Bioshock Infinite

RPGWatch

An RPGWatch Bot
Administrator
Joined
July 22, 2022
Messages
1,412
Location
On a Server
BioShock Infinite is a first-person shooter currently in development at Irrational Games, the studio behind the original BioShock (which sold over 4 million units worldwide). Set in 1912, BioShock Infinite introduces an entirely new narrative and gameplay experience that lifts players out of the familiar confines of Rapture and rockets them to Columbia, an immense city in the sky.

Former Pinkerton agent Booker DeWitt has been sent to rescue Elizabeth, a young woman imprisoned in Columbia since childhood. Booker develops a relationship with Elizabeth, augmenting his abilities with hers so the pair may escape from a city that is literally falling from the sky. DeWitt must learn to fight foes in high-speed Sky-Line battles, engage in combat both indoors and amongst the clouds, and harness the power of dozens of new weapons and abilities.
More information.
 
Joined
Jul 22, 2022
Messages
1,412
Location
On a Server
I finished this game a couple of days ago. No DLC (none is available yet). It's hard to even call it a shooter/RPG hybrid as the character development is bare bones at best - but it sure is a heck of a shooter. Total playing time was 20 hours.

Was, Wasn't, Won't Be

Bioshock Infinite was delayed quite a few times. That will often end up translating to half-finished changes and bad balance showing up in the final product but, thankfully, that didn't happen with this game.

It did result in some big changes from what you may have seen in the early videos, though. The mood of the game is right on but all the mechanics you saw with Booker and Elizabeth working together are completely gone. All Elizabeth does herself is occasionally pass you ammo/health/mana/money. She'll open up tears that can bring things like health packs or friendly turrets to your aid but she will only do those when you specifically tell her to do so.

Life in the Clouds

As I've come to expect from Bioshock games, the atmosphere is very well done. The whole city-in-the-clouds thing gets a bit lost sometimes when you spend a lot of time in a big building but the outdoor parts do a pretty good job of it. If the first chapter had done it any better I think I would have gotten a nosebleed!

The graphics were done very well, both technically and artistically. My only qualm there would be that some of the backdrops seemed a bit more like distant paintings than real objects. I'll blame the consoles for that instead of Irrational. Animations were mostly good except when Elizabeth would do her running animation while moving at a walking speed. Oh, and characters over-do the facial animations sometimes. When you first start talking with Elizabeth, she seems like a character out of some kids' Pixar movie. She gets back to more sane acting pretty quickly, thank goodness.

The music was possibly the best I've ever heard in a video game. Seriously. The ambient music was very well done (and certainly added to the above-mentioned atmosphere). The period music was great fun. "Will the Circle be Unbroken," which gets played quite often, fits the story incredibly well. And here's something you won't see often… a spoiler when describing the music!

Fairly early in the game I was walking along a beach, getting the whole 1912 feeling while poking around in crates (you know - for extra credits). A happy little tune was playing on a pipe organ in the background. I had almost left the beach when I suddenly recognized the tune: "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun." Ummm, what?? Was Cyndi Lauper covering a turn-of-the-century song back in the 80's!? Nope! Bioshock Infinite actually has quite a few songs like that. I had quite a bit of fun through the whole game trying to guess which song was appropriate for the times and which was a 1912 reboot!

The actual shooting is pretty good. The spells (I forget what they were called in this Bioshock) and different weapon types add a good bit of variety to the combat. For whatever reason, you're stuck with just two weapons at once. What I found fun was to use a weapon until I got the achievement for it then switch to something else. That keept the variety going.

You also get to pick your gear… such as it is. You get a hat, a shirt, a pair of pants, and shoes - each with magical powers. Some of those are pretty strong and can change how you fight. You can never actually see what you're wearing, though. This gear choice plus alterations you can make to your spells is about it for RPG features. (You can upgrade weapons, too, but that just makes the weapons better, it doesn't really change how you fight with them.)

Have you been Saved?

The save system is absolutely atrocious. I wasn't at all happy with Borderlands 2's system but at least that game would let you save your progress if not your position. Bioshock Infinite just has a straight-up autosave system. When you ask to leave the game it tells you the time it decided to save for you and tells you flat out that you'll lose everything you've done since then. I had a couple of times where I was really wanting to quit but hadn't been allowed to save for over half an hour!

