BioShock Infinite Review: A Head in the Clouds

[MikeWehner]

Wait a minute this review is too positive,not one negative was mentioned......IMPOSSIBLE Nothing on this earth can be perfect as that would mean that it has no flaws making it divine,but the game was made by humans which means if the game is divine in it perfection.....so must be the developers,but this is impossible for a human as our brains and bodies are designed in such a way that we will make mistakes,which means we can't be divine and that this game inturn can't be perfect unless,that this game must be made by gods,wait why would they make a game unless.........THIS GAME IS CHRISTIAN PROPAGANDA!!!!!!!It all makes sense target gamers who are more likely to be atheist's and convert them to Christianity,but why?.......Unless GOD needs us to believe in him in order to exist in this reality, EVERY ONE DON"T PLAY THIS GAME,by doing so you will be mind controlled by god for his sinister purposes.

Umm.... let's see. Flaws.... ummmmmmm.

The iron sight on the pistol is kind of lame. It has a point, like a sharp point, rather than a flat top, which kind of bugged me. Some of the NPCs have the same face. You can't fly a giant dragon.

That's all I can come up with at the moment.

 

[AdrianRK]

You said the saim thing about ME3, I don't trust your review. I'm going to wait for the independent reviewers to see if it's worth it.

 

[SoMuchSpace]

Aaannnd poor Tomb raider is overshadowed by this pseudo-philosophical tripe

Don't get me wrong.I am sure the game is enjoyable.And moreover, i will have fun with it.But the philosophy in the bioshock series never did anything to me, honestly.And i think the series could be better off without it.Bioshock 2 had great potential (the cult of Eleanor and all) but failed miserably, it merely wallowed in it's predecessor's IDENTICAL gameplay.

Tomb Raider on the other hand is just a great cinematic survivor story, that is really touching.It will be lucky to win anything considering how each reviewer is jizzing their pants.This is saddening to me, but oh well.At least i have a good game to play.No one will ever understand what crystal dynamics has done, and how far TR itself has come.

Also "CHECK UR PULSE IF U DON"T THING TEH GAMEZZZZ IS OSUMMM???" is something i've yet to see any professional review ever say.Good job escapist.

 

[MikeWehner]

You said the saim thing about ME3, I don't trust your review. I'm going to wait for the independent reviewers to see if it's worth it.

I said nothing about Mass Effect 3.

Also, what? I'm not a computer, I'm just a dude who plays games and happens to be lucky enough to write about them as my job. This wasn't a crowdsourced review, it's just me. Yes, it's Escapist's official review, but as far as opinions go, that's just what this is.

You're fine to want to check out any and all other reviews before making a decision, but don't jump into the thread of people discussing the review and asking questions just to tell everyone that (for whatever reason) you don't trust me.

 

[WarpZone]

"Way to advance gaming as a medium, guys. Sexist escort missions, here I come!" It's not an escort mission, I explicitly state that it's not an escort mission in the review. You are wrong.

"you just have to sit there and watch it happen because GAME WON'T LET YOU!" You are wrong.

"I'm guessing they were making it an actual sequel to Bioshock until Dishonored dropped." You are wrong.

"I honestly hope I'm wrong" Well congrats, because you ARE wrong!

Now stop being an Amazon-esque review bomber and shut your mouth before you play the game. <3

I watched the video again to make sure I didn't miss anything you said about Elizabeth. You talk a lot of about Elizabeth's abilities to do things like resupply and spawn in cover. You never explicitly state that it's not an Escort Mission. Maybe I should unpack what I think an "escort mission" is. An escort mission is when an NPC exists who is important to moving the plot forward, but is not a powerful combatant. This results in them dying and causing you to fail the mission unless you CONSTANTLY babysit them. Hell, even NPCs who CAN defend themselves tend to walk in front of your gun while you're trying to shoot in other games. So if you say Bioshock Infinite is avoiding this, then I say good for them. (With the caveat that non-annoying NPC AI is like enemies who use grenades intelligently. I'll believe it when I see it.) Glad I was wrong.

