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BioShock Infinite
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Graphics & Sound:
BioShock Infinite is a game that will be remembered and discussed for quite some time. It has one of the most compelling game worlds ever. It features an incredible narrative that perfectly balances headiness with raw emotion. It tackles some very heavy themes, and confronts them without making any concessions. It challenges your mind, your wits, your reflexes, and your humanity. Oh, and it's liable to be the most fun you've had with a shooter in a very long time.
Technically, BioShock Infinite isn't the most impressive shooter out there, but it is certainly no slouch. Artistically, the game is top of the class. The sense of atmosphere is simply unparalleled; you haven't seen a place like Columbia, and the first hour of the game takes that into consideration. You won't be able to resist simply walking around and taking in the sights and sounds. Within seconds of my arrival, I found myself doing something I don't often do in shooters: walking slowly. When a barge featuring a barbershop quartet singing "God Only Knows" descended from above, I was unable to pull my eyes away. BioShock Infinite is absolutely full of moments like these. The imagery, between the early 1900s aesthetic sensibilities and the steampunk style, is absolutely riveting, and will stay with you for quite some time.
BioShock Infinite sounds perfect. There is nothing wrong with any of the audio. The voice acting is some of the best I've heard in a game, with video game veteran Troy Baker and former television actress Courtnee Draper absolutely killing it as Booker and Elizabeth. The whole cast is just absurdly talented. Kiff VandenHeuvel gives antagonist Comstock a fiery and powerful edge that really helps you understand why so many Columbians follow him, despite his delusions of grandeur and broken moral compass. Garry Schyman's soundtrack is superlative, and what I absolutely love about it is the way it actually interacts with the gameplay. Lots of the sights in BioShock Infinite are bizarre and disturbing, and the soundtrack always seems to have something to say about these things. Even if you're the one who is directly responsible. Each of Booker's kills is punctuated by a musical sting. The string section might play a low discordant note when you blast someone's head off, while a few violins might screech when you break someone's neck with your Sky-Hook. We need more of this kind of musical work in video games.
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Gameplay:
BioShock Infinite opens in 1912, with former Pinkerton Booker DeWitt in a rowboat headed for a lighthouse in the middle of the sea. Irritated by the incessant chattering of the rowers, he looks down and opens a box. It contains a photo of a beautiful young woman, a gun, and the message "Bring back the girl, wipe away the debt." Booker disembarks, climbs the lighthouse stairs, and reaches the top, where a chair is waiting for him. He takes a seat, and, to his bafflement, is promptly launched into the sky, the home of the floating metropolis called Columbia.
Once you get to Columbia, it's immediately established that it is inhabited by a deeply religious society. But soon after your arrival, you see that the people's devoutness is on the side of utter madness; the de facto leader of Columbia, Father Zachary Hale Comstock, sees himself as a prophet, and his twisted religion has his followers actually praying to the likes of founding fathers George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin. Not long after that, you realize that a large percentage of Columbians are white supremacists. How bad is it? Well, they've erected a giant statue of John Wilkes Booth, if that's any indication. They've also been brainwashed into believing that a "False Prophet" will one day walk among them and bring their society down. Booker is identified as this False Prophet, and must fight his way through Columbia towards his objective.
Booker finally reaches his target, a young woman named Elizabeth who is imprisoned at the top of a giant statue and kept under guard by a mechanical terror known as the Songbird. It just so happens that Elizabeth also possesses the ability to open tears in spacetime. He breaks the girl out and attempts to get her off of Columbia, but of course, it's not that simple.
For the longest time, I've thought of Half-Life 2's Alyx Vance as the best companion character in any game. BioShock Infinite changed that for me; Elizabeth is a wonderfully written, wonderfully acted character who is impossible not to care for. She acts like a real person who has real emotions that can change at the drop of a pin -- she's not one of the myriad dead-eyed tagalongs who inhabit other video game worlds. More importantly, she is the core of this story, and her arc brings you through a series of mindblowing developments that cannot be foreseen, but only marveled at.
BioShock Infinite, like its forebearers, is an open but guided shooter that encourages exploration. Simply existing in Columbia as a fully-voiced protagonist with an engaging companion is an intoxicating experience, and you'll want to go out of your way to explore every nook and cranny. You certainly won't like much of what you see from a moral perspective, and the metaphysical implications are more than a little frightening, but the game respects you enough to let you draw your own conclusions. BioShock Infinite is positively full of little mysteries that come together as you play. What's Booker's story? Who hired him? Why are the letters "AD" carved into his right hand? Why was Elizabeth locked up in her tower? What exactly is the nature of her powers? Why are there so many surreal anachronisms popping up in the world? These mysteries permeate all of Columbia, and because of them, you will want to play the game again, if only to see things through the lens of truth you'll have acquired during the incredible final half-hour of the game.
