[SPOILERS BELOW]
- (P) Positives
- (N) Negatives
- (?) Other points/Neither positive or negative
- (P) In my opinion, BioShock Infinite is tied with the first BioShock in how excellent it is - with its story and gameplay being different enough from the previous two entries to be unique while still being true to the overall themes of the franchise.
- (P) The storyline is well-written with plenty of emotional weight. It centers around a down-on-his-luck PI called Booker looking for a girl named Elizabeth to wipe away a gambling debt, who's somewhere in a floating city in the sky known as Columbia. The memorability of the story is largely thanks to its highly scripted and cinematic presentation. Every aspect of the game such as the voice acting, animation and environmental design help to elevate the story beyond its writing, and make it something special. Much like the first two games, 'Infinite' also internally debates several conflicting ideologies and philosophies through tapes found around the world, and the many encounters with NPCs dotted around the map that make the city of Columbia truly feel alive. In addition, it also has a mind-binding and reality-bending sequence of events with our two main characters looking through and traveling to multiple alternate realities (including a fan-service appearance of Rapture near the end of the game).
The game's story also allows for theory crafting in a way that is actually satisfying. Usually for me, when a game leaves something up to interpretation, it feels like such a cop-out as the ambiguous ending can often feel disappointing and unfulfilling. Thankfully, this is not the case with 'Infinite' as the game has enough "meat on the bone" when it comes to defining its universe's rules that coming up with theories surrounding many of the game's ambiguities is actually interesting to me.
Furthermore, the story - much as you expect from a BioShock game - has many interesting characters. Our protagonist is Booker DeWitt, a troubled man with a past he'd rather forget (and technically does forget, considering the mind-binding time-and-space travel stuff that happens to him) - whose apparently generic action-hero-man persona actually makes sense, as he basically constructed this persona around himself to forget the fact that he sold his infant child to a alternate reality version of himself who creates Columbia, a place which seems idyllic - but is truly corrupt to it's core (Yeah, if it wasn't obvious enough already, the game's story heavily involves the manipulation and bending of time and space to the nth degree - which is especially apparent in the game's ending, which involves Elizabeths from several realities drowning Booker to prevent this alternate reality version of himself from ever existing and wreaking havoc). Booker is joined by Elizabeth on his journey - a naive but compassionate young woman locked up inside a tower in the middle of Columbia, who has the power to open "tears" in reality which lead to these alternate universes. She also provides the emotional core of the narrative as well as being a capable AI companion in her own right, supplying Booker with ammo and health when needed.
The villain of the story is one Zachary Comstock, a man who rules over Columbia as a "great prophet" and is revealed to be this alternate version of Booker whose distorted American-centric ideology is born in the waters of Baptism - which he accepts after feeling increasingly conflicted by his involvement at a military encounter called the Battle of Wounded Knee. The comedy is sarcastically provided by the Lutece Twins, a brother and sister duo with a penchant for wit and quantum mechanics who seemingly want to help Booker and Elizabeth on their quest to stop Comstock from destroying the "Vox Populi" (the down-trodden "underclass" of Columbia) and, potentially, the rest of reality.
The game's story also allows for theory crafting in a way that is actually satisfying. Usually for me, when a game leaves something up to interpretation, it feels like such a cop-out as the ambiguous ending can often feel disappointing and unfulfilling. Thankfully, this is not the case with 'Infinite' as the game has enough "meat on the bone" when it comes to defining its universe's rules that coming up with theories surrounding many of the game's ambiguities is actually interesting to me.
Furthermore, the story - much as you expect from a BioShock game - has many interesting characters. Our protagonist is Booker DeWitt, a troubled man with a past he'd rather forget (and technically does forget, considering the mind-binding time-and-space travel stuff that happens to him) - whose apparently generic action-hero-man persona actually makes sense, as he basically constructed this persona around himself to forget the fact that he sold his infant child to a alternate reality version of himself who creates Columbia, a place which seems idyllic - but is truly corrupt to it's core (Yeah, if it wasn't obvious enough already, the game's story heavily involves the manipulation and bending of time and space to the nth degree - which is especially apparent in the game's ending, which involves Elizabeths from several realities drowning Booker to prevent this alternate reality version of himself from ever existing and wreaking havoc). Booker is joined by Elizabeth on his journey - a naive but compassionate young woman locked up inside a tower in the middle of Columbia, who has the power to open "tears" in reality which lead to these alternate universes. She also provides the emotional core of the narrative as well as being a capable AI companion in her own right, supplying Booker with ammo and health when needed.
