Bioshock Infinite

Bioshock Infinite, in loving tribute to the first game, begins with a man at a lighthouse in the middle of the ocean. But rather than descending leagues under the sea, the lighthouse launches the man into the sky, to the flying city of Columbia. He's there to find a girl and deliver her to his creditors to wipe away his debt. Naturally, things soon take a turn for the worse, and the man—Booker DeWitt—soon finds himself fighting the entire city to accomplish his mission.

This is a Bioshock game, but rather than continuing the story of Rapture, Bioshock Infinite takes us to new heights in Columbia. There are plenty of other differences to go along with the change in scenery, but the soul and many game systems remain the same. That being said, while Columbia is horrifyingly fascinating to explore and the plot is admittedly well-constructed, I just don't feel as charmed by Bioshock Infinite as I do by the original.

Let's start off with what's the same. Bioshock Infinite is a first-person shooter and, as in the first two Bioshock games, we have a variety of magic powers, although here they're called "vigors" and powered by a resource called "salt." A lot of the story and lore is revealed through audio recordings left by various characters (in devices called "voxaphones") throughout Columbia. The game world is full of containers with money, ammo, and healing items. Lastly, Bioshock Infinite has incredibly strong art direction, with breathtaking cityscapes and retro biopunk aesthetics.

Of course, there's plenty that's changed as well.

The gun/vigor system is basically flipped. In the first two Bioshock games, you could carry and access all your weapons, but you only had a limited number of plasmid slots. In Bioshock Infinite, you always have access to all your vigors, but can only carry two guns at a time. To be honest, I don't like this change. There's a wide variety of guns in the game, but only being able to carry two at a time limits how many you can use at once. Additionally, Bioshock Infinite's upgrade system encourages you to choose two guns and use them the entire game. In Bioshock Infinite, everything—items, vigor upgrades, and weapon upgrades—are paid with currency. In the first two Bioshock games, each of these had a separate gating system: items used currency, plasmids used ADAM, and weapon upgrades were done at Power to the People stations. In the first two games, weapon usage felt much freer because (1) you always had all weapons available, so even if you had upgraded weapons you could still use non-upgraded weapons with no penalty (while in Infinite that requires giving up an upgraded weapon), (2) weapon upgrades were done through Power to the People stations, which dealt exclusively with weapon upgrades, meaning you could freely upgrade weapons whenever you have a chance (while in Infinite, since everything uses the same currency, you need to balance weapon upgrades against vigor upgrades and other items), (3) weapons had multiple ammo types, meaning even if you only used upgraded weapons you could still have some variation by using different ammo types (while each weapon only has one ammo type in Infinite), and (4) weapons had fewer upgrades, making it easier to get multiple fully upgraded weapons (Bioshock has two upgrades per weapon, Bioshock 2 three, and Infinite four). Since you can only have two weapons at a time but always have every vigor, it's most economical in Infinite to fully upgrade two weapons and ignore all others. If you can find a pair of weapons you like it's not a huge deal since the game is still fun, but it's a bit unfortunate that there's all this weapon variety that doesn't translate into actual gameplay variety since you'll only be using two weapons.

While plasmids were replaced with the nearly-identical vigors, gene tonics have been completely removed. Instead, passive abilities are granted by gear. You can have four pieces of gear at a time: hat, shirt, pants, and shoes. Obviously, you have a lot fewer gear slots than gene tonic slots, and the fact that each gear goes in designated slot also means you have much less freedom to mix and match gear compared to gene tonics. To make up for that, however, each individual piece of gear is much more powerful, and you can freely change them at any time. The gear system isn't particularly spectacular or innovative, but gear has a wide variety of effects, meaning you can probably find a nice set to complement your playstyle regardless of your approach.

