BioShock Infinite’s combat has evolved ‘substantially’

Combat in BioShock Infinite has evolved in a "very substantial way", according ot Irrational Games boss Ken Levine.

In an interview with CVG, Levine explained how game's large, vertical spaces have provided an opportunity for Irrational to include a variety of weapons that are effective in certain situations.  This is particularly useful when confronted with the BioShock Infinite's Heavy Hitters, a series of "mini bosses" new to the franchise.

"Combat is one of the things that has evolved in a very substantial way," Levine began. "The reason I feel that way is that in BioShock the combat got a little bit same along the way because of what we demanded of the player. You'd generally come across an enemy and the right way to deal with them – almost all the enemies – was to use the Electro Bolt, which was incredibly effective across the spectrum."

"With BioShock Infinite, one of the opportunities of having the large, vertical spaces is the ability to include weapons that are effective at short range versus those that are effective at long range," he explained. "You have certain weapons that are extremely effective against you on the Skyline and weapons that are more effective against you on the ground and vice versa in terms of how you interact with the enemies and which weapons you use, so you have to be thinking all of the time. 'What should I be doing now?' 'Which weapon should I be using?' 'Should I be on the Skyline?' 'Should I be on the ground?' 'Should I be in cover?'"

"And a lot of that also has an impact on the powers you get in the rest of the game. We're really putting a lot of effort into making more demands on the player in terms of combat choices. We're really making them think about the toolset, how they want to approach the combat, and how they want to build their character."

BioShock Infinite was recently delayed until February 26, 2013 in order for Irrational Games to "deliver the best Infinite possible."

[CVG]