Mind and Crumpet

So I'm watching the ten minutes of mildly spoilery Bioshock Infinite game footage that's just been released, 'cause if nothing else I can be relied upon in my nerdery targets, and exactly one minute in I hear the voice of Booker DeWitt, the protagonist.

And he's Garrett.

Seriously, he's Stephen Goddamn Russell doing his Garrett-voice, sounding as rough and cynical as he ever has (except more American. And less of a stoic loner).












SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET

I was excited about this before, because AEROSHOCK BIOSHIP BIOSHOCK WITH AIRSHIPS, but now I can add 'Ex-Pinkerton Garrett' to my mounting glee.

I've resolved to not mention or research or obsess over 9 until it is released (oh god eight months why). TO THAT END, I have decided to research/obsess over Bioshock instead! Apart from the amusing fact that the developers admitted they just did their best to remake System Shock 2, the trailer for the sequel (which I admit to being deeply skeptical about) and the discovery that they're going to try and adapt it as a movie (because once they plunder the depths of the comic industry, Hollywood'll need a new source of ideas, clearly), I found something rather neat.

One common complaint about the game – from the sane people, anyway – is that the enemies aren't really varied enough. I think I agree, but only in the sense that there aren't enough combat variations. The Thuggish, Leadhead, Spider, Nitro and Houdini Splicers, along with the Little Sisters and Big Daddies, really don't require a whole of experimentation to find combat styles to suit the different types. You can improvise if you want to, but the game doesn't really encourage it the way, say, any Valve product does.

That's kind of a pity, because in the personality aspects, there's variation aplenty. And somebody decided to demonstrate just how much by making compilations of each of the Splicer model variants, so I'm posting them here for anyone on my flist whose played the game (or doesn't mind spoilers).

There's a lot of the 'junk' noises – coughing and screaming and so forth – but also a lot of the lines I hadn't been able to make out before due to our television's sound sucking. Some of them have odd names that don't immediately call up the images of the people they belong to, so I've put a physical description beside each one. ( Also be warned: Spoilers, disturbing content, and a lot of swearing. )

Hay gais! My work schedule is kicking me in the ass. Alkdjjksal. I leave too early to post and come home too tired to think, and so instead stare dolefully at my screen and download things. Like the Bioshock soundtrack! :D

Speaking of which, as anyone who has chatted with my over the past week knows, I bought an Xbox 360 and an Xbox 360 copy of Bioshock.

Things I have learned not to do: finish the game I spent far too much money on the weekend I bought it. Why.

Totally worth it, though. Every penny. Now I am ridiculously tempted to buy the copy of Atlas Shrugged I happen to know has languished in our local second-hand shop for the past eight months, so I can make fun of Andrew Ryan with a solid basis in his ideology. I'm on my second run-through, and I must warn you: when playing it, be thorough and read all the diaries, otherwise the story will make absolutely no sense. It is like FFVII in this way.

( Mildly spoilery babble. )

( Very, very spoilery babble. We're talking Snape on a plane turning out to be Dumbledore's father's insomnia-induced alter ego, here. )

It is an awesome game and all of you must play it at some point so you can prompt me to write fic for it. However, I understand if you wait until the price goes down, since my bank account is still whimpering from the blow.