Review of a Video Game · 11:08pm Dec 19th, 2013
So, I was trying to think of something to blog about, something that I can do consistently. Sure I could just pick ponies (this is a site about ponies after all), but I do love video games. I also feel passionate about video games and I can be an excessive nitpicker when it comes to them (they cost me 60 dollars plus tax, damn right I'm gonna nitpick!). So here are my thoughts on the video game, Bioshock Infinite.
SPOILERS AHEAD
I would so play this!
Expectations:
Anyway, since the moment it was announced, I couldn't wait for this game to come out. I loved Bioshock 1 and even 2 (Sue me, I don't care if 2 has a crappy, tacked on Multiplayer mode. The Single Player Camping was still fun, even if it was mostly more of the same thing). My expectations were right up there with what to expect from Duke Nukem Forever- possibly much higher. I kept hearing about all the great things you could do in this game, from killing guys in new and unique ways (unique enough). To solving puzzles by having to travel through portals and even different dimensions. What could possibly go wrong?
...Something went pretty wrong.
Misunderstandings on why this game is okay and not great:
No, it was not the extreme violence in the game. For some reason, lots of gaming publications and YouTube channels reported on this and talked about how much it bothered them or worse- assumed that it bothered gamers.
...Really? You though any amount of blood or killing would bother the one group of people who basically love to kill living things in fictional universes for fun? Now I'm not saying we are cold blooded killers or anything, or love violence in real life. But the same people who bought and played and enjoyed games like Bioshock Infinite obviously bought Bioshock or God of War or other "M" rated games. In fact, I don't mind the violence at all and I think it complements how the World of Columbia is. Things are beautiful in that city; but beauty comes at a price. If there's anything this game did get right, it's the subtext and subtle aspect of it all. You are in this city that is more gorgeous than anything our world will probably ever see in our lifetimes. And, at first glance, its citizens seem just as amazing in some way, but it's only after spending some small amount of time that you start seeing them as nothing more then racist and terrible monsters. This's not the issue with the game; part of the problem is the excessive and overly repetitive combat sequences. I'll will get to those later.
Some Changes:
You see sometime, down the development road of the game, they announced a few changes. They felt that Elizabeth, one of the main characters that you are tasked with protecting in the game, came off as a tad cold. As a result, test gamers didn't sympathize with her enough on a emotional level. So this is what happened:
Old Elizabeth, footage from the original debut of the game.
I'm Snow White!
Now the changes are nothing subtle, they wanted her to look like and act like an innocent woman who clearly does not belong in this violent world. It's these changes where the game started to take a nose dive in creativity and pure design. I can't prove anything, and all I have to go on is old interviews and game footage- not to mention the game trailers. Originally though I believe Elizabeth was meant to be something more. For now, though, let's talk about what we do know before I start guessing and speculating. Elizabeth's power in the game is to call upon help from other universes basically. She can summon small items, people and machines that are technically not in their current universe, but found in another. So let's say the makers of Columbia wanted two security gun turrets in one section, but the makers in another Columbia wanted three. She can take that third and temporarily make it appear in the universe that she resides in. You direct Elizabeth on what she should do; you can slightly change the environment as well, but I mean only slightly.
This is important because it sets up a going trend and theme for the whole freakin' game. The illusion of choice is something this game really wants you to know about and shoves it down your throat in practically every level. To be fair, Bioshock was no stranger to this little theme, but I feel like it didn't need to be repeated here. The choices you make with the Luteces, for example, are meant to be jokes; it's not like there's a karma system in the game so picking what they ask of you does absolutely nothing! So why are they even asking you to make choices?! I don't know, but, to be honest, what you're choosing from them just kind of derails the plot for a bit. I did like the Luteces, they were funny and maybe even a tad creepy. However those twins cause a problem somewhere down the road, again I'll get to it later. Let's steer back to Elizabeth.
Make a game about this, someone!
Let's dive into some speculation. You see, in the game, Elizabeth might as well only show up outside of the combat sequences. Yes, she can help you during these by throwing you ammo or changing the environment a little, but half way through the game I stopped using her during combat. The game wasn't all that difficult in the first place (except Columbia's version on Big Daddy's, but I'll get to those too in a bit). So I ignored her almost completely, and the game was designed to ignore her during combat because there are no consequences for ignoring her. She cannot die, and with the exception of like one sequences that I remember, the enemies you are fighting do not notice her at all!
