Bioshock Infinite Announced

[Daltone]

Infinite disappointed me. Greatly.

I adored the small touches early, and the contrasts they create. Early on, there is a store based on the honor system. Go down into the Shantytown, and a gun is pulled on you as soon as you walk in the door as a warning. I love the sequence with Elizabeth in the basement as she feeds the child. The world is incredible, with these giant gold statues that segue into a rotting underworld oppressed people. That's interactive fiction at its best.

Then it's shoot, shoot, shoot. Endless shooting. There's no need to poke around and learn about the world. There's more shooting to do. Every encounter feels the same, with no regards to pacing. It's not the violence so much as HOW MUCH violence there is. The game just dies in its own arms.

And the twist? It's the most obvious of the twists the could have chosen, the same one Spec Ops tried to pass off just last year, with the same eye rolling from me. Try this in a film and you would be laughed out of the theater; it's all so preposterous. Infinite didn't need any of these sci-fi elements. It's not brave enough to explore its message thoroughly, and instead hides behind repetitious shooting and its wildly out of place theories.

As I said in my review, "Its best moments never involve a gun."

How did you feel about the first / second one? Better? Worse? The same?

[misfits859]

Haven't finished yet but I'm really wondering how this got so many perfect/near perfect scores. Way too linear and just not enough variation in the gameplay. Perhaps I need to start over right now and pace myself through the game.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Haven't finished yet but I'm really wondering how this got so many perfect/near perfect scores. Way too linear and just not enough variation in the gameplay. Perhaps I need to start over right now and pace myself through the game.

Most of the perfect-scoring reviews I've read openly address the technical and design shortcomings and excuse them/pass them in the face of where the game does excel - story, concepts, A.I., characters and aesthetics.

I disagree with the notion that the game's story is predictable, especially the story beats in the final quarter of the game.

Even though I had pieced together where the story was going by that point there were several moments that took me COMPLETELY by surprise.

I do think that the shooting mechanics suffer from the game having gone back to the drawing board several times. It feels like a product that struggled to be tuned and never really became a pitch-perfect shooter.

I think Bioshock 1 was a better paced FPS and Bioshock 2 was EXTREMELY refined in the FPS mechanics of the first game.

Still, I'm with the reviewers that love the complete package. It's imperfect but I love it despite any outright flaws. The good outweighs the bad IMO.

I can't wait to play through a second time now that I know the whole of the story.

[Gamereviewgod]

How did you feel about the first / second one? Better? Worse? The same?

I loved the first one, second one was just sort of there for me.

I think the first is the strongest, but oddly makes the same mistakes if speaking generally. After killing five Big Daddies, they lost all of their luster. Why are they a threat to me anymore? I just killed two of them using a wrench. There's no fear anymore, no presence or weight to their existence.

Infinite's shooting mechanics are the most refined of the series. Great sense of impact, and less chaotic, but there's too much of it.

[Tupin]

Columbia's atmosphere was much less creepy than Rapture's. Maybe because Rapture had already collapsed and Columbia hadn't, it was getting even stronger?

I don't know.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Columbia's atmosphere was much less creepy than Rapture's. Maybe because Rapture had already collapsed and Columbia hadn't, it was getting even stronger?

I don't know.

The citizens of Rapture were ugly on the outside, the citizens of Columbia were ugly on the inside.

[Polygon]

I just bought a new video card just because of this game. Oddly enough, the new video card came with it for free!

[Robocop2]

So far it's been okay. I don't really feel like its a Bioshock game. Other than the use of the "vigors" it really doesn't have the same feel the other two entries had. Maybe its because like another poster said that Columbia wasn't in a state of degradation. Its interesting and enjoyable yes; but not the best Bioshock ever as some reviews are stating.... Maybe as I get into it more my opinion will change though.

Update:
I finished the game the other day and other than a little something later in the game (which i will not spoil) I just don't get the same feeling from it that I did with the other two games. I would recommend it as a pickup for anyone who liked the first two remotely but I stand by my statement about it feeling like the other two. It definitely shouldn't be part of the main series.