The long wait after this was announced in August 2010 and after at least 3 release date changes, Bioshock Infinite the love child of Ken Levine, Irrational games and 2k games is now in the hands of the masses. Infinite is the Third game in the bioshock series but is more of a prequel and I had to choose my words carefully when describing it’s location in the series. But does the latest instalment fly high though the clouds above the run of the mill shooters and offer something new or will it sink back to the bottom of the ocean.
So the game is set in the fictional floating city of columbia which was launched in 1901 and led by crazy prophet Zachary Hale Comstock who claimed that the angel “Columbia” (I see what you did there) came to him and explained that he would led the people to a haven for the pure or some shit. So after taking over the place through religion he bombs the chinese during the boxer rebellion and the US government were like “Go in the corner you crazy religious dick.” As per fashion Comstock separated from the US and disappeared into the skies where Comstock spreads his ideology of racial segregation, Xenophobia and more happy things.
Completely oblivious to this is the main character; Booker DeWitt who after running himself into debt is told to go to a lighthouse in the middle of the ocean (Let the nostalgia begin) and find a girl to bring to new york so that his debt is erased. So with the lighthouse instead of going down he sits in a chair and is shot into the air and lands in the city. From there he wonders around a carnival for a while instead of doing what he was supposed to do and after having a moral choice where you can throw a ball at a black person or the announcer, someone notices that he’s a foreigner in the city and shit hits the fan very quickly.
This is the point where you get to actually shoot something and to be honest the controls and feel of the game so far is quite refreshing. The combat is quite fluid and having the ability to use iron sights is a first. The melee strike uses the “Skyhook” which is what most of the residents use to fly around on the many rails that link together different parts of the city. The sections where there are rails in the general area you can just jump on them and start fighting from there. This adds a large amount of variety to the combat and also enforces how open the game can really be while still being in a linear experience which is carried over from the other titles in the series. So after murdering and swinging like a steampunk spiderman. Booker takes a swig of some strange liquid instead of following the protagonist from bioshock 1 and randomly injecting himself with some random needle under the sea hoping for either superpowers or heroin and then starts to various flavours of lighting and other type things and these are called tonics which serve the same purpose as the plasmids from the other two games. But there are more plasmids than tonics because in the previous games there were several tiers of plasmids as there were some that offered passive effects but the tonics are just powers; which range from hold people in the air or blow them up (What ever takes your fancy) The passive effects have been taken over by “Gear” which offers effects like “Melee gives you health” And shit like that.
So after messing with what boots suit him better and what colour of lightning he wants to shoot, booker meets the main AI companion Elizabeth. Who has been trapped in a tower for most of her life and can open tears in time and space but is watched by one of the box art whores “The Songbird” who is supposed to guard Elizabeth but does it really really badly because of the amount of encounters you have with it which was disappointing but the times where you do see him, he scares the living shit out of you because he just explodes into a room with his dick out. Elizabeth is a rarity in the gaming world as she is a very good NPC companion. He is helpful as she can lockpick her way into places to get some good loot and also throw helpful things to you in combat like ammo and health but her main feature is that she can open tears in reality and bring in aid such as gun turrets and mecha-washington with chain guns to turn the tide of battle. She’s also not an idiot like the AI in resident evil 5 who forces health down your throat and runs around like a retard during a fight.
Even with the aids in combat the game still retains it’s challenge factor but does the bioshock one thing which was that there were an over abundance of health and SALT (The games version of ADAM) pickups but not enough ammo. But this can be overlooked as the health and SALT pickups are extremely necessary towards the end of the game and especially in the 1999 mode (reference to System shock 2) as having booker pick a certain spec for weapons and tonics you’ll need to manage your resources very carefully in order to attempt survival.
The last thing I want to bring up is the Enemies. The designs are very well done and I applaud that but the problem is that the lack of variety is slightly annoying. The motorised patriot is one of the main mechanical dickheads you fight and changes it’s design later in the game because of spoiler type events. Along the way you also meet the Handymen who are fucking annoying and extremely difficult as they can send electricity down the sky-rails and also are too quick in comparison to their size to get a decent shot down. I don’t know how many times I had a small rage fit after being unable to finish a fight because the Handyman was being a complete dick. Lastly we have the Sirens which have massive ear horns but cannot see and the send shit loads of nut jobs after you but you only seem them in one area of the game which again is disappointing.
The game defiantly shows and embraces it’s heritage through little references here and there but is quite a large breath of fresh air. It’s fun and enticing with a well written story which has become de funked in our generation but is standard for any game by Irrational because they take a lot of care on making the story work with the setting and keeps the player on edge. The combat is quite fluid due to it’s use of the environment and the gunplay alongside the tonics and gear. The enemies are few in type but still provide a challenge even though there are a bit too hard at times even on normal mode but I’d still defend this game as one of the best during this generation. Bioshock and anyone will be able to pick this up and have a lot of fun with it and grow attached to the characters and the story. So pick this up now and if you haven't then go and buy it now.
No comments:
Post a Comment