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BioShock Infinite

26 March 2013
BioShock Infinite - cover art
Glitchwave rating
3.38 / 5.0
0.5
5.0
 
 
2,967 Ratings / 10 Reviews
#1,297 All-time
#38 for 2013
Seeking to clear a debt, former Pinkerton agent Booker DeWitt takes the job to rescue a girl named Elizabeth from the mysterious floating city of Columbia, and ends up in the midst of a civil war between the elite and lower class rebels of the city.
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Bioshock Infinite: the thinking person's game where you mindlessly shoot waves of enemies
Bioshock Infinite received a huge amount of hype before and upon release, and having enjoyed the first Bioshock, I was excited to play it. I was extremely disappointed by this game. I found the gameplay to be boring, repetitive, and gimmicky, but even worse, given the priority of narrative in Bioshock games, aspects of the story are objectively incoherent. Any honest analysis of the story and writing of this game without "turning your brain off" makes it obvious that the writing is poor, deliberately over-complicates some elements of the plot and obfuscates others for the purpose of creating an atmosphere of profundity without having anything profound going on. Oh, and this is all while you kill thousands of people, brutally executing some of them, while laughably having your Disney princess daughter tag along through the firefights and gore. Spoilers are below.

When assessing Bioshock Infinite, it's especially important to emphasize the narrative focus of Bioshock games and the social and political critique that they attempt. For example, it's well known that the first Bioshock was an exploration of libertarian/Randian ideology, and a portrayal of a libertarian dystopia and failed political experiment. I emphasize this because the failures of Bioshock Infinite's story would be easier to ignore if it had less prominence in the game. As a consequence of this, Bioshock Infinite should largely be assessed in a manner similar to films. In contrast to the first Bioshock games, Bioshock Infinite's social critique is less focused. Rather than going down to a city in the ocean to see the results of letting scientists, artists, and capitalists completely off the leash in a libertarian paradise in the 1950s, you go up to a city in the sky to see the results of racism and religion at the beginning of the 20th century. In the game, you fight across the city against racists, religious fanatics, all the while unfolding a nonlinear, time travel, multiverse plot-line. A young woman also tags along with you for most of the game, who is revealed to be the player character's daughter. The aspect of the plot that is objectively incoherent is that player character turns out to be the big bad guy in the end from another timeline/universe/whatever and needs to die to stop the events of the game. As others have shown, if you dig down below the game's mystifications of its own story to assess the timelines, killing the player character couldn't change the plot in any way. This incoherence is not excusable because it's supposed to be the great big (predictable) plot twist at the end. This shows that the writers were lazy and gives the entire game a feeling similar to a Christopher Nolan film: at the end it feels deep because it doesn't quite make sense during the first watch/playthrough, but when you go to watch/play it again you learn that it didn't make sense because it just didn't fucking make sense. Developer: Irrational Games. No kidding, huh?

Most strikingly however, at the risk of making the same point again, it is difficult to combine extremely violent first person gameplay with rich plot and character development, even with narrative devices such as playing expository audio (records you find in the game) while you hose down hordes of enemies with bullets. Bioshock games face difficulty at the level of genre because of the tension between the extremely violent first person shooter gameplay and the rich plot development they attempt. Bioshock was partially successful with its narrative despite this tension because it focused on piecing together the events that led to the downfall of Rapture and exploring the ruins. Bioshock Infinite in contrast has greater focus on character development, and its tension at the level of genre renders its attempt at believable character exploration laughable. I was cracking up while playing this game because apparently your daughter can look you in the eyes and dance around with you even after you rip people's heads off with a rotary hook device and she's been running through streams of gunfire for hours on end. How could the writers expect players to continue to suspend disbelief when this happens in the game? It never reaches the levels of being "so bad it's good," but it comes close at a few moments. Again, this is not excusable because "it's just a game, not a movie" because of its narrative focus. It's impossible to play the game without interacting with the awful story.

Regarding the nonlinear/multiverse/time travel plot, writers and consumers should recognize the narrative-structural challenges associated with nonlinear plotlines. Giving entities or characters in a story too much power over the narrative structure can make the coherence of the narrative collapse. If Elisabeth is so powerful, why didn't she just resolve the conflict of the story herself? This would of course render all other aspects of the story superfluous. Bioshock Infinite attempts to rescue the structural coherence of its narrative from being swallowed up by Elisabeth's godlike powers with the embarrassing cop-out "some things are constant." It is never explained, explored, or examined exactly why some things are constant. Since this is the only thing restraining Elisabeth's total power over the story, it would in fact be the most significant and interesting part of the story. But nope, "some things are constant" is just an excuse from the writers.

