Something went wrong. Try again later
    Follow

    BioShock Infinite

    Game » consists of 20 releases. Released Mar 26, 2013

    The third game in the BioShock series leaves the bottom of the sea behind for an entirely new setting - the floating city of Columbia, circa 1912. Come to retrieve a girl named Elizabeth, ex-detective Booker DeWitt finds more in store for him there than he could ever imagine.

    deactivated-5ecfb31b61925's BioShock: Infinite (PC) review

    Avatar image for deactivated-5ecfb31b61925

    Of Thy Sins Shall I Wash Thee

    As the unrelenting storm pounds down on us, the two figures clad in raincoats in front of me mindlessly babble about rowing and other such nonsense. I’m not listening to them – what matters to me is finding the girl. The waves splash against the boat. The woman in front of me nonchalantly passes me a wooden box with my name engraved on it – Booker DeWitt, member of the 7th Cavalry of the atrocious Wounded Knee massacre. Memories I’d rather not think about. I open it. A photograph – there she is. Find the girl, wipe away the debt – an easy job. There is the gambling debt sorted, now if only the rain could wash away my other sins…

    Booker DeWitt, the player character of Bioshock Infinite, is not a “good” man. He lacks the virtuous nature of the voiceless heroes we often play in videogames, and because of this, he feels real. DeWitt is part of something that neither he or the player quite understand, but still continue on, hoping to complete the job.

    Irrational Games, developers behind the original Bioshock, have created a masterpiece in their newest title. Bioshock Infinite, in stark contrast to a simply entertaining game like Gears of War: Judgment, is a true work of art.

    Not only have Irrational Games crafted a believable protagonist in Booker Dewitt, but the care that went into the floating world of Columbia is astounding. While Booker feels human, Columbia, the city among the clouds, somehow feels real, despite defying the laws of physics as we in modern society understand them.

    Unlike Rapture from the first Bioshock, Columbia has not fallen into ruin by the time the player arrives. By allowing players to experience the city as it is lived in, Bioshock Infinite sets up a great sense of atmosphere. A small carnival acts as a tutorial, where the player is both instilled with the xenophobic mindset of the residents, and taught to use weapons and vigors, which are essentially magic abilities, similar to the plasmids from previous Bioshock titles.

    As DeWitt walks around Columbia, the player can eavesdrop on conversations, or simply watch NPCs interact. Children play in water, absorbed couples flirt, and excited carnival-goers play the mini games themselves. All of these touches help to craft a believable city in the sky.

    To continue player immersion, voxophones – essentially audio recordings – are scattered around the game world. These collectibles rarely didn’t entertain me or fill me in on the inner workings of Columbia, and the inclusion of informative collectibles is always a major plus. To complement voxophones, Bioshock Infinite also implements short video recordings called “kinetoscopes”, which Booker can watch to further inform the player on the political and social side of the city.

    The game is primarily set in 1912, and so a lot of the “old-world” values still apply. Racism, sexism, and extreme religious fanaticism all play big parts in the daily lives of Columbia residents. Bioshock Infinite wisely presents these issues to the player without relying on them for pure shock value.

    To explain much of the plot would be to ruin the experience, and so I will avoid spoilers by offering only the backdrop. The game begins with the protagonist, Booker DeWitt, a disgraced member of the Pinkerton group and now a private investigator, being sent to Columbia to retrieve a girl named Elizabeth. In completing his task, his monumental gambling debts will be paid off. When he arrives in Columbia, DeWitt learns that a man named Zachary Hale Comstock is heralded as a prophet and his zealous beliefs run the city. A group called the Vox Populi threatens the peace through acts of terrorism and Comstock has dedicated his police force to wipe them out.

    Several times throughout my fifteen-hour playthrough, I was certain I knew how it would end, and with every guess, I was shown to be just as oblivious as DeWitt is to what is really happening. This game tells a story easily rivalling any science-fiction I have read, and it delivers it artfully. DeWitt’s dialogue with characters in the world and the voxophone recordings reveal so much more than they appear to.

    With such a focus on story-telling, it wouldn’t be a surprise to find the gameplay side lacking. It is fortunate, then, that the team at Irrational Games have delivered an excellent shooter alongside a thrilling tale.

