Game Review: Bioshock Infinite

"Bring us the girl and wipe away the debt"        
          This is going to be something a little different; it’s my first review of a video game. The reason’s I wanted to review this one in particular was that I love the Bioshock franchise, it beautiful both story wise and artistically and secondly I rarely buy games on launch day and normally I’m a slow player (I’ll try and do all the side missions/exploration that I can) so while this game is still fresh in people’s minds I thought I’d throw in my two cents.

          So the story of Bioshock Infinite takes place in an alternate 1920’s where Booker DeWitt (you), is trying to find a girl and bring her to New York to clear away his debt, what that debt is we don’t know but the girl is Elizabeth. Booker’s search for Elizabeth leads him to Columbia a floating city in the sky, controlled by Zachary Comstock the leader of The Founders a religious/cult like political party (they model their ideals after the founding fathers of the United States), that rules Columbia with an iron fist. Booker manages to free Elizabeth he helps him free her from her tower where she’s been locked up. While in Columbia, Booker learns that the city is in the midst of a war between The Founders, a faction of the white and rich supremacists led by Comstock, and the Vox Populi, a multi-racial and multi-nationality group of the poor and the working class. Both factions desire Elizabeth and her powers, believing they can use her to turn the tide of the war in their favor. While searching for the First Lady's zeppelin, Booker witnesses Elizabeth's ability first hand; the city is riddled with shimmering rips in the air known as Tears, which are windows or doors to other universes and other times. Elizabeth has the ability to widen these Tears and manipulate them by transporting objects from other realities to the reality she is in.

          To talk anymore about the story would spoil it on people but Booker and Elizabeth fight together and eventually escape the city, how exactly you’ll have to play the game to find out, or I’ll attach a link to the games wiki if you’d like to read the story there (click here). While the story is great, it the amazing visuals that set this game apart. The first two Bioshock games were known for their beautiful artwork and the city of Rapture became a character in and of itself to the people who played either game. The biggest differences between Columbia and Rapture are firstly Columbia is a live city, its teeming with life and people going about their daily business and they won’t pay any attention to you, this contrasts with Raptures citizens who are genetically modified mutants who’ll attack you on sight. The second biggest difference is that Rapture is a city under the ocean and is very dank and dark where as Rapture is so light and airy it even has humming birds flying to and fro from flower to flower, much of my initial hours of playing the game were simply me just moving slowly through the city and admiring all the little small details and getting lost in the beauty of it all.

At this stage I should talk about the games mechanics, the game is technically a First person shooter (FPS), for nongaming people that means you see through the eyes of the character you control and look down the barrel of their gun, and as a FPS it’s very easy the play and because of the genre it puts you directly in the action. The previous Bioshock games were well known for their moral choices which affected how the games ended and while there are choices in this game they have no impact of the overall game, which once you’ve finished the game makes sense, but it is a pity to of lost that aspect of the game. I would love to talk about the ending and my thoughts of what I means and what I think could happen but I won’t do that here if people want that let me know and I’ll make another post dedicated to the ending.

          I nearly forgot to talk about the music in the game, I keep meaning to mention music in my movie reviews but often times its just there as background noise. Well that’s not the case here, the music in Bioshock Infinite is as much a character and narrator as anyone else in the game, each song feels like its been specifically picked and placed for how it relates to different struggles/revelations in the games, the best way I have to describe it is the same way the music is used in the movie Drive (one of my favourite movies by the way), so go watch Drive and you’ll see what I mean.

         Now, to wrap this review up and give it a mark out of ten. I want to say a few final words before I give this score, this is not a perfect game for example there is one boss you will fight three times and at times the game can feel a little easy and then suddenly jump massively in difficulty, but as an overall package and an experience I have to give Bioshock Infinite 10/10. No other game has had me pondering the meaning of its ending nine days after I’ve completed it and very few games have sucked me in as completely as this. Hope you’ve enjoyed this review and if you’d like to see more game reviews let me know and if you got the urge to pick up this game I encourage you to go out and pick it up immediately.