I didn't find the game to be fun to play at all. It's great if others did, but I would suggest they look into better first person shooters to play, because first person shooters contemporary to Bioshock Infinite demonstrate that the gunplay is unimpressive even for its time. From the weapons to the magic, there's basically nothing new from the first Bioshock. Level after level of generic firefight after generic firefight grinding away to get boring upgrades for your weapons. Gimmicks such as the skyhook/circular saw decapitation device don't cover up how boring and repetitive the gameplay is. The replay value is low; who would want to slog through that again? The first Bioshock game had creative enemies and bosses (most notably the Big Daddies) and interesting combat scenarios, such as having to don the Big Daddy armor. The first Bioshock featured morally significant gameplay choices that affected the outcome of the game itself (should you use some of the evil juice to power yourself up, even if you are exploiting the Little Sisters while doing so?) The ostensibly significant "choices" Bioshock Infinite presents (should you join the racists and throw stuff at black people? Should you give your daughter the brooch with the cage or the bird?) actually have no impact on the outcome of the story whatsoever. These choices are presented as significant in the game. I suppose the game was trying to make a fatalistic point by including this, or something? More than anything it makes it even harder for the player to suspend disbelief and makes the writers seem insultingly pretentious, tryhard, and 2deep4u.

The first Bioshock games were pretty cool, so it's easy to see why there was so much hype before the release of Bioshock Infinite. It's not easy to see why there were so many glowing reviews after its release, however. A 10/10 rating for Bioshock Infinite from GameInformer and many other publications is bizarre, and makes their ratings suspect. I understand and respect that there are still defenders of this game, but I don't understand or respect the assertion that this is a perfect game. Critics who say so need to get better at assessing works in their totality. Consequently, Bioshock Infinite was a landmark in the history of video game culture, a moment which demonstrated the increasing rift between creators and journalists on the one hand and consumers on the other...

This is not a good game and never will be, even if the youtube personalities, journalists, and shills say it is three times. I was hoping to find at least something praiseworthy about it after reflecting on it enough to write this review, but as I put down my concluding remarks I find that I still don't really have anything good to say that's significant. I suppose it looks and sounds good, but not good enough to play it for that alone. Plus its looks and sounds are dated now anyways. Would not play again, not recommended.
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PeterGeach 2021-07-02T12:53:17Z
2021-07-02T12:53:17Z
0.5
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Now that I've got a better grasp on the confusing ass timeline I can appreciate what Bioshock: Infinite was going for.

I consider this the a third part of a series which draws from the struggle for an American cultural identity. The first two games were mostly about secular ideologies. Here, Christianity is at the heart of it. This a story about God and religion, white supremacy, and most importantly, sin and forgiveness. It's also a story about time travel but I'll get to that in second.

Booker carries with him two reasons for intense guilt. One is his participation at Wounded Knee. The other is the surrendering of his child to pay off his gambling debts. He is a broken man who believes he is beyond forgiveness. His baptism creates from him the monster that is Comstock. However, this Comstock is infertile and needs a kid. He finds a way to access a timeline where Booker was never baptized and takes Booker's child. Booker is brought into that timeline by the Luteces "to set things right" for their own inscrutable reasons, and after the events of the game, Booker is brought back to his baptism and drowned by his daughter(s), making it so Comstock was never born.

I don't know how coherent the timeline is. I suspect plot holes and I don't know why drowning Booker would destroy all of the Comstock timelines, but I also don't think it really matters. What matters is how the game interacts with the themes of sin and forgiveness. Everything happening around Booker is a blur, he is apathetic, he is just here to get the job done and pay back his debt, which I think aligns nicely with the theme of washing away his sins. Both he and Elizabeth discuss this throughout the game and by the end it emotionally moved me. It is by far the strongest part of the game which is a little disappointing because the rest isn't quite so good.

The Vox Populi is the main story issue. Where the Grace Holloway story in Bioshock 2 covered similar themes but managed to do it well I found Daisy Comstock to be a flat and unsympathetic character. She is a stock revolutionary, bloodthirsty to the core, and in the words of Booker, equally as bad as Comstock. I think the game could have gotten away with this if it were told better but it goes from focusing on the oppressive class system and racism of Columbia to criticism of the revolutionaries on a dime. Booker's apathy might be an explanation but it doesn't sit right.

To move on to the gameplay things are kind of weak. It is not bad by any means. Skylines are awesome, the vigor wheel is cool, and movement is incredibly fluid especially compared to the first two games. It's just that with a few exceptions the battles themselves aren't especially memorable. The variety of approaches you can take is pretty cool and there is more verticality involved than most games but it becomes very samey after a while. I found few battles challenging. But there are higher difficult modes I haven't explored.

In terms of graphics I love the colour palettes and lighting here. The pinks and yellows and blues are simply beautiful. NPC models repeat a lot and give a bizarre uncanny valley effect which is especially noticeable during the beach part.

