You know a game is special when just about every reviewer is spouting poetic lines like they've been doing it their whole careers. Of course "BioShock Infinite's" rousing success in tackling mature, intertwining and challenging issues tends to make stuff like that happen. It's a winner, some are saying it's better than the original "BioShock," and everyone agrees, Irrational Games is a towering Olympus among tiny ants. See, even I'm doing it now, and I haven't even played the damn thing.
Consensus: Why are you playing anything else?
Columbia and the Narrative
Gameplay is nice, but when it comes to the "BioShock" series, it's the story that nabs it rewards. On display here is another dystopia, Columbia, floating high in the sky instead of buried beneath the surface of the sea. And unlike "BioShock's" desolation, "BioShock Infinite's" world is teeming with live personalities ready to tear each other apart over the ideals they believe in and the men who spout them so vigorously.
"'BioShock Infinite' isn't afraid to magnify the way religious and racial extremism inform our culture and change lives. It isn't afraid to depict a less-than-holy trinity diseased by power, deception, and manipulation," writes Gamespot's Kevin VanOrd.
You are Booker DeWitt, wiping a debt clean by travelling to the floating city and rescuing a... "the"... girl, named Elizabeth. She's got powers, you eventually get some powers, but the important bit here is that Columbia is undergoing a civil war, a disruption over the powerful and incendiary ideas of American Exceptionalism mixed with religious zealotry, and your and Elizabeth's adventure in the many unknown truths behind it all. But, perhaps telling even more of "BioShock Infinite's" quality than its ambition is the wide-range of takeaway reviewers seem so confident in espousing. Whereas VanOrd focused the game's bigger ideas, Joystiq's Xav de Matos found a different conclusion
"Whether it be a society in love with its own patented brand of American Exceptionalism, a leader in love with his own self-appointed immortal image, or a pair of people that come together to care for one another, 'BioShock Infinite' is a love story."
A lot of that little effigy of a love story comes from Elizabeth's success as a supporting role in combat and a major role in the story. Here abilities play heavily into Columbia's fat, and yet the personal connection you gain with her, from your first meet to the many context-sensitive animations and dialogue anecdotes, Elizabeth makes Booker into a hero he didn't want to be to begin with. It's apparently quite intoxicating.
"She provides motivation and moves the story forward, and like the clear bond the Big Daddies and Little Sisters had in the first game, I was compelled to protect her. And from a purely mechanical perspective, it's a half-miracle that she never gets in the way - but she doesn't. What's great about Elizabeth is that her presence always adds something, and never takes anything away," writes IGN's Ryan McCaffery.
There's a lot to love and little to be bored by, and above all else, it's a story that begs to be experienced, not read about.
Combat
Thank you, Destructoid's Jim Sterling, for making this next part such a breeze:
"The densely populated, brightly lit world of Columbia is no place to evoke the creeping tension of the first game, so "Infinite" instead focuses on chaotic combat and heavy duty weaponry. In some ways, this leads to a game with less creativity than "BioShock." Booker's guns and special abilities are geared far more consistently toward the direct offensive approach, and enemies are brutally efficient enough to where one never gets to really "play around" with them like one previously could. This is not to say, however, that combat is more straightforward and dull. On the contrary, it works harder to achieve a sense of dynamism, an effort that largely pays off."
Combat in "BioShock Infinite" has three parts - you and your powerful vigors (like "BioShock's" plasmids), Elizabeth and her ability to "tear" open the battlefield and drop in cover, weapons or other helpful items from times past or future, and your skyhook, which enables fast and exciting transport over skylines across open battlefields. The first works much like the original game, allowing players to find their favorite combinations of guns and abilities, while the latter two supplement "Infinite's" fast-paced ambitions.
The skyhook, while doubly serving as your melee weapon, lets Booker fling himself into the air, grab the skyline rails littered around the city and ride the momentum with great speed and agility to wherever he needs to be. Enemies do this as well, which really ups the adrenaline ante when you're chasing or being chased.
Which brings us to enemy types. Like "BioShock," it's more about manipulating groups of enemies with your varying powers than approaching each enemy with a specific strategy, but the large, brutish Handyman, which invokes the image of a certain American idol (not Kelly Clarkson), mixes it up handily.
"Then there are the Handymen -- intimidating 10-foot-tall proto-cyborgs who freaked me out the first time I thought I'd escaped them but, in fact, hadn't. They're much more agile than they look, even if they're essentially bullet-spongy Big Daddies on PEDs. At least the AI is wise enough to use cover and the Skylines to keep you on your toes and even the odds," writes McCaffery.
A few reviewers found smallish gripes with the system, though mostly as an excuse to complain about something and make their reviews seem more balanced.
Regarding Elizabeth's tearing ability, VanOrd seemed confused over his inability to dislike anything at all:
"This system is a contrived handling of one of the game's important narrative conceits, an intriguing element awkwardly translated into gameplay. Yet these tears also give battles an extra sense of unpredictability, or provide important defensive elements when you most need them."
McCaffery also found issues with the game's pacing, feeling the combat was used to pad overall game time at the expense of the narrative. Of course, it was worth it in the end, which brings us to...
The "Mind-Blowing" Ending (spoiler-free here, promise)
Everybody wanted a twist ending, so Ken Levine gave them a twist ending. And they friggin' loved it:
"The ending is marvelous, and you'll have to trust me when I say that "BioShock Infinite's" final section - dedicated entirely to its narrative - handily disposes of any minor gripes. There is not only one twist to the tale, but many entrances and exits to a wide array of secrets, diving deeper into the past of the primary cast of characters and the world of Columbia itself" - de Matos
"Once the finale comes, you will want to play again, watching each event and image through the lens of information you can never un-know. "BioShock Infinite" is more than just a quality game: it's an important one," - VanOrd
"All this leads to an elegant conclusion, expanding the "BioShock" universe to a staggering degree before bringing it sharply inwards to one of the most affecting, intimate closers I've had the pleasure of experiencing in a game. In an industry full of games that seem to struggle with satisfying conclusions -- an area "BioShock "itself famously failed in -- "Infinite" is one of those rare games with a perfect beginning, an engaging middle, and a perfect end." - Sterling
Yeah, I think that does it.