BioShock Infinite (2013)

Honestly, this game was kind of disappointing. I was so in love with the previous two games that I could not get over how different this one feels.

Columbia was so uninteresting to me compared to Rapture, from the environment to the enemies and combat. One thing I did like was the story and the two main characters, which is why I even stuck to it and finished the main game along with BAS dlc.

However, the story still leaves me with a lot of questions and uncertain conclusions, which I will brainstorm with yall down below, so I can hopefully get some answers that make sense of the spaghetti this game cooked up.

CONS:

• only two weapons available at a time - you have to drop whatever weapon youre carrying in order to pick up a different type.
• boring enemies - youre fighting policeman and rebels who have vigors but they dont have any side effects, so youre basically fighting regular humans instead of spliced up mutated humans. kinda defeats the whole sinister side of plasmids (or vigors) if every person in Columbia that drinks vigors is perfectly ok.
• uninteresting environment - I was just blasting through areas because I didnt want to look at it, idk why but sometimes it was so American my eyes were hurting.
• no audio log subtitles (?) - maybe I should have turned on the art subtitles option but to my understanding, that option was to show the graffiti on the walls as text so you could read it better.
• the kinetoscopes were boring to watch - most of the time I love collectables and it makes me sad when theyre just boring.
• no map - you have to rely on just the arrow telling you where to go but it doesnt work all the time. multiple times it was pointing me to the skyline which made me think that my objective was a level above me but it was literally at the same level as me and I just needed to go straight and left. i would ride the skyline, go up and then the arrow would point me back down again. i go down and the arrow points me to the skyline, ffs man.

Now for the story, spoilers ahead.

The spaghetti this game cooked up are multiple realities and time travel. Which is always such a mess to properly incorporate because youre opening yourself to so much speculation. Technically, every theory I have could work unless the devs explicitly tell us that some things arent allowed.

Sometimes its fun to explore the lore and question what is the real canon but too much uncertainty drives a fan wild. For example, the whole FNAF series where fans genuinely cannot say with 100% certainty what events are canon and what is the correct timeline because the dev rarely tells them explicitly. Some of them are going feral with confusion lmao.

From what I understood, Booker sold Elizabeth to Comstock in order to pay his drinking and gambling debts. Comstock was infertile because of the Lutece contraption. He needed a child in order to fulfill the prophecy in which Sodom (the regular society down below) burns to the ground. In the original reality, which isnt the game, an older E actually fulfills this prophecy and uses her powers to bring Booker to another reality in order to save young E so that the prophecy doesnt happen again.

In the last act you realize the truth about who you are, the father of E (or her real name, Anna) who is essentially the same rotten man as Comstock because he used his daughter for his own selfish interest. The end of the game is multiple Elizabeths drowning you in order to save herself because the only way she could avoid suffering at the hands of Comstock is to make sure that Booker will never sell her to him in the first place. Thats how I understood the ending.

However, it confuses me greatly. If the point of Elizabeth drowning Booker was so that he never existed in the first place, therefore not being able to ever sell her, how does Elizabeth even exist? Theres no Booker to contribute to her birth. You could argue that she was an orphaned baby he just picked up from the street, so she exists independently from him, but he doesnt seem the charitable type. In my mind, what likely happened was a drunk one night stand and the woman just dropped the baby off at his office via mail lol.

Because we have this time travel shit squeezed in, you could also argue that there are realities where Comstock wasnt infertile and therefore some Elizabeths are really his daughter, but its not as compelling. What was compelling about the story and the two main characters is that they are two intertwined beings. Their choices are variables but their existence is a constant. There is no Elizabeth without Booker. So it makes no sense for her to exist if she killed him. Or maybe she erased only her version of Booker? But that would mean that the Elizabeth of that reality is also then erased from existence.

Anyway, I have spent way too much time frying my brain. I would love to hear if any of yall have other explanations and theories about the story and ending <3

Im not loving this game so far. Columbia is far less interesting of a setting than Rapture and its genuinely upsetting me how extremely American the environment is. I dont know why but as im going through it, I genuinely cringe and I cannot bring myself to explore it as I did in Rapture. Im just beelining my ass to the goal so I dont have to look at one area too long.

As for the combat, I dont like that you can only have two weapons and that the enemies are literally just regular policemen who sometimes have vigors which apparently dont have any side effects? Thats far less interesting than the splicers who are literal human mutations. Maybe the enemies get more diverse later on.

The only reason why im even considering finishing this game is to uncover the story and see how it can tie into the previous games but im not having much fun to be honest. The environment and combat is just boring to me.

I'm trying to wrap up some things before I take a long break from serious gaming to get over my grief, and one of those things was finishing the Bioshock Infinite DLC, and having finish Burial at Sea Episode 2 tonight, all I can say is wow.

