BioShock Infinite

EDIT: Turns out, there aren't any spoiler block options in the review editor. There are some minor spoilers in this review. Note the word "minor" - it's not going to hurt your experience much, but I should still warn you. /EDIT

It’s been quite a while since Irrational’s last game, the original Bioshock. Infinite is a sequel with little in relation to the original, either in terms of mechanics or story. If you’re looking for cramped spaces, health bars, cameras, and crazy people, you won’t find that here. Instead, you’ll find a fairly linear game that kindly points you in the right direction at all times, a two weapon limit, and enemies that are (relatively) sane members of a police force.

Yes, Bioshock Infinite is a modern shooter that builds on the Call of Duty 4 template. It adds some new trinkets here and there, but ultimately the gameplay feels a lot like almost every triple A shooter that has come and gone since then. Fortunately, it mixes things up at least somewhat with vigors and skyrails, both of which really help the combat become more exciting and interesting. Ultimately, though, only the latter feels really necessary, and even then the skyrails are just a set piece. They’re not an integral part of the mechanics, just something that you get to use every so often when the developers could think of a way to implement them. Vigors are fun to use but the only one that I really found myself needing was Possession, and only because I needed Patriots and turrets to stop shooting at me for a minute so that I could stand there and shoot them until they died. Bucking Bronco was also useful at times, but again it wasn’t necessary to playing the game. Other than these two things, the mechanics of this game amount to a fairly standard modern shooter. It’s unfortunate that this game stands as an example of how overused and how tired the hand-holdy, linear shooter with more set pieces than gameplay concept has become, even though it’s quite well done here.

I cannot stress enough that this is closer to a nitpick than a true issue with the game. It’s disappointing that Irrational couldn’t have designed areas that I felt like I needed to explore for ammo, health, and salts (for refilling Vigors). Instead, the only reason for exploring is to find audio logs and, frankly, they’re not compelling enough to give a damn about. It’s more of a problem with modern design sensibilities than it really is with this game. The player is constantly moving along to get to the next set piece or to see the next big story moment, not because the underlying mechanics are simply fun and entertaining in their own right.

The real complaints with this game lie in the enemy AI, the difficulty balancing, and the bullet sponge enemies. The first of these, the AI, pales in comparison to that of Rage or FEAR (the one game that still stands as a benchmark of enemy AI). It doesn’t flank the player, it rarely goes for cover, and it doesn’t do anything even remotely clever. Most of the time enemies just stand there shooting at you. Enemies do sometimes step to the left or right, though. Unfortunately, this means that the difficulty is more often than not pretty fake. Enemies are insanely accurate from far away and there are a whole lot of them, so the player isn’t so much trying to keep track of several different enemies as he is doing crowd control for most of the game. Playing on Hard occasionally makes the game feel like a chore more than a fun challenge. Medium is the most fun difficulty if only because it allows you to more freely move around the battlefield, use skyrails, and abuse your Vigor powers. The worst parts of the game, though, are characterized by bullet-sponge enemies. There’s not really a special tactic or an interesting maneuver that you can use to take down the Handymen or, spoiler alert, the ghost of Lady Comstock. That latter part is easily the low point of the game. She’s essentially a souped-up Archvile, complete with reviving enemies. Handymen take many bullets to kill and are constantly in your face. They also make it dangerous to use the skyrails, which are the best parts of the combat. All three of these complaints are held up by the crutch that is the death system. When you die, it’s assumed that Elizabeth drags you back to a safe spot, gives you a senzu bean, and you’re good to go. The only thing you lose is the money she takes from your wallet to pay for the senzu bean. Any enemies that you were still fighting now have their health refilled and all of the ammo that you’d picked up in your last attempt is still gone. This is not a good death system, it’s a crutch that’s supporting all of the other crutches that hold up the gameplay.

Bioshock Infinite’s gameplay ultimately holds up, though. The skyrails and the vigors save it. Both are worth experimenting with to see what kinds of crazy things you can do. The formula it uses is getting very tired and long in the tooth, but it’s done competently and works well enough to give it a pass.

The rest of the package is where this game really shines. Story is where this game’s real value lies, and it is a pretty good story, possibly even more entertaining and interesting than the original Bioshock’s story. I cannot talk about it too much to avoid spoilers, but there aren’t many complaints to be had with the plot involved. The mechanics of what’s going on (meaning “how does this dimension-hopping actually work”?) aren’t always particularly clear, but they don’t need to be in order for the point to get across. It’s not a revolutionary story, nor is it as complex as it seems to think it is, but it’s one that is well-worth hearing and it’s well-paced enough to keep you interested throughout the story.

The setting also makes this game special. It’s not about Columbia in the same way that the original Bioshock was about Rapture - it’s ultimately about Booker and Elizabeth, and Columbia is a backdrop. However, that doesn’t make it any less interesting and fun to gawk at. The game is as much a sight-seeing tour as it is a first person shooter, and it’s a unique and interesting setting that is worth your time. Look around. Take in the sights. And look at all the more subtle imagery and world-building.

As important as mechanics are to a game, the setting and story of Bioshock Infinite are solid proof that they aren’t everything that makes a game. Putting a vibrant, colorful, well-realized setting and a worthwhile story on top of tired mechanics can work to make something worth your time and money. Perfect? No. Game of the Year? Better games have come out already. This game is still, hands down, very special, interesting, and definitely very good.