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Difficulty:
BioShock Infinite can be very difficult, but Irrational put into place a failsafe that all but ensures that everyone who picks the game up will be able to reach its jaw-dropping finale. If Booker falls in battle, Elizabeth will drag him to safety and revive him. The only drawbacks to death are the loss of money and the fact that enemies who are still standing recover some health. That being said, the final battle is long and grueling; in this sequence, failing a certain objective forces you to reload to the checkpoint prior to the beginning of the battle.
Columbia is rife with men and women out to do Booker harm, whether they're the armed zealots of Comstock's Founders or the psychopathic revolutionaries of Daisy Fitzroy's Vox Populi. Most enemies are easy to put down with simple hip fire. The tougher ones require a bit of strategic positioning and careful aiming. Armed automatons resembling George Washington carry chain guns and are difficult to harm unless you aim for the exposed gears on their backs. The Handyman is essentially the Big Daddy of Columbia. These half-human half-machine hulks are fast, vicious, and powerful. They can electrify Sky-Lines and pursue Booker at an alarmingly fast clip. But there's one catch: their hearts are contained in translucent containers and are nearly exposed, giving you a solid target in which to focus your attention.
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Game Mechanics:
BioShock Infinite plays much better than both of its predecessors, though the controls remain largely the same. Shooting isn't nearly as clunky. I still don't like having to click an analog stick to aim down my sights, but thankfully, you can get through the entire game just shooting from the hip.
There are no Plasmids in Columbia, but you obtain supernatural abilities with special drinks called Vigors. These vary in style, though many of them take cues from the other BioShock games. You can throw sticky firebombs, hurl arcs of electricity, charge at your foes with the force of a bull, and more. Some Vigors are much more useful than others, and you'll know which ones they are when you acquire them. The game encourages you to use them in tandem to figure out which combos are effective in certain situations. Vigors and standard weapons can be upgraded with money you find (or loot).
Columbia is a city, but it's broken up into a series of islands both big and small. If you need to get to another of them, you can't simply walk there. That's what Sky-Lines are for. These suspended steel tracks act as roads between these islands. Everyone who needs to travel is given a special Sky-Hook, a device that allows individuals to latch onto the tracks and propel themselves along. It's a blast to use, even if it is possibly the most outlandish mode of transportation Irrational could have possibly come up with. It imparts a kind of roller coaster vibe, and can ratchet up the excitement quite a bit when you're in the middle of a gunfight. The Sky-Line can help you earn a reprieve from the chaos, but don't get too comfortable -- enemies can use (or in some cases, sabotage) them. The Sky-Hook has useful combat applications, as evidenced by the extremely gruesome scene in which Booker obtains his.
Elizabeth is more than just another companion character. Though Booker is essentially on an escort mission, Elizabeth does not need to be protected in combat. Quite the opposite, actually. Her contributions to your efforts are notable enough to the point that the game would be much, much harder if you didn't have her at your side. Elizabeth constantly scavenges for resources that you need to succeed in gunfights: ammunition, salts (which power Vigors), and health packs. She always seems to have exactly what you need exactly when you need it. Even when you're not in combat, she'll toss some money your way once in a while. But that's not all she brings to the table. Her ability to open tears in space-time figures heavily into combat. As you explore Columbia, you'll notice objects buried under what looks like television static. If you look at the object and press a button, Elizabeth will open the tear. These tears can yield numerous benefits, such as a friendly sentry, a powerful weapon, health, or freight hooks that can be latched onto with the Sky-Hook. Smart strategic thinking on the fly invariably turns the tide of battle.
If you purchase BioShock Infinite on the PlayStation 3, you also get a copy of the original BioShock. If you haven't played the original by now, I honestly don't know what to say. It's still an incredible game, even if certain parts of it haven't held up all that well. So essentially, you get two masterpieces for the price of one -- as if this game really needed any other selling points.
Most of the people who have been watching BioShock Infinite's development have probably been expecting it to be one of the best games of its generation. It is, but it's more than that; it is one of the most sophisticated marriages between narrative and gameplay in the medium. It's thoughtful, disturbing, shocking, emotional, and entertaining, and should be played by everyone who has the opportunity. Frankly, I will be gobsmacked if this generation gives us a better game than BioShock Infinite.
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-FenixDown, GameVortex Communications AKA Jon Carlos |
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