Comments on: Thoughts: Bioshock Infinite.

By: BioShock Infinite: Burial At Sea Episode 1 DLC for Mac Review — Control Command Escape

Tue, 19 Nov 2013 18:45:08 +0000

[...] I reviewed BioShock: Infinite, I read a lot of differing opinions on it. In all that I read, the one line that resonated with me the most was “Bioshock Infinite is hurt by being an FPS”. Burial At Sea promises something [...]

By: innokenti

innokenti — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 10:31:00 +0000

Oh, the other thing – the game is unnecessarily and gratuitously gory. The sky-hook melee kills are stupid-bloody and what’s the thing with all the attacks making people’s heads pop off like champagne corks? I really did not enjoy it… and again, not in the ‘oh, this violence is quite uncomfortable’ way that say Spec Ops showed. No, this violence was over-the-top and almost cartoony, and really really did not fit the game or the themes. What the f were they thinking?

By: innokenti

innokenti — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 08:28:58 +0000

Yeah, the Vox Populi and the attempt to show that yeah, both sides of the conflict were bad was extremely cack-handed. It was poorly done, poorly shown and really should have been left out.

I mean, on the whole the racism element while not a problem per se and its bold inclusion is probably a good idea… I am not sure Irrational really followed through with it. It was a decent enough depiction of some of the issues in a near-historical context but they throw it away by basically forgetting about it towards the end of the game. Yes, the focus of the game changes (which is welcome) but it’s a shame there was no real follow-through and the ending of the discussion is capped with an almighty terrible bungling.

By: Hentzau

Hentzau — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 22:52:46 +0000

It’s more tedious because — ironically — they’ve “balanced” it. No longer can you jam a million upgrades onto your wrench and beat Big Daddies to death with it. No longer can you weld coloured lighting onto your gun and fire different types of ammunition. Instead you just get flat and unexciting damage increases, and are restricted to carrying just two weapons at once. No saving the Tommy Gun with armour-piercing ammo for those difficult fights, now; instead you’ll use whatever you can find in a given area and you’ll like it. I really wasn’t kidding about the WW2 shooter comment; as limited as it was, Bioshock did have some unusual things you could do in combat that have now been stripped out, leaving just a bog-standard FPS.

By: Hentzau

Hentzau — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 22:46:25 +0000

The Vox Populi stuff is a horrible trainwreck that gets swept under the carpet about two thirds of the way through because not even the developers can maintain their interest in it, but thankfully I didn’t really interpret it as being the main focus of the game. I thought the dimensions stuff came across quite well, and that unlike many game plots much of it was left to the player to figure out from subtle hints (and not just via convenient audio tapes), only really stopping to hammer things home during the ending sequences. If you aren’t paying attention (or are watching the game over someone’s shoulder) then yes, it probably does come out of nowhere a bit.

By: Josh

Josh — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 22:32:03 +0000

A contrary view on Infinite's plot. Spoilery. I've not played it and won't, because FPS, but I think based on careful reading that I wouldn't anyway. Feels like a bold swing, but nevertheless, a miss.

By: Darren

Darren — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 22:18:53 +0000

My problem with Bioshock’s plot was that it was essentially a game and its inferior sequel all in one. The tale of Rapture’s rise and fall and Andrew Ryan’s involvement in that was roughly a million times more interesting than anything relating to Fontaine. It doesn’t help that the theme of the game also dramatically shifts; I recall there being quite a bit of stuff at the end about living up to parental expectations that made narrative sense but which utterly lacked any tension because the parentage twist was kind of out-of-nowhere and just not very compelling because the protagonist had no personality.

Oh, and also it was A COMPLETE THEMATIC CHANGE after the halfway point of the story! Maybe it’s because I’m an English major, but I just can’t stand that kind of disregard for story structure. I would literally use Sly 3: Band of Thieves, a game about anthropomorphic cartoon animals, to illustrate what I mean here, but I’ll refrain unless someone demands it.

And how could the combat be MORE tedious!? I remember being put off by all the plasmids that weren’t useful despite being pretty cool (like the bees, which I could never find a real use for) and instead having to focus on crappy shooting mechanics. I did notice that none of the reviews seemed to spend a lot of time discussing the actual gameplay except as brief “it’s basically Bioshock.”

By: Hentzau

Hentzau — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 18:55:43 +0000

Infinite’s plot isn’t disappointing so much as confusing, but it is probably the best thing about the game. That being said, if you didn’t get on with Bioshock I don’t see you getting on with Infinite either, since despite the improvements its very definitely in the same mould and the combat is — if possible — even more tedious this time around.

By: Darren

Darren — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 22:29:54 +0000

I played through Bioshock exactly once, and I’ve never been able to force myself to replay it through the end. The plot was hugely disappointing–and I’m going to assume Infinite’s would be as well–but worse I didn’t care for the gameplay. The guns weren’t fun and the plasmids were weak when they weren’t useless.

I might pick it up in a Steam sale at some point, out of fairness.

By: innokenti

innokenti — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 15:36:58 +0000

You sir are most definitely catered for!