Hacking has been removed and replaced with lockpicking. There's no minigame or anything, though. You find lockpicks in the game, and you can use them to automatically unlock certain locked doors and safes. In the first level or so you need to find every lockpick if you want to get into every locked door and safe, but after that the game throws way more lockpicks than necessary at you, so that coupled with the fact that you don't need to actually do anything to pick the locks makes the lockpicking system much less engaging than the hacking system from either other game. (The last DLC has a lockpicking minigame, though, so at least they learned their lesson by the end.)

There are no more health packs or EVE hypos (or whatever the salt equivalent would be). You can't stock up on healing items at all. Instead, you get a rechargeable shield and Elizabeth. Elizabeth is the girl whom Booker has been tasked with retrieving, and you will be spending most of the game with her. Every True Gamer(tm) knows how frustrating escort missions can be, which is why the creators specifically designed Elizabeth to avoid those pitfalls. Most importantly, she's completely invulnerable in battle. (Usually she manages to stay under cover, but sometimes she gets caught in the crossfire or an explosion and it looks a bit silly having her remain completely unharmed.) More relevant to the topic at hand, Elizabeth periodically finds health, salts, and ammo for Booker in battle. You don't have any control over what you get, but the game is pretty smart at giving you what you need. While it was a bit unnerving at first to not have a reserve of five health packs to fall on, the shield, recovery items you find, and Elizabeth's help are more than enough. The rechargeable shield is especially nice; it recharges very quickly, meaning if you get hit you don't have to spend that long hiding under cover before diving back into the action.

Elizabeth also has the power to open "tears," creating small portals to other universes. This is part of the main story, but in battle it allows you to (command Elizabeth to) "summon" objects from other worlds. So you can get a barricade that provides cover, or a robotic ally to fight with you, or a crate full of health kits or ammo. The system is simple and easy to use: when you look at an area with a tear, a spectral version of the item you can summon with a textual indicator will appear, and pressing the designated button will command Elizabeth to open the tear, materializing the item. You can only have one tear open at a time so you can't just open them willy-nilly, but this isn't a major limit since you can freely and instantaneously change the open tear at any time. I think this system is actually genius. In any other game, the items in the tears would probably just be lying about the level normally. But since you need to decide you want the item and actively summon it, the items feel like a reward for a legitimate tactical decision you made—even though, considering how simple the tear system is, the game basically just gave them to you. It makes the simple act of picking up items feel way more rewarding and strategic.

The last major gameplay system is the sky-hook: a special tool you can use to grab onto the metal hooks and rails spread throughout Columbia. There are stationary hooks that you can use to get to higher ground, and rails that let you zoom around the city. It's a fun way to get around, and it's exciting using it to escape from enemies in a pinch. However, while the ultimate fantasy regarding the sky-hook would probably be ziping around killing enemies from the sky, it's tough to aim while moving, so I pretty much used it solely as a movement system. At least they made getting on and dismounting easy.

The story is overall pretty good. Like Rapture in the first two Bioshock games, the city of Columbia is as much a character in Infinite as any human. Columbia is basically America but for people who thought America wasn't American enough. It gives an entirely new meaning to the phrase "civil religion," with, for example, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson worshipped as literal gods. Of course, America has its faults, and those are magnified as well. These faults are one of the main driving forces in the game, and you can probably figure them out if you think about it a bit, but I won't spell it out in the review.

Bioshock Infinite's plot development is more organic than the previous games'. In the first two Bioshock games, you had a final destination, and the levels were the places that just happened to be between where you started and where you wanted to end up. There's no "filler" in Infinite, and you have a specific task you're trying to accomplish at nearly every location you visit. On the flipside, in the first two games, most levels had a particular character that would interact with you over the course of the level, and whom you would confront at the end of the level. I liked learning about Rapture through interaction with specific, major figures in the city, but this sort of level structure is greatly curtailed in Infinite. However, the lack of this level format is counterbalanced by a very simple fact...

Booker can talk.

