BioShock Infinite Review: A Head in the Clouds

[Frostbite3789]

To be honest? I kinda respect him more for addressing the criticisms head-on.

Of course, if the game sucks and nothing he said in the video review turns out to be true, that respect is going straight down the toilet along with the rest of the industry snowjob garbage being churned out daily by the video game review industry.

But until then, I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt.

Oh, there wasn't a problem with that bit. Just the bit I quoted is what I was talking about. There's no problem with addressing criticisms.

 

[WarpZone]

Oh, there wasn't a problem with that bit. Just the bit I quoted is what I was talking about. There's no problem with addressing criticisms.

Oh, okay. I gotcha. Given how vitriolic my tone was, I frankly don't blame him for that bit. I saw what looked like a blatant advertisement masquerading as a review. I responded as I would to an advertisement. He saw what looked like a raging, unappeasable troll. He responded as he would to a troll. We both had constraints imposed upon our use of language by The Escapist.

If anything, he has the more difficult role, and the more restrictive rules of engagement. I just want to know the truth. He has to express an opinion, provide value to the company, overcome my own spoken and unspoken biases, cover his arse legally, promote his own credibility, avoid escalating a question into a flame war, champion an entire medium, and maybe, just maybe, on a good day, if he's very lucky, he can balance all that shit and then ALSO tell guys like me the actual, unvarnished truth as he understands it.

Frankly it's amazing we were able to communicate at all.

 

[gigastar]

Well, preorders jsutified. Thats all i came here for.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

I can't wait to play this. It looks absolutely incredible. I've seen Adam Sessler's review as well and he's another video game journalist I respect. Also Jim mentioned in his latest Jimquisition that the game is great. And now this review. So yeah, it seems to be praised universally. And from what I've seen of gameplay it's definitely worth buying.

 

[MrBaskerville]

It really does sound interesting except for one little detail, the revival system. From all i´ve read it sounds like a really cool and fun game with plenty of choices, but the revival system just makes me regret my preorder. In the worst case scenario It´s like with Bioshock back when it orignally launched, i loved everyting about it but the Vita Chambers desstroyed all tension and i ended up selling the game. Hopefully the revival stuff is better balanced in this game, because it sounds like it´s too easy to come back to life with only minor penalties.

 

[The Artificially Prolonged]

Caved and pre-ordered this over the weekend. Glad to here that I'm not going likely suffer pre-order blues. But with Spec Ops and XCom to help sweeten the deal I doubt that was likely to happen anyway

 

[Casual Shinji]

I really wasn't a fan of the first Bioshock, and that was mainly because the shooting action felt stiff and unsatisfying, and the game lacked visual characterisation. The latter looks like Infinite has beat seeing as characters have actual faces this time around, so that leaves the question of the shooting action.

I'm still going to check it out just because of the fresh setting alone, I just hope that won't be all it has to offer.

 

[DrunkOnEstus]

Oh, there wasn't a problem with that bit. Just the bit I quoted is what I was talking about. There's no problem with addressing criticisms.

Oh, okay. I gotcha. Given how vitriolic my tone was, I frankly don't blame him for that bit. I saw what looked like a blatant advertisement masquerading as a review. I responded as I would to an advertisement. He saw what looked like a raging, unappeasable troll. He responded as he would to a troll. We both had constraints imposed upon our use of language by The Escapist.

If anything, he has the more difficult role, and the more restrictive rules of engagement. I just want to know the truth. He has to express an opinion, provide value to the company, overcome my own spoken and unspoken biases, cover his arse legally, promote his own credibility, avoid escalating a question into a flame war, champion an entire medium, and maybe, just maybe, on a good day, if he's very lucky, he can balance all that shit and then ALSO tell guys like me the actual, unvarnished truth as he understands it.

Frankly it's amazing we were able to communicate at all.

*Insert "clapping" gif here* . Do you have any friends who don't use the Internet? You should invite them in so that it can be a better place.

OT: I would have my money at the ready to throw at this game (Levine's never let me down), but I'm working my way through the first 2. Maybe I can exercise some patience and get that "GOTY season pass included" a bit down the line. Good job, Mike.

 

[jFr[e]ak93]

I pre-ordered this on Friday after reading one positive review. This has settled any doubt that it will be an A:CM or a SC. Bring on midnight!

Does anyone know if it's at all connected to the first two BioShocks? I never played 'em.

 

[fwiffo]

It really does sound interesting except for one little detail, the revival system. From all i´ve read it sounds like a really cool and fun game with plenty of choices, but the revival system just makes me regret my preorder. In the worst case scenario It´s like with Bioshock back when it orignally launched, i loved everyting about it but the Vita Chambers desstroyed all tension and i ended up selling the game. Hopefully the revival stuff is better balanced in this game, because it sounds like it´s too easy to come back to life with only minor penalties.

I've heard the chambers are more like system shock 2, where you have to pay for each rez. Not sure if they have to be activated first.

I'm putting faith in "1999 mode" for this game. Hopefully its challenging enough to be entertaining.

captcha: know your rights

damn straight captcha, I deserve the right to have my ass kicked by videogames.

 

[MrBaskerville]

It really does sound interesting except for one little detail, the revival system. From all i´ve read it sounds like a really cool and fun game with plenty of choices, but the revival system just makes me regret my preorder. In the worst case scenario It´s like with Bioshock back when it orignally launched, i loved everyting about it but the Vita Chambers desstroyed all tension and i ended up selling the game. Hopefully the revival stuff is better balanced in this game, because it sounds like it´s too easy to come back to life with only minor penalties.

I've heard the chambers are more like system shock 2, where you have to pay for each rez. Not sure if they have to be activated first.