Bioshock: Infinite is a very good game and a fitting end to the series.
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IndustrialHz 2021-08-01T07:42:36Z
2021-08-01T07:42:36Z
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Bioshock Infinite: HIT X TO SAY RACISM IS GOOD

Bioshock Infinite: HIT Y TO SAY RACISM IS BAD

player: “racism is bad”

Booker: *stares at gun in hand for a long time* “racism.. goes both ways” *kills the only black character in the game who has a name*

- Animedads on Tumblr
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Roseoun 2023-10-02T17:24:27Z
2023-10-02T17:24:27Z
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+ A beautifully-crafted world and a novel setting.
+ Really nice music.
+ A really great story, and a very useful companion at that.

I really enjoyed this, one of those games I will remember for a long time.

Completed.
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Chieftah 2021-11-27T07:25:12Z
2021-11-27T07:25:12Z
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I have an enterprising question for all of you to answer: what is BioShock? Really, think about this for a second or two. No, I will not be accepting the literal answer of “BioShock is a critically acclaimed first-person shooter series developed and published by 2K games,” you smart-asses. I want everyone to deeply consider the most vital components of BioShock that comprise its integral distinctiveness as a series and why they’ve resonated with millions of gamers. Is it the underwater city of Rapture and its sublime, sunken remnants of its former glory? Is it the relationship between the possessed Little Sisters and their thuggish Big Daddy protectors? Could it perhaps be the moral choice mechanics that cause a sense of ludonarrative dissonance and befuddle all of the snobby critics of the world? I mostly jest at that last part, but I’d be lying if it wasn’t at least a sizable fraction of the discussion surrounding BioShock. I parlay this question to the reader here because BioShock Infinite, the third installment to the BioShock series doesn’t include any of the aforementioned elements that one would associate with the franchise. BioShock 2 perhaps laid the first game’s idiosyncrasies on a little too thick to the point of being derivative, and the once awe-striking spectacle of Rapture and its intriguing downfall, unfortunately, became as numbing as gaming novocaine. I suppose BioShock Infinite is the result of our collective complaints ringing harshly in the ears of the 2K offices, and they certainly conveyed that they understood our gripes and grievances and took necessary action. BioShock Infinite is so unlike the BioShock that launched the series into the esteemed ranks of gaming royalty that an owl would have to squint at it to recognize the connection. Is the fresh-faced Infinite a relieving title that revitalizes the remarkable quality of the first game, or is it an example of an identity crisis that proves 2K should’ve left the first game as the sole entry? My take on the matter leaves me conflicted.

Judging by Infinite’s opening sequence, the game at least exudes some sense of BioShock familiarity. One indelible image from the first BioShock title is a lighthouse prototype of the monumental pillar erected from the abyssal ocean below where the city of Rapture is located, where Jack attempted to find a place of respite after being stranded in the open waters after his plane crash. Booker DeWitt, the protagonist of Infinite, is conversely being comfortably rowed to the pillar with a better sense of certainty and purpose. After climbing the pillar and opening the gate with a secret code, Booker enters the inner vessel where Jack is introduced to his birthright from the vessel’s on-looking window screen. However, what will surprise the player is that this elevator goes up. Instead of being submerged a hundred leagues under the sea, Booker is transported to the blindingly golden glimmers of the sky. Has Booker died and gone to heaven? No, he’s gone to Columbia: a civilization sitting above the clouds modeled to resemble heaven as much as humanly possible. From the vessel’s one clear reference to the outside world, Booker views the sights of Columbia’s magnificence. From the soaring zeppelins, the lofty angel statue looking over the miles of metropolis, to the launching of fireworks, Columbia’s beauty will make the player involuntarily shed a single tear. I see what the developers did here, and I approve of their efforts to recreate the opening sequence from the first BioShock. Infinite’s opening sequence suggests that the same scenario can still elicit a wondrous effect, even if it does warrant a smidge of deja vu from how it’s directed. The core difference is that the initial glimpse of Columbia evokes a feeling of elated marvel as opposed to anxious curiosity upon seeing the outside of Rapture. Still, it’s impressive that what I regarded as the most effective hook of an opening sequence in gaming can be rivaled in scope by a game in the same series.

