Bioshock: Infinite Part 1

Last night my wife bought me a copy of Bioshock: Infinite. I was interested in this game from the first time I saw anything about it a few years back. I LOVED the first one, mainly it's underwater themes and innovative 'magic' system in the form of 'Plasmids'. The second one looked cool, but I never played it. I was planning on waiting a bit to pick this one up until, that is, I saw Adam Sessler's review. For those of you that don't know, Adam Sessler is a guy that used to be on G4. He reviewed many many games in his life and is someone who's opinion I can appreciate. Well long story short, Adam said this game was one of the best games he had ever played. Now I had to have it, I had to see what kind of game ranks among the best ever.

My plan with this is to blog my process and thoughts along the way. THERE WILL BE SPOILERS! I'm warning you now. They may not be laid out in a flowing commentary of whats going on in the game, but I'm trying to document my thoughts while playing this game.

The vistas are quite grand!

One of the biggest draws of this game were the graphics and art direction. Things you see in small previews and such always look SO much better than when you are actually playing the game. Not that they look bad. Quite the contrary. This game looks great (I'm playing on Xbox) and there are so many things to look at. There is almost to much here to appreciate it all. When I'm walking by some statue on the wall in a little side room in the very beginning, all I can think about is the poor person that spent the time modeling that, and it will not really be appreciated by anyone. The game starts out fantastically vague. No back story on Booker DeWitt. No anything. You're on a boat in the middle of a bay or ocean (reminiscent of the original) with a bickering couple that hand you a box of 'stuff' and then drop you off at a lighthouse and you're on your way.

Your first views of the floating city Columbia are pretty amazing but do not reveal much. There are quite a bit of religious overtones so far, though the kind of religious zealotry that leads people astray. You learn that the leader of Columbia is a prophet and had proclaimed that you, Booker DeWitt, were to be the downfall of this great city. The attention to detail is pretty amazing. At one point early in the game if you pay attention you see a mark on 'your' right hand, a bit later if you are paying attention, there is a poster that shows that the 'False Shepard' will bear the mark. It's the little things folks. I'm only a couple of hours into this game. I just got to Elizabeth. For the most part it's been straight forward. Not exactly on rails, but pretty linear, none-the-less. This is not really all that surprising, as most first person shooters are not that 'open'. I have to say though, that it really gets old playing these games that lead you by the hand. I'm looking for a little bit of ingenuity in my FPS.

There is stuff like this everywhere in Columbia. Take your time and look around!

Gameplay is tight, and responsive. I was a bit surprised by the sensitivity at first but I adjusted quickly. The battles, so far, have been intense but small. I've acquired three 'Vigors' (Same thing as Plasmids from the first two games) and they are extremely helpful in the bigger battles, but I tend to stick to the guns and melee. One thing I've found frustrating so far is when you are being attacked from behind or the sides, it's hard to tell where they are. There are no 'hit indicators', just sound.

Bioshock: Infinite, the ultimate escort mission.

There is a TON of stuff going on at any time during this game. There is so much to look at and read and 'explore'. I say it with air quotes because there is really just one path with a few offshoots from that path. So it's not so much exploring as it is looking around corners for stuff. The level of artistic vision that went into this game is nothing short of astonishing. I realize that pretty much any game is going to have groups of people pouring hours into their games, but not very many have this much obvious dedication and HEART. This game has heart and I can tell from just the first couple of hours. A friend of mine described playing this game as being "like Disneyland". My only gripe is when sometimes there is TOO MUCH going on to be able to really look and appreciate it. My advice is to take it slow and really take it in. There is some pretty cool vistas and things to just marvel at. There is a scene that plays soon after you get to Elizabeth that shows the statue she was in. I felt ashamed for being responsible for destroying such a thing and I slunk behind the crowd that was pointing and afraid.

I'm looking forward to playing through this game more in the coming days. I'll go over a few other game play things next, like the sky lines and Elizabeth in combat and about her actually having a personality. Keep an eye out for more coming soon!
This is Red 6, Standing by.