Both Jack and Delta were silent protagonists. As a result, the first two Bioshock games constantly needed someone to talk to you to advance the plot. While you had Atlas and Sinclair to provide advice, a disembodied voice can only take you so far. But Booker can talk, meaning he and Elizabeth can develop the plot all on their own. Plus, since Elizabeth is physically there with you, rather than just communicating with you over a radio, Booker and Elizabeth have much more interaction than Jack and Atlas or Delta and Sinclair.

Booker and Elizabeth are the beating heart of Bioshock Infinite. They're both sarcastic and witty, which makes for entertaining banter. In fact, Elizabeth feels surprisingly social and conversational for a girl brought up in captivity... but it makes the game more entertaining, so whatever. She at least has a fitting streak of naivete, which in turn is balanced by Booker's cynicism.

However, while I think Bioshock Infinite surpasses its predecessors in character and plot development, its story doesn't quite reach to the same level. Well, it at least doesn't reach the level of the first Bioshock. Bioshock 2 is a whole different issue, but that's not what this review is about....

Bioshock Infinite's story is put together well. I have to give it that. The characters and Columbia itself are developed in tandem, and it's clear a lot of thought and lore went into creating Columbia. Booker and Elizabeth constantly discuss what's going on, and do so intelligently. Idiotic protagonists always aggravate me, and that's breezily avoided here. But the characters and setting only go so far. What made Bioshock so special was its themes and medium-bending narrative, and Infinite just doesn't quite have those.

First, the themes. Bioshock was a thoroughly concerned with objectivism, while Bioshock 2 was all about collectivism. Bioshock Infinite doesn't have an equivalent. I think the game tried to use its exaggerated American civil religion to fill that spot, but it doesn't quite work. The first two Bioshock games each analyzed a political philosophy, which aren't inherently good or evil, while Infinite just sort of points and goes "This bad thing is bad." While Columbia's hyper-Americanized culture is interesting to physically explore in-game, the fact that it's not "real" in the same way objectivism and collectivism are, and that it merely provides a cartoonishly evil caricature of the thing it's trying to critique, mean it's not quite as satisfying to intellectually delve into.

And then the narrative. Both Bioshock and Bioshock 2 were about choice and consequence. While Bioshock Infinite also has choice as a theme, it takes it—and the entire plot—in a totally different direction, in my opinion to its detriment. There's two main issues for me. First, it's less... special. The fact that you, the player, played the game is an essential part of Bioshock's narrative, and forms the core of its most distinctive plot point. Bioshock 2 also took player agency into account. But Infinite doesn't. Bioshock could not work as a film, while Infinite would have no problems. Not having a plot that would only work in a video game admittedly isn't inherently bad, but... my second problem is that I think Infinite just couldn't quite pull off the story it tried to tell. If you allow me to be pithy for a moment, it felt like the game had no issues being Bioshock "Finite" when it was easier for the writers. It introduces certain concepts and ideas, but conveniently ignores them whenever they become problematic for the narrative. They aren't major, glaring issues, and the game builds up more than enough goodwill for me to just roll with them, but it still created a nagging feeling in the back of my head that prevented me from thinking Infinite was quite on the level as the original Bioshock.

I also thought the first Bioshock handled its ending much more masterfully. The genius of Bioshock's narrative structure was that it put the climax at the beginning of the final act, rather than the very end of the game. We make it through the narrative high point, and all the exposition and development it entails, and so once we beat the last level we can immediately get to the final payoff and resolution without any extra baggage. In contrast, Infinite has a big final gameplay event, and then a long ending sequence that serves as the climax and resolution of the story. It felt like much more standardized writing, and, since I had nothing better to do during the ending sequence, I kept wanting to nitpick all the plot developments that were getting piled on. The ending is dramatic and stylish and as smart as the rest of the game (which is pretty smart, especially for a shooter), but... just not quite as good as Bioshock.

Of course, that's not really the end of Bioshock Infinite; there's also the DLC!