Columbia is as much of a culture shock for the player as it is for Booker. For a series that seemed like Rapture was destined to be its permanent stomping grounds, it’s almost ironic that this new setting is the antithesis of the underwater society. Setting foot on Columbia and seeing the sights from a more personal viewpoint will leave the player just as gobsmacked as they did as a voyeur from the vessel. The sun is radiating down on the spotless streets where a bustling crowd of people engage in mid-day merriment. Unlike the denizens of Rapture, these people aren’t missing full rows of teeth and seem to have all of their mental faculties intact. Shops are still in business and choirs are cheerfully performing an anachronistic acapella version of “God Only Knows” by The Beach Boys. The scene here is so idyllic that it’s what I imagine Norman Rockwell is busy painting in the afterlife. When Booker gains his first plasmid vigor by drinking it like an elixir, the smelling salt of BioShock recognizability prudently flashes us back to the reality of the game we are supposed to be playing. The following scene will be the first of many scrapes in the process of ripping up the proverbial wallpaper mirage that Columbia bestows. Booker uses the possession vigor to perform a Jedi mind trick on a ticket machine for an ongoing raffle. By winning the raffle, Booker gets the utmost privilege of throwing a baseball at an exploited interracial couple as a warmup for a humiliating tarring and feathering they are about to endure. Whether or not you make the right choice and do not cave into the racist peer pressuring of the time, guards will stop Booker mid-throw and accost him for the engraved marking on the back of his right hand. Apparently, this mark labels him as some kind of pariah and will stop at nothing to apprehend him. Now, the city's superficial mask has been torn off and the cop slaughter that ensues serves as the point where the game starts to make sense.

Let’s continue to harp on the setting of Columbia because it bothers me as much as it beguiles me. I don’t think I have to further compare and contrast how Columbia’s atmosphere differs from Raptures because anyone can plainly see it’s a night and day situation. Also, presenting a setting with a more pleasant and sparkling aesthetic, albeit on a surface level, is not the bothersome facet of difference regarding the sky city. What irks me is how far the world design seen in Rapture takes a steep regression with Columbia. While many immersive sim enthusiasts will scoff at me for stating this, the level plotting in both previous BioShocks (especially the first one) was a rich, multi-layered trek down the rabbit hole of Rapture. Areas were mapped with a great deal of meticulous plotting and inspiration, as if every corridor of the dank, sunken cesspit told its own story in tandem with the big picture of Rapture’s colossal failures. Objectives given in the first game may have admittedly tested the thresholds of tedium with fetch quests a tad too liberally. Still, the oppressiveness of Rapture’s labyrinthian hallways never faltered even with subsequent visitations. Running through Columbia, on the other hand, is as linear as an esophageal tract. To say that progression in Infinite is streamlined is an understatement: the game is ironed out like a graphic t-shirt. Infinite is one straightaway trek after another with the frequent enemy swarm to halt Booker’s momentum and distract the player from their straightforward trajectory. It’s a wonder why the developers implemented the arrow feature that points to the objective because every decimal point of Booker’s quest is conspicuously defined. What occurs when a game makes a mad dash from point A to B is that the setting becomes a foreground piece of window dressing. Infinite will take the player through countless Columbia streets, plazas, docks, and the insides of buildings with extravagant, Victorian-era decor. Still, do any of these setpieces really matter in the grand scheme of things? While exploring Columbia is still fractured by individual levels, the inability to stop and smell Columbia’s pristine roses makes the city far more of a monolith. As immense as I’ve made it sound, the context here suggests that Columbia is lacking layers. Columbia is grand from the aerial view but proves to be shallow past the surface. Even with the new sky-line mechanic that sees Booker zipping through Columbia on his makeshift transit system, the trajectory just amounts to either a shortcut or a cyclical loop on the track. Also, while I enjoy the adrenaline of the first-person rollercoaster, this extent of swashbuckling in a BioShock game makes me feel a little embarrassed for the claustrophobic previous titles in the series. We still have video diaries and kinetoscope viewings as peripheral tools for further insight into Columbia, but their implementation doesn’t make much sense considering the city is still thriving. One thing that does interest me is how they managed to implement an active beach with sand and rippling waves crashing on the shore of this floating island.

