Two general facts about my gaming life: I suck at console FPS games and I despise when things pop out of nowhere and start killing me. For those reasons, I had stayed away from the other two Bioshock games. But for some reason, Bioshock Infinite gave me a different original impression from the other games (Above ground? Yes please), so I decided to give it a try.
Now, I know a lot of the criticism of the game stems from the trailer showing things that weren't implemented. Honestly, I didn't even see a trailer (I saw a very short clip of one of the cutscenes) so I came into the game with moderate expectations. Except the story itself was extremely hyped up for me.
So here is my take on Bioshock.
WARNING: I WILL accidentally slip out some spoilers. I'll try to black out the huge ones. And note, I played on Normal difficulty setting.
Gameplay
Again, I didn't play any of the other Bioshocks. I read up on the stories on Wikipedia a while ago to educate myself, and I watched parts of some "Let's Play!" videos, but otherwise, it was a new experience to the series for me. But from what I gathered, things were relatively the same; a gun in one hand, magic powers in the other.
Combat-wise, it was the way any FPS should be played; kill stuff before they kill you. There was a wide assortment of enemies, all with annoying nuances. Also, enemies don't seem to miss.
You only have two weapon slots, meaning you can only carry two weapons at a time. While this is initially disappointing due to the arsenal you have access to, eventually I came to accept this as a strategic point of the game. It also forced me to use guns that I wouldn't normally use, due to running out of ammo, etc.
A HUGE factor in fights is your partner giving you health/ammo in the middle of fights. This saved my butt many times in big fights.
But overall, the game didn't really seem like a difficult game. It was more of a storybook with a shooting component to add to the effect. But after you finish the game once, you unlock the super difficult mode. And because I suck at FPS games, I didn't bother.
Story
The title to this blog post sums it up. You pretty much know nothing throughout most of the game. When you think you find answers, you just end up asking more questions. I'm really glad the writers took somewhat of a risk in the story telling. The product was a mindblowing experience.
Time itself is already confusing. Alternate dimensions is also confusing by itself. But when you combine both of them, the ending was so thought provoking, I spent the next day reading up different theories on forums.
While the game itself was very short, I don't think it needed to be any longer. Nothing ruins a story more than countless sidequests that do nothing to further the character development.
There are collectibles in the game that help further the story, but these aren't required to get the big picture understanding of the happenings.
Atmosphere/Visuals
The game starts off in a lighthouse with a dead guy in it.
Then you get blasted off into the air into this utopian society. Great.
But the change from peaceful to "OMGOSH I JUST SEVERED HIS HEAD" was so immediate, adrenaline kicked in pretty quickly.
And with the game not answering many questions until the end, the maps only contributed to this "I need to find out what's going on" feeling. One thing I really appreciated about this game is that pretty much every door was explorable. Details weren't skimped on, from Propoganda posters to prices of train fares. It gave a feeling that this place as a real city.
Final Notes
The ending was mind blowing, to say the least. But with a story so immersive, I wonder if the amount of violence was necessary.
Either way, Bioshock Infinite was one of the most immersive games I've ever played. While I can't really justify the game costing $60 for about 7 hours of gameplay, it definitely had one of the most unique storylines you'll ever see in any form of entertainment.
