Hey there sexy! I’ve not done a review for what feels like years now, maybe I’ve just been waiting for the right game to come along, perhaps I suck at reviews or maybe I just couldn’t be bothered. My guess is a little from each of those is possibly true.
Bioshock Infinite has been teasing us for what feels like an age now, the stellar achievements of Bioshock (ignore its sequel) has meant everybody and their cousin, have assumed that 2K will do it again with Infinite.
Well let me be the 200th person to tell you this, BIOSHOCK INFINATE IS AWESOME. An amazing wonderfully unique setting, deep characters who you will love and hate, balanced game play and a simple fun factor which I feel is sometimes becoming a hard thing to find in a game as of late.
I don’t really want to spoil anything about this game, the less you know coming in, the better. I ignored pretty much all media for this game and it allowed for me to be pleasantly surprised by what this game offers.
Graphically the game is stupid amazing, the amount of attention to detail in regards to the time period is insane. The floating air-city of Columbia looks gorgeous and some of lighting effects look so real, they hurt my eyes (in a good way). For a console coming to the end of its days, the PS3 can still produce some surprises and it’s great to play a console FPS which actually runs without a hitch.
One hesitation I had when hearing about the game was the fact that would play most of the game with an AI partner. In the past this has usually broken a game for me. But those fears where put to rest the second Elizabeth joined the party. The abilities she brings to combat really do liven things up and I was quite surprised to never have her be a burden to me, in fact she saved my ass a few times by throwing ammo and items my way, when I was close to death.
The only negative point I can think of, is games atmosphere. The original Bioshock had a creepy and unsettling atmosphere which had me fearing what was round every corner. I didn’t really get this from Infinite, this game is a lot more action focused, sure there are a few scares here and there but not enough for me to ever think of this game as nothing more than a roller coaster kill-fest. It’s not quite Call of Duty in its level of action, but it’s damn near close at times, loadsa splosions and stuff.
The “plasmid” and “tonics” from the original Bioshock make a return, except now they’re called “Vigors”. These grant you special abilities such as telekinesis and controlling the elements. These feel really good, you feel like a badass but also still not quite a god as you’re forced to use them sparingly throughout.
This game will last you a good 10-15 hours and a lot more if you decide to mine those collectibles.
End of the day, this is no doubt one of the swan songs of this generation. And if you need a game to remind you just how far the industry has come these past few years, you probably should own this.
9/10
