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.
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.