Worse yet, it's not quite telling the truth. It does save some things, though I'm not real sure what. I found this out when I went into a bar then, after about five minutes of poking around, I suddenly got attacked by everyone in the bar. I really didn't want to kill all those otherwise-nice folk and the game had saved when I walked in so I restarted from the last checkpoint. Everyone was still mad at me after the game reloaded and some of my ravens were still flying around! Blah.

The Religion Controversy

I've got no idea what the fuss was about with all these reports about how the game might be offensive to Christians. Uhh, no. The prophet Comstock may have started as a Baptist but he's clearly running a personality/nationalism cult. You'll find statues of saint Washington, saint Jefferson, and of course Comstock himself all over but good luck finding a single cross.

To Infinity & Beyond

The story is really good stuff. It gets a tad muddled about two thirds of the way through but it's an excellent story overall.

Then there's the ending. Wow. It's mind bending, beautiful, poignant, and thought provoking. It actually kept me up at night trying to figure out exactly what happened. After much theorizing and re-playing the final battle so I could see the ending again, I think I've figured most of it out.

Overall I would definitely recommend this game. The save system is awful but the atmosphere, music, and above all the ending wipe away that deficit. Just be sure to keep an eye on the clock and start watching for the auto-save indicator about half an hour before quitting time.
 
Joined
Aug 3, 2008
Messages
8,238
Location
Kansas City
Cool review, quite a good job.


For whatever reason, you're stuck with just two weapons at once. What I found fun was to use a weapon until I got the achievement for it then switch to something else. That keept the variety going.

Ha ha, I'd love have seen such comment for Duke Nukem Forever, not see only the negative but what's positive. In DNF it's definitely a way to push player stop using the same weapon again and again, and allow design specifically some area to some weapons (for example some other weapons would make it too easy or too similar than other parts). And it's the only way I have seen working to put back some ammo management in shooters. All just failed it without using a trick and for now the only trick I have seen work well is the DNF trick.

I really wonder why I couldn't get into that series (Bioshock) and worst is they got a very good Mac Port. It's jaw dropping for graphics, mood, level design and exploration, story telling, action design (expect perhaps controls a bit too complex for me, at least in the 1) , and more. But after some hours and few sessions I get bored and stop and don't come back. That said because of controls the 2 sticked me a bit longer. And no way I won't buy the Mac port that, if rumors are right, shouldn't be too much delayed.

I think one point totally pollute my enjoyment, it's too many enemies that look too much the same, but I doubt it's the only reason explaining why that game series doesn't work for me.
 
Joined
May 18, 2012
Messages
480
I've got no idea what the fuss was about with all these reports about how the game might be offensive to Christians. Uhh, no. The prophet Comstock may have started as a Baptist but he's clearly running a personality/nationalism cult. You'll find statues of saint Washington, saint Jefferson, and of course Comstock himself all over but good luck finding a single cross.

Saint is probably a direct and Christian only reference, I suggest use prophets statues for having less troubles.
 
Joined
May 18, 2012
Messages
480
Errr, I don't follow? In the Columbia's ultra-nationalist religion, George Washington (first President) and Thomas Jefferson (writer of the constitution) are definitely held in VERY high regard. I don't know if the ex-Baptist would use the word "saint" but they sure seem to be treating them that way.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Aug 3, 2008
Messages
8,238
Location
Kansas City
The Religion Controversy

I've got no idea what the fuss was about with all these reports about how the game might be offensive to Christians. Uhh, no. The prophet Comstock may have started as a Baptist but he's clearly running a personality/nationalism cult. You'll find statues of saint Washington, saint Jefferson, and of course Comstock himself all over but good luck finding a single cross.

Wow, I didn't even think about it… Read all about it. it's quite disturbing to think that someone would go so far against fiction (that is as good as IRL if I may add; I used to be a christian as well… started involuntarily like most of them)

A great comment:
I find it amusing that he would find a mock baptism more of a problem than the countless acts of murder he would have been very willing to cope with. This is personally something I find backwards about some people's religious beliefs. In my eyes murder is many times worse than blasphemy. The one is a breach of contract between you and a deity (in any case a very debatable offense), the other is an irreversible act against another mortal being, which isn't debatable in the slightest.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Jul 31, 2013
Messages
17
Errr, I don't follow? In the Columbia's ultra-nationalist religion, George Washington (first President) and Thomas Jefferson (writer of the constitution) are definitely held in VERY high regard. I don't know if the ex-Baptist would use the word "saint" but they sure seem to be treating them that way.

I doubt you have a lot of very religious Christian relationships and knowledge and I have parents that are Christian priests.