You know what video game genre revels in this design philosophy that’s as narrow as an uncooked spaghetti noodle? The first-person shooter genre, specifically the modern examples that encompassed the genre’s peak of popularity in the late 2000s/early 2010s. One might be confused by my assertion that the then-king of video game trends is the primary cause of Infinite’s streamlining considering the BioShock series has always been a first-person shooter game by definition. As I’ve expressed before, BioShock’s success was in part because it was a sophisticated outlier of its kind. It wasn’t convoluted enough for the immersive sim PC playing crowd, but its level design and narrative were far more cerebral than any of the campaigns of the gung-ho FPS games it was competing with on consoles. Guess which direction Infinite takes to throw off BioShock’s refined genre equilibrium? On top of the linear level direction, BioShock’s treasure trove of firearms organized by a weapon wheel has been reduced to two firearms on Booker’s person, swapping between the two with a button press. This limited method of alternating between the weapons doesn’t make a lick of sense to me when the more typical FPS games implement it, so you can imagine the weight of the exasperated sigh I made when I discovered that Infinite followed suit with it when I picked up another gun. However, the game still assures that Booker will be alternating his sparse selection frequently because the weapon variety retains its enormity. Booker’s first means of defense against Columbia’s righteous pigs is a small, yet effective pistol, which can soon be supplemented by the BioShock staples of a shotgun, machine gun, RPG, etc. New additions that will be objects of curiosity at Booker’s feet include the kicking hand cannon, the explosive launcher volley gun, a carbine hunting rifle, and a bodacious, automatic chain gun to turn armies of enemies into Swiss cheese in seconds. Each of these weapons also has a modified Vox Populi twin, the proletariat brand, to pick up for slight variation. Booker’s melee weapon is the sky-hook, a handy tool of the “steampunk” variety that allows Booker to latch onto the sky rails as well as obliterate the faces of the Columbia Founder's opposition to a gooey pulp. Instead of being traded in and out by the limited weapon system, the sky-hook is activated by a specific button on the controller…like the melee weapon in every other FPS game. Sigh. I’m still aggravated that I cannot wield all of these weapons in a tricked-out arsenal, but I’m pleased that BioShock has retained its standard of weapon variety.

Fortunately, all of the plasmids that I refuse to refer to by their colloquial term “vigors” can be selected on an option wheel at any time. For this aspect of BioShock’s gameplay foundation, Infinite delivers the goods after BioShock 2 half-assed the plasmid lineup with too many recycled ones from the first game. One may chide at my apparent naivety and point out that “Devil’s Kiss” and “Shock Jockey” are rebranded clones of “Incinerate!” and “Electro Bolt” from the first game, but I’m well aware of their near exact resemblances. The plasmid freshness I’m referring to is the new batch that only Columbia has in stock. “Murder of Crows” unleashes a biblical plague of the black birds to peck bits of flesh off of enemies in a whirlwind daze. “Bucking Bronco'' and “Charge” may have similar names, but the former renders enemies in a state of humiliating vulnerability by suspending them over the ground for a short period, and the latter sees Booker making a mad dash at enemies like a raging bull with his sky-hook. “Return to Sender” is a spiraling energy shield that absorbs enemy firepower and is then launched back at them. Considering the rate of enemy firepower is amplified to better fit the FPS genre in Infinite, this is arguably the most practical plasmid the game offers. My personal favorite new plasmid is “Undertow” which grapples enemies with the titanic force of giant, aquatic tentacles, making me feel as if I have the divine power of Poseidon being channeled out of Booker’s left wrist. Retain the dual-wielding mechanic from BioShock 2 with these debuting plasmids and suddenly the plasmid gameplay is finally both exciting and functional in combat.

Because Infinite erases all pretenses of BioShock’s FPS identity, the developers had to drum up a more fitting way of penalizing the player for dying. Vita Chambers are too ultramodern a piece of biological innovation for the second decade of the 20th century. Hence, Infinite settles on the FPS stand-by of subtracting a sum of money. The amount depleted is scaled by the total amount of money Booker has in his wallet, which can break the bank if Booker is sitting pretty on wads of cash. Finally, a BioShock game upholds a reasonable penance for failure as opposed to allowing the player to callously treat death like a minor inconvenience…ideally. In practice, losing a modicum of money is superfluous because it can easily be regained in seconds. The silver eagle currency is strewn about the streets of Columbia along with tons of other goodies like food, medkits, and ammunition. Making a meticulous effort to collect all of the helpful detritus is one of the only ways in which Infinite retains its BioShock roots. The major difference, however, is that Booker needn’t act like a packrat for survival. Because Columbia is still an active civilization, every resource is plentiful. If Booker ever exhausts the ammo in one of his guns, he can simply swap it out with another. Why bother purchasing medkits from one of the dispensaries when fallen enemies are strapped with them? The only logical incentive for storing large quantities of coinage is for the weapon and plasmid upgrades. Besides, Booker shouldn’t die so easily because he’s got a shield meter on top of his health to stave off dying more efficiently. Why does Booker have a shield when he doesn’t have any physical armor? Because it’s a first-person shooter, god dammit.

At least Booker DeWitt is a fresh change of pace for BioShock protagonists on the simple merit that he vocalizes his emotions. The previous BioShock entries could skate by with the typical, yet slightly archaic, character trope of a silent protagonist because Jack was a mere vehicle in learning about Rapture’s sordid past through exploration, and anything more advanced than the stolid demeanor Big Daddy in BioShock 2 would contradict the inherent brutish nature of Rapture’s bodyguards. In a faster-paced game whose narrative zooms past any chance for the environment to utter a single word of exposition, Infinite delivered exceptionally with Booker DeWitt. While escaping one of gaming’s most common tropes, Booker is still a solid fit in the overly capable male protagonist role in the grander scope of fiction. Extrapolating on Booker’s characterization of a handsome, strapping, thirty-something intrepid adventurer man should conjure up stark comparisons to Indiana Jones and other leading men cut from the same cloth. Booker’s air of cynicism and moral ambiguity also give him that edge that prevents his character from verging into cheesy John Wayne territory, which can also be said for Harrison Ford’s iconic archeologist. Booker is both a reinvigorating change of pace for BioShock’s protagonists and a cliche for leading men in an action role, a balance that makes him at least charismatic enough to appreciate.