I finally understand why Ken Levine hasn't had a new game in over a decade. Burial At Sea is the worst possible DLC ever attached to anything. It is an outright atrocity. Not only does it completely ruin gameplay by taking a rather zippy FPS and turning it into a stealth style survival horror where you're constantly scavenging for ammo, but it's also just completely stupid and lacking of any substance whatsoever. I'd never let this man make a game again either if that's what he finished his story with.

It's not a masterpiece like many claim.

It's just a disasterpiece.

Episode 2 of Burial at Sea is...an utter disappointment based purely on its bizarre sudden shift to almost purely stealth gameplay. What a wet fucking fart. It's a shame, because the plot actually seemed to be picking up and tying things together in a way that felt rewarding and circular, but I simply cannot abide by the atrociousness that is stealth gameplay. I may not even finish this.

All in all my experience with the DLC, after hearing it be nothing but a masterpiece for years, is the exact opposite. What a really sad send off this has been to an otherwise tremendous title.

The story is quite hard to follow, many characters, multiverse, I wasn't able to follow it, and after beating the game I had to watch a YouTube video to explain the story to get it better.

At some point I even got annoyed because the game seemed a bit repetitive, however, I didn't drop it, I played it until the end. Not sure if I'd do it again, though.

Returned to the world of gaming to finally go through Ken Levine's directed BIOSHOCK entries. (I have made several false starts through the years with the first one, which I always admired, in one particularly I neared THAT moment, but life got in the way, to put it an end, by playing the game on 'easy', so I can just enjoy the world, thing is... I got too sucked into it, and NEEDED to do the other game and DLC 'Burial at Sea'.) Anyway, I have just completed INFINITE, wrote little something, however, I would certainly like to replay all of these games again, and write on them further, certainly, Levine made something special!

One of those games that sadden you once it's time to let it go. If BIOSHOCK (2007) had one flaw, was it's final act, where the game stretched itself thin. In BIOSHOCK INFINITE (2013) this wasn't the case, proof that Ken Levine had learnt something. It is, without a doubt, one of those larger than life works of art, a complete sensorial experience. A tale only able to be told, at least with this amount of complexity, through the medium of games. From American Exceptionalism and the multiple-earth theory, this is a rich text, that uses such themes to open just fascinating paths for intertextuality between its other entries. Moreover, it's just one of the most affecting experiences that can deliver, without a doubt, the best 2013 game that had a Troy Baker-voiced protagonist escorting/smuggling a young woman. In any case, all the BIOSHOCK entries directed by Ken Levine are small masterpieces in the medium, in my opinion, not too far from the Ueda and Kojima works that I so admire.

It is mandatory to read posters, listen to most of the audios, play DLCs, etc. so as to understand why Daisy Fitzroy's character is the way she is and the history in its complexity

Since the two worlds are connected (Columbia and Rapture), but Elizabeth is trying to destroy all Comstocks in different parallel worlds; the Lutece brothers had already talked to Fitzroy before the revolution in order to help Elizabeth in her purpose (this include the death of the character, for this reason it is impossible for Vox Populi to reach a happy ending - besides the fact that it is only one of the possible variants), and the political connotations of Columbia are just a dystopia similar to Rapture (because as told, every parallel world revolves around the lives of Elizabeth (for being the only one who could open portals and communicate with her other selves) and DeWytt (who is also Comstock himself and his memories of other lives intertwine in his mind making comments like "The only difference between Comstock and Fitzroy is how you spell the names" make a lot of sense, not only because of their duality but also because he believed them both to be enemies to him against his goal of saving Elizabeth) but actually the final destiny of Columbia is caused by paradoxes.

Note: the main game is completely unique from Bioshock 1 and 2. This is why DLCs are necessary, as it is the real connection between the two stories and makes sense in a sci-fi game. It could not be done in other types of games and stories.

7 hours in on Hard difficulty

I already played a majority of this game 7 years ago on the Xbox 360. I think I dropped it at the final battle. So I'm playing it again on PC.

The God of War 2018 of BioShock but worse, a mass appealing dumbing down of a series that is already deemed as dumbed down from System Shock. Where it is placed as a shooter first and foremost to appeal to the major demographic of gamers being into first person shooters like Call of Duty and having the most generic box art, defining the intent of its mass appeal. It masks its complex concepts such as tears, racism, and American extremism as high art, but are brushed off. Dimension hopping is just used as a bunch of deus ex machinas to brush off the dimensions that we were in. It amplifies is combat to the point where it is now an FPS first, but makes me forget to use vigors tactically, which while rough in the first game, I still used them mainly for their varied practical benefits that actually made a difference for exploration and combat. Also, it's just like God of War 2018 in how many roadblocks within roadblocks within roadblocks there are. It offers binary choices but no choices that you make ever pay off, unlike the original which, while flawed, still did it's job, gave its risks and rewards. The way it handles racism is the obvious critique, but everyone else already knows how stupid it is so I'm not going to point it out too much. Just how stupid it is that they made the Vox this cartoonishly evil for the sake of fitting their centrist take. And how they frame the mass murderer as if he has a moral high ground over the fascists and slaves of Columbia.

