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To reach the Boston HQ of Irrational Games, you walk from a subway station through a small park. At the far end is a bronze statue of John Adams, one of America's founding fathers, and halfway to it you pass a small Vietnam memorial. The juxtaposition catches something permanent in America's character: the intellectual and humanistic vision of the ideals it was born with, matched forever to enormous, bloody folly. It seems an apposite setting for Irrational Games, the developer of BioShock Infinite, to create Columbia. You wouldn't know where the studio is - after BioShock's success, so many fans were pestering for studio tours and keepsakes that the name was taken off the building's front. Even inside there's no hint of the wonders behind these walls - until you walk through a door and into a 'lifesize' Big Daddy. From one to another, I'm soon waiting in a room for Ken Levine; co-founder of Irrational Games, creator of BioShock, and creative director of BioShock Infinite. The most ridiculous gimmick in the world rests on the table - a Magic 8-Ball, in the shape of a D-20 die. Is this geek chic? I shake it up: "Run Away." Levine enters.
Some interviews make Levine seem like a ginger Tom Cruise, while many just awe at his intellect, so to be clear, he's one of the healthiest-looking 46-year-olds I've met, with an eloquence about and understanding of video games that few developers can match. He's clearly got a real engine too, filled with nervous energy, tapping away when confined to a chair or walking in a slight hurry. No 'off' switch. His eyes light up when we're talking games, his hands wring when talking crunch, and to steal one of Levine's favourite terms, he's a complex character.
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