I'm putting faith in "1999 mode" for this game. Hopefully its challenging enough to be entertaining.

captcha: know your rights

damn straight captcha, I deserve the right to have my ass kicked by videogames.

Some of the more negative (mildly negative) claims that you use cash to revive yourself, but you find plenty of cash, so it´s not a problem and oftentime it should be beneficial to kill yourself to get ammo and life bonusses. Just sounds like something minor that could turn out to be a huge problem to my enjoyment. And 1999 mode requires a playthrough, which kinda sucks^^.

But i´m probably being overly pessimistic about the whole thing .

 

[fwiffo]

It really does sound interesting except for one little detail, the revival system. From all i´ve read it sounds like a really cool and fun game with plenty of choices, but the revival system just makes me regret my preorder. In the worst case scenario It´s like with Bioshock back when it orignally launched, i loved everyting about it but the Vita Chambers desstroyed all tension and i ended up selling the game. Hopefully the revival stuff is better balanced in this game, because it sounds like it´s too easy to come back to life with only minor penalties.

I've heard the chambers are more like system shock 2, where you have to pay for each rez. Not sure if they have to be activated first.

I'm putting faith in "1999 mode" for this game. Hopefully its challenging enough to be entertaining.

captcha: know your rights

damn straight captcha, I deserve the right to have my ass kicked by videogames.

Some of the more negative (mildly negative) claims that you use cash to revive yourself, but you find plenty of cash, so it´s not a problem and oftentime it should be beneficial to kill yourself to get ammo and life bonusses. Just sounds like something minor that could turn out to be a huge problem to my enjoyment. And 1999 mode requires a playthrough, which kinda sucks^^.

But i´m probably being overly pessimistic about the whole thing .

We'll see, could be a problem like the old bioshock games for sure. Ohh and 1999 mode can be unlocked with the "konami code" at the title screen.

/crossfingers

 

[snekadid]

For people planning to buy this game tomorrow for computer..... why not preorder now? This game has some of the most ridiculous preorder bonuses I've seen and greenmangaming.com tops them all. You get $15 storecredit, bioshock 1, xcom EU, and 1 of 5 2K games free with preorder( mafia 2, civ V, darkness 2, spec ops the line, or bioshock 2) and they all unlock on steam, and you can start preloading BS:I now(I know I did)!

This is the first time I've preordered a game in 2 years since I swore it off and only because there was so much to gain that even if BS:I is strictly average, I'll still profit from preordering.



(Disclaimer: I am not a ad bot, I just dislike when people lose out on good things)

 

[notred360]

BioShock Infinite Review: A Head in the Clouds

Columbia is nothing like Rapture, and that's a very good thing.

Read Full Article

Question (since I didn't see it in the review):

What is the replayability? Is it "see the cool stuff you might have missed the first time", "look for the subtle hints that foreshadowed odd things", or "Full-on New Game+ with difficulty increases"?

There is the 1999 mode (as stated above) that ramps up the difficulty after you beat the game, so that should be fun, and I think Jim Sterling's review on destructoid mentioned something about neat foreshadowing things (minor spoiler: like music that wasn't made till later in history)

 

[RedmistSM]

It sounds pretty great, but is the enemy variety the same as in the last game? From the descripton "Battles with Columbia's law enforcement, creepy robotic brutes, and the city's own automated defenses", it sounds like there are just normal guys, turrets and big daddies again. I got tired of that a long time before the original ended, and this seems longer.

 

[BrainWalker]

I didn't like the other two, but this looks good. Do I need to have played the others?

But you should play BioShock (the first one, anyway) because it is brilllllllllyunnnnnnnt.

I've heard. I actually started it, but I was put off by how the little booths would just bring me back to life over and over again when I died. Maybe I should just blaze through it on easy for the story.

I loved Bioshock, but it was pretty easy. You should give it another chance and maybe up the difficulty. Or alternatively, I'm pretty sure you can turn off vita-chambers in the options menu. Or limit them, or something like that.

 

[Susan Arendt]

I didn't like the other two, but this looks good. Do I need to have played the others?

But you should play BioShock (the first one, anyway) because it is brilllllllllyunnnnnnnt.

I've heard. I actually started it, but I was put off by how the little booths would just bring me back to life over and over again when I died. Maybe I should just blaze through it on easy for the story.

Be aware that Easy is *very* easy for anyone with decent shooter skills. You could alternatively crank it up to Super Duper Incredihard if you want more challenge. But either way, yes, the story is definitely worth it, but fair warning - the final section of the game is pretty bad.

 

[DarkhoIlow]

I'm going to play this game for the story anyway, I don't want to make the combat harder to hinder that.

I've been looking forward to this game ever since it was announced, it would of been insta buy anyway for me regardless.

PS: Damn it Susan! I was mesmerized/distracted by that avatar of yours for a few minutes while trying to figure out what to write.

 

[chozo_hybrid]

ak93]I pre-ordered this on Friday after reading one positive review. This has settled any doubt that it will be an A:CM or a SC. Bring on midnight!

Does anyone know if it's at all connected to the first two BioShocks? I never played 'em.

Yeah, it's good to hear. What's SC? Also, no, it's not connected to the first two, it's a spiritual successor.

Looking at the Steam page, it's covered in review scores, kinda tacky.

 

[weirdee]

I didn't like the other two, but this looks good. Do I need to have played the others?

But you should play BioShock (the first one, anyway) because it is brilllllllllyunnnnnnnt.

also because i think some of the bioshock infinite games came with the first two anyway

if i can get those extra tf2 hats i can just trade that for the value of the other games anyway

note: you can shut off the revive booths if you want to, it's in the options

not that you should need them if you're super duper careful

or if you don't like screwing around with daddies for amusement and perhaps profit