First off, an überthanks to SneakiTiki for BioShock Infinite, which was gifted from a year back and I finally got around to finishing this final game in the BioShock trilogy. And a forewarning, that there might be spoilers as far as story elements go.
Now, I'll be the first to admit that I'm not either up-to-date or have a complete handle on all of the lore in the BioShock series, so when the game tells me that this game takes place off the "Coast of Maine" in 1912, I have to think back about when the first BioShock took place and how that year related to 1912, what world events had or hadn't taken place since 1960. Yes, that was an odd sentence, but it makes sense in the grand scheme of things.
But before I get started, I want to say that there is a lot going on in BioShock Infinite, almost too much to adequately cover in a little review article. There's everything from the Vigors (BI's version of Plasmids), the overall world of Columbia, the inherent racism in the characters and the story, the connections and similarities to BioShock (sadly not too many to BioShock 2 that I noticed), the use of specific symbols and imagery, the Vox Populi, the clothing mechanic, the types of firearms, scientific theories that I probably would get wrong if I tried to explain them, Songbird, I could go on and on and most likely miss more than a few things that another person may have found to be key to their liking of the game. The point is, I'm only going to be able to cover a few things here with any real sincerity, and even then, it still won't be up to another person's snuff.
So on with the review.
I really enjoyed the mood of the game, and the setting of the city in the clouds, Columbia, the knowledge of which was unknown to the protagonist, Booker Dewitt (classic PI-type name if you ask me). My biggest criticism though, was a common one that was talked about quite extensively, The violence in the game I ultimately didn't have a problem with, but the sudden onset of the game being a walking-simulator of sorts to an all out FPS where you kill practically every person on screen. Granted there were scenes that didn't involve killing/defending yourself, and those times it felt good to have a reprieve from an otherwise 22 hours of killing the citizenry of Columbia. The violence in FPS games is something that you kind of have to suspend your disbelief around, otherwise you would have a walking simulator with a total game kill count of, maybe 3; but only if you don't want to feel like a totally horrible person for killing. . .and not like a person who killed upwards of 475 people (probably a lot more though).
One thing that I ended up loving was once you find Elizabeth, the game essentially turns into an escort quest, but was handled better than any game I've played that utilized the escort quest mechanic. Instead of having to worry about accidentally shooting Elizabeth or her getting shot by whomever is shooting, she instead is off in the background, presumably scavenging for ammunition and health packs, and salts (refills your vigors) and from what I recall, never got in the way. She would occasionally declare that she couldn't find anything, but that she was still looking, which while somewhat annoying when you're out of salts and only have five rounds of ammunition left for your hand cannon. The rest of the time, she often offered exposition about Columbia, her life, and the antagonist Zachary Hale Comstock. It was a refreshing way to handle an often frustrating situation that isn't always well handled.
One interesting new mechanic that was introduced was clothing, which I hadn't thought about until I picked up a shirt, or a hat (or pants, or shoes). While I really liked this idea that the article of clothing worn would bestow upon the wearer various benefits such as reduced fire damage, or a small area of effect lightning attack every time you landed from a Sky-Line. The problem I had (first world problem) was that the shirt I found early on, the Ammo Advantage, which seemed too good to ever get rid of. When a shotgun only holds four shells, having it now hold seven was quite the advantage. And considering that the shirt worked for all types of guns (except the crank-gun/chain-gun). And now that I see that it was part of the Season Pass DLC, makes sense that such a perceived powerful item could be found so early on. I've forgotten which other clothing items I was wearing throughout the game, but even though I would frequently find clothing items in various locations, I liked what I was wearing and very rarely, if ever changed. They were probably DLC items anyway, now that I think about it.
One area that I felt that the game was lacking, was in the explanation of the existence of a couple of enemies. First off were the "Zealots of the Lady" which were also known as "The Crow," which I just mentally referred to as "That Guy Carrying a Coffin with Crows All About Him and Keeps Disappearing." Their design is pretty cool, as well as their ability, but other than that, I felt that I didn't know anything about these characters. Only after reading a Wiki article about them did their roll in the world/story become somewhat clearer. It almost felt like there was a bit of context that could be relayed through their mumblings, but often times, they would attack me and anything that didn't involve evading attacks and firing back was put on the back burner.
