Author Topic: Short Bioshock Infinite Review  (Read 3683 times)

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Offline Tym

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Short Bioshock Infinite Review
« on: Sun, 31 March 2013, 14:30:17 »
Bioshock Infinite
Now before I begin I would like to tell you that I have not played either of the previous Bioshock’s so if I mistake something seemingly obvious too you I apologise. Anyhow…

So the phrase “Game of the Year” is thrown around quite often nowadays, back when it was held by Battlefield 2 it really meant something. But now people are describing Bioshock Infinite as “Game Of The Decade” Is it worthy of this title?

There are many ways I could attempt to write this review, but I think I shall use the most honest. I loved it, there were amazing plot twists, and I don’t think anyone could have foreseen such a hugely controversial ending. But I think if you sleep on it, you will become like me and realise how brilliant the end of the game actually was and when I woke up in the morning the entire game connected and actually made sense.

The game doesn’t just become brilliant though, you do have to work for it, noticing all of the small features, there is an entire underlying storyline which you can completely miss if you are not looking into it, thus why I have already complete the game twice (First on Medium then on Hard) and I am now returning to hopefully beat the game on 1999 mode (Read more HERE). But don’t get me wrong, the game is not a drag, it is fun, it is delightful and it has something COD replicas don’t. It’s enjoyable to play!

One thing I didn’t realise during the early stages of the game was how much I would get involved, I presumed Elizabeth (the girl you have to protect) would just be a pain in the arse, getting herself killed and also having awful path finding, but she wasn’t! They first time you meet a little message pops up telling you that she “Can take care of herself” and I only saw her get stuck twice or so during the entire campaign which was fixed by her teleporting when I wasn’t looking.

The biggest downside to the game is how short it is, I finished it the first time around in 11 hours, and I just wanted more which is why I have already bought the Steam Season Pass (Pre-ordering all DLC’s). I have seen people complete it in 8 but I don’t think they had as much fun as I did, you could quite easily grind through this game and there are a few stages where I did but I regretted it quite quickly.

So if you want to play this game you should try and enjoy it, there’s no point playing a game like Bioshock Infinite because you want to complete it, it’s about the journey not the destination. And because of that this is my game of the Decade, what about you?
unless they have some unforeseeable downside (like they're actually made of cream cheese cunningly disguised as ABS)


Offline Neal

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Re: Short Bioshock Infinite Review
« Reply #1 on: Sun, 31 March 2013, 15:00:47 »
I highly recommend you to play 1 & 2, they're excellent if you ask me.
This game felt unfinished to me, and they took out everything I liked about the series. Maybe DLC will make the game feel more 'whole', guess that's how games are these days.

Offline Sifo

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Re: Short Bioshock Infinite Review
« Reply #2 on: Sun, 31 March 2013, 23:45:51 »
As a fan of the other Bioshocks and Systemshock, I hated Infinite, I have a lot of negativity for it that I can't express. Gameplay was great... but so unexciting. This sums up my opinions.

« Last Edit: Sun, 31 March 2013, 23:47:34 by Sifo »
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Offline noisyturtle

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Re: Short Bioshock Infinite Review
« Reply #3 on: Mon, 01 April 2013, 02:16:54 »
It's a rail FPS with no variables. There is no player choice, you are just there to participate in the designers (Levine) story. That being said, it's a good story. Don't believe all the hype, but it is a book worth playing. Maybe wait for it to go on sale though lest you have any regrets  ;)

Offline eth0s

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Re: Short Bioshock Infinite Review
« Reply #4 on: Mon, 01 April 2013, 03:18:28 »
I thought it was pretty darn good game.

It's most fun to play on highest difficulty using only the melee weapon and the Vigors (and wearing the Gear that enhances melee fighting).  If you chose to play on Easy mode with all the nub-guns, and added all the nub-gun damage enhancers, and then got bored, well I dunno what to say.