No contrived "you have to watch the bad guys kick the puppy and twirl their mustache, BECAUSE EMOTIONS!" moment? Glad I was wrong.

I admit the last thing I saw about Bioshock infinite prior to watching your video review was an old trailer where they show off the sky city and the lighting engine and everything is deserted and then a thing attacks the camera, so that led to the expectation that it would be like Bioshock 1 and 2 but with a sky city. Now that I stop and think about it, creating a ton of NPC dialogue and behaviors and clean clothing on all the models would take a lot of time, so it's ridiculous to think they were planning on making a destroyed city like Bioshock 1 and then changed it when Dishonored came out. So, glad I was wrong.

You can see why people would react this way, though, right? Prominent developers at industry events are explicitly telling us what we've suspected for years: that they are idiots who think polygons equals emotions. Games like Aliens: Colonial Marines are screaming "We are liars, we are liars, we are liars! Don't believe us!" every time they release another "vertical slice" bullshit video. This is the type of reaction that the entire industry is conspiring (albeit probably inadvertently) to engender.

Anyway, Kudos to you for responding the way you did. That takes guts. You're putting your credibility on the line to back up your statements. This doesn't strike me as the way a typical component of the industry hype machine would behave. Maybe you're even telling the truth. Maybe Bioshock really is some kinda transcendental emotional uber storytelling combat game.

Man, wouldn't that be nice? Honestly, I would settle for a decent first person shooter with a cool world and which doesn't trip all over itself in the gameplay. But they can't advertise that, they can't say "this game is pretty good, here's what's in it," they have to promise us the BEST GAME EVAR every single game that comes out.

So yeah. Hoping for the best. Sorry for being overly pessimistic. But you can see why my expectations would be so low, even after watching your review, right? Although I really can't think of anything you could have done differently. It's not like you could preface your review with "I know this sounds like hype, but no, the game actually IS good, honest." Actually by referencing the TV campaign you kinda sort of did do that. Didn't work. Huh.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Aaannnd poor Tomb raider is overshadowed by this pseudo-philosophical tripe

Don't get me wrong.I am sure the game is enjoyable.And moreover, i will have fun with it.But the philosophy in the bioshock series never did anything to me, honestly.And i think the series could be better off without it.Bioshock 2 had great potential (the cult of Eleanor and all) but failed miserably, it merely wallowed in it's predecessor's IDENTICAL gameplay.

Tomb Raider on the other hand is just a great cinematic survivor story, that is really touching.It will be lucky to win anything considering how each reviewer is jizzing their pants.This is saddening to me, but oh well.At least i have a good game to play.No one will ever understand what crystal dynamics has done, and how far TR itself has come.

Also "CHECK UR PULSE IF U DON"T THING TEH GAMEZZZZ IS OSUMMM???" is something i've yet to see any professional review ever say.Good job escapist.

The irony of this post is delicious.

Anyone else want a taste?

So very delicious...

 

[Thunderous Cacophony]

So, does Elizabeth do everything on her own? Is there some strategy or pattern to the stuff she pulls from the Tears, is it random, or can you give her orders?

Just a small question; this one definitely looks worth a buy.

 

[Doom972]

I'm wondering... Bioshock was underwater, Bioshock Infinite is up in the sky. It would only be logical for the next "Shock" game to take place in space. Perhaps in the future. With, oh, I dunno, some kind of evil AI villain.

With an AI SYSTEM going into a state of SHOCK, and afterwards turns a spaceship crew into mindless monsters? That sounds like a nice game. Someone should make it.

 

[knight steel]

Wait a minute this review is too positive,not one negative was mentioned......IMPOSSIBLE Nothing on this earth can be perfect as that would mean that it has no flaws making it divine,but the game was made by humans which means if the game is divine in it perfection.....so must be the developers,but this is impossible for a human as our brains and bodies are designed in such a way that we will make mistakes,which means we can't be divine and that this game inturn can't be perfect unless,that this game must be made by gods,wait why would they make a game unless.........THIS GAME IS CHRISTIAN PROPAGANDA!!!!!!!It all makes sense target gamers who are more likely to be atheist's and convert them to Christianity,but why?.......Unless GOD needs us to believe in him in order to exist in this reality, EVERY ONE DON"T PLAY THIS GAME,by doing so you will be mind controlled by god for his sinister purposes.