Another creature that I felt took the place of the Big Daddy, but to a significantly lesser degree was the. . .(looking up their name) Handyman. The Handyman had a similar physical presence to the Big Daddies, but with the exception of seeing a deconstructed one, I would only see them as they jumped up/down from wherever they were hanging out and immediately started attacking me. I don't recall ever seeing them in use around Columbia in a non-combat roll. There's a very good chance that I just missed the lore that was probably scattered around Columbia in the way of voxophones, posters, informational kinetoscope, or something scribbled on a chalkboard in an operating room. The point is, aside from a large enemy that took a lot of damage, I really had no idea who/what it was that was trying to kill me.
Thinking back, it was the times when I wasn't being shot at and I could take in the world of Columbia that could really enjoy the story in the game. Almost as if I was simply shooting my way to the next part of the story. Don't get me wrong though, I like a good walking sim if the story is a great one, and the story in BioShock Infinite, is indeed a great one, if a little convoluted, aside from all of the bullets flying.
For me, it wasn't until nearing the very end of the game that the emotional impact of the events spanning that last 22 hours really hit me. Now that I think about it, it was during a point in the game where you weren't shooting anyone, but were walking and listening to exposition from a couple of characters. There was even "that moment" during a cut scene where my mind very nearly imploded. It was a great moment.
The end of the game felt pretty esoteric, but not so "out there" as to be completely incomprehensible. And while reading an interview a few weeks back, it was nice to see that creator Ken Levine said that the ending is meant to be open to interpretation. And the ending felt that it could be interpreted differently and not that it was an unfinished ending. It felt complete, but still full of questions.
I've heard that BioShock Infinite is the last game in this universe, and while initially sad by this revelation, after having gone through the game (and the Burial at Sea DLC which I will cover at a soon to be decided upon later date), this seems to be a fitting end to this wonderful series. Unless of course a walking sim in the BioShock universe is released, then I'll be all over that!
~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
Instrumental
P.S. I already know that I haven't covered everything that I wanted to about BioShock Infinite, but if you refer to ¶3, I believe that I have absolved myself of at least acknowledging no less than four additional topics that I could have inserted into this document. The point is, I really liked Bioshock Infinite, and I know that there's too much to talk about in a single blog post and I there's a lot more than I can say that I didn't put down into words. So if you want to talk to me about the game, go on ahead, I likes me some tippy-tappy talking.
Now, I'll be the first to admit that I'm not either up-to-date or have a complete handle on all of the lore in the BioShock series, so when the game tells me that this game takes place off the "Coast of Maine" in 1912, I have to think back about when the first BioShock took place and how that year related to 1912, what world events had or hadn't taken place since 1960. Yes, that was an odd sentence, but it makes sense in the grand scheme of things.
But before I get started, I want to say that there is a lot going on in BioShock Infinite, almost too much to adequately cover in a little review article. There's everything from the Vigors (BI's version of Plasmids), the overall world of Columbia, the inherent racism in the characters and the story, the connections and similarities to BioShock (sadly not too many to BioShock 2 that I noticed), the use of specific symbols and imagery, the Vox Populi, the clothing mechanic, the types of firearms, scientific theories that I probably would get wrong if I tried to explain them, Songbird, I could go on and on and most likely miss more than a few things that another person may have found to be key to their liking of the game. The point is, I'm only going to be able to cover a few things here with any real sincerity, and even then, it still won't be up to another person's snuff.
So on with the review.
I really enjoyed the mood of the game, and the setting of the city in the clouds, Columbia, the knowledge of which was unknown to the protagonist, Booker Dewitt (classic PI-type name if you ask me). My biggest criticism though, was a common one that was talked about quite extensively, The violence in the game I ultimately didn't have a problem with, but the sudden onset of the game being a walking-simulator of sorts to an all out FPS where you kill practically every person on screen. Granted there were scenes that didn't involve killing/defending yourself, and those times it felt good to have a reprieve from an otherwise 22 hours of killing the citizenry of Columbia. The violence in FPS games is something that you kind of have to suspend your disbelief around, otherwise you would have a walking simulator with a total game kill count of, maybe 3; but only if you don't want to feel like a totally horrible person for killing. . .and not like a person who killed upwards of 475 people (probably a lot more though).
