Bioshock Infinite, Would You Kindly Read.

There Might be spoilers but I will try not to spoil anything from infinite but will from Bioshock though.

So one of the most anticipated games of the year in Bioshock Infinite (my most anticipated) has now been out for a few weeks. I just want to share my thoughts on the game, yes I no we’ve got the topic thoughts on the last game you’ve played and I’ve all ready talked about infinite there briefly but I feel there’s more to say.

I went into infinite with high hopes from playing Bioshock and the 2nd one briefly. So infinite premium edition arrived from Amazon on day of release (should have been songbird edition but stupid GAME mucked my order up) but I didn’t start playing in till Easter weekend (had two days off together woohoo!). This is were the disappointment starts on Saturday afternoon about 4pm, the game starts of well with the boat scene that you might of seen from trailers but soon as you get to Colombia then it hits you. Colombia is a lovely place that’s the problem it lacks the same atmosphere as rapture did in the 1st game (yes I know this would be hard to repeat) .

Anyway I continue playing in till about 9pm that day so that’s 5hrs of play (minus bathroom and having dinner), in this time of play we are of course introduced to the gameplay which is a big let down the game relies to heavily on shooting the pervious game seemed much slower paced to this one and wasn’t such an issue for me and leaned more on the RPG elements by levelling up etc. The reason the game relies so heavily on gameplay is to make the game a commercial success, Ken Levine has even said himself to make a game with the story he wants to tell with these production values the only way to be successful is to make FPS. I don’t know what this tells us about the state of the games industry but I cant see what other genre Bioshock could be apart from maybe a 3rd person action game like an uncharted or tomb raider (will touch on this game again in a minute) as it would be silly as a turn based RPG.

I’m starting to go a bit of track my 2nd session with the game was on Sunday I started again about 4pm and was done yes done finished by 9pm that night. If you can do maths that’s a total game time of about 9hrs (again minus dinner etc so 8hrs maybe). So a game with infinite in the title was very short especially considering I took about 20hrs to do Bioshock could be like I said seemed a slower paced game.

So your thinking masofdas why would I want to play this game its short, the gameplay isn’t all that, the atmosphere isn’t the best . Also there’s a few other things I found I dint like there’s nothing close to walking around a corner in rapture and spotting a little sister and a big daddy which would lead to a great battle and then morale choice of what to do with a little sister there’s none of this in infinite. There’s also things that don’t make sense you use vigour’s as well as a gun in combat but no one else really uses in the game apart from you, in Bioshock everyone uses them and made sense as the people of rapture wanted to improve there self’s with plasmids (same as vigour’s) but here it doesn’t. Its of course there to mix up the gameplay which it kind of does. I also want to go back to the RPG elements the previous game had, there seemed to be rewards to levelling up but here I didn’t really bother I could of easily played the game with just a pistol and murder of crows.

The good thing and one of the reason I think its been getting such high acclaim is the story. I did go into the game playing the previous games so was expecting a good story and a plot twist, and waiting all the way thorough for something similar to would you kindly from Bioshock. It takes to the very end through all 8hrs of lacklustre gameplay for the final 15mins with Elizabeth (whom is an excellent character by the way) and cut scenes for it. But by god was it worth it and this why I’m telling you to play this game for that final moments were it all makes sense (even the title infinite) , I mentioned tomb raider further up which also has come out recently & also highly acclaimed but there’s a difference between these two games. Tomb Raider has excellent gameplay and a half decent storyline which it tries to take its self seriously but then goes all silly at the end where’s infinite has lacklustre gameplay but brilliant storyline (Christopher Nolan would be proud of this type of story telling). But when it comes to GOTY time in December or January 2014 only one of these games will be remembered and that’s infinite not tomb raider that’s the difference. Story telling in games need to be more like infinite and the journeys of this world and people need to play and buy them, instead of games like COD which have made a game like infinite lacklustre in the gameplay front due to the mainstream gamer wanting simple bang bang and not a game which makes you think afterwards.

So that’s my thought on Bioshock Infinite, I hope this helps some of you if your going to decide to play or not. But would you kindly play it.

I think it's meant to have a different type of atmosphere from the first game. I've not played Infinite, but from the hour or so of gameplay footage I've watched online, it seems like you're seeing this otherworldly society in full swing as opposed to being in decay. It's like seeing Rapture at its peak - where everyone thought it was a utopia under the sea. Of course, by the time Bioshock comes around, it's a hellhole under the sea, and as such takes on a different feel. It's less about grandeur, as Bioshock Infinite seems to be, and more about horror. I think the grandeur is reflected in Infinite's graphics, as it looks like the prettiest game I've seen in a long time.

As for gameplay, I can see it's been watered down in the hour or so I watched online. There's less customisation, and it seems to be far more linear, which is never a good thing. Storywise, I can't comment having not played it, but I've been reliably informed it's a good 'un, and your claims only back that up Masofdas. I wish I had the cash to experience the story for myself. I'm glad there's no tacked on multiplayer mode like in Bioshock 2, it's a refreshing change from most developers' undying need to strap on a multiplayer mode because of Call of Duty and its ilk.

All in all, I reckon I'll eventually pick up Bioshock Infinite when it drops in price.

Agree a bit about the atomsphere Jay but infinite is missing IT or the x factor or Je ne sais quoi that bioshock has.

My knowledge of Bioshock is extremely limited, but from the general mood I've gathered online: the original game was so excellent that any future sequels could only go down either the "Make more of the same" or "Let's try something different" route.

You've got a PS3, right Stu? Bioshock is a game everyone should play, regardless if you're a fan of FPSes or not. It's a shining example of how to nail narrative, atmosphere, gameplay and visuals and more importantly, make them all compliment each other to create a thrilling gaming experience.

I do indeed have a PS3. Having seen a few videos, it's a combination of the intentionally bleak atmosphere and the FPS elements that have scared me away (same thing happened with Metroid Prime, though I know that Metroid is all about bleak atmospheres, 2D or 3D).

Closest I've come to thoroughly enjoying a first person game is Portal.

It never feels like you're playing a first person shooter, regardless of the first person perspective.

The beginning of the game feels more like a survival horror, as you're pretty weak to start off. The game even plays off this with some intentional jumpscare moments. Ah, I'm psyching myself up to reply Bioshock!

I'm definitely out. I almost pooped my pants playing Resident Evil 4, so much so that I traded the game in unfinished.

Bioshock's the only game I've ever yelped out loud at, so yeah, perhaps not for those with nervous dispositions!