Umm.... let's see. Flaws.... ummmmmmm.

The iron sight on the pistol is kind of lame. It has a point, like a sharp point, rather than a flat top, which kind of bugged me. Some of the NPCs have the same face. You can't fly a giant dragon.

That's all I can come up with at the moment.

You,of course you would say that,your just apart of the conspiracy,aren't you,AREN'T YOU,you wrote this article which means you must be apart of of it,other wise you would not write about it,the fact that you can't think of a negative thing PROVES that I'm right,think about it your a gaming website and the people who made this game are game developers,see a connection it can't just be a coincidence that your all involved in games their is no such thing as coincidence EVERYTHING IS Connected,people open your eyes,he has obviously been bought of,how much did Irrational Games pay you...........wait the name of the company is Irrational Games,see more proof!!!!Not only that but you said the game involved people worshiping the government as gods,see what did I tell you the GODS made this as apart of their CHRISTIAN PROPAGANDA by making us warm up to the idea of worship............wait the government........MY GOD THIS GOES ALL THE WAY TO THE TOP,I can't believe the gov are apart of the conspiracy!!!!
But wait,what if it's not the gods by the Demons......OBAMA IS THE ANTI-CHRIST he's made this game to turn us into satanist's O_O

 

[WarpZone]

Umm.... let's see. Flaws.... ummmmmmm.

The iron sight on the pistol is kind of lame. It has a point, like a sharp point, rather than a flat top, which kind of bugged me. Some of the NPCs have the same face. You can't fly a giant dragon.

That's all I can come up with at the moment.

So... what I am hearing is that there IS a jetpack? Can you confirm?

 

[MikeWehner]

I watched the video again to make sure I didn't miss anything you said about Elizabeth. You talk a lot of about Elizabeth's abilities to do things like resupply and spawn in cover. You never explicitly state that it's not an Escort Mission. Maybe I should unpack what I think an "escort mission" is.

The written version of the review is significantly longer and more detailed than the video version. I explain a lot more about it in the written version. That's why we have "Read the full review at Escapist.com" at the end of the video, and save the score for the written review as well

 

[wooty]

Had this pre-ordered since I first heard about it, glad to hear its up to spec.

Plus 15 hours for an (I hate to use this phrase after what you've just said, so please people, don't text beat me) FPS is near unheard of recently. Re-play value is also a great bonus.

 

[MikeWehner]

So, does Elizabeth do everything on her own? Is there some strategy or pattern to the stuff she pulls from the Tears, is it random, or can you give her orders?

Just a small question; this one definitely looks worth a buy.

You can request tears, you can see little blips of where the tears are and what they will produce, and you can order her to open them. The catch is only one can be open at a time, so maybe you need a sniper rifle up on the ledge, and she can open a tear that has a rifle and a box of ammo, or you can open a tear that produces a giant robotic "Motorized Patriot" ally to fight along with you. You can switch back and forth too, but it's very much a fast-paced risk/reward system.

 

[WarpZone]

The written version of the review is significantly longer and more detailed than the video version. I explain a lot more about it in the written version. That's why we have "Read the full review at Escapist.com" at the end of the video, and save the score for the written review as well

Oh, yep! There it is. Scroll past the video, look to the far right of the "Post a comment" link, click page 2.

If you are worried about Infinite becoming one long escort mission, there's absolutely nothing to fear here. You never have to actively protect Elizabeth in combat, and she finds her own cover and avoids enemy fire without any input on your part. She may be the object of your rescue mission, but she can definitely stand on her own when it comes to survival.

Can't imagine how I missed that. I guess I was mentally passing off the review text as Search Engine Optimization. "Whelp, it says Video Review and I clicked play on the video! Guess I've seen the review!" Past Me can be such an idiot sometimes.

