Bioshock Infinite
I've been finding it very difficult to review this game, for a number of reasons.
Not only is Bioshock (the original game) one of my favourite games of all time, and arguably one of the best action games ever, it provided core gamers with a gameworld which may never be bested. Rapture was a world in which people chose to lead a different life in the hope that they could somehow fulfill their dreams and their ambitions. It was a society in which its leader, Andrew Ryan, wanted to bring a new form of socialism to his people, in a world which was modelled upon the mythical Greek world of Atlantis, a city underwater.
Whenever I'm asked to explain just what was so special about Rapture, I basically freeze up. Simply because it's so difficult to pinpoint any one reason as to why it's so damn special. Its audio logs gave the player a sense of what had been. A sense of a world that had tried its best to create perfect reality, but had in fact created a highly flawed perception of what they thought an ideal society should be like. The eeriness of the empty leaky corridors, the groan of a nearby Big Daddy. The very concept of Splicers - citizens of Rapture, who felt the need to abuse themselves and enchance their genetics in order to live a life that would otherwise be impossible - was just creepy.
Anyway, this review is not about Bioshock, nor indeed its much maligned sequel, oddly enough called Bioshock 2. A game which almost perfected the basic controls of the first, had a vastly improved ending, and provided a further emotional tweak to its main narrative. Many hated it for being more of what we'd already seen, though those same people praised the DLC content. For me, it was simply more gametime in the greatest gameworld I had ever experienced.
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For those of you who don't know what Bioshock Infinite is about, you'll have to look it up on Wikipedia, as I'm utterly useless at explaining something as complex and convoluted as the backstory to Columbia.
All I will say is that it is a city that lives in the clouds. Literally. And it's set in 1912. And no, there is no reference to Titanic (as far as I noticed).
The gameplay mechanics of Infinite have changed since the original Bioshock games. Weapons are still there, and it seems there are more of them. However, plasmids have gone, instead replaced by Vigors. Same sort of thing, basically. Arguably the most annoying omission is Incinerate, which was massively useful, but Infinite provides many interesting combinations of the new Vigors, and at times they can be fun to use, however I essentially went through the game using three at most. Maybe I just didn't do it properly, but I didn't really feel the need to use more.
Without rambling on about the game's narrative, and indeed spoiling anything, all I wanted to say about Bioshock Infinite was how lazy it felt at times, from a design perspective. Enemy fights in the latter stages of the game seemed like an onslaught of a mishmash of the game's enemy types, and one particular fight at the end was quite literally that. Despite the game's aesthetic - which at times varied from lush oranges and light browns, greens, blues and whites, to grim dark interiors - the way in which the enemies were placed in front of you felt like the developers had run out of ideas. The Handyman in particular was one enemy who could chase you forever, and deal almost fatal damage, and could only be defeated if you aimed at his heart, a smallish area on his frame. Although the area wasn't small, to be able to get into position in order to avoid any damage from him, and to be able to actually aim at that area, you had to expose yourself to a huge amount of damage. Although the relief of finally beating him - and he pops up about three times in the entire game - there was absolutely no joy or excitement in having to defend yourself against him.
The most important part of any Bioshock game is, arguably, its ending. And Infinite really does blow your mind, when you finally sit down for the final few cutscenes. Without spoiling anything, it's safe to say that long-time Bioshock fans will have had a "Holy shit" moment minutes from the end, and beyond that, I'm nowhere near qualified to even attempt explaining what the ending tells us.
Having scanned the web for summaries and supposed theories, it still remains an intricate and complex web of connections, scientific theories, and mechanics which I simply cannot get my head around. Which leads me to congratulate Ken Levine for creating a game which on the surface seemed like a fairly straightforward Bioshock game, albeit set in the clouds, but is in fact a vast set of layers that even the Internet still hasn't quite unmasked as of yet.
In short, Bioshock Infinite is certainly worth buying, and for those seeking an intelligent and well-written game in among a sea of generic FPSs, sports titles and "MINI GAMES" should look no further.
8/10
