Back in 2007, we were introduced to an exciting new underwater city named Rapture. The city of Rapture was the setting to one of this generations most amazing new game franchises, Bioshock. Fast forward to 2013 and we once again embark in a new adventure in the Bioshock universe. Only this time, there is no underwater city. There is no Rapture. This new adventure takes us up to the skies, in a marvelous new city as impressive as Rapture itself. This new floating city is Columbia and what lies ahead is a mystery so deep, it makes you question the entire Bioshock universe.
You begin the game as Booker Dewitt, a former Pinkerton Detective that was disgraced from the agency due to alcoholism and a gambling addiction. At the beginning of the story, Booker is hired to travel to the city of Columbia and retrieve a young girl. The successful completion of this job will result in Booker's debt being "wiped away". Booker manages to infiltrate the floating city and learns it is being controlled by a man named Father Zachary Hale Comstack who has convinced the citizens of Columbia that he is a Prophet. When it is discovered that Booker is in Columbia attempting to free the young girl named Elizabeth from Comstacks control, Comstack has Booker labeled as a False Shepard leading Booker to have to fight his way through the city to reach Elizabeth. Once Booker reaches and rescues Elizabeth from her state of imprisonment, the two work together to fight their way through Columbia in search of a way to escape the floating city while avoiding the giant mechanical bird like guardian named Songbird.
For a game that was released in the later part of this current generations console lifecycle, the graphics and visual scenery in Bioshock Infinite are beautiful and really help bring the city of Columbia alive. The gameplay is very similar to previous Bioshock games. You control a firearm in one hand and the powerful abilities known as Vigors with the other hand. Vigors in Bioshock Infinite work exactly like Plasmids and Tonics from the original Bioshock games. A few of these abilities include a fire attack, water attack, a possession ability and the ability to control a flock of attack crows. The gun fighting feels very solid and there is plenty of ammo laying around so you shouldn't feel too threatened going into any gunfight.
After you free Elizabeth from her state of imprisonment, she stays by your side throughout the rest of the game. This is where I feel Bioshock Infinite truly shined. Elizabeth was the smartest and most helpful AI character I have ever had the pleasure of playing beside. She locates money and ammo for you and assists you in battle by keeping you supplied in health and ammo. She is also an expert at lock picking and can open up locked doors and vaults that may contain money, weapons or upgrades. The most impressive ability Elizabeth possesses is the ability to open dimensional tears located throughout Columbia. Elizabeth can use these tears to bring ammo, health, weapons and automated defenses into your dimension to aid Booker in battle.
The enemies in Bioshock Infinite are more diverse than any previous Bioshock game. This time around you're not fighting off bands of splicers. Instead, you're fighting your way through normal security and police agents working for Comstack. There are also four classes of new larger mechanical enemies known as "Heavy Hitters" that act as replacements for the legendary Big Daddy characters from the original Bioshock games. These new Heavy Hitters include The Handyman, The Motorized Patriots, The Boys of Silence and the Sirens. In my opinion, neither of these Heavy Hitters posed any major threat and they all failed to live up to the intimidating feel of a Big Daddy.
The story behind Bioshock Infinite was very interesting. It would be difficult to go too much into detail about the story without spoiling the ending. However, I will say that I was left a little disappointed with the ending of the story as it felt a little too forced in my opinion and was more confusing than it needed to be. It's never a good sign when the ending of a story has you going back to question the entire plot while trying to make sense of all the inconsistencies. I also felt the final boss battle was very anticlimactic. Overall though I will say Bioshock Infinite was a fantastic experience and is so far one of the best games of 2013.
Playstation 3 Exclusive:
The PS3 version of Bioshock Infinite came with a couple of exclusive bonuses for PS3 gamers. Much like with the Dead Space and Assassin's Creed franchises that both included a free digital copy of the original games of their respective series, Bioshock Infinite also came with an exclusive free digital copy of the original award winning Bioshock game. This is a great bonus for gamers new to the Bioshock universe or for long time fans that would love to replay the original game one more time.
The second PS3 exclusive bonus is the addition of the Playstation Move compatibility. PS Move has been a hit or miss with PS3 gamers and understandably so. In my years playing with the PS Move, I have found the motion peripheral works best with shooters and sports games. I have played through many PS3 shooters including Killzone 3, Resistance 3, Socom 4, MAG and DUST514 and in my opinion, Irrational Games did a very solid job of incorporating the PS Move Sharpshooter mechanics into Bioshock Infinite. For gamers like myself that enjoy a more interactive motion gaming feel, the Move Sharpshooter works very well and is a nicely added option. However, gamers that aren't comfortable with motion gaming may prefer the traditional Dualshock 3 controller instead.
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.
GF365: "Certain games cannot be understood with just one playthrough. Like certain films and books – such as Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey and Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment – there are complex games that you should play more than once to fully understand. I thoroughly believe that video games are an art form, and the entries on this list are prime examples of modern art."
The way I went through Infinite made me kinda dislike the game (Not a good idea playing a narrative-driven game sporadically in short bursts over the course of a year...)
Having not played 2 yet myself, would you recommend a playthrough of 2 first or a replay of Infinite?
You can’t go wrong either way imo. They are all standalone games that are tied together by nuance. Infinite really takes a couple playthrough to fully appreciate though. Weird paradoxes etc. There is a lot going on.
Infinites story jumps everywhere so taking a year to play it I can see why you felt that way. A fair shake is definitely deserved if you like weird stories and philosophy. 2 does not need to be played to understand infinite but they play nothing alike. I personally think 2 has the better gameplay.
2 is a direct continuation of 1 so it has a similar playstyle. It’s bioshock 1 with upgrades like using a plasmid and a gun at the same time. The story is good but not as “twisty” as 1 or infinite. It’s straight forward and to the point. I turned off the “Helmet view” in the options and had a much better experience. You play as a big daddy so the comers look like you are wearing one of those diver helmets.
I never got to play Spec Ops and I have had it for years. I'm gonna finally try it
I would say under appreciated/skipped by many gamers when it released 10(?) years ago. The shelves were full of other third person shooters with a heavily influenced story at the time. I completed it 5 years ago and it wasn’t a hard cleanup for a platinum trophy either. I really enjoyed it and would highly recommend it today
Why is everybody saying there's a final boss battle? Did I play the same game? There was only hordes of enemies similar to bioshock 2's ending. Good review. One thing I would add is character development for fink and daisy is horrible. Bioshock nailed gameplay and story and infinite is a close 2nd to it.
I disagree about the ending being disappointing. I honestly think it wrapped up the game nicely and was satisfying without baiting for a sequel making the game feel like a complete experience.
While i dont think the game is perfect I feel the story (ending included) was the strongest part. I hunted down almost every voxphone so i got a good look into the characters. I think daisy had better character developement than atlus. I just dont remember anything too memorable about atlus besides him lying to you.