Bioshock Infinite

If you've played any of the previous Bioshock games, Bioshock Infinite seems to share little in common with its two predecessors.  Sure they're all first person shooters and you've got superpowers, but the world of Columbia couldn't be more different than the world of Rapture.  

Or is it?  

On the surface, Bioshock Infinite is different from the previous Bioshocks... but as you dig deeper, you'll find that they're more similar than you expected.  

You play as Booker DeWitt, a former Pinkerton agent, tasked with retrieving a mysterious girl, Elizabeth, from the floating city of Columbia.  I hesitate to say any more about the story because so much of the game hinges on experiencing the story and the world.  I will say that Bioshock Infinite's story is one of the better stories that I've experienced in a game in recent memory.  Everything about the story and the characters feels fully realized.  It's definitely one of those games that you'll be thinking about long after you've finished it.  

It's hard not to get lost in the world of Columbia.  In fact, the game's opening sequences seem to want you to get lost in the world.  It doesn't thrust you into the action right away, allowing you to soak in the world around you.  It's smart game design, because once the fighting starts things in Bioshock Infinite shine a little less brightly. 

The worst thing about Bioshock Infinite is actually the game parts of the game.  Though it's a first person shooter, it deviates ever so slightly from the controls adopted by other games in the genre.  Which, on its own, isn't a bad thing.  But when you couple it with the faster paced battles in the game, the controls just seem to get in the way. 

In most other first person shooters, the right trigger shoots and the left trigger allows you to aim.  Instead, Infinite uses the left trigger to fire your vigors, the supernatural powers you obtain throughout the game.  Pushing the right analog stick allows you to aim, pushing it again will return your view to normal.  It's not that big of a difference, but it's enough of a difference to get you killed given how frenetic the fights are.  

It also feels like there's some untapped potential in some of the new elements being introduced.  You eventually get the ability to direct Elizabeth to open "tears", which makes objects appear from other worlds.  They could be anything from caches of health or ammo to hooks that allow you access to new areas to mechanical allies.  Given how much of the game focuses on things outside of combat, it's a shame that opening these tears don't play a larger role in exploring the world.  

Luckily though, your AI-controlled companion, Elizabeth, doesn't fall into the traps that many other games with AI-controlled companions fall into... she doesn't get in the way.  A lot of the game could have been one long escort mission, but the game smartly sidesteps that aspect, by making her impervious to harm and helping you by giving you ammo and health when you seem to need it. 

The gameplay almost feels like an afterthought.  Something to keep reminding you that this is, in fact, a game.  But the shooting was the least interesting part to me.  They felt more like obstacles to get past to move on with the narrative than something I was looking forward to.  

That's not to say I didn't enjoy the game as a whole.  Bioshock Infinite is a game that nearly transcends the medium, like the city of Columbia transcends the clouds.  

Rating

As much as I enjoyed just about everything about Bioshock Infinite, I'd probably say this one is a "rent".  This is a game that you should definitely play at least once, maybe twice for the story... but after that?  I'm not sure if I'd play it any more than that.  

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