Also, it has the worst puzzle in the medium. Resident Evil Village is rolling on the floor, laughing at the bell "puzzle", for even Village's piano puzzle is better. But remember this game is"D E E P A S F U C K".

Sigh.

This was, simply put, upsettingly disappointing. I absolutely adored the first two Bioshock games and was excited to play the last game in a new environment. That excitement quickly died as I got a few hours in.

Where to start?

Well let’s start with gameplay: weird. Really really weird. You’re telling me I can only hold two guns at a time?! No thank you. This caused way less choice than the original games had in regards to weapons. The multitude of weapons allowed players to have a choice in their fighting style while this limitation caused way less freedom of experimentation. I ended up just carrying one weapon for short distance and one for long distance so I could somewhat have an alternating fighting style. The Vigors were, ironically, not invigorating. They lacked substance and I think in the desire to separate their vigors from Rapture’s plasmids they created these weird off putting alternatives. For example, the shock jockey couldn’t simply be electricity, oh no no that would be too close to the electro bolt so instead we got this weird use of crystals for electricity. Although these vigors would’ve been interesting to use to their full extent, with my limited weapons I didn’t have time to plan my use of vigors. I ended up not even using them if I could help it. And in regards to their point in the story…they didn’t have one. What was incredible about the first game was that the use of plasmids contributed to decay and you would wonder if you were just as bad as these people driven crazy with power, or whether you would become them. The vigors felt just…there which reduced my interest.

In regards to story: also yikes. Although there were definitely super interesting aspects of time and the multiverse, it felt random and at times over shadowing a sub plot revolving around a critique of capitalistic America. When I first understood what time period it was set in, I became super excited to see how this game was going to critique society as the first two games had done. I was severely disappointed. I felt the game didn’t have a clue of what it was arguing. At first I believed it was a critique of fascism and the way America could become that, but then it also heavily criticised characters like Daisy Fitzroy who wished to overthrow this tyranny. Many other commentators have also expressed how odd this was as Fitzroy’s rebellion is not unjustified. She is a victim of a oppressive society and wishes to overthrow it. The game tries to position us to view radicalism against fascism as somehow just as evil, when it can hardly be seen that way. It seemed the game attempted to do what Hunger Games succeeded in doing, which was to show a power struggle between two individuals that were both ambitious and ultimately equally harmful in perpetuating a broken society. But the problem with Infinite is that Fitzroy is a representative of the oppressed working class and so you cannot pit Fitzroy and Comstock against each other because it becomes a conflict of the working class and the corrupt aristocracy. This imbalanced conflict is hard to use as a ground for justifying equal criticism of the characters.

All in all, as a bioshock game it completely fails it’s own formula rather than successfully experimenting. I would only recommend this to those who have played the first two and want to keep playing the last one, but I would advise waiting for it to be on sale.

Also Elizabeth is perhaps the only reason I give it 2 stars lol.

I have a lot of issues with Bioshock Infinite, and after playing 1, 2 and this one back to back, I understand why general opinion regarding this game has been souring over the years. There were definitely some things that they got really wrong, and a few of them made me frustrated in a way that the previous two games didn’t even come close to. But for all its flaws, there is still a lot to appreciate here, especially - and this is a very important aspect - if you include the Burial at Sea episodes in the analysis, as I feel these are so important to the main story that Infinite shouldn’t be seen as separate from them.

Let’s start with the bad as there’s a lot to unpack here. These are some of the main issues I had with the game:

• lack of identity - was the game trying to be an action-packed FPS? An adventure game? A mystery narrative driven experience? Infinite often struggles to make up its mind in such a way that it ends up feeling diluted because of it. I didn’t see the original Bioshock as an FPS, but that was because it had such a unique vibe that made it hard to label it any other way other than ‘a Bioshock game’. Infinite doesn’t feel like that to me, at all;

• dumbed down experience - it’s as if the game doesn’t trust you to make your own decisions while you’re playing it. Unlike the previous entries you can’t gather HP or Vigor/Plasmid packs, the very few choices you make don’t really matter, and only allowing the player to carry 2 weapons, without any indication as to what they might need, was one of the poorest design choices I came across in recent times. The fact that they brought the weapon wheel back in the DLC is a clear admission they knew they messed up here, but ironically I was unable to use it in the 1st Burial at Sea episode for whatever reason - maybe issues with the Xbox port?

