BioShock Infinite Review

Companionship, It is one of the strongest feelings you can feel in any work of fiction. Your relation with an imaginary character seems real, born naturally through a shared experience and the challenges that you overcame at each other’s side. It’s the existence of companionship that elevates BioShock Infinite from being an amzing game to an astounding one, imbuing the breathtaking FPS gameplay with a taste of genuine humanity. Elizabeth is your only friend in the aeriel city of Columbia, a twisted sight of a utopia floating in the heavens. And seeing the sights in an un-familiar city is always more fun with a friend.

The year is 1912. You  character is Booker DeWitt, an ex-Pinkerton agent along with the machismo of Harrison Ford, sent to extract a lady from the dizzying peaks of Columbia’s aerial metropolis. Compare the previous BioShock games, this fantasy situation is stunning to behold and layered with a great ambience. The simple act of walking it’s cobbled streets and wandering through gift shops turns into a mesmerizing situation, where propaganda posters, eavesdropped discussion, and children’s toys all give you a flash into this society’s warped sense of patriotism.

You’ll also find yourself in a shock as you explore Columbia. The city is damn beautiful, with vivid colors and brightness in some vistas and a gloomy duskiness in others. Going from a cheerful, dynamic street fair into less convival settings is surprising in all the right ways, and no two environments feel identical. The pacing of the level design is truly amazing, never dawdling on any one set piece for too long but giving you just enough time to appreciate their elegance.

Blended into these elengent locations are messages of repugnant racism, and the stark contrast between the ideal cityscape and the bias that pervades it tells a story all by itself. Racist caricatures aren’t used for poor shock value--they help sell the idea that most citizens in Columbia think that skin color dictates status.The 15 to 18 hour campaign doesn’t limit itself to the ideas of good and bad, or force you to make dichotomous moral choices; rather than, it’s the kind of fiction that subverts your expectations time and time again.

Central to this story is Elizabeth, your strong willed, super powered friend who dreams the freedom of her life in captivity. Through a connection of affecting voicework, convincing face animations, and brilliant of all, Elizabeth feels like a completely autonomous companion,a friend. Her body language delivers emotions without words; an innocent smile at Booker when he makes promises, an halt gaze and crossed arms if he breaks them. Elizabeth’s attitude makes you forget she’s a video game character: She’ll browse environments all on her own, beckoning you over to point out something you might have missed. When patiently waiting for you to finish checking a room, her gaze will shift to sights beyond the player, rather than haunting on your head like so many video game NPCs. Once you have grown accustomed to Elizabeth’s mannerisms, the idle stares and limited reactions from lesser characters can make them feel life-less by comparison--though no worse than any other great game.

Her incorporation into the FPS gameplay is damned ingenious. Too often, companions become a detriment in combat, in consistent need of baby sitting or instructions. But Elizabeth is polar opposite, able to cover for herself and assist you with her supernatural abilities. You willl be grateful when she opens inter-dimensional tears in the environment, altering the layout of a level to guard you or create an enemy-attracting diversion. When you die, it’s Elizabeth who revives you. It makes a bonding between you and Elizabeth feel that much stronger--when she is happy, you are happy. When she’s hurt, you’ll personally want to slaughter whoever it was that hurt her.

Elizabeth’s existense also brings the tone firmly into an action territory and away from survival horror. Knowing that you don’t have to face your enemies yourself will make you feel empowered—a bit switch from the original BioShock’s desolate, chilling atmosphere. Elizabeth is a very helpful partner, finding out the items you need and tossing them to you in the time during an intense firefight.

Imagine: you’re nearing the bottom of a machine gun clip, heart pumping as swarms of Comstock’s goons attack at you. Then you hear Elizabeth shout your name, spin around to catch the ammo she’s tossed, quickly reload, and blast your enemy in the face with hot lead. These moments will overwhelm your adrenal glands, giving you to feel like incidental heroics instead of constructed, scripted events.

Speaking of adrenal glands, Infinite’s battle will be satisfyingly familiar for BioShock veteran. The gun in one hand, magic powers in the other formula delivers excting shootouts one after another, and lets you in play with your strengths and approach enemies, however, you see fit. In place of Plasmids are some artistic Vigors, which opens up even more avenues for combo based traps, and the gunplay offers a very satisfying range of close-quarters firepower and long-range artillery.

But the sky-lines, the suspended tracks you can use to ride through levels like a rollercoaster, turn the first person shooting into a first person thrill ride. It conveys a new FPS experience completely, where you hold your breath at the apex of a sky-line before shouting down the rail so fast that no shot can touch you. You won’t have to access sky-line versatility in the lion’s share of the battles--but when you do, it’s an absolute rush.

Incredibly, BioShock Infinite conveys on your years’ worth of desires, then exceeds them. Regardless of your affinity for the FPS genre, Infinite truly deserves your attention, and it’s a kind of landmark experience that happens only a few times in a gaming-gen. Even after the game is over, Elizabeth and Columbia will stay with you.