Herein follows a half arsed review. You have been warned.
In the years of my inactivity upon this dusty web covered sudo-diary I found myself considering the nature of sociability.
That is to say the way we perceive the world through our upbringing and interaction with other people. I will admit, before a certain point was reached my interaction with these 'other people' were limited and honestly pretty pitiful. Yet even I shut off and awkward as I was knew not to be an arsehole to people and to generally be a nice person.
This message has apparently been missed by the residence of Columbia. A good thing too or else we wouldn't have the latest in the Bioshock series.
Bioshock: Infinite takes a different aproch from it's predecessor titles. Not only happening in a different city (This one flies!) but also a different universe. There is no Rapture in this game, no Adam, no Little Sisters and Big Daddies, no 'sploysers' or whatever the phonetics are.
No, all of that has been done away with, gone are the dripping tunnels, the dark interiors, the genetically mutated inhabitance, no cameras and no hacking minigame. There is a lighthouse at least so we can be thankful of that.
The changes made to the game don't quite stop there. Your character (Booker DeWit) talks and has a personality. A welcome change from the past silent protagonists. What's more he's kinda a bad guy.
The games themes have changed drastically, no longer is it an examination of Objectivism (the creed of Andrew Ryan) But instead looks upon secularism, cultism, racism, redemption and rebirth and in some respects fate vs free will. It covers a lot, but the game takes it in it's stride. Impressive given that there's no clear moral ground for anyone to stand on. We root for Booker, he's our viewpoint, we want him to succed. But morally speaking he's just as bad as everyone else in the game.
The only innocent is Elisabeth, in many respects we look to hear for a true reaction to everything which is happening. She is our face throughout the game, a reflection of the emotions we as players feel. But interestingly enough, Booker isn't spared from her feelings. She reviles our avatar as much as she does everything and everyone else. The only difference is that Booker is offering her a way out. Freedom as opposed to manipulation. Elisabeth helps Booker, but only because he is the lesser of two evils.
Musings of the themes aside, Elisabeth makes for a great companion, unlocking doors, finding cash and ammo and supplies for you. She doesn't even have a health bar, instead keeping her head down when the fighting get's going. She is honestly the best NPC companion I've ever seen in a game and I hope that other games take note. Additionally her other mechanic (Which I won't go into for spoiler reasons) actually makes her useful in combat situations, and has the benefit of explaining in universe occurrences without making it all seem like a game mechanics. It's very well done and I'd love to see it explored more.
Elisabeth isn't the only good thing about this game. The environments are very pretty and a hugely welcome change to the dankness of Rapture. The NPCs that we meet along the way (Especially the lady and Gent, those two are amazingly good fun) ether through face to face confrontation or the audio diaries we find range from the sympathetic to the downright evil. But never cartoonish, just human.
Even with the occasional minor backtracking you'll do to complete some of the sidequests. The gameplay never stales, your madcap dash across this city in the sky makes sure you're never in a place long enough to get board. It is bright and open and fast. Everything feels like a rush, this isn't a slow methodical plod through a dying civilisation, this is a sprint to escape from a very much alive and very angry swarm of wasps.
Wasps with fireballs and a flying city.
The tonics and Plasmids have been replaced with Vigors. Thematically the same but diffrent in their uses. Nearly all of the powers have a second ability right from the get go and none of the Vigors work like the Plasmids. For example, Fire Plasmid: Burst of flame at a place or single target. Fire Vigor: Throw a flaming grenade of magma which expodes for AoE flames for all.
All of the Vigors have some utility or trap mechanism, and upgrades are limited to two purchase, some form of power boost, or an aid which'll do different things, like increase effect time, or lower the cost of use. Additionally, due to there being no Adam, upgrades and new Vigors are payed for with cash. The same cash used to upgrade your guns and purchase bullets and supplies.
This brings up an interesting quandary while playing, do you prioritise your gun's and upgrade them first? Or do you focus on your powers? It's impossible to get both and remain as effective as a focused playstyle. This question is especially as important as you can only carry two guns at a time. Though your upgrades are carried over if you drop one gun in favour of another.
No longer are you armed for all occasions, carrying every gun in existance. Now it's a matter of practicality. 'I could take the RPG, but it doesn't have much ammo, maybe the carbine would be better?'. Additionally tonics have been done away with in favour of magical clothing which does stuff when you wear it. This "Gear" is found scattered about and can do a variety of useful things such as increasing the clip size on all your weapons by 75%, or setting guys on fire when you hit them in melee.
Bioshock: Infinite has been parred down in many respects. But each change has added to the game rather than taken it away. It's fast paced gameplay, interesting narrative, and fascinating setting will keep you skyhooked. Certainly an improvement on Bioshock 2
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