• ludicrous difficulty level - with all its new gimmicks and resource abundance (Elizabeth’s abilities essentially ‘break’ the game if you allow her to help during combat), Infinite is considerably less difficult than Bioshock 1 and especially 2. Also, combat really lacks depth, especially compared to the precious games’ expertly laid out set pieces, where you were clearly given the indication and possibility to prepare for battle in any way you saw fit. They tried to artificially increase the difficulty through annoying things like the 2 weapon limit I mentioned above, but this is like putting a bandaid over a ghastly open wound that does nothing but take choice away from the player;

• poor level design - the poorest of all 3 games in my opinion. I often had to use the directional arrow to know where I was supposed to go which was something that I almost never felt with the previous titles. The game space is much bigger and wider now, and the skyhook addition is a somewhat fun new mechanic, but it felt like they gave very little thought to how they needed to change level design when including that type of added space and verticality. To me, having to constantly bring up the arrow to make sure I’m going the right way, without offering me that certainty in a more organic manner, is reflective of poor level design and something I think they didn’t do a good enough job on;

• terrible sound design - like, really bad. This might be a console port issue (I played it on Xbox), but it became highly annoying. There was a big volume discrepancy between things like the audio logs and the voice lines you’d get over speakers (these especially were incredibly loud) and the other sounds. When you had all of them going at once - audio logs, Elizabeth talking to you, voices over speaker and two different sets of music playing in the background - this would result in a schizophrenic cacophony that made it very annoying to go through those segments. I actually haven’t come across this criticism all that much, so I’d be interested in knowing if people on other platforms experienced the same or if this is an Xbox version thing;

These were the big 5 niggling issues I had with Infinite. I pushed through them and ended up definitely enjoying the game as a whole, but a couple of them were almost infuriating to put up with, in the sense that they speak to the sloppiness and carelessness that went towards it in a game that is otherwise able to show, in other areas, incredible polish.

Now that we got that out of the way, let’s focus on the good/great things about this conclusion to the Bioshock trilogy:

• beautiful world - simply fantastic. No, Columbia isn’t Rapture and it doesn’t convey the same vibe at all, but from a purely aesthetic standpoint it’s no less impressive to look at, especially in the initial part of the game. In fact, the intro in Infinite was probably able to pull me into its world more quickly and effectively than the previous 2 games did (even though I prefer 1 and 2’s visual style), and that to me is a testament to how well they did here;

• Elizabeth - I didn’t really care much for her at first but she really grows on you as a character. Hers is a well accomplished arc that makes you develop feelings for the person and react to her in a more emotional manner as the story moves forward. In fact, both main character arcs, I feel, are well realised in this game;

• gameplay changes in Burial at Sea 2 - I like how the second DLC encouraged you to change your playstyle to better suit the new playable character. It was far from the most accomplished stealth mechanic display out there, even back then, as not only does it lack depth but the sound issues that plague it (eg being able to clearly hear the enemies when they’re literally several rooms away) make for a confusing stealth experience. However, I appreciated the different tone in pace they were going for and still had fun with it. Also, the return of the crossbow was just awesome;

• very strong last minute narrative - I will easily admit that the story has its fair share of plot holes - which normally happens in a narrative focused on such complex topics anyway-, but overall I actually thought they did a really good job with it. I wasn’t sold on it throughout most of the game, at all, but the last stretch went a long way to make up for the disappointment. Couple things aside, I had no issues with the conclusion of Infinite and I thought they did a really solid job all things considered, even from a twist point of view. But here, I would be remiss if I didn’t point to Burial at Sea 2 as possibly the most important segment of the whole experience, story wise. If you look at the 1st episode on its own it feels downright pointless (though being able to finally experience Rapture at its peak was fantastic). But looking at it in conjunction with BAS2 gives the whole thing a completely different weight. This final episode is the point where the entire trilogy is finally brought together in a (mostly) cohesive manner and we fully understand the relationship between both worlds, something that the main story in Infinite, whether by design or incompetence, didn’t deliver.

So these are my thoughts on Bioshock Infinite. It is plagued with several different problems and that’s what makes it frustrating, because at the same time it really nails the notes it hits. I would say my final score for it would be a 8/10 only if you include the DLC episodes, which I absolutely think you should. For the impact on the narrative alone, Burial at Sea has to be considered as much a part of the trilogy as Infinite itself. As a whole though, the world and story that the Bioshock series was able to create is easily one of the best I have ever had the pleasure of experiencing, and I encourage everyone who hasn’t yet to dive into the collection themselves, even after all these years.

I'm not going to write a review for Bioshock Infinite, since it's an 8 years old game and everything about it has been already said. It's a great game, gun fights are explosive and fun, super powers and guns you pick up is varied enough to not make every fight the same, and the graphics still hold up pretty well up till now. Story is also fun to follow.

I just wanted to pointed an issue for me. Everyone talks about how fantastic the story is. I do agree the ending has a mind blowing vibe. However, I feel the pacing of the story was really poor. Almost every single thing is revealed to you in the last 30 minutes, literally, then the game suddenly ends, leaving you with a shocked and confused look on your face, with nothing to do bar either replay the game to piece things together or google it. The game didn't handle its revelations and twists well, in my opinion. It didn't give them enough time to stretch out or for you to think about it. It just throws everything at you just before the game ends.