 

[Redingold]

Is it better than the first one? Because for me, Bioshock ran out of steam two thirds of the way through, after the confrontation with Ryan. After that, it was an uninteresting slog through dull, tedious combat and some really crappy escort missions.

 

[Soak]

Tehe, well someone had to get lucky to make this review, gratz .
Though i wish you would've told me something more, than i already knew, i get it, that it's hard to tell anything about a story-based shooter without spoiling anything of the actual story...

Honestly, i'm still just a bit skeptical, if Infinite made a "turn" in it's focus from the city and its ideals as a driving motive, towards an actual protagonist (DeWitt) and that this might break with what i actually loved about Bioshock (1 & 2). I actually made a small test in a class about videogames, if anyone who played Bioshock could remember whom they were playing (by name and background story) and nobody really could, while everyone remembered the name, story and ideals Rapture was build on - obviously. At least to me, that was what really separated Bioshock from other shooters and even from other story-based shooters, which usually are about Protagonist/Hero XY rescuing/saving Person Z/City Q/ the day.

Then, through development, i heard what the motives of Infinite would be/ are now and thought, that the part of "cultural exceptionalism" (generalized) could put this in a proper perspective, by showing and then breaking the generic formula, but until now, i don't really have any "prove", what exactly they did in this matter (i know what "american exceptionalism" has to do with Columbia, but, while i may over-interpret some things, i see all of the Bioshock-titles as potential mirrors for our society).

Well, maybe you, or anybody for that matter, can tell without spoiling anything...
on the other hand it barely matters to me, because i will play it either way, considering Infinite is now the first title i ever pre-ordered - and right now i already enjoy XCOM to the fullest and therefore will hardly see this as a wasted purchase .

 

[WarpZone]

Is it better than the first one? Because for me, Bioshock ran out of steam two thirds of the way through, after the confrontation with Ryan. After that, it was an uninteresting slog through dull, tedious combat and some really crappy escort missions.

To be fair, the mid-game plot twist was a lot less anticlimactic back in System Shock 2 when it was an omnipotent supercomputer hacking your mind.

 

[Frostbite3789]

Now stop being an Amazon-esque review bomber and shut your mouth before you play the game. <3

Man after some of the light stuff users have been perma-banned lately for this is how The Escapist gets to respond to users? Hoo boy. Don't get me wrong, I like your stuff, you're a delight in streams, but as far as responding as an employee of the site in that way? Ehhhh.

OT: This is a pleasant surprise, kinda had a sinking feeling about this game. I know where some of my next payday is going now.

 

[daibakuha]

Aaannnd poor Tomb raider is overshadowed by this pseudo-philosophical tripe

Don't get me wrong.I am sure the game is enjoyable.And moreover, i will have fun with it.But the philosophy in the bioshock series never did anything to me, honestly.And i think the series could be better off without it.Bioshock 2 had great potential (the cult of Eleanor and all) but failed miserably, it merely wallowed in it's predecessor's IDENTICAL gameplay.

Tomb Raider on the other hand is just a great cinematic survivor story, that is really touching.It will be lucky to win anything considering how each reviewer is jizzing their pants.This is saddening to me, but oh well.At least i have a good game to play.No one will ever understand what crystal dynamics has done, and how far TR itself has come.

Also "CHECK UR PULSE IF U DON"T THING TEH GAMEZZZZ IS OSUMMM???" is something i've yet to see any professional review ever say.Good job escapist.

The irony of this post is delicious.

Anyone else want a taste?

So very delicious...

The irony is not lost on me. It's more affirming actually, something poetic about a guy who doesn't grasp that you're supposed to hit the space bar after you type a period not liking this game.

I was unsure about buying this immediately, but now? I think I will.

 

[WarpZone]

Now stop being an Amazon-esque review bomber and shut your mouth before you play the game. <3

Man after some of the light stuff users have been perma-banned lately for this is how The Escapist gets to respond to users? Hoo boy. Don't get me wrong, I like your stuff, you're a delight in streams, but as far as responding as an employee of the site in that way? Ehhhh.

OT: This is a pleasant surprise, kinda had a sinking feeling about this game. I know where some of my next payday is going now.

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.