SPOILER ALERT-SPOILER ALERT!

If you have not played, or beaten Bioshock Infinite
then the following review might spoil the game for you.

Bioshock Infinite is the prequel to 2007’s Bioshock and 2010’s Bioshock 2. Based in the year 1912 on the floating city of Columbia, the game stars player characters Booker DeWitt and 17 year old Elizabeth. Booker and Elizabeth must face a group of murderous religious zealots, killer rebels, the Handymen, and the vicious Songbird.

Bioshock Infinite features a number of improvements over it’s previous installments including the music, gameplay, and graphics just to name a few, but that doesn’t mean it’s lacking in flaws, despite it’s contender ship for Game of the Year. In this review we will look at the good, the bad, and the (very minor) ugliness of the game.

THE GOOD: There’s plenty of good when it comes to Bioshock Infinite, for one thing it brings a whole new light to the story of Rapture, the franchise’s previous setting. The story was so well written that you’d want to replay the game just in case there were some things you missed. The relationship between Elizabeth and Booker is felt throughout almost every moment of the game, especially close to the climax of the story. You even feel sorry for Songbird after he perishes once Elizabeth transports herself, Booker and Songbird to Rapture. 

The gameplay is solid, but plays like a typical FPS, so it shouldn’t be hard to pick up and jump in, even if you’ve never played a game in the Bioshock franchise before (considering Bioshock Infinite is a prequel, you may actually want to start here, if you want to play all three).

Elizabeth’s AI is another great part of the game. In most cases AI characters have always been known to either suck, or be moderately helpful, but Elizabeth was an extremely helpful companion character, especially if you’re in a tight spot while in a group shoot out.

The music was powerful including the heart pounding battle music. There were moments where you thought you had killed every enemy, but it would continue playing, only for someone to jump out at you from nowhere.

The Lutece Twins was definitely one of the top tier highlights of the game. Their sarcastic tone and riddle like speaking put the story in a good light from a humorous stand point, and they’re easily my favorite video game characters, topping the original favorite Link.

THE BAD: As mentioned Bioshock Infinite suffers from a few draw backs. For one thing the difficulty was unbalanced, ranging from crazy difficult to extremely easy, depending on the number of upgrades you have, what Vigors you used, and the weapons you have during gameplay.

Elizabeth’s current concept is another disappointment, don’t get me wrong, she’s a great character and AI wise, but when you watch the 2010 demo (embedded below) after actually playing the final product, you can’t help but feel a bit ripped off. The original Elizabeth, did more than just toss you a refill on whatever it was you were low on, she actually helped you fight the enemies, she was a serious threat. Equipped with her own set of powers and abilities including one power where she could levitate certain items to fling at your opponents.

THE UGLY: Here’s where things became an annoyance or problem with the game. As previously stated the difficulty was mixed, but there were times when things just got too easy. For example, if you used the handcanon throughout most of the game, most enemies could be taken out with one shot. There were also moments where melee kills were the only thing needed to get rid of a small group of enemies.

The Vigors basically become useless at a certain part of the game, an issue I don’t recall in either of the previous two games with the Plasmids. Speaking of Vigors if you upgraded the Shock Jockey to a certain point, you could use it and certain guns to kill an enemy in two hits, though I’m not sure if this was due to the Shock Jockey’s upgrade, a powerful weapon being added to the damage, or both, but I recall using a fairly weak un upgraded shotgun to kill an enemy in two hits with the upgraded Shock Jockey.

The guide wasn’t always helpful either, to be very honest there were also times when I got lost or confused during use of the guide.

When you died things actually got even easier! I know this probably belongs in the above post, but I felt it was deserving of it’s own. Anyways, when you died you actually regain quite a few bullets and salts, it mention that your enemies you killed before death remained dead.  I also hated how money was the way revival worked, if you had, say $2000, you basically had infinite lives.

It’s too damn short! Don’t you hate it when a good thing doesn’t last? That’s the case with Bioshock Infinite, only 9 hours on normal difficulty, and about 11-15 (15 if lucky), on hard and 1999 mode.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Bioshock Infinite isn’t perfect, but for a game in the Bioshock franchise, it’s as close at you can get (for now). The story and characters are powerful elements that make up the game in a beautiful way. The gameplay had some mixed ups and downs, but still was petty fun to actually play. And taking time to explore every inch of Columbia was worth it.