I just finished it for a third time, tackling 1999 Mode, and I gotta say while it blew me away the first time, it's only been getting richer the more I come back to it. I freakin' love this game.

It's just the circle of gaming. A great games comes out and there is much rejoicing. A ton of EPIC MEMES LEL spawn and it gets talked about ad nauseam for a week. Then people start to think about it more and go "well, I didn't really like the combat..." and people who legitimately hated it start to come out of the woodwork. Eventually it all settles and we're reminded that it was a really good game with some flaws, but what game doesn't have them?

Yep, that's why they call it criticism. You know, that thing more than half the journalists in this industry specialize in. Just think of it a deep analysis of dissatisfaction. I love that game and even I see flaws in the Vox Populi.

Wait, we have a Dragon Age II defense force? How do I join this elite group?

I'm pretty sure you have to get some sort of weird lobotomy thing.

Expectations, expectations, expectations.

I think the whole "impact on the industry" discussion is a bit overblown (also too early) and the game definitely has its fair share of issues but it's still a great fucking game.

If I hadn't known anything about it before going in it would have completely blown me away. There just was a lot of praise and we knew that Levine was the creative mind behind it so of course the expectations were insanely high. I also think that different people expected a different game and of course not everybody can be satisfied with the end product. Because it does so well in some aspects the flaws stand out even more.

In addition that the crowd that has the most problems with the game is probably more vocal about it. Nearly everytime when there is a big release that gets high review scores there is a certain backlash attached to it.

I still think it will be one of the games to beat when the time for the GotY comes around.

I find it equally weird that a lot of people praise it as one of the best games ever, defend it every time someone criticizes it and claims that it is perfect. I don't even get worked up over the fact that you kill hundreds of dudes, it's a video game after all... the game has other problems. I still love the game but I think Bioshock is better in almost every way.

Really? I found a lot of the combat to be annoying on 1999 mode. I do agree that I liked the story more the second time and the game should be played multiple times. It's an incredible game but it has some serious flaws. Mainly to do with game play.

It's not 'interesting' that some people don't like the game, or even just parts of the game. It's just that you hear so many people gushing over it that anyone mentioning they don't enjoy an aspect of it suddenly gets singled out and you end up with threads like this. Because remember, the internet should be one single, homogenized opinion, right?

eff that. I love Dragon Age 2 but only because it's basically an American JRPG as far as the story goes

Exactly. It's easy to tell the younger sort of people in gaming communities who are experiencing this for the first time with Infinite. I specifically remember an episode of GFW Radio where Sean Malloy and Jeff Green were wondering if they were currently in the Bioshock backlash, or the Bioshock backlash backlash.

It's a compliment. If people are willing to put such time and thought into writing about a game, it's done something very right.

Who you calling young buster. I'm 28. =p

It is kind of how things are now, some people praise something, other people are critical of that thing, and then we have people who attach themselves to said thing, and are personally offended when people don't agree with their opinion on said thing.

That's what the internet does with highly reviewed games

@demoskinos:What happens in November?

I feel like anyone complaining about the amount of violence is greatly misunderstanding the character of Booker DeWitt and the setting. It's anything but unfitting.

Its the internet, people love to talk about whats wrong and what they hate about stuff more than what they like. I still fucking love the game, its not perfect for sure, but its one of my top games now. I also really enjoy playing the game too, about to do the final battle on 1999 mode and still having fun.

Especially after this one Voxophone that talks about how at Wounded Knee he had the most amount of "war prizes" or something to that effect of all the soldiers there. The more you learn of Booker throughout the game the more you realize he was and to a certain extent still is a pretty reprehensible character.

Everyone hates good games.

Joking but I think every deserves to be critiqued to some degree. People need to be able to tell the difference between criticizing and dissatisfaction. Of course some people do justly dislike Infinite and others will hate it because everyone else likes it. This is the internet and that's what happens.

dragon age 2 you guys... never forget

I feel that a lot of reviewers chose to see past flaws when it was released. It's hard not to be influenced by all the crazy hype and appraisal surrounding this game. After having watched the polygon, Adam Sessler, GB and GI spoiler videos i'm not surprised they bring up things they weren't happy with. I found myself expecting more from this "perfect" game after the hype train. Started my third play-trough since I find it enjoyable, but I run into more of the issues I and others have with it.

