Every piece of
art, movie, game, porn or book is not without its faults. No matter how great something really is,
there's always a part that can be improved upon. With that being said, we're here to bring an
opinion of someone who very much loved Bioshock: Infinite, but thought there
were some areas that could have been better.
So, prepare your tomatoes and vulgar language, because this could get
ugly.
We already
released an article on Bioshock Infinite’s First Impressions, if you haven't
read it, we recommend that you head there first, and then come back to this
article.
The
first Bioshock took what was old-hat in gaming and completely reinvented what
to expect from combat, story, and overall gameplay. The years following, saw many games trying to
follow suit, or improve on what was already laid out before them. Bioshock in essence, changed gaming for the
better. Flash forward a bunch of years,
and the same mind behind the first game is back with another experience that
will reinvent gaming again...or maybe just show you that there are really no choices.
STORY:
If
there's one thing Infinite did right, it was the story. The dialogue was fresh and zipped everything
along, nicely. Yes, it did lag a little
in the middle, but once you get to the WTF-did-that-just-happen
ending, your mind dissolves and all you're left with is a pile of oozing pink
crap on the carpet. So it's safe to say,
the writing, plot, and story are by far, Bioshock Infinite's shining
achievement.
Might be a little too late for that, Bro...
TOO SHORT?
The
first hour or so, you're brought into the wonderful world of Columbia. I wandered around looking at everything the
game designers had to offer. Great
little conversations happening all around you, the wonderment of a floating
city, the background of Comstock and why he chose to worship America's Founding
Fathers. I was in awe of the love and
care that went into making the game, and then the combat started...and it was
downhill from there.
"What? You gotta frigging problem?"
Once
everyone wanted to shoot my face off, Bioshock Infinite breezed by so quickly,
if I would have blinked, I might have missed it. Don't misunderstand me. I did stop and search every corner to try and
find every loose apple, upgrade, weapon, and strewn coin. Even with all that going on, I ripped through
the game in less than 12 hours, and if you remove the beginning—just wandering
around—I'd say you could knock this game out, in less than ten. Is that a bad thing? Not necessarily, but I feel much more
emphasis was on the story and not the gameplay itself.
Everything
felt familiar while running and gunning.
It was as if Bioshock had a face lift, and all the characters and places
you see, we're just new skins. And now,
everyone looks at the ending and ties this facelift together with it. Stating: “well,
it was supposed to feel like Bioshock.”
Really? So in reality the combat
was just DLC, and because of the ending, everyone is alright with that?
Wrench versus Big Daddy. I have the Little Sister for the win.
The
first Bioshock had much more to do, many more fun things to find, and much more
entertaining mini bosses. Do you
remember the strange and ridiculous characters you would have to take down, to
progress? Just those characters alone,
were reason enough for playing the game.
In Infinite, you had really one guy, and then the main guy
Comstock. It seems Infinite took a step
backward in the gameplay department.
"Excuse me, is there something in my teeth?"
COMBAT:
I
don't know about everyone else, but after picking up the carbine, about an hour
into the combat scenarios, I never dropped it for anything else. Sure, when I ran out of carbine ammo, I
changed over to the sniper, or RPG, or the machine gun, but 90% of the time was
carbine. Bioshock had more weapons and
upgrades available to really allow the player numerous choices. In Infinite, I felt limited. Why would I spend precious money on upgrading
a pistol, when I could just use my upgraded carbine?
Maybe
I'm spoiled from Borderlands 2, but just two guns at one time. Boo. There really was no time for
experimentation. If I dropped a gun I
liked to try something new, it was either keep using the slop you have until
you found the gun you liked again, or backtrack. And if you're anything like me, once I
complete an area, I hate having to go all the way back for something as menial
as a favorite weapon. Bigger inventory:
Games don't have to feel real, they have to entertain. And if that means allowing your character to
carry more weapons than what's possible in real life, then so be it.
"Sup?"
Bioshock
had splicers, big daddy, mini bosses, and the further you went in the game the
more the enemies would mix it up with different weapons or plasmids. In Infinite, it really felt like I was
fighting the same enemies throughout the entire game. No variety in play, except for the very few
opportunities to sneak passed the Boys of Silence. Everyone else received a few bullets or a
fist to the face, and then I moved on.
Speaking of enemies, this brings me too:
"Duh, nobody wants to play with me."
THE HANDYMAN:
Handyman:
the supposed replacement of the Big Daddies.
In the first two Bioshock games, dealing with the Big Daddies and Big
Sisters was tough, but also took skill and strategy to deal with both. The first two games gave you the opportunity
to set traps and fight them the way you wanted, and once they fell, you had a
sense of accomplishment. With the
Handyman from Infinite, I don't know how you felt fighting him, but as soon he
was on screen, he just kept jumping and running toward me. There really was nothing to contemplate,
except for: "Gee, do I have enough
ammo to deal with this idiot, right now." All I really wanted to do was just get him
out of the way, so I could move the story forward—fun took a backseat. There
was no strategy, except for: shoot, vigor, shoot, vigor, shoot, shoot, and then
shoot some more. Every once in a while
you had the opportunity to jump to a skyhook or rail and deal with him that
way. To me, the Handyman sections felt
as mindless as any other shooter.
"This bottle of Vodka looks funny...Oh, screw it, what else am I going to do?"
VIGORS:
Bucking
Bronco and Undertow. Those are the only
two vigors I used, once they became available.
Ungraded them a couple of times and that was it. Bioshock made each plasmid useful. Sparking a puddle became fun, lighting people
and oil on fire aided in certain areas, telekinesis was very helpful at
grabbing objects a far, or freezing missiles in mid-air to launch back; but
Infinite lacked those ingenious areas where you needed to use certain vigors.
There really was no sense in using Murder of Crows when you could lift
up several enemies with Bucking Bronco and pick them off so easily.
"Breasts...Er, I mean Elizabeth--reach out for my hand!"
CONCLUSION:
Infinite
is a great story, and if you never played the original Bioshock, would be a
great shooter experience. But I feel as
though combat, enemies, upgrades, and vigors were a step backward in the
series. Were they trying to make the
game more assessable to new players?
I'll never know. Is Bioshock
Infinite still worth playing? Of course! It's a step forward in game AI and story
integration. The above comments may
sound terrible, but in reality, the story and ending still trumped over
everything else, and the game was a fantastic experience. I'll always recommend Bioshock as the go-to game for anyone (if there are people still out there who
haven't played it) looking for a new experience, and if they have played
both (Bioshock 1 & 2), then Infinite
is a no-brainer to tie the series together.
I'm really excited to see where Irrational Games will go next.
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