So High Yet So Far Away
After me and my friend stayed up one night and beat the original Bioshock in 8 hours in one sitting it has always been my favorite game ever made. When Bioschock 2 came out, to be honest I was pumped, but didn't get it until a year and a half later and enjoyed it a lot. When Bioshock Infinite was first announced in 2010 it easily became one of my most anticipated games ever. Now after beating the game and digesting it in for a couple of days here are my thoughts.
As soon as the game goes you are instantly hooked in the world of Columbia, you feel like you are actually there and I wanted to check out every thing I could in the first half hour which for anyone could have taken them from 10mins to an hour to get past it. Columbia felt alive, the people, the sights, the games, its all very intriguing to which I don't think I have really seen in a game before. Besides the first 2 to 3 hours with the world you still feel like you are a part of it the whole way through.
The game also looks amazing. I played it on PS3 and it looks really really good, except I had a lot of texture pop-ins which in an instant drew me out of the world and told me, yes you are playing a video game, which was disappointing. I like the way Columbia looks and the detail in every place you step foot in.
The story is the best part of the whole game and the how they do it is also incredible. Elizabeth as a partner is an interesting dynamic and I enjoyed her presence, but if it wasn't for the story and some gameplay changes shes not really needed. Though I loved it when she would flip you are coin, easily my favorite video game moments and it never got old. I am not going to linger on the story and how good it is and what not, because it is really good and you should experience it, enough said.
The worst part of the game is the gameplay, when compared to the original BioShock. The best part of Bioshock was exploring Rapture and every room and secret room and collecting tonics and plasmids, etc. In Infinite sure you can explore yes but certainly not to the extend of the first game. I actually tried to find a map in the menu screens and was so upset that there wasn't any. Infinite was felt like it was a lot more linear. I would always try to explore in this game and you would pick a lock that opened a door to a room or two and found a piece of gear. Speaking of gear it thought it was cool but not as effective as the tonics. Most of the gear I got had to do with the skyline stuff and I was super bummed out because I did not use the skyline stuff at all. I tried it and it moved way to fast for my liking. So my gear for the most part was completely useless. The melee in this game it not as satisfying as the wrench or the drill in the other games. Now maybe that is due to the fact that the melee button was triangle which was a weird choice or that the melee was the skyhook, either way it felt off. I also didn't think the vigors were as useful as the plasmids because that the plasmids had a use for taking down Big Daddy's and other enemies much like the different bullet types you would pick up in the other games which I enjoyed because it provoked a type of strategy when facing enemies that were damaged more by a type of bullet than other types. You could say it was my play style, because in Infinite I run and gunned the whole way through no problem. If you have the shotgun and the rifle, pistol, or machine gun you can have no problem beating the game. Now I did beat it on Normal difficulty so that could be my own fault. But I wanted this game to have an adam like equivalent. The best parts of the other Bioshock games was killing Big Daddy's and Sisters and killing The Patriots and Handymans didn't feel the same way.
Now you can say that I am comparing it way too much to the other Bioshock games and you should look at it as a stand alone game. To that I say, you are right, but it has the Bioshock name on the box, if they called it something else sure I don't think I would be comparing so much. You can also say I am being unjust and disappointed and this and that, well maybe its my own fault, but I did not watch any gameplay footage of this game at all, only 2 maybe 3 trailers at the most nothing else.
Now yes I did have a fun time playing this game and enjoyed the story and ending a lot. This is a great game and a great achievement, but it still is a game and it comes down to the gameplay and game design choices that makes it miss the mark.