For a game that a lot of people seem to believe it's near perfect, I think how the story is executed here is an issue that unfortunately gonna hurt my rating for it. As I said, the story wasn't boring or bad, it was fun to follow, Elizabeth is a great AI companion with a great personality and the action was explosive. It's just can't shake the feeling it gives you sense of an abrupt ending instead of giving such ending enough time to shape up nicely.

Anyway, still a great game and worth it even nowadays.

(Played the PS4 remaster release)

I love Bioshock Infinite so much, y'all. The aesthetic, the tone, the level of storytelling, the shooting mechanics, the superpowers, everything. Everything. What a fucking game. I think the hardest thing for shooters to get right is making gunplay feel good. Even popular series don't have inherently great-feeling gunplay, forgetting that big booms and rattatat bullet sprays and oodles of customization aren't, by themselves, what gives players that zing of satisfaction when taking down an enemy. A part of it is the way the cameras move, the way the gun controls, the way the visual targeting helps your aim and use of the weapon, and—perhaps most important—the visual and audio cues that you hit your target. I haven't played Valorant, but I've watched enough streams to say that the audio/visual cues on that are addicting as hell. Bioshock Infinite gives me a similar sense of feedback, where it's like the game hits you with a solid dose of dopamine as you take down enemies.

It's not realistic at all, but does strike that feel-good note that's so important with video game.

But I do have one serious bone of contention to pick with the game: Its ending battle. Look, it's a hard battle, but that's not inherently a problem. I've grinded my way through hard sections of video games before. But the key is that I have to feel like the game is being fair with the difficulty—and that repeated attempts show me progression. Neither is something I felt with this final battle. It does two cruel things: 1. For the first time all game the battle is focused on defending something. 2. It adds a new mechanic necessary for passing the battle. The former is just a bad idea; defense (in this case, keeping the big glowy thing powering a ship from taking too much damage) is a completely different way of thinking about a battle, and without building up the player's thought processes in that direction with prior defense missions? Well, I couldn't make the mental switch. I wasn't kitted for such a thing, nor was I expecting to have to be kitted for it. I had not used the most helpful powers at any point prior and, as such, had not upgraded them. Then the new mechanic—guiding a big metallic bird to attack ships—requires an awkwardly long button press on a button that controls, like, three other things. So instead of telling the bird to target a ship, you're catching ammo in a mission where time is of the essence. Instead of telling the bird to target the ship, you're reloading ammo. And it's a long enough press that a moving object might move just enough to be unselected even if you DO keep the button pressed for long enough.

I dunno, I watched a video on YouTube, tried to incorporate that knowledge, and still failed three times. At that point I was like, "fuck it" and lowered my difficulty from "Normal" to "Easy." I'm too old for this kind of thing, lol.

In most cases something like that would get me to lower my score. It's an obvious—and in my mind, unforgivable—flaw. But I just cannot look at the preceding 38 chapters that gave me such a glorious experience and see anything less than a 5-star experience.

Just finished Bioshock Infinite and like besides the one reference to Rapture I don't really know how they're all related.

Also... we just not gonna address the racism? I walked into a KKK-esque cult, was invited to through a baseball at an interracial couple, and played as a character who fought in wounded knee and we're just gonna walk right past that? Like around half-way through its all not brought up again.

Cool story, fun characters, wacky racial themes.

At the time of release I remember Bioshock Infinite touted as revolutionary and exceptional; in particular, I remember everyone and their mothers raving about the incredible story. Maybe they played another game from another universe, but the game I've just played is good... just good.

The gameplay is certainly enjoyable. The same gun + plasmids.. -sorry "vigors"- formula from the previous games is recycled here. Big Daddies are back in the form of Handymen, as well as automatic sentry guns and vending machines. But combat is generally more frantic and dynamic thanks to small additions such as being able to materialise objects and quickly swing between different areas of the map using railings. It's not overly deep and the game does not encourage a lot of variety. I didn't fully explore most of the vigors, instead heavily relying on charming enemies (which is overpowered, IMO) and shocking them.

But enough with unimportant stuff. What about the story? Like the gameplay, it's ok.

Now, yes, the whole multi--universe quantum nonsense is bonkers and it kinda works if you don't think much about it. But the problem is that, while you do get some quantum-sprinkling of information throughout the campaign, the real revelation is just a massive info-dump at the very end of the game. It does work wonderfully to explain the similarities between this and the previous games, though.