Immersion Issues:
This basically shatters part of the immersion that these games were designed to do. Games like Bioshock and Bioshock Infinite were meant to tell a cinematic like experience- yes movies are not games and games will never be movies. But to be fair, some of the things these games can do well is make you feel like you're part of a larger story. Even if there are no real choices in the game and you're simply going along for the ride, the story and the game's mechanics, should make sense and should entertain you. Bioshock Infinite only does the latter with not so much of the former.
I didn't know that bullets could harm ghosts...
Now, I can't prove this exactly, and I have not read anything confirming it... but I believe the changes they made to Elizabeth were very very significant. So much so that the game is effectively broken in some areas, while still being playable. How can that sentence even make sense? I hear you asking! I'm glad you asked!
The battles that take place in Columbia are too large in scale and the enemies number too greatly.
NO! YOU BE QUIET LARGE MAN SMOKING A CIGAR!
Tedious Combat:
This is a big deal; I know it sounds interesting and all, but the original game, I believe, was set up like this on purpose because Elizabeth used to be a cold blooded bitch. Yes, I know that Columbia is not the City of Rapture and wouldn't have closed in spaces or cramped environments. But it still affects the gameplay when Booker DeWitt (that's you!) is outmatched and outgunned. Elizabeth, I believe, was meant to help even the odds during fights. You see I think this because originally her power to call upon help from other dimensions would harm her, depending on how much she used it. This part is a confirmed fact from the developers, but instead they changed her and now she is basically immortal- like Tails here:
However, being immortal doesn't mean she's even much use during combat. So why is she even there most of the time? To be honest, she was far more of a distraction in some cases; sometimes I would think I had to protect her due to my natural instincts in video games like these, only to come to my senses and just ignore her again in frustration. But now were going into nitpicking instead of talking about the actual issue. The issue is that Elizabeth cannot use weapons. This is a big, big deal. Plenty of the battles that you need to fight are quite large in scale and can take upwards of twenty minutes in some cases just to finish one segment of a level. In the original Bioshock I was happy to fight things on top of exploration and doing puzzles and collecting audio diaries; the battles never felt like a chore and never overstayed their welcome. The reason I think Elizabeth was originally meant to fight along side you with her own set of abilities and weapons, is the sheer numbers that you need to fight in Bioshock Infinite. I remember stealing some money at the beginning of the game on normal difficulty when suddenly every single enemy in the vicinity was on my ass, out to get me. Literally two dozen or maybe more enemies were trying to kill me all for stealing a few coins when only one person saw me do it! You can kill them all, but you basically need to get lucky. Later on I found out you were supposed to fight them in another area at a slightly later time meaning I triggered this event too early- that was after I died on them twice. This was before you got Elizabeth so let's just chalk it up to lousy level design on their part. Note: I'm not complaining about dying or difficulty. I'm complaining that the game designers didn't give me enough tools to deal with a small army. Remember, I was talking about the beginning of the game. It shouldn't have felt this insanely difficult. I remember that orginal Bioshock started you off early but kept its difficulty mostly consistent or stable. It never went to insane levels simply because it could.
A Dumbing Down:
Even when Bioshock 1 or 2 cranked the number of enemies up, you typically had quite a few weapons at your disposal to handle things. If you died while in Rapture, it generally felt like it was your fault and not from frustrating enemy placement or numbers. Elizabeth is with you basically the whole time, and she does not once offer to fight with or for you which is the biggest issue in the whole damn game. Booker is fighting small armies all over the place both from a gameplay and story perspective. I honestly believe she was meant to do more before they turned her into Snow White. After changing her though, they kept the level designs mostly the same in terms of combat design. So fighting thugs in this city didn't feel as fun as fighting them in Rapture. Yes, a lot of them went down with a couple hits, but often you were limited to what you could find in Columbia which is ironic as hell. In Rapture, you were in a post apocalyptic like environment, yet somehow you could find every weapon you needed. In Columbia, you can only carry two weapons at a time. You had power abilities you could switch from, sure, but due to the change in combat flow you could not stock up on EVE (they call it Salts in this universe) or health packs. You also can't stock up on ammo for different weapons or weapons in general. Instead, the combat system was dumbed down; the game designers would place weapons in certain areas along with ammo and health packs and salt and you just had to hope they gave you what you needed, instead of thinking things through yourself. I sure miss the 90s when it comes to game design- tv shows, movies, toys... etc...
