* BIOSHAWESOME INFINAWESOME *
Taking into consideration the diverse combat system, stunning graphics, almost obsessive compulsive attention to detail and addictive storyline, I was nothing less than astonished by Bioshock: Infinite! I'm honestly not even sure where to start... every perfectly timed battle, every tear jerking plot twist, the three moments in the game I can think of that made me laugh.... ok that's not the best example but even though comedy is what makes everything better to me, the lack of it, meant nothing while playing this game. I have so few complaints and even less questions about this title. I hear a lot of BS about the ending of the game, anyone who hasn't played it, ignore the garbage you hear about this game being confusing and try it out yourself, make your own call on that. I am going to be very careful not to spoil anything while being as thorough as I can in this review, I want anyone who reads this, to be excited to play the game, and be able to enjoy every moment of it as I got to my first, second and third time through.
PLOT (5 stars)
Without spoiling anything important or not already revealed in trailers, I want to set up this game for people who are not aware of its story. Now if you played Bioshock 1 and 2, the story doesn't exactly fall into line with either of the two previous titles. There are references I won't spoil, but you can fully enjoy this story beginning to end without any knowledge of the first two games. Our story starts with a woman's voice talking to "Booker" (whom you play in the game), "Booker, are you afraid of god?", Booker replies with "No... but I'm afraid of you"... yeah... some good stuff right out of the gate, the screen fades into a quote "The mind of the subject will desperately struggle to create memories where none exist..." from the book 'Barriers to Trans-Dimensional Travel' -R. Lutece, 1889. There was literally zero visuals in the game and I was already glued to my seat... The quote fades and sets us up with a time and place, 1912, The Coast of Maine. Your first visual is you sitting in a boat while two people row and talk about you and various other things. After a short exploration you are launched into the main area of the game, "Columbia", a floating city in the sky. All you know as the player is your character has a debt he needs to settle, and you're going to do so with a little bit of good ol' fashion human trafficking. Basically, you're looking for a girl (Elizabeth) you're going to give to someone to get rid of your debt. You're introduced to Comstock, or "The Prophet", and you find out early on that you bear the same mark as the "False Shepard", whom apparently the whole town hates... Your typical good guy bad guy relationship ensues and that is where the game truly begins. I feel like everything before it is a really clever and unique way to introduce a tutorial.
COMBAT (5 stars)
Between the starting melee "insta-kill" and forced suicides, the combat in Bioshock: Infinite is more than entertaining. You're only given a few options for guns and those are pretty basic, but they are all pretty exciting to use. You're given 8 "VIGORS"...so.... spells... or skills..? whatever, you're given 8 things to kill other things with. Similar to the first two titles in the series, you have your classic electric and fire spells, but some new stuff has been added, including traps that can be set and vigor combos, which allow you to combine two of your vigors together to create more devastating kills. Also added to your arsenal, ELIZABETH! Not only does she get to run around and get in your way all the time, but she can help you in battle in some very unique ways that I won't spoil for you. Another way to kill cheesy henchmen? How about zipline traveling, that you can leap from and assault someone in a very driveby-ey fashion. You can shoot from a zipline, attack someone on the zipline or launch off of the zipline and smash into someone with what looks like just your whole body, though I imagine it's your hook .. arm... claw....yeah. I'll leave the rest of the details for killing up to you to find out. Just know this, you can use only two weapons at a time, and one of those should always be a rocket launcher... why? BECAUSE THERE IS A ROCKET LAUNCHER IN THE GAME....!
OCD ATTENTION TO DETAIL/GRAPHICS (5 stars)
I was walking through one of the levels when I noticed a painting in the game, I don't quite remember where it was, but I remember exactly what it looked like and how well they did with it. Here's the thing, the painting was behind a box, barely noticeable, way out of the way, in a room I had to look for, behind a locked door, down stairs you didn't have to go down.... THAT.. is attention to detail at it's finest. The graphics are beautiful and as real as can be expected. Interaction to town folk, as well as the enemy is pretty well done.
REPLAY-ABILITY (5 stars)
Well, I beat this game 4 times and was entertained each time. I beat it three times on hard mode, searching for things I missed and what not, and once on 1999 mode for the challenge....which it was.... I would say there is decent replay-ability for the average or experienced gamer, at least twice to cover the two hardest difficulties. Plus you can't buy all of the upgrades for vigors on one go, so in order to see the different things you can do with them, REQUIRES more than one play through.
CONCLUSION
Overall I would absolutely recommend this game to anyone for who is a fan of shooters or good stories. If you don't like shooters very much, put it on easy, and punch everything to death. One way or another, everyone needs to see this story and enjoy this experience. I look forward to future titles put out by Irrational! :>
(I will be putting link on my page to "Let's Plays" and walkthroughs I do for exploration/first time through and 1999 achievement.)
FIN