    Combat boils down to wielding a vigor in DeWitt’s left hand and a gun in his right (as well as a devastating melee weapon, the SkyHook). With a decent selection of different magical abilities and weapons, battles quickly become strategic and frenetic. The elemental abilities associated with vigors act as you would expect – fire vigors burn oil and electric powers make water a death trap.

    The real highlight of fighting comes when Elizabeth joins the player. She has the ability to open dimensional tears in the environment to pull in weapons, cover, automated turrets, and SkyHooks to latch onto. Elizabeth will also toss DeWitt health kits, salts (which replenish your vigor abilities), ammo, and money. Irrational Games thankfully chose to avoid the escort mission pitfalls in other games by making Elizabeth untargetable by enemies, and so the player does not need to worry about her in the midst of a fight.

    The city of Columbia features SkyLines as a way to travel, and upon getting a SkyHook, DeWitt gains the ability to latch onto them and in what feels like a roller coaster, ride around, attacking enemies from the sky. DeWitt isn’t the only character with this skill however, and enemies will frequently use them as well. I didn’t use the SkyLines nearly as much as I anticipated during my playthrough, but they certainly could add another layer of strategy for some players.

    My only complaint regarding combat would be the lack of enemy variety. For the most part, it seemed that I was battling waves of policemen and Vox Populi members, with an occasional vigor-wielding special enemy to shake things up a bit. The motorized Patriots and Handymen were fantastically designed but aside from near the endgame, they weren’t used quite enough. It is a small issue, but worth noting. While I missed the immensely powerful Big Daddy and the creepy splicers from Bioshock, I still had a great time blasting through Infinite’s baddies.

    It is easy to get distracted by the frantic action, but missing out on the gorgeous visuals would be a sin in itself. It is clear that Irrational had spent a lot of time creating Columbia, as witnessed in the stunning architecture and texture work. The city is comprised of separately floating buildings, connecting to eachother with metallic docks, and I often found myself gazing into the distance, watching as pieces of Columbia matched together like jigsaw pieces.

    Character animations are fluid and realistic despite the cartoony aesthetic present and in particular, Elizabeth features some great facial expression. The work Irrational Games put into her eyes alone is staggering. Taking the time to watch the NPCs interact is well worth it in Infinite, and even occasionally stopping to check out the environment is a treat.

    Bioshock Infinite is a rare experience in a typically drab, cliched genre. The colourful game world, the fantastic interactions and character development between Booker and Elizabeth, and the incredible narrative all come together to create a true work of art. Recommending this game to anyone even remotely interested in an engrossing videogame experience is easy. While the game features no multiplayer component, replaying after completing it is something I would certainly encourage. Every piece of dialogue, every voxophone recording, and every object in the environment is there for a reason, and when the story comes together, seeing it build up is, quite frankly, mind-blowing. I rarely continue to think about a game’s story days after I have finished it, but this one still keeps me up at night, making connections and questioning motivations. Even with the impending launch of next-generation systems, Bioshock Infinite is going to be a strong contender for Game of the Year discussions.

    Now would you kindly go play it?

    Other reviews for BioShock: Infinite (PC)

      A story that needs to be experienced. 0

      Bioshock Infinite is an experience. I was hooked from the opening, watching Booker Dewitt find his way into Columbia, where I remember my first time heading to Rapture, the awe and wide eyed wonder at all the things happening around me. Atmosphere has always been Bioshock's key feature in my opinion - something that Infinite has no problem keeping up with. I am itching to go back through the game another time to watch itself weave its beautiful world and story again.I hadn't seen much of the le...

      12 out of 13 found this review helpful.

      But 5 Stars For Trying Really Hard 0

      Nice try, Irrational. Ken. Seriously, the utmost respect to you guys for even trying to pull together so many ideas and ambitions into a singular product, but it's fractured; BioShock Infinite feels like pieces of many different versions of a game stitched together into something that struggles to maintain coherency. Knowing about the game's storied development history has probably heavily influenced that last sentence, but that's the overriding sensation of playing through the game and has mana...

      7 out of 9 found this review helpful.

    This edit will also create new pages on Giant Bomb for:

    Beware, you are proposing to add brand new pages to the wiki along with your edits. Make sure this is what you intended. This will likely increase the time it takes for your changes to go live.

    Comment and Save

    Until you earn 1000 points all your submissions need to be vetted by other Giant Bomb users. This process takes no more than a few hours and we'll send you an email once approved.