Besides the occasional instance of mumbling something under his breath, Booker’s character exfoliates through his interactions with Elizabeth, the central secondary character of Infinite. She’s also Booker’s impetus for going through the painstaking trouble of visiting Columbia as retrieving her will absolve him of some felonious debt that isn’t given context until the very end of the game. From Elizabeth’s rescue from her tall tower prison, her demure first impressions, to her stunning beauty with piercing blue eyes, one could certainly infer that Elizabeth is the epitome of a damsel in distress. The girl is more liable to get swept up by Columbia’s antagonistic forces than Princess Peach frolicking through a dark alleyway in the Mushroom Kingdom’s red-light district. However, in all that time Elizabeth was isolated from the outside world, she made the decision to thrive as much as possible in her solitary state and exceed our expectations.

After freeing her from her elevated chamber, Elizabeth accompanies Booker for the remaining duration of the game with a select few breaks in between that coincide with some specific story beats. The player’s other likely inference regarding Elizabeth’s role is that her presence has triggered another grueling escort quest, and she’ll inadvertently cause the player pain and suffering at every step in their attempts to protect her. In a twist of fate, Booker benefits greatly from having the little lady by his side. Elizabeth’s totally invulnerable from enemy fire, but cannot dole out any offensive strikes either. She instead uses her background advantage to support Booker by tossing various wares at him such as health, EVE, ammunition, etc. from the sidelines. She’ll even fling some silver eagle coin Booker’s way to finance those juicy upgrades. Whether or not she takes the time to scrounge the area efficiently or she just pulls all of this stuff out of her ass is uncertain. She also evidently practiced trying to escape her cell for years because she’s quite adept at lockpicking. While all of these ancillary efforts are appreciated, Elizabeth’s innate support ability of “tearing” is the most vital of her contributions and her most interesting characteristic. Elizabeth’s supernatural skill is ripping through the fabric of the space and time continuum when she uncovers a slit of static energy emanating in the air. Using the entry point here allows her to materialize items and ammunition, hooks to grapple onto from above, and holographic manpower to fight with Booker in the vein of those balloon-powered weaponized mosquito drones and the juggernaut Patriot enemies. Don’t judge a book by its cover.

To Booker’s slight dismay from a narrative perspective, perhaps Elizabeth is TOO exceptional as a human being. On the surface, Booker is Elizabeth’s knight in shining suede and steampunk pleather, a relationship dynamic so commonplace that it was exhausted in the oldest of fairy tales. She should be head over heels for him after rescuing her but only sees Booker as her necessary collaborator in the quest of leaving the shackles of Columbia to a promising new world. Admittedly, Booker isn’t entirely a noble gentleman either, as his intentions with Elizabeth are entirely in his own self-interest. His impression that the mission will be a breeze after finding Elizabeth is thwarted when there is a conflict of interest in which Earth city they want to visit via the airship. Elizabeth grows to (rightfully) distrust Booker after this altercation, and there is an aura of acrimony between the two. Elizabeth’s romantic wish to see the bright lights of Paris is sidetracked when it’s revealed that she’s the adopted daughter of Columbia’s supreme leader Zachary Comstock, who trapped Elizabeth in the tower to preserve her as the successor to the throne if something unfortunate were to happen to him. Elizabeth then desires to discover more about her origin and stop Comstock’s reign. Booker then realizes that he’s not going to return to New York with Elizabeth in time for supper. Why does Booker comply with Elizabeth’s plans? Well, it’s because he’s scared shitless of her, knowing that she has the potential to transport him anywhere in the world to any reality in any span of time. Booker and Elizabeth’s relationship is a subversion of the male savior trope with the helpless princess, warping a dynamic so old that Elizabeth cannot produce a tear big enough to simulate its origin point. Don’t fuck with Elizabeth, and that goes double for you, Booker.

