Bioshock Infinite is a fantastic game with very few blemishes, and is a must play for everyone. (Spoiler Free)
Bioshock Infinite is a fantastic, immerse game that pushes the boundaries of story telling. This is a game everyone should play at least a few times because it truly shows just how far games have come. Infinite is a single-player only experience that roughly takes around 12-15 hours depending how long an individual explores Columbia. However after a thrilling, brilliant and bizarre ending you just wanna keep playing.
Story/Characters
Bioshock Infinite like its predecessors focuses heavily on excellent narrative and compelling storytelling, supported with outstanding characters. You play as Booker DeWitt, a former Pinkerton with an interesting and dark past. You are sent to Columbia a beautiful city in the sky set in the year 1912 to collect a girl and pay off your gambling debts. Elizabeth being that girl, soon becomes your "sidekick" and stays with you throughout the game. She is also a complete mystery which Booker(you) uncover during the course of the game as you develop a special kind of relationship. Both Booker and Elizabeth are trying to escape the city and Songbird, who is Elizabeth's guardian/protector ever since she was locked in her tower. At the same time both characters are trying to find and kill Comstock who is a very interesting antagonist. He is the founder or Prophet of Columbia, who is a racist, religious zealot. Comstock is just as interesting as Andrew Ryan as his motives are fleshed out throughout the game. The story twists and turns and finally comes to an outstanding, brilliant ending that changes the game that makes you think for hours after the credits have finally rolled. The reason why bioshock is so fantastic is because how immersive the world and its characters are. You really feel like your Booker and Elizabeth is so organic in the environment. She is always looking for items for you, and interacting with the environment appropriately. She doesn't get in your way, she can take care of herself, and she supports you completely. She is also very emotional and real making her a great companion. Infinite also focuses on many different themes, like racism, religion, friendship, regret, and the choices a person makes in life have permitted effects. You rarely see these themes in games presented so well if at all.
Graphics and environment.
On the PC version this game looks absolutely fantastic! Its so detailed and the city of Columbia floored me. Its beautiful to look at and extremely different from Rapture. During the course of the game, Columbia changes into a war zone, and the wonders you just saw completely change as the city evolves and decays. Columbia, feels like a character in-itself. It feels like it has a life of its own, and Irrational Games does an excellent job of creating such an interesting and interactive world that feels lived in.
Combat/Gameplay
If you have played the previous Bioshocks the gameplay is almost the exact same. Booker wields guns (pistols, shotguns, snipers ext) and Vigor's AKA plasmids, powered by Salts AKA ADAM in first games. The combat is more fluid in this game with gory results. The guns, react how they should and it feels satisfying. Vigor's are almost the same as the first game such as lighting, fire, controlling enemies, with a few new Virgos to change it up. Weapons/Vigors like the first game can be upgraded with different abilities like more damage, or splash area. Guns can get more ammo or faster reload speed. Its very much the same as the first game. Elizabeth has a special power to create tears in the environment/world. She can summon turrets, cover, heath packs, and environmental sky hooks. On top of that she helps you by providing ammo, HP, Salts, and money. This comes in handy in a tight pinch against larger opponents and on the new 1999 mode which is extremely hard difficulty. Columbia also has Skylines, for packages which can be used to move around environments and even assassinate opponents, just like execution melee kills. When your not in combat, you will be scrounging for supplies (ammo, money, HP, salts) and finding recordings which give background to the story.
Sound/Music
The voice acting is amazing, emotional and realistic supported by awesome writing. NPC's talk to each other and interact accordingly. They have side conversations about you, Comstock, and even Columbia. Guns, and Vigors sound perfect, and the 1912 music plays in the streets. When things get intense the music ramps up and gets exciting but still keeps that old school feel. When your listening to recordings they sound scratched since their playing off records. The sound design is outstanding with an extreme amount of detail
Negative Aspects
This game is unreal, however it does have a few downsides. To start combat is an improvement over the original but it still feels a bit clunky at times. Its smoother however compared to other FPS's like COD it doesn't have the same smoothness id like. The combat is also a large re-skin of the original. Yes it looks better and feels better but its still a re-skin. Vigors/plasmids are almost the same besides a few differences and the guns are basically the same. The only massive changes are Elizabeth's powers and the use of the skylines. Second is the enemies/AI. The enemies are fine however they react weirdly. Most of the time they just charge at you regardless of where you are. They don't really take cover or try and flank you. This really becomes apparent on higher difficulties because you can just sit around a corner and pick them off one by one. This is also surprising because the AI for Elizabeth is so outstanding and enemies just feel meh in comparison. I'm not saying the AI is terrible some of the enemies like the fireman, patriots, and handyman change it up but most of the enemies are just regular soldiers and act dumb. Third thing the enemies just aren't as memorable has the BigDaddies from the original series. They were so fun to kill and the only thing that comes close is the handyman which are just as big. Yes they kind of do the same things but it just doesn't feel as awesome and memorable as taking out a BigDaddy. Fourth and final is the game feels padded. I felt like in the middle part of the game, it would be drawn out by long combat moments and re-trucking through the same environment/stuff you just did. This is to basically lengthen the game which I don't have a huge problem with but takes away from the experience and momentum. The problem is that the combat is the weakest aspect of the game and yet at times its the longest part of the game.
Conclusion
Bioshock is a fantastic game, that gets so many things right and lives up to the hype and more. It has outstanding characters, environments, sound, graphics, and its so compelling/immersive its hard to put down. The story is unreal that will tug on your heartstrings and makes you think after the credits have rolled. However the game is supported by generic combat. I'm not suggesting that the combat is bad by any means if anything its an improvement over the original. However with all the FPS games currently being offered it feels like a been-their-done that which hurts the score and holds back Infinite from becoming a true masterpiece. Despite a few flaws I loved this game regardless because of all the things it does amazingly well. Irrational games has created something marvelous that everyone can take something away from. This is a game for everyone that will be talked about for years to come.