"BioShock Infinite" Targets Truly Hardcore Gamers with "1999 Mode"

Ken Levine and Irrational take us back to when games weren't as friendly and forgiving

Nate Ming
January 19, 2012 4:20pm PST (1/19/12)

Video games today are easy. There, I said it. Sure, you get your occasional Demon's Souls or Contra 4 or Bayonetta, but for every one of those you get ten other games like Uncharted or God of War, carefully-crafted rides that guide the player along a set track and give you lots of help, while very slowly ramping up the difficulty.

 

This isn't a bad thing--I've said it before that it's better when you can get everybody to enjoy a game, but the longtime gamer in me still wishes for games that physically and mentally try and hurt me (aside from DanceManiax, which has physically hurt me)--the frustration from the difficulty makes finishing the game feel that much more satisfying.

bioshockinf

Ken Levine and his team at Irrational Games remember that feeling, and are aiming to recreate that with BioShock Infinite's new "1999 Mode," recalling one of the finest eras of PC and console gaming.

 

1999 Mode will have more permanent results to your actions, and you'll have to live with bad decisions for the rest of the game--no do-overs. Resource planning will be very important to your playthrough, and you'll need to develop combat specializations--weapons will be otherwise "useless" until you're prepared and trained up for them.

ss2

Levine says that 1999 Mode is for longtime Irrational fans from their System Shock 2 days, and I can't be grateful enough. Although personally, you know what I really think this game could do with?

1982

A 1982 Mode.

 

What do you think? Will 1999 Mode be a hit, and give gamers real-feeling consequences and responsibility, or will it just be a crazy offshoot difficulty that will get passed over in favor of a more guided experience?

 

 

via Siliconera

Tags
bioshock infinite, 1999 mode
Other Top News
Discussion
14 Comments

Please Login to write a Comment!
1/19/12 by kitsuneshoujo
So... 1982 mode, you want to have to pay 25 cents just to play it? xD You would get three lives, and then if you die three times, you have to pay another 25 cents? That would be interesting. lol
Reply
1/19/12 by Infye
I loved gaming at the arcades... I can't remember the side scrolling fighter I used to play, but I felt like I accomplished something when I was a kid when I beat the game with a friend. That was back when parents didn't spoil their kids, so I had a limited amount of quarters and game overs meant boredom for the day.

1999 mode could be the thing that solidifies my purchase much like the hardcore mode in D3.
Reply
1/19/12 by Anonymooo
I'm so sad that nobody got my lame Napoleon Dynamite joke.
Reply
1/19/12 by darkwave1062
I'm not very good at video games, but I really love playing them. In my case I really like games that hold your hand and walk you through it. That way I get to experience the entire game, and don't feel like a loser. After all this is about enjoyment, not getting punished for my pastime.
Reply
1/19/12 by BTSpaniel
i rather have the hardcore difficulty of 1999 mode and have the better graphics since i rather not play a game that looks less then minecraft
Reply
1/19/12 by FairysHuff
I love this idea of a 1999 mode. I've lamented to slow degrade in difficulty in games for years. How can you enjoy a game when it practically holds your hand all the way through and not provide any challenge at all?
I personally will be buying the game and playing the 1999 mode straight away. No easy, normal or hard settings for me. I want to be assaulted with difficulty and be proud that I managed to get through the game that way. Really gives you as sense of accomplishment.
Reply
1/19/12 by opt403
I think there's an audience for it. Obviously, the developers do too, or they wouldn't be making it. Not that I'm a member of said audience, but I'm sure it's out there.
Reply
1/19/12 by Tkiyo
I agree entirely with the author of the article.
Reply
1/19/12 by rikku456
Sounds like its going to be awesome, I wish they would give us a date already :(
Reply
1/19/12 by lordjeusechrist
they thought 1999 was hard? bitch please. castle fucking vania
Reply
1/19/12 by Leveran
I am happy to see that devs are starting to look back at the good old hardcore gaming of the past, I really hope they make a good job of this. Dont get me wrong I have loved the new games that have been coming out but with an average 8hrs of game play with 2-3hrs extra if you play the mini games and get the best items, gear etc is nothing when I think back on the 40hrs+ that could be put into older games (alot of that time made up of figuring out what you had to do or where you had to go).
Reply
1/19/12 by zinjashike
Well, since I'm irrational and wanting to beat this at the hardest difficulty possible I imagine I'll like 1999 mode. I shut off the regenerating capsules in the PC version of Bioshock because it wasn't hard enough . . . hopefully this is similar fixing those sort of problems.
Reply
1/19/12 by sinnoaria
Unfortunately, even as an older gamer, I probably won't bother with the 1999 mode. Simply put, I play games mostly for storylines and thus I try to beat games as fast as I can so I can move on to the next.
Reply
1/20/12 by dokudokugwo
lol@1982 mode picture... that's a perfect reference...

The 1999 mode sounds interesting, except that I don't really play shooters/platformers and what not... but I have a few friends who would probably really look forward to something like that.

I've been playing a lot of videogames in-between job hunting sessions and recently I finished up everything in FF13, but have also picked up FF4 and Xenogears and it reminds me of how different and, well, harder/better games used to be. I scraped together enough trade-ins on old textbooks for a copy for ff13-2 and I'm hoping it's the improvement it's promising to be.

FF13 is the biggest parallel I can draw the articles point really... it doesn't just drop you into a world that is fully unlocked and ruthless, it lets you play without having to worry about healing, job classes, or even leveling, then slowly one by one each of those are introduced into the game and at the very end there are a handful of truly difficult fights.

I would have loved for 13 to have something similar to a 1999/hard mode, maybe no retries, no automatic healing at the end of every fight, ambushes on your own party and that they can be staggered that way... might be kinda fun.
Reply