I only feel inclined to discuss Comstock’s antagonist role as Columbia’s supreme ruler because he’s the central commonality in the Bioshock series Venn diagram I proposed in my opening paragraph. The one core attribute Infinite shares with its predecessors, the conjunctive tissue that defines the series, is the megalomaniac figure at the highest governing power in their dystopian creation, ruling under an unchecked dogmatic idealism that formed the city’s cultural and economic identities. The execution of their philosophies in the game also suggests a biting critique of their fundamentals from the developers. Delving into Comstock’s extreme Americana fueled by religious fundamentalism is so on-the-nose that it's boring. Growing up as an American, these kinds of nationalistic ideals are heavily ingrained in our society, even in the 21st century. Columbia is the quixotic fantasy of every one of my country's villains I learned about in history class coming to fruition. Comstock’s philosophies are just deranged and self-righteous with no room for arguments. He’s the kind of person who made Andrew Ryan abscond from American soil to start his own society, and Ryan’s ideals are at least academically credible.

If one couldn’t tell from the scene with the couple in the beginning, a large facet of this waspy wet dream is that it is incredibly racist . So racist, in fact, that Comstock is a huge proprietor of eugenics, whitewashing Columbia of all racial diversity and calling it a cleansing. The worst part is how Infinite decides to tackle this subject. In the middle section of Infinite, Booker, and Elizabeth are detoured from their mission by the ongoing class struggle between the bourgeois Founders and the impoverished lower class called the Vox Populi (the voice of the common people). It’s no coincidence that the members of the Vox Populi resistance group are all racial minorities, namely their leader Daisy Fitzroy who is withholding Booker’s airship from him. While assisting the cause, Elizabeth becomes disturbed by the extent Daisy takes to ensure equality for her people, and the moral breaking point is when Daisy attempts to murder a Founder child in cold blood. What we’re supposed to take away from this scene is that there is no justification for the brutal violence of the lower class, emphasized by Elizabeth when she comments that Daisy is no better than Comstock. Check your privilege, Elizabeth. Sure, there are lines one can cross in the fight for freedom, but is this really the time to point that out given that Comstock’s vision for Columbia is to exterminate all non-whites from his society like they’re a contagion? The game’s narrative shifts its view to Elizabeth’s colossal Songbird guardian trying to reclaim his “property” for the remainder of the game almost as a distraction from how deep Ken Levine lodged his foot into his mouth.

Ultimately, BioShock Infinite is not as intelligent as it thinks it is. Problematic sociological topics aside, this assertion really comes to light at the game’s climactic point. In their futile attempts to vanquish the Songbird, Elizabeth resorts to using her tear ability to transport the terrifying mechanical marvel to the bottom of the sea where he drowns (or rusts). We’re somehow back in Rapture, only for the game to become suspiciously cinematic. With Elizabeth liberally using her tear powers to manipulate time, we learn through a clusterfuck of exposition that Elizabeth, also known as Anna Dewitt, is Booker’s daughter who he had to give up as payment for his massive gambling debts when she was an infant. Comstock and his dearly departed wife were respectively sterile and barren and could not bear an heir, so there was a mutual agreement between both parties along with the phantom-like Lutece twins enacting the transaction. Obviously, Booker’s decision haunts him severely, hence why he went to the great lengths he did in Columbia to get her back. The debt instilled upon him was self-inflicted, and he must cleanse himself of his unforgivable sins through baptism, only one that sacrifices himself for the ultimate act of repentance. All the mysterious loose ends are resolved…or are they? While attempting to make sense of the game negating all narrative pacing to dump all of this information on us, the game also suggests that Booker’s sins account for his contributions to the Wounded Knee Massacre and that he might also be Comstock himself? What?! I don’t know if it’s because multi-dimensions are the hottest plot device nowadays and I’ve gotten sick of them. For Infinite’s case, you can’t use the endless possibilities the concept gives you to throw away any logical character or plot bearings in an attempt to make your convoluted slop plausible. Do you know what other game regrettably ruined itself with a heap of nonsensical exposition as an addendum? Metal Gear Solid 2. Quit borrowing Kojima’s fart inhaler, Ken.