The dumbing down of games has been a huge issue for game development and for seasoned gamers. Often times the game publishers feel a game like Bioshock Infinite cost too much to develop because they're placing the standards of its graphical quality way up there with angelic perfection. They worry that not enough gamers will buy a game if it's "too complex" to understand, so they just say "eh screw it, make it as dumb simple as we can make it". They do this in hopes that a game designed for the lowest common denominator- yes, I'm calling people stupid here- will sell better than something that may have a niche market.
This is a pretty stupid idea, in my opinion. It starts to literally alienate gamers who want an amazing experience and want to solve complex issues or get immersed. A game that plays too casually will also break immersion. If you want a good idea of what I'm trying to get at, I'd recommend checking out the Sequelitis series found on YouTube. He explains how odd it is when most gaming subjects lately have been steered towards adults with mature content, yet the games treat them like they're idiots. The biggest issue with dumbing down games is that you start to make gamers feel like your game and your company aren't worth their time or money. Trust is easy to lose from a company and almost impossible to get back. I truly believe that, over time, dumbing down games will hurt companies into bankruptcy when gamers feel like a lousy experience that is not designed for their age level or mental capabilities are not worth their time or money.
Now that I've explained most of the game's issues, let's move on. Just keep in mind I was trying to emphasis my point that Elizabeth feels like this sort of afterthought during combat. She could have helped you out quite a bit and even added a new depth to the gameplay by being forced to make sure she doesn't die either. Maybe juggle some healthpacks?! But instead they dumbed everything down, most likely, and made so the only thing you have to care about is shooting and shooting some more.
Gameplay:
JUST KEEP SHOOTING! I swear, this is all you do in Bioshock Infinite. I believe 95% of the obstacles in your way can be solved by killing. Seriously you kill so many people in this city, it's a wonder the city has any citizens left . (A minor issue I should note, gamers who were looking forward to fighting battles while the city was still a living and breathing world, unlike Rapture. However at the first sign of gunplay, everyone just sort of runs away and never comes back, more immersion breaking. Once Booker kills everyone, there should at least be some citizens coming back, or something. Where did they go?) Anyway, you really do a lot of shooting. If Shooting is your thing though and you can never grow tired of it, then this is the game for you! Now I know what you're thinking:
This is a first person shooter, CP! Why in the hell are you complaining about this?! Because, of my expectations. You see in Bioshock 1 and 2, you do more than just kill deranged people. You solve puzzles (all be-it simple), you explore a nonlinear based city, you find secrets to unlock and hidden audio diaries or messages on the walls. You find new and unique ways to kill your enemies, you mix up your combat when you get bored by shifting weapons. You plan things out ahead of time by stocking up on ammo and trying to find ammo by exploring. You feel constant anxiety thinking what's around the next corner in this grim, depressing place. But most important of all, YOU THINK!
Bioshock 1 makes you think and so does 2. It makes you think of this world and how in the hell did things go wrong. It gives your brain a sort of work out. Even if the puzzles could be solved by a ten year old; it at least gives you these puzzles as part of its world. I've actually heard gamers say things like: "If you want puzzles, then go play a puzzle game!" I don't need to bring the face palm image back do I?! This is 2013, games are quite complex- at least we like to think they are, and we like to think game companies will continue to make them that way). There should be variety in games now a days. There should be other ways to get through obstacles, other than shooting and shooting some more. Bioshock Infinite rejects these options and basically gives you the only option: kill or be killed. Yes it had a few places to explore, A FEW. And a few puzzles, but most of them were optional.
Why couldn't it have been different? How come there couldn't have been a puzzle where Elizabeth needs to make a dead horse alive again so you can escape? How come you couldn't ask Elizabeth to open a portal to another part of the city during a combat sequence? Or hell, another world just to escape for a moment and go back when the heat died down? How about using her gift to go into a world where it's all futuristic and you need a tool there to help you solve an obstacle in the present time? This is what I wanted in my high expectations, a truly fun experience that is unique.
