So, a couple of weeks ago, my boyfriend came and visited for the weekend. With him, he brought a stipulation: "I am bringing my copy of BioShock Infinite. You must play it in its entirety this weekend." So I accepted the challenge, thinking it would be done in about six hours like most other shooters out there--including, to my recollection, the original BioShock, which I think I played in two sittings years ago when I first got my Xbox.
I was pleasantly surprised with Infinite. It was just about twelve hours long. And I played it on Easy. I am a fan of long games; they are generally have more well-developed worlds and have more replay value, in my opinion. Given all of the little clues scattered throughout the game, I would really like to go back and play BioShock Infinite to pick up on everything now that I know...
You thought I was going to spoil it for you, didn't you? Bahaha.
This is a game that is worth taking your time with, to explore every last nook and cranny of Columbia. Read the signs and billboards. Listen to the people talk. Try your best to find all of the voxophones, and listen to all of them. Stop and listen to the music. (No, seriously, listen to the fucking music. You'll thank me later.) The sheer amount of story and detail poured into this world is amazing. Being a fan of that sort of thing (don't ask how long I have spent playing Skyrim oh it's been over a year I have no life don't laugh at me), I wish I could have spent more time finding everything.
Overall, the gameplay was good. I was playing on the PS3, so I'm not sure if this applies to the 360 version or not, but the default controls took a lot of getting used to. I'm now accustomed to shooters using L1 or L2 to aim down ironsights and R1 or R2 to fire. Not the case here. By default, L1 is used for vigors, L2 is used to cycle through equipped vigors; R1 is to fire your weapon, and R2 is to cycle through your weapons. R3--also known as "awkwardly clicking the right analog stick"--is used to aim down ironsights. I was about halfway through the game when I realized I could switch to a more Call of Duty-esque control map.
Having Elizabeth there to help with items was a blessing. For the few times I was without her in the game, she was sorely missed. I owe this pixellated brunette my virtual life, many times over. I don't know where she finds all of the items that she does. (Maybe through tears. I bet it's through tears.) Speaking of tears, the ability to summon things through holes in reality is very handy. Note: Whenever you can summon a turret or Patriot or Mosquito, do it.
Elizabeth's presence and ability to toss you items mid-combat seems to have replaced the item-on-hand mechanic in the original Bioshock. In Bioshock, you could stock up with extra vials of Eve and health to help you out on the go. This time around, you have to actively search the environments for items when you run out, so if by some stroke of bad luck you run out of salts mid-battle, you better find yourself one of those glowy blue bottles or maybe some soda or cigarettes before you try again. Fortunately, with Elizabeth around, you generally don't need to worry because she has nothing better to do during battle than save your skin.
Oh, and did I mention you don't need to protect her? Yeah. She takes care of herself. It's great. Suck it, Resident Evil 4.
BOTTOM LINE:
Gameplay: Overall, excellent for a shooter. Default controls take some getting used to, but there are other options available. The vigors system helps add a little variety to seemingly endless enemy fights.
Sound: EV'RYBODY WANTS TO RULE THE WORLD. (also, the voice acting is superb.)
Graphics: Beautiful. The game has a slightly cartoony feel to it, which I think works much better for this game than super-realistic. The original Bioshock had excellent water; Infinite works magic with light.
Replayability: The story is literally multidimensional, and is worth at least one more playthrough to pick up on it. Also, there are several difficulty settings to choose from, including the extra-hard 1999 mode, which I will not be attempting because I had trouble with Normal mode.
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I completely forgot about the control scheme, it IS the same way on the xbox. They never have that first level tutorial that virtually every damn game has, so I know shit played about a quarter of the game before I realized you could aim down the sights. Good job pointing it out :D
ReplyDeleteAs a secondary note, I completely agree that the water in the first Bioshock was goddamn awesome, but I think I would say that, as far as graphics go, Infinite's REAL achievement was the back-back-ground. Chances are pretty good that not a whole lot of people spent an hour or so just staring at the sky, but there are areas (about the last two hours or so) where the sky is just fucking amazing. Aliena, I'm sure you noticed that the amazing ass storm that slowly approaches the city was amazingly done. Seeing the vox populai banners blowing like crazy in the wind while a hurricane batters the burning city will probably be one of my favorite game backgrounds of all time.