Let's get Clash in the Clouds out of the way first. It's nothing more than a battle arena where you fight to earn points to unlock behind-the-scenes goodies. There's no story or justification, and the whole thing is non-canon. If you enjoy Bioshock Infinite's combat and want to learn more about its development, you can probably get a ton of mileage out of it. I personally played it for ten minutes before moving onto...

Burial at Sea is a separate, shorter narrative campaign divided into two episodes. It's basically about Booker and Elizabeth having an adventure in Rapture. (Hence, "Burial at Sea.") My thoughts on Burial at Sea basically mirror my thoughts on the base game: smart and mostly fine, but the ending is... Well, let's discuss the bulk of the plot first.

There's two elements of Burial at Sea that I think are particularly cool. First, it takes place in Rapture before it fell apart. Even though we spent plenty of time in Rapture in the previous games, we never got to see it in its splendor. The city is absolutely stunning to witness, and it's great to see Rapture at its best after becoming so well-acquainted with its worst. The other thing that I really liked in Burial at Sea was that it expands upon characters and ideas from all three Bioshock games. I won't go much deeper on this, since it's inherently plot-related, but there's one person in particular whose character is completely flipped on their head from the base game.

Before going over Burial at Sea's ending, I want to discuss the gameplay a bit. Episode 1 plays largely like the base campaign, but Episode 2 changes things up and basically turns Infinite into a stealth game. I was a bit off-put by this shift—I signed up for an FPS, not this!—but it ended up not being a huge deal. The game is pretty lenient on the stealth: under certain conditions, you can literally just walk up to people head-on and do a stealth take-down. And you're free to just murder everyone as usual, if you'd prefer.

And now, the ending. When you first go into Burial at Sea, it seems like it's going to just be a fun side-story. But then it turns into an attempt to bridge the gap between Bioshock, Bioshock 2, and Bioshock Infinite, and unfortunately just falls into that gap instead. I understand what the game was trying to do—and I just don't like it. On an intellectual level, I can see how Burial at Sea elegantly dovetails one narrative into another. But from an emotional standpoint, the ending fails in basically every respect. It sucks for everyone we like, it feels forced, the character motivations don't make much sense, we have the Bioshock "Finite" problem again, it makes a lot of what we did feel pointless, and the scope has been drastically shrunk from the finale of the base campaign without any justification for doing so. When I finished the base campaign I just had a nagging feeling in the back of my head, but Burial at Sea left me with a bad taste in my mouth.

That being said, I still highly recommend Burial at Sea. Even if it bungles the landing, experiencing Rapture at its height and the development of the previous games is still worth it.

I want to end this on a positive note because, despite the amount of text I've devoted to picking apart Bioshock Infinite's flaws and shortcomings, it's still a good game. And it has absolutely fantastic aesthetics and art direction.

Graphics have always been one of the Bioshock's strong suits: Rapture was incredibly well-realized, beautifully presenting the 50's biopunk sunken dystopia. The developers had to go in basically the opposite direction for Columbia—Rapture was in ruins at the bottom of the sea, while Columbia is prospering in the sky—and they still knocked it out of the park. Bioshock Infinite captures the feeling of America in the Second Industrial Revolution, and does a phenomenal job merging the anachronistically advanced technology (such as automated vending machines) with that aesthetic. Even as graphics continue to advance, Bioshock Infinite (and its predecessors) will perpetually look good due to their comprehensive style. You can also tell that the developers put extra care into developing Elizabeth's model, animations, and facial expressions, and it paid off, because she looks fantastic and realistic (within the context of Infinite's stylization) without falling into the uncanny valley.

Bioshock Infinite is another strong entry in the franchise. Even though we've completely changed time period and setting, we're still served another superpowered adventure through an astounding city with an intelligent story. While there are some bumps here and there, both in gameplay and narrative, Bioshock Infinite and Burial at Sea are undoubtedly worth playing if you enjoyed the original Bioshock.