BioShock Infinite is ridiculous. A series that was once perceived as a monumental achievement in gaming narrative and atmosphere is a cheap shell of its former self. BioShock was a title that rolled out the red carpet for the burgeoning FPS trend of its time due to its innovative execution of the genre’s mechanics. Now, Infinite’s full commitment to the first-person shooter’s tried tropes six years later is indicative that perhaps the genre should be put out to pasture. Strictly as a first-person shooter, BioShock Infinite is still an exemplary addition to the genre. I may have my nitpicks, but they mostly pertain to how the FPS genre evolved since the first BioShock was released and not Infinite on its individual merits. When I turn my brain off and relish in the stunning, albeit creepy, setting and paint its pristinely white roads with the insides of its denizens, I always end up having a blast. Then, the narrative rears back around and forces me to flip my cognitive switch back on and reflect on so many bafflingly knotty plot points that it makes my brain hurt. Actually, it doesn’t hurt my brain because I know it’s just pretentious bullshit. Overall, BioShock Infinite is technically the BioShock game I wanted after BioShock 2 merely retread the old ground of Rapture. Still, I wish the final product wasn’t a contrasting blend of dumbed-down attributes competing with intelligency bloatedness. I still don’t know if BioShock Infinite is a worthy successor.
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Erockthestrange 2017-07-21T20:18:40Z
2017-07-21T20:18:40Z
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Title
Probably my favorite video game plot ever. This game just does an absolute phenomenal job connecting to the previous BioShocks while being its own unique game at the same time. The gameplay is addictingly fun. The most fun games to me allow many methods of attacking, which this does well. This is probably the best looking game I've seen released before like 2016 or so, all the color (and sometimes the colorless when necessary) and wonderful sights of a sky city make it a visual delight. The voice acting in this game is like no other, and really make it feel real. The Burial at Sea DLC is the most perfect expansion for the story to connect beautifully back to the first BioShock. Even after my first playthrough, it's such an experience discovering each new major plot reveal that just gets me thinking, and it happens a lot throughout the game. As much as I love the first two games of the trilogy, this one is probably my favorite by far, and definitely makes it one of my favorite game series without a doubt.
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Catalog

cnyTevho BioShock Infinite 2024-03-29T07:04:01Z
2024-03-29T07:04:01Z
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
2018 PSN
KanyeLover69 BioShock Infinite 2024-03-28T17:41:16Z
2024-03-28T17:41:16Z
4.0
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
Gololedz BioShock Infinite 2024-03-28T16:47:54Z
2024-03-28T16:47:54Z
1.0
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
SlappyButternuts BioShock Infinite 2024-03-28T12:59:59Z
2024-03-28T12:59:59Z
2.0
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
FirstMate BioShock Infinite 2024-03-27T16:26:16Z
2024-03-27T16:26:16Z
4.5
1
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
Kepel BioShock Infinite 2024-03-26T19:26:47Z
2024-03-26T19:26:47Z
4.0
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
Lilith_01 BioShock Infinite 2024-03-26T02:02:34Z
2024-03-26T02:02:34Z
4.0
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
noyade BioShock Infinite 2024-03-25T21:55:12Z
2024-03-25T21:55:12Z
3.0
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
Maksym_Svyda BioShock Infinite 2024-03-25T16:45:44Z
2024-03-25T16:45:44Z
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
Diertz BioShock Infinite 2024-03-25T08:56:26Z
2024-03-25T08:56:26Z
4.5
3
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
Morgone BioShock Infinite 2024-03-24T16:32:22Z
2024-03-24T16:32:22Z
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
olivereverson_ BioShock Infinite 2024-03-21T01:59:18Z
2024-03-21T01:59:18Z
1
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
Content rating
OFLC: MA15+
Player modes
Single-player
Media
3x DVD
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In collections

Comments

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  • Previous comments (116) Loading...
  • thisisnotmyrealface 2023-10-14 01:48:27.185975+00
    Columbia looks great and the volley gun is really fun to use and that's where it ends. Story and themes are boring at best (we get it. racism and american exceptionalism are bad), combat is a slog, and i really couldnt care about any of the characters. (compare to BS, where fatigue set in after A MAN CHOOSES A SLAVE OBEYS but i completed the game purely because of the story)
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  • thisisnotmyrealface 2023-10-14 01:49:09.383007+00
    what is hilarious though is how many people on RYM are siding with the vox populi. But its not surprising. Not one bit.
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    • aminstrel 2023-11-10 23:28:31.328418+00
      death to america
    • SlappyButternuts 2024-03-28 12:59:36.44485+00
      yaaaawn ^
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  • Innerexperience 2023-12-18 08:59:17.159375+00
    Often when I dream I end up in the Bioshock Infinite universe for some reason. A million times better and more creative than BioShock 2.
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  • Raider37 2024-01-07 05:38:10.708752+00
    The "thinking man's game" where you have to not think about the plot too much to enjoy it and the gameplay being reduced down to that of a Call of Duty campaign. I burst into laughter when the leader of the underclass uprising was about to kill a child, because they have to be evil too in some way.
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  • Lamneth 2024-01-09 23:56:38.493653+00
    this game still looks stunning. played it at 4k 120fps
    reply
    • Pumas 2024-02-13 23:26:18.362027+00
      Top 10 game of all time if we’re just talking art direction
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  • I0000days 2024-02-27 22:47:58.138702+00
    Should be #50.
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  • Randomico 2024-03-27 05:05:30.456007+00
    most centrist and coward game ever made
    reply
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  • SlappyButternuts 2024-03-28 13:02:04.320665+00
    genuinely dumb game. was reminded of that horrible ghost boss fight and now im pissed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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