The villain of the story is one Zachary Comstock, a man who rules over Columbia as a "great prophet" and is revealed to be this alternate version of Booker whose distorted American-centric ideology is born in the waters of Baptism - which he accepts after feeling increasingly conflicted by his involvement at a military encounter called the Battle of Wounded Knee. The comedy is sarcastically provided by the Lutece Twins, a brother and sister duo with a penchant for wit and quantum mechanics who seemingly want to help Booker and Elizabeth on their quest to stop Comstock from destroying the "Vox Populi" (the down-trodden "underclass" of Columbia) and, potentially, the rest of reality.
- (P) The gameplay of BioShock Infinite is probably my favourite in the series - it combines the best aspects of the previous two games while managing to successfully bring in new mechanics. The most prominent of these is the Sky-Hook which is not only an effective melee weapon, but is also a means of traversal around the city - allowing for a variety of strategies (e.g. gunning-and-running - making a few attacks before leaping on one of the Sky-Lines and making your escape; or using the Sky-Hook to evade gunfire and then melee attack from above as well as gaining a higher position to obtain information on enemy positions). These methods of attack are in turn countered by enemies such as the Handyman, who can shock railings and prevent you from using them for a limited time. This in turn forces the player to vary their strategies and change tactics, which keeps the gameplay from feeling stale.
However, especially on lower difficulties, I found that a Pistol and Sniper Rifle was the most effective combination of weapons which didn't lead me to changing my weapons up too much and thus, the core shooting did feel repetitive after a while. On the other hand, Vigors, essentially the Plasmids of BioShock 1 and 2, provide useful ways of defeating (or in the case of the Possession vigor, controlling) enemies and enemy machines. But again, the use of the two previous weapons mentioned give little incentive to actually use Vigors frequently, beyond the occasional Possession or Devil's Kiss (which acts as an explosive fire grenade). Nevertheless, despite the problems with the game's balance when it comes to the overpowered-ness of some weapons, the core gameplay of the BioShock formula is still as solid and fun as it's ever been - and is elevated significantly by the new movement and Vigor mechanics.
However, especially on lower difficulties, I found that a Pistol and Sniper Rifle was the most effective combination of weapons which didn't lead me to changing my weapons up too much and thus, the core shooting did feel repetitive after a while. On the other hand, Vigors, essentially the Plasmids of BioShock 1 and 2, provide useful ways of defeating (or in the case of the Possession vigor, controlling) enemies and enemy machines. But again, the use of the two previous weapons mentioned give little incentive to actually use Vigors frequently, beyond the occasional Possession or Devil's Kiss (which acts as an explosive fire grenade). Nevertheless, despite the problems with the game's balance when it comes to the overpowered-ness of some weapons, the core gameplay of the BioShock formula is still as solid and fun as it's ever been - and is elevated significantly by the new movement and Vigor mechanics.
- (P) Gorgeous environmental design is also one of the game's strongest suits and, although the game was made almost six years ago at this point, it manages to still hold up in the graphical department thanks to its art style - arguably, much more so than the previous two games (even though they also had fantastic environmental design). Walking around Columbia at the beginning of the game is something special especially if the player can sense that, just below the surface, something sinister is brewing - which in turn is also made evident through...
- (P) The sound design and score, which is lovingly composed by Garry Schyman, who made the music for the previous two games as well. One of my favourite tracks from the game is one called Lighter Than Air, which manages to both be serene and, very subtlely in the background, extremely uneasy - which perfectly mirrors the nature of Columbia: a seemingly perfect utopia; but if you only stop, take a look around and pay attention, the veneer falls away very quickly. When it comes to the sound design, details like the wind whistling past you on the Sky-Line, Elizabeth's footsteps echoing on the floor and the creaking of wood and metal in one of Columbia's many floating buildings also help to bring the world to life and immerse you in the story.
- (P) The game is also a (mostly) excellent PC port - probably the best in the series - with a wide variety of graphics options, and is also optimized pretty decently. Even on my terrible PC (if you can even call it that) managed to run the game at a rock-solid 60FPS most of the time - even if I had to compromise some of the graphical fidelity here and there. However, "Your Mileage May Vary" when it comes to the aim assist always being on (I can't aim so...I thought it was OK).
- (N) When it comes to the negatives, there's not really much I can say other than a few gripes with the port itself and one particular section that stood out to me as feeling extremely backtrack-y. Firstly, the inability to save manually is a bit frustrating especially considering I had the game crash on me - and as a result, I lost roughly 5-10 minutes of progress which, as you'd expect, wasn't fun. To be fair to BioShock Infinite though, it did only crash once. Secondly, occasionally the battle music would noticeably bug out and skip. Normally, the transition between the loop restarting or the song ending on its final sting once the fight is over is seamless; but this wasn't always the case. Finally, the backtrack section I'm referring to is one where you have to hunt down the ghost of Lady Comstock, the deceased wife of Zachary Comstock, and the three separate "tears" she goes to - which involves a lot of running back-and-forth between locations and can be a bit confusing if you're not paying attention to the occasional ghostly footprints that appear on the ground. Unfortunately, this brought the usually-breakneck pace of the game to a halt and was probably my least favourite part of the game. Luckily, its relatively short so it doesn't affect the rest of the game too dramatically.
