The Infinite Stories of Bioshock

Bioshock Infinite was made by Irrational Games, the same studio that made the first Bioshock. Having never played Bioshock 1 or 2, I was a little hesitant to purchase this. Regardless I decided to take a leap of faith and give this game a chance, despite my reservations about its predecessors. Did the leap pay off or was it a waste of money? Let’s find out in my review.

STORYLINE

The protagonist is Booker DeWitt and the year is 1912. He’s a man with insane gambling debts and in order to pay them off, he’s sent to a flying city to retrieve a girl. The story line is as crazy as the movie Inception and I for one loved it. I admit that at the end, I ranted and screamed "WTF?!" much like I did with Inception but I loved every minute of it, like I did Inception. The flying city, Columbia, is reminiscent of what you would expect America to be at that point in time. The city is segregated and there are two warring factions, the Vox Populi and the Founders. Outside of that, there's really not much more I can say about the story that won't be a spoiler and/or confuse you because believe me, I was lost.

GAMEPLAY

The game itself is a first person shooter. Simplest way to explain it is you have a gun in one hand, and your powers are used in the other. There are plenty of combinations for the different powers you have, so feel free to experiment. For example, one power can launch your opponents in the air and from there you can shoot them, or throw in another power. Ammo and salts (your magic) can pick off of enemies and just simply found lying around.

LENGTH

You could probably finish BI in around 10 or so hours if you speed through. Doesn’t sound like much no, but it’s time well spent. There's some hidden stuff around that will make you stronger that can be worth seeking out. After you complete the game, there’s the 1999 mode which sets the difficulty to extreme. So if you're a perfectionist like me, give it a go. As a side note I tried 1999 mode and I didn’t make it that far on my first go. It. Is. Ridiculous. 

GRAPHICS/SOUND

  

The game uses Unreal Engine 3, the same engine as games like Dishonored or Borderlands 2 so the graphics of this game are amazing. The sound track is interesting in a good way. There's a set style of music for when the conflict begins and ends so you'll almost always know if there's an enemy around. What's fun is that occasionally you'll find tears (you'll find out when you play) that'll play popular music from the 90's. It's kind of neat to me.

OVERALL

If I could change anything about the game I’d make it a bit more open in terms of exploration. How you get from point A to Point B is up to you, but I would’ve loved to be able to travel a bit more outside of that. There could be a few more side missions, outside of the few already offered. And most importantly, I would add more sky rails. Fighting/traveling on the sky rails is awesome! All in all I love this game and would give it 9.5 out of 10. If you decide to pick up the game let me know how you like it. In the meantime, I'm going to go watch Inception. I have this weird urge to watch it for some reason.