"No, but I am afraid of you." - Troy Baker and Courtnee Draper
The first two BioShock games offered a phenomenal setting - the underwater city of Rapture - in which you fight your way through a ruined utopia with guns and superpowers, and flex some moral decision-making muscle, to experience some kind of fresh and unpredictable story. For years since, BioShock: Infinite has remained in development, offering a new and promising experience. This time, you're elevated to the city of Columbia, which floats in the sky. This time, you don't just crawl through the ruins of a utopia; you get to witness utopia ripping itself apart.
BioShock: Infinite offers a gameplay experience that BioShock fans can recognize; once again, you'll have access to your choice of weapons, and superpowers in the forms of "vigors" (not too different from plasmids). You'll have opportunities to explore, to scavenge for useful weapons, ammo, money, collectables, and gear that can enhance your effectiveness. You can't dual-wield superpowers like you could in BioShock 2, but you barely need to; it's pretty easy to switch from guns to vigors, and with the sheer destructive force of both, you can cause some serious destruction (which will be necessary for fights later in the game, which can be ridiculously big and challenging). The biggest and most unique feature in this game, however, will be a gizmo called the Skyhook, which allows you to leap onto freight hooks and onto hanging rail lines to give you an immediate tactical advantage. Additionally, your character will be accompanied by Elizabeth, who possesses a unique ability that will also serve a tactical advantage.
That brings me to the story, which will be the biggest and most redeeming value to this game. It plays out pretty similarly to the first BioShock game; you play a guy going to a place, get caught in the middle of a political conflict, and certain truths become unearthed that puts everything into a clearer perspective. The worldbuilding involved with this third game is phenomenal: the city of Columbia is like a piece of idyllic early 20th century America, with stark racial, political, and religious overtones that serve to offset an otherwise gorgeous-looking utopia (such overtones will not sit well with certain audiences; the game has caused some controversy among the far sides of the political and religious spectrums). But it's the characters who remain the most endearing; Brooker and Elizabeth both show decent development, and I grew to love both of them by the game's end.
When you do reach the ending, the game suddenly pulls out the biggest, boldest, most awe-inspiring mind-bending twist imaginable. The ending is not only a visually wondrous thing, but it also answers all of the unanswered questions throughout the game, and makes many great profound connections. The game was solid to start with, but the ending puts the whole thing into a new perspective, and makes you want to play through the whole thing again to understand every nuance. It has to be played to be believed and understood.
The game plays smoothly and sublimely, with great-looking graphics. Even though you have to switch from weapons to vigors to Skyhook travel every so often, the game makes it easy with a simple and sublime control scheme. Characters and settings look very cartoony, which contrasts very heavily with the bloody violence and darker aspects of the story. The violence is another factor that some gamers have harped on, claiming that it's too self-indulgent, and the story should have stood on its own without the FPS elements. As it is, I don't think it's any better or worse than the other two games in the series. Voice-acting is great, and the game's overall sound design is good. This game uses ingenious designs for all the settings, props, characters, costumes, weapons, and everything else. Music is not bad either.
The game not only gives the player power, but also immerses the player in a fantastic environment with fantastic characters and a fantastic story. Unless you're particularly sensitive to the game's exploration of politics, religion, racism, and violence, the game comes highly recommended!
5/5 (Entertainment: Very Good | Story: Perfect | Game: Very Good)
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