Yeah Booker was not a good person lol, I'm surprised more people haven't realized that.

At first it was frustrating, but once I got down with the notion of "every move counts" it was one of the tensest experiences I've had, making sure to use Gears and Vigour combinations, Tears and skylines with maximum efficiency. I had to use the available tools more consciously. When I died it was always on me. By the end I was so comfortable with it that going back to medium or hard would seem a leisurely stroll, using weapons and Vigours at a whim instead of out of necessity.

Won the final battle on the first try without dying, while I struggled with it on hard. That felt good.

@bbqbram: Yeah I managed to do the final battle on 1 try also, it helps that no one is really shooting at you constantly. I would recommend upgrading the repeater because most of the guys down there will have repeaters so you don't need to worry about ammo as you would with some of the other guns, and its actually pretty good. I managed to make it with like not even a millimeter left on the ship health lol.

For anyone going into 1999 mode I have some advice, fully upgrade ram because you will kill lady comstock in under 20 seconds with no trouble and use undertow on mechanized patriots because it affects them more than even shock jockey, also spam crows on handymen because it basically stuns them for the duration. Also fully upgrade possession because it is soooooooooooo helpful. And the final thing is whenever you fight anyone near an edge just bucking bronco and shotgun them off the edge/undertow them off the edge.

From where I'm standing I think the game has a hell of a lot of flaws, but the strong parts of the game are so strong I don't mind. I'm really happy we've moved on to disecting this game for criticisms because the good parts of this game are strong enough we don't need to dwell on them, and there's always hope that we can improve on the weaker elements of these kinds of quadruple-A titles.

It's the fact that the violence rounds the bend to distracting at a certain point. The skin melting from the fire deaths, heads popping when you electrocute guys, the ridiculous executions that include grinding up peoples hearts inside of their chests. The violence became excessive, and to me, detrimental. Now if there had been less combat, the brutal violence would have been more effecting, like it was in the beginning at the fair. But there's so much of it that it stops characterizing Booker as even a reprehensible person and he starts looking more and more like someone who's out of his fucking mind.

I'm just here because I heard there was a Dragon Age 2 Defence Force meeting. So... yeah.

@kerse: Yup, very viable advice. I'd also recommend tweaking your Gear loadout, at least for skyline vs non-skyline combat arenas. Another great tactic on the final battle is plastering the core with Return to Sender traps that will absorb a shit-ton of damage. Winter Shield can be abused easily, but it's all fair game on 1999 Mode.

I was also down to a millimeter of core health, up in the sniper's nest looking down, with only two more Patriots to deal with on the final wave. I was out of ammo and was praying for the Songbird cooldown to beat the Patriots' damage output on the core. It did by a nanosecond! Forever shall I cherish that too perfect moment.

Oh, and if you really want to break the game, try fully upgraded Charge + Blood to Salts + any and all Gear that buffs melee, especially Brittle Skinned.

Loved the game and it will take a really spectacular game to top it as my favorite this year

In the modern internet age, nothing will ever again be universally loved. Someone will always tear it down, even for absurd reasons. And the higher an initial reaction is, the more certain people will turn up their "volume" to be critical about said thing.

Not saying this game is above criticism, nothing is, but some of them ("It should have been an adventure game!") are very silly.

I eye rolled a lot at the Bioshock Infinite articles I attempted to read through the other day. It was like I wanted to shout "That's only an issue if you make it an issue!" at basically every one of the authors. The backlash is really annoying and I wish there was more positive articles exploring what worked about Infinite as a story and a world because it did work as a story and as a world.

Happens all the time. Happened to XCOM, Portal 2, Walking Dead, Skyrim. Good games get the naysaying crowd after a few weeks in the limelight.

Games journalist continue to transform into music journalists.

Shit. I only liked Bioshock while people were saying good things about it. Now it turns out I hate it. Fuck.