Portal has Portals.
Mario has Great Platforming with simplistic yet challenging level design.
Bioshock Infinite has... Generic Shooting and... pretty environments, I suppose.
Environments:
Like I said before, the city is a quite inspiring place. The issue here is that there's no real reason to call this Bioshock. Where's the meaning, in this particular game, to any of those words? It has nothing to do with it at all.
It's probably branding. A strong brand will always sell more than a new IP. However, I'd be willing to forgive most of the games issues, sort of, had this game had no real expectations for me. But instead you called this a Bioshock game, and my expectations were well over what your previous games were.
Ghosts and Luteces:
This is a big problem in the game. You keep finding these two, the Luteces. While they're kind of cool and mysterious; sadly you find out why they keep appearing and disappearing: they're dead. Not in a literal sense, the actual audio diaries and plot describes them as being scattered about through time and space. Letting them appear and reappear wherever and whenever they liked, kind of like god. However they sort of make you think they are dead and first, which allows the game designers to put ghosts in the game. ...Was that necessary? Out of everything in this whole game, this is the one moment where I truly laughed and in a bad way too. Eventually you have to fight this ghost boss that really overstays its welcome,; she takes so much gunfire that it feels like I was fighting every battle in the game all at once. (By the way, just for giggles on my second play through I cheated with a PC trainer and set my ammo to infinite to see if it made fighting her quicker, it did not. She took just as long and it was just as annoying). Probably this is the most annoying part of the whole game, the ghost boss that I will never forget, sadly.
The Luteces, if anything are this games "portal" or "Raccoon Suit". The defining feature that do make this game memorable in a good way. Which is also funny, I bet the game designers wanted the defining feature to be Elizabeth and her powers, but you literally only do something profound with her gift, like, three times in the whole game. You switch worlds to another Columbia that is different enough, but not so different where you go HOLY HELL! When did this game go from THIS TO THAT? It never does again...
I don't have any real issues with the Luteces though, they are the one insensitive to go out and explore and earn all the audio diaries. They make you want to figure out who they are. This game could have had more "Luteces" but instead they got kind of lazy. I even thought, at one point, they would do a follow up to this one audio diary, where a racist guy takes pity on an Native American child and starts to see things his way; he learns the error of his ways even if it's in a violent way. But we never see him. It's just assumed they died or something which sucks. In Bioshock 1, the audio diaries you got that were of people who were not dead, sometimes were followed up. It made that world so much deeper and seem so real.
Two Weapon Limit:
I already talked about this, but it's becoming a huge problem for games in general. I know some of you want a truly realistic experience, but I don't when it takes away from the overall experience. Immersion is fine, but it's not omni-important. In the other Bioshock games and in older shooters, I learned to love the ability to switch weapons. To hold more than freakin' three at a time. A game made in the early 90s had more than two weapons yet, in the present day, computers can't handle that many? Oh I'm sorry, you did it on purpose to copy another franchise that is overly successful in hopes that, by doing so, your game might sell better.
A little tip, game publishers and designers: THIS NEVER FREAKIN' WORKS! This is not the 80s or 90s anymore; you can't just release a copy of a game and hope that it sells well when half the time it won't. Game publishers spent literally hundreds of millions of dollars trying to emulate the success of games like World of Warcraft and ultimately failed because everyone who wanted to play World of Warcraft, was playing World of Warcraft. Which sucks because talented people who are part of those now failing game companies could have been better utilized to make something unique! Don't try to be World of Warcraft guys or Call of Duty, try to be a truly unique game. Not that there's anything wrong with the same old thing if it works well, but, to me, the two weapon limits do not work well. It takes away from the real fun of the game, the fun of choosing, the fun of variety! Yeah I know that old saying, give a player something over powerful and that is the only thing they will use. Maybe so, but not all the time and certainly not for me. I try to use whatever the game designers give me, especially when I get bored. In Bioshock 1 and 2 I would often switch weapons for different battles, sometimes I would use the same ones or other times I would feel like it's time to break out the shotgun.
