Finally beat Bioshock Infinite. HEAVY SPOILERS ahead, please don't read if you plan on beating the game.
No seriously, stop reading.
Last chance.
It's starting now...
Ok, so it was a pretty good game, not as amazing as everyone else seems to think, at least to me. I didn't like how it played like any ordinary shooter. The gameplay itself was REALLY smooth and fluid (PC version however, unsure on console). But what I didn't like is how it was generic firefight after generic firefight, ESPECIALLY at the end, with freaking endless dropships and all that...Dropships...IN BIOSHOCK??? Dafuq is that.
The weapons have some decent variety, and keep you entertained with the shooting, but it's the 8 new Vigors (or Plasmids), that REALLY add some interesting combat decisions in the game. I won't go on long about them, but I will say that all 8 of them are completely unique, unlike Bioshock 1 and 2 where some just felt similar, or entirely useless. They are each so good and different, you could probably get through the whole game with just 2 or 3. The only complaint I have with them, is that they serve absolutely no purpose in the game, also unlike Bioshock 1 and 2. In the other games, Plasmids were a way to better your life, until the citizens of Rapture were consumed by the power. In Infinite, they are there basically because it is a Bioshock game, and none of the other citizens/enemies use them.
Another element of combat are the skylines. Oh the skylines. They are absolutely a BLAST to play around on, and truly something unique that I personally have never seen before. I will say that it doesn't make a whole lot of sense that you can shoot the RPG or Crank Gun from them, but they are loads of fun to hop on whenever they are around.
Now on to the story. For starters, I fully understood what was going on, not even half way through the game, so the BIG surprises and confusions that happened to practically everyone else who played it, at the very end, really did not leave me with my jaw on the floor like I was expecting. So, if you're still confused, the game plays around with the Many Worlds Theory, I studied it a lot in my college Astronomy classes. The idea that, the same things are going on, in different universes, but with different outcomes each time. For instance (this happens in the game), you flip a coin and choose heads, and it lands on heads. While in theory, in another world, it simultaneously lands on tails. I love the concept of this, and was pleased to see that it was chosen for Bioshock, there are just some things I had guessed very early on.
For instance, I had fully guessed that you were the same person as Comstock, to me it was very obvious and not a surprise at all. In fact I would have been shocked if I was wrong about it. I had a hunch that Elizabeth was your daughter, and you were attempting to give her away to wipe your sleight clean. The reason I knew you were Comstock, was because they kept calling you false shepherd, all while Comstock was hailed as the shepherd/prophet. It wasn't until the game finally went haywire with other dimensions, that I finally realized how they could both exist. As soon as Elizabeth's tears came into the game, I knew what was happening.
So, the game has a good story, no doubt. It definitely has the type of story you can have enjoyable conversations with your friends about. My only gripe is that it was sooooo predictable in my eyes, before the so called "mind f*$&ing" ending that EVERYBODY talked about, after release. It was difficult to stay away from spoilers but I did thankfully, yet I just don't see why nearly everyone praises the game for it's ending.
All in all, it's a solid game, repetitive, gorgeous, and interesting. A few gameplay flaws that make it a lot like other shooters, such as a shield which makes the least sense out of anything you could get confused about in the story, and removing the weapon wheel. I do not see this game as the 94 it has on Metacritic, and with The Last of Us I have yet to play, along with Beyond Two Souls and Watch Dogs, I can't see it being my choice for Game of the Year.
For the fans...P.S, you can hear songbird dying in the first Bioshock ;)
See what a side-by-side comparison of Clockwork Revolution vs Bioshock Infinite looks like.
BioShock Infinite launched 10 years ago today, but even now holds up as a hugely inspiring videogame world.
Still consider it the weakest in the series by a decent margin. Not bad, was just expecting more.
The dlc was pretty damn good though.
yup, it has better story though. I think 2 had the best gameplay. There is a youtuber who made no damage Bioshock 1-2 videos on highest difficulty. just beautiful: https://www.youtube.com/wat...
Not better than the first 2 IMO. And this is a nitpick but it bummed me out that they scrapped the cosmetic changes to your guns as you upgraded them. First 2 had that so why scrap it in the third?
2013’s Bioshock Infinite is a flawed gem. But even ten years on, its triumphs outweigh its missteps.
Good review. To me it did have a sort of generic shooter vibe going for it, which is sad. I was really sad that the skylines didn't play a larger part in the story as they were quite a lot of fun to play around on.
As for the ending there may be something that you didn't notice. I know a lot of people didn't notice it at first either, but Booker and the main character from Bioshock 1 are actually the same person. BS1 took place in a parallel world with a parallel Booker. The evidence for this is supported by Booker being able to use the DNA locked pods. Just an interesting fact a lot of people seemed to miss.
great review
Nice review. I, too, am becoming increasingly disillusioned with the shooter mentality these days. I think I would have been alright NOT walking into a gun fight every time I turned a corner.
Like you mentioned, it's not that the shooting wasn't fun, but when all was said and done, it was the least impressive feature of the game...and ironically got the most attention. I would have liked more down time to simply take in and explore the world, maybe even expand on the relationship between Booker and Elizabeth.
And I kinda have to agree about the ending, too. Though it's predictability didn't really detract from it's impact, in my opinion, simply because it's woven together so wonderfully. It's especially evident on the second playthrough when you realize that they weren't really trying to keep it a secret in the first place: you are given the details of the narrative literally from the first scene of the game. The fun for me was picking up all those little details I missed.
I'm not sure you can make much of a weapon wheel when you can only carry 2 weapons :S