It's been almost six years since we were introduced to the original BioShock experience; a game that carries a heavy weight to its name for mostly positive reasons and you would be hard pressed to find someone who didn't like it, nevermind know of it. Following three years later, a rather disappointing sequel was developed by 2K Marin with a multiplayer component (no surprise there.) Some claim that the original BioShock set the standard for single player games of the seventh generation. Most people agree with that credo and go further to say it was revolutionary and innovative. I must contest as gamers and critics alike throw around both adjectives so much when a game has garnered so much positivity that I firmly believe they'd forgotten the definitions of the terms.
BioShock is a series that I tend to go back and forth with; the games, in my opinion, try too hard to be deep and philosophical instead of just being deep and philosophical. The games are quite often praised for such when in reality, they are simply action games with an intriguing enough story to keep you interested with generic gameplay and an inevitable plot twist that keeps people talking about it for years. To be honest, behind the smoke and mirrors, I find the games to be nothing shy of ordinary.
Let's take BioShock: Infinite for example: I can't deny that the game shines brightly in terms of narrative, visuals and audio. While it's great to see the often ignored aspects in video games focused on more, gameplay is sacrificed and that is not okay - it's a video game, after all. When I'm playing a video game, I want to feel like I'm playing a video game, not watching a film - and I must point out to avoid confusion, I am not insinuating that the game mirrors Heavy Rain or anything of the sort. It's just that while the narrative and visuals and audio are given the attention, the aspects that make a video game a video game sadly suffer.
BioShock: Infinite takes players on a journey to Columbia - that's right, hasta la vista, Rapture - a 1900's era landscape blooming with scrumptious detail and an almost dystopian feel; an eerie combination, in essence, of Oz and a post-apocalyptic aura. Visuals are undeniably award winning and wonderfully impressive and serve a solid factor in immersion. Booker DeWitt - the game's leading protagonist - an alcoholic with an inescapable debt is brought on by a strange character to infiltrate Columbia and free a hostage named Elizabeth, a lovely young woman with deadly supernatural abilities.
DeWitt's presence and his aiding of Elizabeth's escape causes the two factions within Columbia to turn - almost robotically - hostile and this is where the game basically goes from forcing the philosophical background to forcing a bullet hailstorm. I feel as though this is a weak point in the narrative - while the BioShock games have always truly been about a strong narrative and even stronger combat (notice how I said combat and not gameplay,) it was ultimately a missed opportunity for something different. I could easily picture the two protagonists being thrown into the centre of a political power struggle between the two factions and inspire the philosophical and emotional theme to actually be relevant to the narrative as a whole instead of it just being implied. Instead, suddenly everyone is an enemy and you honestly wonder where all the guns came from in that seemingly idyllic environment.
One of the notable feats of BioShock: Infinite is that while Elizabeth serves as a companion to the protagonist, the game does not turn into an escort mission - Elizabeth is perfectly capable of holding her own and serves as a rather reliable ally. Considering the rather disappointing transition from seemingly open-world exploration and discovery to gun-toting madness was basically thrown in your face, it's nice that the game almost literally says, "Hey, sorry about that. To make up for it, here's an independent AI who you won't have to play guardian over."
Combat is slightly different than before but reminiscent enough to appease fans of the previous instalments' mechanics. I personally find it to be enjoyable but nothing 'revolutionary' or 'innovative.' Some claim it to be tactical, I find it convenient. As always, you have your firearm and your plasmids (now referred to as 'vigors,') that work well together as always. There's not much depth as others have claimed - it more so just rests on the surface and says, "Hey, I'm a good idea. Use me." To keep things interesting and less repetitive, some enemies are unaffected by certain vigors forcing you to change your methodologies and actually do more than just pull triggers. You have the ability to put on different gear pieces with apply improvements to the effects of your weapons and vigors.
Enemy characters are different this time around - you're not going after waves of splicers. You'll find yourself up against 'normal' opponents such as security guards, but you'll also be up against 'heavy hitters' which is Infinite's version of Big Daddies, just less intimidating. Enemy AI however is nothing to lose your pants over - glitching, stupid behaviour that we shouldn't be expecting in 2013 and the only way for the combat to truly be something of a challenge is to play on the harder difficulties. I could get through the game in my younger days when I was new to shooters and always played on easy modes.
Unlike BioShock 2, Infinite does not offer a multiplayer component - awfully developed or otherwise - so thank the God of your choice.