And the ending is not the only problem with pacing. The game features several filler missions that do little to advance de plot while at the same time short-cutting important moments using the aforementioned quantum woo. You are forced to mow down an entire battalion of dudes that are trying to kill you for no particularly good reason; all in order to get the shock vigor to power up a gondola (a mechanic that is never used again in the whole game). An at the same time, you quantum-jump into a world in which the rebellion is on its way thanks to a version of you that has become a martyr, just for the rebels to turn against you because....? There's an explanation, but it's literally one line of throwaway dialogue. Terrible.

On the other hand, is nice to see the relationship between Booker and Elisabeth evolve and de devs did a good job by expressing that not only in dialogue but also in animations. When she's mad at you, she will let you know by frowning and even turning your back at you. She's a cool character in her own right too. Unlike Booker, she grows, learns and changes. There's a particularly intense moment when she tells you what to do were she be captured by the baddies (although that moment is kinda negated by further developments). Booker, however, never really clicked for me. He's a bit of an nihilistic asshole up until the very end and I was frustrated with him for always negating Elisabeth agency.

So we are left with a rather imaginative story that is not very well put together and with some pacing issues.

There are some fun mechanics in BioShock: Infinite. The story of DeWitt and Elizabeth and Comstock is pretty interesting and balances the sci-fi stuff with more grounded character stuff pretty well. The world is less interesting than the first game, and the horror/survival elements are pretty much non-existent, especially once Elizabeth starts tossing you supplies every five minutes, but it's still relatively fun. And all of that would make it a three, maybe even a four-star game, and clearly does for other people. But I couldn't get over this game's garbage politics.

Let's not mince words: Columbia is a fascist society. Comstock is a fascist leader. Daisy Fitzroy leads an anti-fascist rebellion. So it's kind of surprising when our hero Booker DeWitt makes the #deep comment, "The only difference between Comstock and Fitzroy is how you spell the names." Here's what we know about Daisy Fitzroy at that point in the game: she's a black women living in a fascist society, so basically as low a rung on the social ladder as one could possibly get. She serves the leader of that fascist society, probably the absolute worst position for someone like her to be in. And then, when that guy murders his wife, she gets framed and has to go on the run. So she starts an underground movement to fight back against the fascist society, and since that society has robots with gatling guns, her rebellion necessarily has to engage in violence. Now, what part of that makes her a bad guy?

At best, the game designers didn't really care about the political statement they were making because they were more focused on the Comstock/DeWitt/Elizabeth storyline, so they just made Fitzroy into a bad guy so that you'd have more people to fight. At worst, they actually believe that armed resistance to fascism is never justified.

Also, they clear think their world is more interesting than it actually is if they think I'm gonna backtrack through three different areas to translate those stupid cyphers.

Bioshock, the thinking man’s FPS, where the shooting isn’t quite perfect, but the story has more complexity than “shoot the terrorists”. Of all three Bioshocks, Infinite is the most action packed one, relying less on a horror suspense vibe and more of an action adventure. I was in the mood to replay Bioshock Infinite & luckily the PS4 Bioshock collection was on sale.

As mentioned, Infinite is a very action heavy game. The default controls are not conducive for good shooting, but luckily there is a ‘marksman’ control scheme that has a more traditional shooter layout and is the way I recommend to play. The aiming controls still don’t feel super sharp, especially trying to aim over long distances. Luckily, most of the shooting galleries aren’t huge and the enemies usually charge towards you, so hip firing can get you through most of the game. One thing the combat suffers from is bullet sponge enemies. You spend most the time fighting regular police officers or revolutionaries that go down easy enough, but the special enemies like the Crows, Firemen, Handyman, and Patriots just chew up bullets. They try to add some skill to fighting the bigger enemies by giving them weak spots, but trying to get behind a Patriot to shoot his gears is near impossible and the Handyman’s heart is a small target in fights where you’re constantly moving. This game also suffers from a problem that was more prevalent in those early 20teens’ games, you can only carry two guns at a time. Once I had a rifle and the revolver I never changed my loadout, because those are the kind of guns I use in games, which discouraged me from switching them out for the more situational sniper rifle or shotgun.

When you aren’t shooting people, you spend the game exploring little sandboxes; finding audio logs and hidden collectibles. These are nice breaks from the shooting and really help with world building. When I first played this, I thought this game was an open world game the way it laid out the city. Everything is connected and I thought it felt like you could double back at some point to collect the other collectibles, but it is just a linear game separated in chapters.