There are plenty of things to do, plenty of stuff to find, plenty of easter eggs to discover in the music (the Beach Boys "God Only Knows" sung by a barbershop quartet), etc.  It's not a game to rush through.  You really need to spend some time in every location, look around, listen to the music, and listen to the conversations and comment of the NPC people, and sometimes you have to double back over an area that you already covered.  And it's fun to use all the different vigors, and to kill your enemies with the melee weapon/ rail-rider thing.

With that said, it's not a perfect game.

Some critiques:  the science in the Sci Fi is hokey and fails to understand even the basics of quantum mechanics (the writers should have instead used such hoary chestnuts such as "anti-gravity", "string theory", and "general relativity/ time travel", as they would at least have kept the bull**** science somewhat comported more with the story and actual science).  The bigger problems are listed below seriatim. 

The overt racism and bigotry are disturbing.   Although the racism and bigotry are obviously meant to show the hypocritical and villainous nature of Comstock's "Heaven", it borders on offensive, and it's certainly off-putting.  The Marxist class struggle between the rich white people on top and the poor black people (and Native Americans) on the bottom is reduced to the following cliches:  That all white people are rich and racist.  And the cop-out cliche that everybody becomes corrupt and bad, when they become rich and powerful, so there's no point in trying to have an egalitarian society, or do anything about class inequalities.  There is also a jingoistic anti-Chinese sub-text that is simply unexplainable, other than the game-makers are afraid of the bete noire of Chinese copyright pirates, or are simply racists themselves.  These bugaboos are bothersome certainly, and if you say these problems put you off the game, then I would say I understand your resentment.  But to criticize the game for the gameplay is unfounded.  The gameplay itself is quite good.  And there are many ways to play it.  Bioshock Infinite is a rail shooter that delivers as many thrills as any rail shooter I've ever played.  There is no rule that says that every game made after Grand Theft Auto needs to be a sandbox game where you steal cars and kill and rob willy nilly. 

Back to what makes it a good game:  it's a rail-shooter, but it's a good rail-shooter.

It's true that Bioshock Infinite is a rail-shooter.  It's further true that the player has no choice in directing the outcome of the story, but that is part of the story, in this particular game.  Spoiler Alert (stop reading here if you haven't played the game):  According to the story of the game, no matter what you do, you can't change what is going to happen, because "quantum mechanics" will cause you to do the same thing over and over, like pick "heads" when you flip a coin at the beginning of the game, and you are doomed to repeat the loop of becoming Comstock, and selling your own daughter to Comstock, when you are still your past self, Booker DeWitt, and then saving her from Comstock, and then damning her to destroy New York City in 1986, and then killing Comstock (i.e., your future self), and then becoming Comstock, and then going back and doing it all over again, and again, ad infinitum, unless and until you break the cycle by refusing to be Baptized and Born Again, which I guess is a "choice" that somehow disrupts the "quantum mechanics", or some such nonsense, and causes the cycle to stop.
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Offline Tym

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Re: Short Bioshock Infinite Review
« Reply #5 on: Mon, 01 April 2013, 04:29:47 »
Eth0s I do agree with you but I think the racism has a "point" now, I am not a racist but in 1912 everybody was, he'll my gran was born in 1920 and she is more racist than anyone in that game.
unless they have some unforeseeable downside (like they're actually made of cream cheese cunningly disguised as ABS)


Offline Binge

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Re: Short Bioshock Infinite Review
« Reply #6 on: Mon, 01 April 2013, 10:43:18 »
As a fan of the other Bioshocks and Systemshock, I hated Infinite, I have a lot of negativity for it that I can't express. Gameplay was great... but so unexciting. This sums up my opinions.

Show Image


On the above screen-shot point I have to disagree.  Bioshock is synonymous with a very specific steam punk universe.... Say we have a game called 'Earth' and the setting is a lot like Metro 2033, and then we have a game, called 'Earth War is Coming,' showing a different time-line in the same universe... It's still Earth.  Haven't even played the game yet, and I feel the need to take your observation and smash it with a logic hammer.
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