Theres a lot to be said in that Bioshock Infinite had the ability to pull me into a game world so thoroughly that it hasnt even been twenty-four hours and I am replaying it again. I cant remember the last time a single-player game achieved that (the Half-Life/Portal series is the most recent I can think of). A lot hinges on the ending, but thats to be expected. A whole articles worth could be made about the ending, and probably will, but I wont go spoiling it for everyone. Suffice to say Infinite is worth at least a single play-through, and will be a landmark video game for achieving a level of characterization that hasnt been met in ages.
Unlike the faceless protagonist of the original Bioshock, this spiritual successor puts you in the shoes of former Pinkerton agent Booker DeWitt and thrusts you into the familiar setting of a lighthouse upon an ocean. Only this time you are strapped to a rocket (literally) and shot up to the city-in-the-sky, Columbia. Here you are looking for a woman named Elizabeth to wipe away the debt that Booker has contracted. The city has other plans, and as soon as you find her you are pursued by the villainous Prophet Comstock and Elizabeths mechanical monstrosity, the Songbird. While the story has a stunning first act, around the six hour mark the game starts to plod through the second act, with the third picking up before a shocking finish in the last thirty minutes. Yes, Bioshock had a twist, as did both System Shocks, so it is only to be expected Infinite would try to one-up its forerunners. More on that below.
The story itself isnt as interesting as the writing and setting that it portrays. Columbia is a beautiful city that had me grinning and running from shop to shop for hours just admiring the details Irrational Games poured into it. I wasnt a fan of Raptures claustrophobic corridors and dark interiors. While that setting held a certain beauty, in Columbia the quasi-religious patriotism fits perfectly with the light shafts and sunrays. The first act is where it really shines, as the second and third turn the city into the normal FPS warzone, albeit steampunked. Also, the NPCs are wonderful. Bioshock felt so lonely without sentient people, while in Infinite the NPCs are sane, if prejudiced and misguided. Hundreds of hours of dialogue were recorded and placed into the game, and all of it kept me immersed. No choppy, nonsensical mess of normal dialogue; this stuff builds the city, and no one does it better than Elisabeth and Booker.
If Telltales Walking Dead proved you could have a videogame with believable characters, then Infinite proves that you can have believable characters with your videogame. Lets be honest: as much as I loved Lee and Clementine and Kenny, the point-and-click nature of the game interspersed with cutscenes was more of an interactive film than it was game. Irrational outdid themselves by interweaving the childish nature of Elisabeth (reminiscent of Rapunzel from Tangled) with the reserved demeanor of Booker. Whats more, I came to like Booker even as he made mistakes and grew to love Elisabeth even in her naiveté. These two create a bond unlike any other characters in a video game, and its believable! If you want to see the best dialogue a video game can offer, look no further than here.
Gameplay in Bioshock Infinite isnt terrible, but I wouldnt venture to say it is the high point of the game. It follows along the same strand of its predecessors: get in a firefight, kill everyone with circumstancial powers and underwhelming firearms, then scarf everything in reach and loot every trashcan for the money that ordinary people throw away (okay, maybe the NPCs of Columbia arent so sane). Eventually youll find a groove or a trick that youll repeat for the majority of the game. Mine was raising people into the air and then pumping them with a shotgun or hand cannon blast. I wasnt a fan of Bioshock because its progression wasnt particularly invigorating (try to access A, but to do so you need to engage B and find C, rinse and repeat). The same goes for Infinite, where I never felt a sense of satisfaction because I never felt in any danger due in part to the plentiful consumables, rechargeable shields, and the availability of respawn. I never died in combat once due to enemy design, and by the end it felt like I was just chaining events together to get to the next plot point. The structures of character and setting helped keep me amused enough to not get bored, though. I think Bioshock Infinite would have done better without the inclusion of a rechargeable shield and putting more oomph into its weapons and powers. Half-Life has showed that having AI that can overwhelm the player creates a sense of satisfaction when a firefight is won due to the challenge. Long story short, if you liked Bioshocks gameplay youll love it here.
Two new inclusions lauded by Irrational have been Elisabeth as a helpful NPC and the skyhook system. One shudders to think of helpful combat NPCs, but since Elisabeth never fights it becomes less of me protecting her and more of her protecting me. Elisabeth can find money, ammo, health, and tear holds in the fabric of reality to create objects at will. Sadly this was pre-conceived and not as cool as I thought it could be (like dropping bombs on peoples heads and seeing 21st century cars smash into the sides of a group), but made for a tactical thought as to how to play out the environment and further bound together Elisabeth and Booker as characters. The skyhook system was more of a winner; in large environments (which Infinite has plenty of) a rail system would allow for transportation almost anywhere in the map that both enemies and friendlies could use. Again, I wished for some chase sequences but never got any. Both were good additions to otherwise forgettable gameplay.
Overall, when it comes down to the game as a whole it is a recommendation based on three facts: the setting, the characters, and the end. Im sure the end will be confusing and controversial for many, and that alone makes this a game worth playing. I remember Bioshocks Twist which commented on the nature of character design in games while simultaneously asking questions about fates hold on humanity, and it worked so well because up until that point no one was looking for it. Until then it was a FPS shooter with philosophical leanings. In Infinite it is common knowledge early on that something is afoot, and when the curtain finally lifts the actual twist is not too surprising (seriously, if you didnt see it coming then you werent looking at all). In fact, Infinites last thirty minutes expand its universe to a level of meta that some reviewers have criticized, and I tend to agree with them. The ending feels way too large and beyond the small world that has been Booker, DeWitt, Comstock, and Columbia. For having such deep characterization I felt that a simpler ending would have done right, but the ending turns the recognition, applauds itself, saying Haha! Look what we made! It was so cool! Just read all the implications into it! In a different game it would have fit much better, but here the ending works on a wholly different plane of story and character than the game thus far has done. Its good, but not the smash-wow poignant ending that could have been between Elisabeth and Booker. That being said, it is an impressive ending, especially how deep the rabbit hole goes. I already spent a couple hours reading about it. I can think of movie equivalents, but I wont spoil the surprise (if I havent already). I can live with the ending since Irrational Games obviously put time into the story as a whole, and the fact that I already wrote this much about it should speak to how grand it really is.
Bioshock Infinite is proof to me that for every dozen spunkgargleweewee AAA games out there at least some are attempting to forge ahead without falling to cash grabs. On the basis of story, setting, and characters alone it is worth a play. The gameplay is mediocre, but then again what modern FPS hasnt been?
-Signed and Approved by TheRaptorFence