I think the game designers were hoping gamers would combine their weapons with their Plasmid based powers in Columbia, thereby creating the illusion of variety. Uh huh... I think everyone just basically used Fire every single time. The other plasmids were quite literally weaker and were only necessary when fighting a boss to distract them. So much I wanted a specific weapon during a fight in Columbia but was only stuck with what the game designers left in that area, it wasn't fun. Two weapon limits, I'll admit, piss me off to no end.
Big Daddy's vs Handyman:
In Bioshock 1, taking down a Big Daddy was supposed to be a big deal. At least that's how the developers made it out to be, in the end though it really did not take too much strategy to do so. You could literally even kill the living suits of metal with bow and arrows!
Still, I can forgive it because it made me laugh and killing Big Daddy's was fun. You also usually got a reward for doing so, adam. In Bioshock Infinite, not only was taking down Handyman a huge pain in the ass, you didn't get anything for doing so! In Rapture killing a Big Daddy was mostly optional, here they were in your way. The only way to harm these things too was to distract them by throwing the Raven Power at them and only the Raven Power, and then shooting them in the chest. When I read up how to do this, I was pissed. Why the Raven Power?! Why not just any of the powers? Up to that point, I had no reason to use the stupid power, so why in the hell would I ever think to use it now? The Handyman have bad game design written all over them. Taking them down was not really all that satisfying either, like the stupid ghost boss, they were a huge pain in the ass to take down. On top of shooting them you had to fight off small armies again with Elizabeth just sitting there sucking or thumb or whatever, while the enemies ignored her and... oh, I think you get my point.
This game is not terrible, no. But because they named it BIOSHOCK, I had my expectations set above Bioshock. Maybe if it was just called Infinite, I might have forgiven a lot of these things, except the two gun limit. Did I have fun while playing? Sort of. So overall, what score would I give this?
MEH/10
i am glad to see that you are not one of the mindless sheep that fell to their knees and started blowing this game only because of the supposedly deep ending (which i thought was the worst ending ever since the first version of ME3)
i agree with you on this. i will say that the game was decent in itself but im pissed that it calls itself a bioshock or a shock game at all. it is, as you said, a FPS with plasmids, of im sorry "salts" (fucking really? at least bioshock TRIED to make it logical with adam. these guys just say "here are some funny colored drinks, they give you super powers")
the dumbing down was... ugh. lets just try to forget that part
i won't lie and say i didn't like the game, i played it and had fun even if it annoyed the piss out of me at times. no health packs? what!? ok so health is more or less worthless then, guess i will take every vigor in shield *5 vigors later* this is actually easier, i mean, it has been reduced to a FPS with regenerating health but at least im not dying all the time *10 vigors later* eh... are they suppose to do that little damage? i am playing on hard right? *15 vigors later* *sigh* i don't even have to try anymore.
and then the ending. just... my god. it is like the writer wrote this with one hand while masturbating to star trek/stargate with the other. and the ending doesn't even make sence! i have tried to think of it again and again but by god it only makes me realize more and more how big the plot hole actually fucking is.
summary: below avreage as a game, horrible as a bioshock and it's creators should to be hung by their thumbs
Glad you agree. 1625547
You know, I think this is true of pretty much everything. Treat your audience with a level of respect for their intelligence and they will respond in kind. Hence Friendship is Magic.
But sadly a lot of gamers don't get this. They still buy crap that should not entertain them as much. 1625840
TLDR
Bioshock Infinite was simply an okay game, and not the game of the year everyone thinks it is. BIoshock > Bioshock Infinite. That better? 1626115
I'm glad I read this. I can really relate to this. Some of my friends that convinced me to buy this game LOVED IT and felt I uncomfortable sometimes when I was talking about it, because I liked it but not that much. In Bioshock and Bioshock 2 you could use more your plasmids, having more eve and I found Possession and Murder of Crows useless. I didn't mind about the health change. It was frustrating that I couldn't use more weapons and sticked with just Bucking Bronco, the shot gun and the sniper rifle, sometimes I wanted to change my weapons for another but I felt it wasn't worth it ( I wanted to use an RPG but it had just a few shots, this made it more repetitive). They could have done more with the traveling between dimensions.