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| System: PS3 (reviewed), 360, PC, Rating: M, Length: 12 hrs approx. |
It seems that video games that have a strong protagonist and an amazing side character, usually of the female kind, are pretty damn brilliant and enjoyable. Who would’ve thunk it. Bioshock Infinite gives us a fantastic first person shooter, that also shoots us up with a brilliant story, with plenty of twist and turns along the fantastic 12 hour (approx) journey. Want to know more? Read on…
Short nitty-gritty plot description from the Official Website is as follows: BioShock® Infinite puts players in the shoes
of U.S. Cavalry veteran turned hired gun Booker DeWitt. Indebted to the
wrong people and with his life on the line, DeWitt has only one
opportunity to wipe his slate clean. He must rescue Elizabeth, a
mysterious girl imprisoned since childhood and locked up in the flying
city of Columbia. Forced to trust one another, Booker and Elizabeth form
a powerful bond during their daring escape. Together, they learn to
harness an expanding arsenal of weapons and abilities as they fight on
zeppelins in the clouds, along high-speed Sky-Lines, and down in the
streets of Columbia, all while surviving the threats of the air-city and
uncovering its dark secret.
Let’s give some back story on my Bioshock game play history. The first one I played and enjoyed, but it did take me a while to beat, as I just wasn’t completely captivated enough and felt that the game got a little repetitive and long. Still, it was a enjoyable game. The second one, I didn’t beat. It was way too similar to the first one and just didn’t have the hook to pull me in, even if you do play as a Big Daddy. Now, we come to the third game, Bioshock Infinite, a game I beat in a few days, not because it was short, but because it was fantastic!
You play as Booker DeWitt, voiced by Troy Baker (the same voice of Joel, from the brilliant The Last of Us), who is tasked with finding a girl named Elizabeth, in the cloud city of Columbia. Unfortunately for Booker, the citizens of Columbia don’t take too kindly to having the False Prophet, a moniker given to Booker, from the ruler of Columbia, Prophet Comstock and almost immediately, start attacking you. That’s when the fun really beings, as you run, jump and sky rail (more on this later) your way through Columbia, looking for Elizabeth.
Once you do meet up with her, she and you go on a well told story, that throws twists and turns every which way and once you get to that ending, you might be a little confused, but you’ll definitely feel full and satisfied.
Bioshock Infinite does a lot of things right and barely anything wrong. The game is played in the first person perspective, like the past ones and has you for the most part running and gunning everyone. You’ll meet up with a few big baddies, but a good portion is just fantastic story telling. Sadly, the game does lack any sort of big boss battles, which is a shame. What it does do right is provide several ways to dispatch several enemies, with a wide variety of weapons, all which are available to upgrade, by collecting coins and spending them on upgrades at random stations placed throughout the levels. You also have special abilities, called Vigors, which allow you light people on fire, blast them with a giant wave of water, or even possess them and make them fight for you. All of these are upgradeable as well. There are a total of 8 Vigor abilities in the game.
The main selling feature for Bioshock Infinite, besides the wonderful character of Elizabeth, was the use of the Sky Rail system, using the Sky-hook weapon. You could hook onto rails and fight guys in the air and be able to strike down on to them. Sadly however, this system takes a back seat later on in the game and for the most part, I actually completely forgot about the ability, save for using the Sky-hook as a melee weapon. Sadly, forgetting about the feature, probably made me miss a bunch of collectibles, which this game has a good amount of, such as: audio diaries, clothing (which provides add on abilities) and optional objectives.
Bioshock Infinite is a beautiful looking game, using the fancy Unreal Engine to provide you a fast and pretty experience. There are times, where the graphics take a hit or glitch out a little and you’ll also have times where you may get stuck, or something on the ground can’t be picked up, unless you are a looking exactly at it. These are small, annoying quibbles and only hurt the game a little.
I completely enjoyed Bioshock Infinite and the thought provoking and exhilarating story. It has you going through several beautiful areas in the heavenly cloud city of Columbia. The set pieces are grand and the character of Elizabeth ranks up as one of the best of female companions (rivaled only by Ellie in The Last of Us). The game has plenty of stuff to find and opens up an extra difficulty mode after beating the game, so you’ll be playing the game for a long time to come, which, I completely recommend you do!
Rating: 4/5 (-0.5 for the drop off of the Sky Hook feature and -0.5 for some graphical glitches. +2 for the brilliant story and +2 for the brilliant Elizabeth.)