Overall: There's very little I can say that the game did truly poorly other than a few technical gripes and that one small section of the game. With its lovingly crafted story, characters and world, BioShock Infinite is (for now) a fitting end to an excellent franchise.
Addendum 2019-02-05: When attempting to post the review for this game on Steam, I hit the character limit partway through the last paragraph. So, I decided to write a shorter, simplified review for the game which I'm now posting here as an addendum to this one.
"The review I wrote for this game is too long to actually fit in the space provided on Steam, so I actually can't post the full thing here unfortunately. But suffice to say that this game is fantastic with only a few minor problems - most of which are minor issues with the PC port. The story and characters are well-written, the gameplay is revitalised and revamped from the first two games in the series, the environmental design is as gorgeous as it's always been in BioShock, the sound design (while marred by said issues with the port) is full of detail, and the score by series regular Garry Schyman is powerful and intense. The expansion, Burial at Sea, adds even further value to BioShock Infinite and additionally helps to tie the overarching story of the games together. There's no reason not to play any of the games in the series and, having finishing the (for now) last game in the series, I can wholeheartedly say that BioShock is up there as one of my favourite video game trilogies of all time." - Posted on 5th February 2019
- (P) The sound design and score, which is lovingly composed by Garry Schyman, who made the music for the previous two games as well. One of my favourite tracks from the game is one called Lighter Than Air, which manages to both be serene and, very subtlely in the background, extremely uneasy - which perfectly mirrors the nature of Columbia: a seemingly perfect utopia; but if you only stop, take a look around and pay attention, the veneer falls away very quickly. When it comes to the sound design, details like the wind whistling past you on the Sky-Line, Elizabeth's footsteps echoing on the floor and the creaking of wood and metal in one of Columbia's many floating buildings also help to bring the world to life and immerse you in the story.
- (P) The game is also a (mostly) excellent PC port - probably the best in the series - with a wide variety of graphics options, and is also optimized pretty decently. Even on my terrible PC (if you can even call it that) managed to run the game at a rock-solid 60FPS most of the time - even if I had to compromise some of the graphical fidelity here and there. However, "Your Mileage May Vary" when it comes to the aim assist always being on (I can't aim so...I thought it was OK).
- (N) When it comes to the negatives, there's not really much I can say other than a few gripes with the port itself and one particular section that stood out to me as feeling extremely backtrack-y. Firstly, the inability to save manually is a bit frustrating especially considering I had the game crash on me - and as a result, I lost roughly 5-10 minutes of progress which, as you'd expect, wasn't fun. To be fair to BioShock Infinite though, it did only crash once. Secondly, occasionally the battle music would noticeably bug out and skip. Normally, the transition between the loop restarting or the song ending on its final sting once the fight is over is seamless; but this wasn't always the case. Finally, the backtrack section I'm referring to is one where you have to hunt down the ghost of Lady Comstock, the deceased wife of Zachary Comstock, and the three separate "tears" she goes to - which involves a lot of running back-and-forth between locations and can be a bit confusing if you're not paying attention to the occasional ghostly footprints that appear on the ground. Unfortunately, this brought the usually-breakneck pace of the game to a halt and was probably my least favourite part of the game. Luckily, its relatively short so it doesn't affect the rest of the game too dramatically.
Overall: There's very little I can say that the game did truly poorly other than a few technical gripes and that one small section of the game. With its lovingly crafted story, characters and world, BioShock Infinite is (for now) a fitting end to an excellent franchise.
Addendum 2019-02-05: When attempting to post the review for this game on Steam, I hit the character limit partway through the last paragraph. So, I decided to write a shorter, simplified review for the game which I'm now posting here as an addendum to this one.
"The review I wrote for this game is too long to actually fit in the space provided on Steam, so I actually can't post the full thing here unfortunately. But suffice to say that this game is fantastic with only a few minor problems - most of which are minor issues with the PC port. The story and characters are well-written, the gameplay is revitalised and revamped from the first two games in the series, the environmental design is as gorgeous as it's always been in BioShock, the sound design (while marred by said issues with the port) is full of detail, and the score by series regular Garry Schyman is powerful and intense. The expansion, Burial at Sea, adds even further value to BioShock Infinite and additionally helps to tie the overarching story of the games together. There's no reason not to play any of the games in the series and, having finishing the (for now) last game in the series, I can wholeheartedly say that BioShock is up there as one of my favourite video game trilogies of all time." - Posted on 5th February 2019
Comments
Post a Comment