One thing that I ended up loving was once you find Elizabeth, the game essentially turns into an escort quest, but was handled better than any game I've played that utilized the escort quest mechanic. Instead of having to worry about accidentally shooting Elizabeth or her getting shot by whomever is shooting, she instead is off in the background, presumably scavenging for ammunition and health packs, and salts (refills your vigors) and from what I recall, never got in the way. She would occasionally declare that she couldn't find anything, but that she was still looking, which while somewhat annoying when you're out of salts and only have five rounds of ammunition left for your hand cannon. The rest of the time, she often offered exposition about Columbia, her life, and the antagonist Zachary Hale Comstock. It was a refreshing way to handle an often frustrating situation that isn't always well handled.
One interesting new mechanic that was introduced was clothing, which I hadn't thought about until I picked up a shirt, or a hat (or pants, or shoes). While I really liked this idea that the article of clothing worn would bestow upon the wearer various benefits such as reduced fire damage, or a small area of effect lightning attack every time you landed from a Sky-Line. The problem I had (first world problem) was that the shirt I found early on, the Ammo Advantage, which seemed too good to ever get rid of. When a shotgun only holds four shells, having it now hold seven was quite the advantage. And considering that the shirt worked for all types of guns (except the crank-gun/chain-gun). And now that I see that it was part of the Season Pass DLC, makes sense that such a perceived powerful item could be found so early on. I've forgotten which other clothing items I was wearing throughout the game, but even though I would frequently find clothing items in various locations, I liked what I was wearing and very rarely, if ever changed. They were probably DLC items anyway, now that I think about it.
One area that I felt that the game was lacking, was in the explanation of the existence of a couple of enemies. First off were the "Zealots of the Lady" which were also known as "The Crow," which I just mentally referred to as "That Guy Carrying a Coffin with Crows All About Him and Keeps Disappearing." Their design is pretty cool, as well as their ability, but other than that, I felt that I didn't know anything about these characters. Only after reading a Wiki article about them did their roll in the world/story become somewhat clearer. It almost felt like there was a bit of context that could be relayed through their mumblings, but often times, they would attack me and anything that didn't involve evading attacks and firing back was put on the back burner.
Another creature that I felt took the place of the Big Daddy, but to a significantly lesser degree was the. . .(looking up their name) Handyman. The Handyman had a similar physical presence to the Big Daddies, but with the exception of seeing a deconstructed one, I would only see them as they jumped up/down from wherever they were hanging out and immediately started attacking me. I don't recall ever seeing them in use around Columbia in a non-combat roll. There's a very good chance that I just missed the lore that was probably scattered around Columbia in the way of voxophones, posters, informational kinetoscope, or something scribbled on a chalkboard in an operating room. The point is, aside from a large enemy that took a lot of damage, I really had no idea who/what it was that was trying to kill me.
Thinking back, it was the times when I wasn't being shot at and I could take in the world of Columbia that could really enjoy the story in the game. Almost as if I was simply shooting my way to the next part of the story. Don't get me wrong though, I like a good walking sim if the story is a great one, and the story in BioShock Infinite, is indeed a great one, if a little convoluted, aside from all of the bullets flying.
For me, it wasn't until nearing the very end of the game that the emotional impact of the events spanning that last 22 hours really hit me. Now that I think about it, it was during a point in the game where you weren't shooting anyone, but were walking and listening to exposition from a couple of characters. There was even "that moment" during a cut scene where my mind very nearly imploded. It was a great moment.
The end of the game felt pretty esoteric, but not so "out there" as to be completely incomprehensible. And while reading an interview a few weeks back, it was nice to see that creator Ken Levine said that the ending is meant to be open to interpretation. And the ending felt that it could be interpreted differently and not that it was an unfinished ending. It felt complete, but still full of questions.
I've heard that BioShock Infinite is the last game in this universe, and while initially sad by this revelation, after having gone through the game (and the Burial at Sea DLC which I will cover at a soon to be decided upon later date), this seems to be a fitting end to this wonderful series. Unless of course a walking sim in the BioShock universe is released, then I'll be all over that!
~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
Instrumental
P.S. I already know that I haven't covered everything that I wanted to about BioShock Infinite, but if you refer to ¶3, I believe that I have absolved myself of at least acknowledging no less than four additional topics that I could have inserted into this document. The point is, I really liked Bioshock Infinite, and I know that there's too much to talk about in a single blog post and I there's a lot more than I can say that I didn't put down into words. So if you want to talk to me about the game, go on ahead, I likes me some tippy-tappy talking.
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