This leads to the world the game is set in. Instead of the underwater city of Rapture, Infinite takes place in the floating city of Columbia circa 1912. It’s a city built on American exceptionalism with a very nice, classic Americana vibe. The first 10-20 mins of the game have you just walking around taking in the ambience of Columbia during their 4th of July celebrations. Admittedly I’d be cool with living there or maybe vacationing there for a bit… then there’s the 1900’s racism. After the issues I had with Vampyr’s historical authenticity, I have to give Irrational games credit for not shying away from the darker, embarrassing parts of our history. I always had an appreciation for those artists that do the in-game artwork; like billboards, posters, and the such. They seem like underappreciated heroes. Having to draw the posters and adverts with those racists caricatures must have been a little uncomfortable for them. On the other hand there is some really great looking artwork of George Washington and American Minutemen that I assume are original pieces. Towards the beginning of the game, the racism of Columbia is very much on display, showing how there’s a rotten core under the Americana façade. One of the first buildings you visit is the Hall of the Raven Brotherhood. They are Infinite’s version of the Klan. They worship John Wilkes Booth and wear hoods. Once you leave their building, you don’t really see much of them, save for the special enemy that uses crows. It’s a lot of work for just some more world building. Once you get halfway through the game, Columbia is sort of dropped as a character. You aren’t encountering all the racism and classism. It’s more about your personal story and science. Honestly, I would love to have another game set in Columbia, because there is so much world building and it feels like there is more to the city of Columbia that can be explored.

The story of Bioshock games always try to go a little high-concept, usually dissecting some type of philosophy or political ideology. I feel Bioshock Infinite’s story is trying to juggle too many balls at once, possibly a victim of the multiverse/time travel plots. Some of the smaller ideas levels are dedicated to are the power of historical revisionism in regards to the Hall of Heroes & Comstock writing Slate out of the story. This is a good implement of history as the Massacre at Wounded Knee play a big part of Comstock and your main character’s story. They don’t really explain what Wounded Knee was, but if you know the account, you know why your character, Booker DeWitt, is haunted by it. Later there is a level that takes a look at the crappy work conditions of 1900s factories. There’s even some nice symbolism as everyone in the Finktown factory moves with the ticking of a clock. The middle chunk of the game is centered around a worker’s uprising, but they aren’t portrayed as the stereotypical plucky rebels fighting the evil man, a cliché I’m tired of, instead their leader, Fitzroy, turns out to be just as blood-thirsty. She’s not the answer of what’s best for Columbia. Again there is more good history in here, DeWitt is a former Pinkerton agent & it’s hinted that he was the called into to be a strike breaker, which is something Pinkertons were used for.

However, the main plot is about Booker, a private eye, trying to save a girl to repay his debts. At the risk of embarrassing myself, I’ll admit I had a bit of a crush on Elizabeth. Irrational did a good job on making a likeable companion that you spend most the game with. She is like a Disney princess who can wreck people. You see her go through a whole character arc through the game. First, she’s literally just Belle with a fun sense of humor, then as you start killing people and she gets a little more world weary, until finally when she gets her full powers she turns into an omniscient god. I wasn’t a huge fan of her at the end of her arc, because we spent so much time with her as a partner and now she talks like a vague know-it-all and we lose some of that connection. It worked for the Luteces because they were kinda funny in a surreal way. She also doesn’t have to be constantly babysat during gameplay, since she’s not really a part of gameplay outside of tossing you ammo or warping in cover, which is a Godsend. Booker and Elizabeth really play well off each other. He is a cynical detective, so don’t expect Nathan Drake style sarcasm and charisma. When he does or see something violent and Elizabeth gets upset, he doesn’t always try to comfort her, least not at the beginning.

As you play through the game you are drip fed little hints that lead to the big reveals at the game’s end. Honestly, the story was a little better on a second playthrough because I know how it all ends and notice all the hints and dialogue that is ironic if you know the ending. And that ending, I’m not sure if it can be completely explained or if Irrational just started smelling too many of their own farts. Here’s my take, so spoilers for this 6 or so year old game. We learn Elizabeth’s ‘tear’ power is based on quantum mechanics, which are confusing enough on their own. But I think if we treat everything only based on science we’re looking at it wrong. At the end, it seems like the real nature of this time traveling is based part on science and part on the spiritualism prevalent in this game. One of the big reveals is Comstock, the zealous leader of Columbia, is actually an alternate reality Booker. Booker became Comstock after a baptism to atone for his sins committed at Wounded Knee. In order to stop this from happening Booker, your Booker, has to be killed at the baptism. Now a hard sci-fi game would say that there is still infinite possibilities where Comstock still gets reborn, but if you treat it more with a spiritualist view, you can wave that off. Honestly, while time travel would be cool, stories about it are usually giant cluster-fucks. Another revelation is that Elizabeth is actually Booker’s daughter who he sold to the Luteces to clear his debt. Which is one of the things I get hung up on. What was Booker’s debt? Who did he owe money to? Was his ‘debt’ the guilt of Wounded Knee? If he owed money to some gambling den or such how would giving his daughter to Lutece clear his debt, unless he was just offered a whole bunch of money? Anyways, the Luteces decide Comstock shouldn’t have Elizabeth and start pulling Bookers from other realities to rescue her & help her escape from Columbia.

