Keeping The Faith
As soon as my paycheck came in I preloaded "Bioshock Infinite" on Steam, it was difficult to get a good night's sleep from the excitement of it finally being released the morning after.
4:59 A.M. my alarm goes off and I spring out of bed with the excitement of a boy on Christmas morning.
I set my alarm earlier than usual as I wanted to catch a glimpse of the game before I headed off to the gym.
I turned on my tv, put on my headset and just took it all in, like a nice breath of fresh air.
Bright colours, lighting, characters, architecture; the whole aesthetic was invigorating in just the menu.
From when it was first announced I made it a point to avoid all previews, video coverage and interviews.
I wanted to go in as fresh as I did with the first "Bioshock", just knowing what the game looks like from the screenshots when it was initially announced.
Irrational delivers on all fronts, a rich experience with whimsical, thought provoking, violent and harrowing moments that will keep you interested from the moment you press "new game".
The gameplay is fantastic, the amount of weapons and vigors you have at your disposal really let you tailor the game how you want to play it.
I was a sniper rifle/machine gun and murder of crows/bucking bronco player for the most part, however you will find moments where one vigor will work better than the other.
Riding the Skyline was exhilarating, I was skeptical of how it would work but it satisfied me and then some.
Often I would reload just to replay that battle, I thought it was that fun.
Elizabeth is great, she doesn't get in the way, her AI is incredible in and out of the battles.
The fact that she can help you out in so many ways again gives you plenty of options on how you want to play the game.
Narrative is second to none, I listened to every audio recording, read every sign, really dived in to the world and it's fiction.
The twists were great, I was on the edge of my seat for a good while and felt satisfied by the end.
Songbird was a terrifying character, to me, anytime it showed up I was definitely backing away from my desk a few times.
The world is so well realized and detailed, it makes you appreciate to what level Irrational are willing to go to really give you something to hold on to forever.
The only negative I can say is that it gets a little long in the tooth in the middle, but it doesn't hinder the overall experience.
Graphically on PC (i7,32GBRAM, 2TBHD, OC 660Ti) it ran smoothly with minimum stutters on ULTRA settings.I played it with a controller and the colours really popped on my 40inch tv, I was blown away.
In the world of "dark" / "realistic" shooters that are out there, it's so refreshing to see a bright world so aesthetically pleasing and breathtaking. (like TRINE 2 before it).
Do yourself a favour and fall in love with video games all over again.
