Levine: "We never thought of Infinite as BioShock 3"

Ken Levine has told VG247 Irrational Games never thought of BioShock Infinite as part 3 of the series, but instead as a completely new game.

Speaking to Keza Macdonald during our hands on at gamescom, Levine said Irrational would like to make a fresh start, rather than look back at previous games.

"We never thought of it (Infinite) as BioShock 3, as a follow-on to BioShock 2, but at the same time it is totally a BioShock game. We look at BioShock games differently, as the guys who created it," Levine told us.

"Here’s why we believe this is a BioShock game: it’s set in a world that’s ridiculous and fantastical and over the top, but still connected to the human experience very much. It feels like it could be a real place. The second thing is that you have this suite of powers so that you drive how you play the game, as much as you can.

"For us, that is a BioShock game. Everything else – the location, Big Daddies, Little Sisters, all those things that seem so iconic – that is underneath what I mentioned in the hierarchy, in terms of what’s important to make BioShock game. I think it was never just about Rapture. It’s about a certain dynamic that we wanted to continue to explore."

"If we had made something that had those components and wasn’t a BioShock game, I think people would be asking us, well, why isn’t this called BioShock? It feels so similar. And that’s our mission – to make something that feels familiar but which is different at the same time."

You can read our full interview with Ken Levine here.

BioShock Infinite is slated for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 in 2012. Catch our hands-on preview here.