The epic FPS trilogy from Irrational Games, Bioshock comes to an end with the Bioshock Infinite: Burial at Sea saga. Acting as not only a prequel to the first two Bioshock games, but an closing sequel to Bioshock Infinite and the overall story of Irrational’s Bioshock franchise.

Bioshock Infinite: Burial at Sea is a two part episodic DLC and is both a prequel to Bioshock  and Bioshock 2, as well as a sequel to Bioshock Infinite. It is developed by Irrational Games and published by 2K Games. It is available on PC, Playstation 3, and Xbox 360.

I’ve been a longtime fan of Bioshock and have played every entry into the franchise to date, including Bioshock Infinite and the perhaps less than necessary Bioshock 2 (it kind of felt like it was just there with no real place in the Bioshock universe). The Bioshock trilogy had such a grand story, lore, and vast array of interesting characters that it was a franchise that just couldn’t be ignored. That’s when I got extremely excited once Bioshock Infinite was initially revealed about 2 or so years ago. I would have never guessed that Irrational would have turned things around so fast with the end results of Bioshock 2 steaming from our memories. Burial at Sea did what I thought couldn’t be done and topped the multi-award winning title with improved gameplay and an even more vamped story.

Got a light Mister?

THE GOOD: Burial at Sea did an excellent job at establishing the differences between Elizabeth & Booker, both while the two are in the players hands as well as when they’re providing advice and narratives to their opposite ends. With Booker being the definitive muscle of the duo it was fun seeing Elizabeth in a truly weaker state in comparison to playing as the two characters. The use of stealth was a unique way to help differentiate the gameplay between her & Booker. Previously players could just tank as Booker in the original game and in episode one, but with Elizabeth in episode two that just wasn’t the case. You were practically being forced to strategize different methods of taking out your enemies between a mixture of stealth, melee long range attacks, and close range fire fights.

The little sisters before things went so wrong.

I was pretty surprised when bombs from both Bioshock 1 & 2 were dropped midway through the story, it seemed as if Burial at Sea was just a mere continuation in episode one, but then it became something far more. It not only acted as the conclusion to Irrational’s trilogy, but also as the needle that threaded together the entire franchise. Within the closing moments of episode two Jack from the original game makes his appearance to the newly (and partly) risen Rapture. Enemies were pretty much the same, but it was nice seeing a Big Daddy getting introduced as a enemy while in the ‘Infinite’ storyline.

Elizabeth: The Femme Fatal

Another thing I really enjoyed about Burial at Sea is the unique differences in combat between Elizabeth & Booker. As I previously stated, gameplay never felt the same between the two, but the moment gameplay switches the difference is almost immediately noticeable. The difference in strength with both vigors and guns is also something that you take notice of, rather it was due to Irrational up scaling difficulty on the enemies, or down scaling the strength in Elizabeth it’s seen pretty clearly.

Elizabeth has become emotionally damaged due to Booker’s death and other events.

THE BAD: Episode one falls a bit flat initially, and doesn’t really pick up until around the closing moments of gameplay. Lucky episode two was able to kick things into gear to the point where the entire episode became a joy ride.

“Would ya kindly”.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Burial at Sea is an excellent conclusion into Irrational Games’ original Bioshock trilogy, and the only reason I use the word “original” is because effective of Irrational’s closing 2K purchased the rights to the franchise, and you can bet your bottom dollar that the series won’t end here. The key components that make Burial at Sea special is the differences between Booker DeWitt and Elizabeth Cornstock as player characters, as well as the story that threads the story of the trilogy so closely together that players could play the game in the following order: Bioshock Infinite, Burial at Sea, Bioshock 1, Bioshock 2, and not get confused by the story a single bit. Gameplay was pretty much the same, and episode one doesn’t really pick up until around the closing moments, but the Burial at Sea saga proves to be an excellent close to an excellent story.