the developers and knows where to look.

They could have made a trailer that was so scripted to look unscripted, but that would just be a waste of time and manpower.

As for the graphics, I think it actually does look that good. The other games looked pretty good if you ran them on a really powerful computer and looked up close.

[Melly]

I'm pretty sure that's the in-game engine.

I'm not a big fan of the footage because it felt more like a movie than a game. Sure, it may have been real gameplay, but it intentionally alludes to a level of dynamism that I doubt very much exists outside of maybe 10% of the full game, if that.

What this is trying to do is make players believe the whole game will be shock full of interesting NPC's and seemingly unscripted events that look like they came out of an action movie, and not just a bunch of corridors with repeated splicers saying the same lines over and over with a few very separate set-pieces.

It also felt a bit obvious that they're really not moving more than an inch away from the style of gameplay they've been doing since System Shock. Even less than between System and Bio since this looks like BioShock in the Sky, a miracle city fallen into madness and decay with super-powered insane inhabitants and even 'Big Daddies'. Only this time they can hop several meters in the air or fly.

[Karuvitomsk]

Who got this movie in my FPS? Seriously -- I'm fine with setpieces, but these things are running themselves. There's no fun in that! Not for me, at least.

Also, am I the only one that loves the art style but hates/dislikes the execution? Both this and the first two Bioshock games reminded me of Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory for some reason, graphics-wise. Not a good thing.

[William Broom]

Did anybody else feel like that trailer was scripted by an 8-year-old boy? So many things exploding and collapsing... the hero leaping from one encounter to the next without any pause for breath, nor any logical continuity between events (the people in the bar didn't notice that someone was firing shells directly at their front door? And why did they offer the player a toast before they randomly started shooting at him?)

I know they were trying to show off everything they could in the trailer, but it just came off as garish and ridiculous.

[Christian Knudsen]

Not to mention the guy talking about "taking arms" with barrels full of rifles and signs reading "take arms"... and when you take one the rifles, he attacks you.

[JoGribbs]

Why was he making a speech to nobody?

[Sorano]

Why was he making a speech to nobody?

He's a Republican.  But, no, seriously the scripted AI seemed to have some weird events. I remember reading about how the characters in Columbia weren't supposed to actually attack you on sight like the Sploicers.

I liked the tribal yelling mobs though. Also, I'm not expecting that the Sky-Rail allows that much freedom of exploration in the final game.

[Hangedman]

I think the idea is that everyone has gone batshit craaaaaazy.

Hence the guys practically splayed out around the bar, lying about drunk until you antagonize them, and the guy ranting to no one.

[Chris Whitman]

I actually thought the bar bit was really well done. Drunks, especially in groups, can be pretty erratic, so the fact that they go from offering a mocking toast to suddenly forming an angry mob seemed like it was actually good writing, in a way most developers maybe wouldn't consider.

Also, for the guy giving the speech, I assumed he was yelling over the side of the platform or something, I guess. Anyway, the individual scenes didn't bother me personally, but I totally agree that they felt very rushed and randomly strung together. They probably were, now that I think of it. I wouldn't be surprised if they just took whatever they were working on and jammed it together for the video, just to make it as action-packed as possible.

I understand the "best foot forward" idea, but there's a point where you're sort of clearly misleading people about your work.

[gimymblert]

Did anybody else feel like that trailer was scripted by an 8-year-old boy? So many things exploding and collapsing... the hero leaping from one encounter to the next without any pause for breath, nor any logical continuity between events (the people in the bar didn't notice that someone was firing shells directly at their front door? And why did they offer the player a toast before they randomly started shooting at him?)

I know they were trying to show off everything they could in the trailer, but it just came off as garish and ridiculous.

At the same time the game prime at some concept of madness, The guy that drive a broken chariot, the woman that peacefully clean a house which is burning, and old man yelling alone, crumbling tower no one notice ... You know something is deeply rotten. 

So far the concern are about that gameplay moment with the bottle, how the hell the player is supposed to know about that  , and how about the rail grinding stuff? The "cinematic aspect" don't detract from gameplay and it is really the dev who know where to look at.

BUT no so sure when the girl appear, there is at least 3 distinct moments where it seems like true script and control is taken away, or if it's totally playable i can see how the player can disrupt that easily.

I also don't like how the game begin like an intelligent piece only to switch to power ranger and fairy tales the instant the character take the gun, but yeah that's video games here.  You don't write pride and prejudice without zombie, or sense and sensibilities without the mandatory sea monsterz.

I also guess it's a condensed demo version.

[Iamthejuggler]

That was pretty awesome, but yeah it felt far too scripted to be actual gameplay apart from a few moments. Also, that girl has a seriously weird face.