Overall, BioShock: Infinite is a decent enough game with a well-written narrative, excellent character development - more so with Elizabeth than DeWitt - charming visuals and pleasant audio. However, I still to this day do not understand the grovelling fan base surrounding the series as I find them to be ordinary games with mature themes and intelligent plot devices. General gameplay needs to be taken into better consideration to be considered revolutionary or innovative as people so often label it. Infinite uses philosophy and emotional drive as a plot device but as always, BioShock relies too heavily on fun-centric gun fights to truly focus on anything that would prove the games worthy of their revolutionary and innovative monikers.
Author's Note (4/10/13): Please refrain from criticizing me on what score I gave the game. "It does not deserve a 7" is your opinion and considering that I gave it a 7, I beg to differ. Please do not treat your opinion as fact. Thank you.
Twinfinite: “War may never change, but the prices of rare games do!”
"And lastly, famous Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling helped to create the action-RPG’s setting. What’s really fascinating, though, is that the game was partially financed by taxpayers from Rhode Island (which allegedly lost the state millions of dollars). Yikes!"
1. Now infamous Schilling
2. No allegedly, it did. And they couldn't pay it back.
3. What really lost the money wasn't the SP release but the MMO they were working on. This was supposed to be an introduction into the MMO world.
I hate counting limited editions for these lists. I mean, they're made to be rare and expensive. It's far more interesting to hear about the NCAAs (even if most people know that one already) and the El Chavos than some massive hit that came with a $200 statue at retail.
Me too. Here's the best I can do:
El Chavo Kart $90.14
NCAA Football 14 $87.72
Spiderman: Edge of Time $75.94
Spiderman Web of Shadows $75.09
Spiderman: Shattered Dimensions $67.76
Wow, El Chavo Kart is not at all what I expected by the name. 100% looks like a Sackboy Kart game.
It's so odd that so many Spider-Man games are seemingly given lower print runs, even if they're not the best games.
Most Xbox games don’t hold as much value compared to other systems. Kameo, Blue Dragon, Last Remnant , and a handful or 2 of other games that I kept.
One of the biggest TV and movie tropes in the last decade has been the multiverse, the idea of exploring multiple dimensions to uncover alternate versions of existing ideas. From both a business and creative perspective, it makes sense why established franchises are shaking things up in this way.
However, there aren't many video games latching on to this trend, as rendering multiple worlds in real-time is a difficult feat and the medium is relatively young in comparison to its contemporaries, making crossover opportunities more difficult. Still, there are a few great titles that manage enough to overcome these challenges, and here are some of the best examples.
While I love someone mentioning Planescape, not really multiverse. Planes and dimensions, yes. But, they are typically their own locations and are very rarely tied to another 'verse' let alone another plane. The only things that are directly tied are the ethereal and material planes. Otherwise, they are dimensions created of their own design and goals by the creator/owner and not comprised of 'their own version of another dimension'.
See what a side-by-side comparison of Clockwork Revolution vs Bioshock Infinite looks like.
"Lackluster ending?"
My, my, you're certainly in the mood to debate in your comment section, aren't you? :P
Anyways, an...interesting review that still leaves me a bit anxious to play just to see where I would stand on its quality (thank goodness this review wasn't spoiler-y).
Oh me oh my. How I do not agree with you.
The ending and whole story was fantastic and makes complete sense if you watch it 2-3 times and get the voxophones
I thought your review was mediocre. It seemed you were trying to be edgy and go against the popular opinion so you could label yourself as original or "trendy"
I didnt mind the combat in the game and i thought you were generally on point with that but it seems you missed a few points in the narative that might have helped you understand it. Everyone in columbia that is an authority figgure is prepared for your arrival and has been instructed to hunt you down. Its explained that comstock the prophet has put them on alert. There is so much evidence to this that i would rather pm it to you. The other thing you missed is that the war between the vox and columbians doesnt take place in the columbia you start out in. It was in a different reality. You might have missed this but it was only the central theme of the entire game.
I mirror your opinion. I gave the game a 7.5 in my own review of the game and I got flamed for it. I didn't think it was a very "Bioshock"-ish game, seeing how the enemies were more generic, it focused more on combat, it gave you less freedom, there was less exploration, etc.
Oh, and the ending was dumb. The only people who thought it was revolutionary haven't picked up a sci-fi book in their life.
I respect the review. It was a little rushed story-wise at the end, but the game was really great. I never played the first two and so I didn't know what to expect from a gameplay standpoint. While not handling like a "shooter," it felt pretty natural and after an hour it handled great.