What you are saying is pure sacrilege, not that you would be burned for that, nor that my involved parents would have burned the game, but it's still quite an offense, and again I suggest fix it and change it for some Muslim references and then we will argue about an excess of reaction.

It's ok no need to burn the game but it was pointless to make saint references.
 
Joined
May 18, 2012
Messages
480
??? Huh? Well, if the denizens of the game's city have taken offense then I welcome their protest. They DO treat Washington and Jefferson pretty much as saints.
 
Joined
Aug 3, 2008
Messages
8,238
Location
Kansas City
Wow, I didn't even think about it… Read all about it. it's quite disturbing to think that someone would go so far against fiction (that is as good as IRL if I may add; I used to be a christian as well… started involuntarily like most of them)

A great comment:

Yeah, that one Christian sure sums us all up. I'll just forget I played The Witcher 2, The Darkness, Divine Divinity, Planescape and all the other games with nudity, satanic symbols and blasphemy.

/sarcasm

Or maybe not all of us are like that. Bioshock tackled atheistic communism and Infinite tackled religious fundamentalism. The opposite side. That's all there is to it. Comstock no more represents all Christians than Andrew Ryan represents all atheists.
 
Joined
Aug 12, 2013
Messages
136
I still haven't played this, but I've heard nothing but good about it. The visuals are beautiful
 
Joined
Sep 2, 2013
Messages
17
Since I haven't seen it's #1 fan lately, lemme say a few words. becca it's a game that got praised by everyone everywhere just like Skyrim was.
Now if you played Skyrim, what would you say today, was it really that good? Was it really better than anything you've ever seen? Was it really annoyance free and fun, fun and only fun?

Just like you I haven't played Bioshock Infinite, but probably I never will. Skyrim didn't dare to have something BioInf does. So called Season Pass.
More and more games are adding that stuff to milk people and it makes me sick. BioInf is one of those. And I'm not buying that crap. Why are they doing it? Because BioInf invested millions in 'marketing'. Millions. A "masterpiece" needs millions for marketing? Yea, my arse.

You may check what buyers say about it on metacritic, there are 12 pages of user reviews, some praise it, some are utterly dissapointed, but pick a few entries just to see if it's really worth your time and money:
http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/bioshock-infinite/user-reviews

Anyway, it's already on sale here and there, yesterday you could get it for lesser price on GMG, today you can get it for $40 on GGG:
http://www.getgamesgo.com/product/bioshock-infinite
So if you really want to buy it, at least don't go for it's full price.
 
Joined
Apr 12, 2009
Messages
23,459
So if you really want to buy it, at least don't go for it's full price.

I imagine I'll pick it up second hand. The first Bioshock was one of the best games of our generation, in terms of it being a well crafted story, and the attention paid to things like the soundtrack and world-building. Exceptionally well made.

I'm not expecting perfection from Infinite, but the visuals are gorgeous and the story sounds interesting. I'm not much of a gamer these as things get a bit samey and repetitive, but I'll give this a go (just y'know, not for full price).
 
Joined
Sep 2, 2013
Messages
17
The over-all story in Bioshock Infinite isn't quite as good as Bioshock 1 but the ending is really good stuff. The soundtrack is easily better, IMHO.

Was it really annoyance free and fun, fun and only fun?
If that's what you're expecting from a great game, Joxer, then you will never find a great game.
 
Joined
Aug 3, 2008
Messages
8,238
Location
Kansas City
The soundtrack is easily better, IMHO.

That's good to know. Maybe it's because I am a bit obsessed with music, but a great soundtrack drastically improves my experience with a game.
 
Joined
Sep 2, 2013
Messages
17
If that's what you're expecting from a great game, Joxer, then you will never find a great game.
Yea, I guess FO1/2 spoiled me. Fun, fun and fun all the time.
They don't make games like those anymore.
 
Joined
Apr 12, 2009
Messages
23,459
The over-all story in Bioshock Infinite isn't quite as good as Bioshock 1 but the ending is really good stuff.

Not sure if I can agree with that. I liked the story in both games, but the writing in Bioshock Infinite was one of the few areas where I thought it was superior to Bioshock.

I still enjoyed Bioshock a little more though - simply due to how much I liked the setting.
 
Joined
Oct 21, 2006
Messages
39,129
Location
Florida, US
I saw that on my activity feed! Well, gotta differentiate yourself from the competition, right? ;)
 
Joined
Aug 3, 2008
Messages
8,238
Location
Kansas City
Back
Top Bottom