Bioshock Infinite is an action first-person shooter featuring the floating city of Columbia in the futuristic year of 1912. Developed by Irrational Games, the game was released on May 26 of this year despite its announcement in 2010.
Stepping into the shoes of Booker Dewitt, the bounty-hunting protagonist of Bioshock Infinite, you are assigned the task of retrieving a young woman named Elizabeth from the evil clutches of Father Zachary Comstock, the prophet and ruler of Columbia as well as the main antagonist.
Out of all the incredible features of Bioshock Infinite, the environment is the most inspiring. Anytime a floating city is featured in a game it is bound to be unique, but there was something about Columbia’s atmosphere that set it apart. It’s tempting to spend hours at a time walking the cobblestone streets and wooden boardwalks inspecting every single detail, seeing every sight, and finding every secret.
The amount of creative input that went into inventing the culture and characters of Columbia is easily apparent. The society may seem cheery at first, but the city’s underlying problems grow like a snowball rolling down a hill right before your eyes.
The action initiates in the city carnival with the ring leader urging you to throw a baseball at an interracial couple. Two cops suddenly intervene to take you into custody claiming you to be the false shepherd. Next thing you know it’s chaos in the streets. The first major chunk of the game is spent escaping the entirety of the Columbia police force.
Described in a couple of words, the gameplay is fast-paced and intense, but unfortunately repetitive. There’s a wide array of upgradeable weapons and magic abilities (called vigors) to make things interesting, but the only downside is the lacking variation in enemy types. The game gets around this by constantly upping the pressure placed upon you making for a difficult experience at times, but a memorable one.
Lastly, there’s the story. Bioshock Infinite contains a story that uses elements such as alternate dimensions, quantum physics, and mysterious encounters. Ultimately it’s hard to grasp what the overlying concept is until the very end. Booker is trying to bring Elizabeth back to a mysterious employer with mysterious motives while running into a mysterious couple and learning about Comstock’s mysterious past. Basically a whole lot of mystery, but it’s nice to see how story driven the entire experience was.
The world of Bioshock Infinite is populated by two warring factions: The Vox Populi who fight for the rights of the common folk no matter what the cost, and Columbia’s Founders who back the more powerful people. The two groups are pitted against each other in a growing conflict with political ideologies and questionable moral on either side. It’s this conflict that ends up being the more obvious story element, and better yet, it’s one that makes you think.
Bioshock Infinite ended up being longer than expected, but not as long as one would hope with a final play-through length of about 15 hours. The gameplay is exciting, the setting is incredible, and the story is interesting. Bioshock Infinite receives a final score of 4.5/5.