The music in this game is also pretty good, there is a mix of traditional 19teen’s songs, modern songs with the Postmodern Jukebox treatment, and other ambient music. There’s also a neat touch where there’s a disharmonious music sting every time you get a headshot and anytime you brutally kill someone with the sky hook, Elizabeth audibly gasps.

All in all, this is still my favorite Bioshock game. I like the flying city of Columbia and Elizabeth is a great support character. The shooting is a little bland, but the story makes up for it, even if the ending is very confusing. I know most people despise this one for being different, because God forbid a developer do something original with an IP, but I like this Americana, swashbuckling adventure.

I'll start off this review by saying I loved Bioshock 1 + 2, the environment, backstory, slow discovery, all of it was amazing. The powers presented unique and interesting chances to overpower or trick enemies, and use the environment, in tandem with great selections of weapons and ammo.

Fast forward to the final part of the series, Bioshock Infinite.

We have a different setting, which is fine, but it is far less deep (both figuratively and literally) to Rapture. Rapture explored the depths of humanity, what we get when truly free, sacrifice, and emotion. Columbia is what you get when so old racist white people separate out and form a cult like racist city.

Yes the initial exploration was compelling, but it lacked the depth and true exploration that Rapture offered. The setting, in the sky, also had much of the game feeling in the same environment.

The gameplay itself I found extremely disappointing. Your powers are far less important and constantly the game reminded me I had them, because I didn't use them, and kept forgetting to use them.

Parts of Bioshock 1 + 2 force you to ration your resources, even on the normal difficulty, but Infinite I didn't have the same problem.

Perhaps the best part of Bioshock 1+2 was the slow exploration of the origins of your enemies. Splicers and their tragic backstory, the variety within the Splicers based on the local you were in and the thing they were addicted to. The ever present, and ever threatening Big Daddies, with their creepy and horrifying Little Sisters.

The chilling discoveries you make about these enemies, which you have been fighting the entire game, are what make Bioshock so amazing, and so immersive.

Infinite lacked this rich enemy background. Yes there were some interesting enemies (the Handymen) but they lack the challenge or the chilling backstories of the Rapture counter parts.

The larger plot of Infinite tries too hard, the time travel (something I almost always dislike) was implausible, and felt forced. The ending linking of other games was unnecessary and ridiculous.

The worst part is, that the use of racism could have been much deeper, but it ends up being the setting, rather then the central component to the story. Instead the central part of the story is tied to time travel BS.

Bioshock Infinite is what you get when a brilliant storytelling game becomes too big, tries too hard, and loses sight on the things that made the first games work.

I have many friends who love this game, but I found it a chore to get through, and was extremely disappointed once I was done. Over hyped and over written.

I don't normally like first person shooters, and this is my first Bioshock game, so you can understand why when I decided to play this much revered game I did so with a grain of salt. But not only did Bioshock Infinite manage to shatter every single of my expectations, it has also set a standard for every other FPS that I will be playing from now on.

Alright let's talk about the gameplay. The game offers a substantial amount of interaction with the environment, the vigors kept it all quite refreshing, and the weapon selection left little to be desired. The vending machines (the oh-so-creepy vending machines) were properly distributed, and Elizabeth throwing me supplies in the heat of battle saved my neck more times than I care to admit (plus that toss in the middle of a bullet storm is the definition of awesome). The enemies also deserve credit, often catching me off-guard, adding an appropriate challenge to the game.

The design of the game is top notch. Columbia is just sooo pretty, seemingly the ideal city until it slowly dawns on you what kind of place it actually is. And the church in the beginning of the game disoriented my senses as I didn't know whether to let the tranquility wash over me or acknowledge the hair raising chiller ambiance of the area. The NPCs are also well executed, and blend so beautifully in their environments; hearing little snippets of their conversations while exploring Columbia was one of the many small but satisfying pleasures I derived from the game.

And now for the story: Easily the best aspect of the game, and one of the best plot twists that I've come across, not just in video games but in books and films as well. The quantum mechanics reasoning behind the denouement was ingenious and added an entirely new layer to an already fantastic game. The personal history of Booker Dewitt also resonated with me, and made feel that I was not just controlling a pair gun wielding hands (a great fault of the genre), but an actual human being with various dimensions (see what I did there?... Ok I'll stop). I saw the world through his eyes, stepped into his shoes, and underwent an epic mindf*ck of an adventure.

Which brings me to the characters. Can we just declare Elizabeth the best sidekick in gaming history and be done with it? She is just so much more than a girl you need to rescue. She is Booker's equal in terms of plot, and might even ultimately play a more significant part (maybe or maybe not, I'm not telling. This review is spoiler free after all). Admittedly, I developped a slight crush on her (only a small one I swear), and that just proves that men can play video games in which the female characters are not just there for jiggles (dude power!).

Just in case you couldn't tell from all my gushing (I apologize for nothing), I am a big fan of this game. I recommend it.