BioShock Infinite Complete Edition

I am a big fan of the original Bioshock because it wasn't too linear, the weapons had lot of variety, all the little game mechanics (like hacking, sneaking, damage properties, and looting) felt cohesive, the visuals and setting felt original, and the story was really solid. It also had enough options in plasmids and tonics to customize your setup to suit your style, distincting it from generic FPS games. Some people think it's too consolized when compared to System Shock 2 and Deus Ex, but personally I like the balance it went between a classic shooter and a role-playing game. While Bioshock 2 felt like a cheap expansion, Infinite doesn't feel like a sequel at all. The beginning of the game felt familiar right up until the first enemies appeared. For the first ten minutes I kept trying to make a sneak kill until I realized the game itself didn't have any kind of stealth mechanics: the moment you make contact, every enemy is after you and things don't calm down until you kill them all. After that the next big disappointment was weapons. Almost every gun does similar damage when relative to ammo capacity and there was no difference in the type of damage you did. When combined with the two-weapon carry limit and your melee weapon turning into the usual "press Ö to finish enemy with a short cutscene" thing, all the excitement from gun action was completely gone for me. I still completed the game, but there wasn't really anything in the game that I liked. Instead of flying the skies freely with a jetpack like in Duke Nukem 3D, you were limited to clinging on a rail that looped over a section of a map. Looting was pointless since ammo machines were everywhere and there was nothing special to gain, just tons of different food that had the same effect (which was pointless with the regenerating armor/health system). I liked the old security bots of BS1 more than Elizabeth and the plot cenetering around time paradoxes felt really artificial.

This is the weirdest game I have ever played. Mostly an RPG, with pretty dated FPS elements, captivating story which is complex enough to make you think yet presented in a way you can still understand it. Music is in a league of its own: its a pack of highly thematic masterpieces, which beats Fallout 3 / 4, TES 4 and Vice City altogether. I took 80% of it onto a playlist and I can't stop listening. Voice acting is also perfect. Graphics is good even today, because of its drawn-like style. Physics are well thought - out. Theme is pretty crazy, but its created very well. And the story I found very deep and well thought-out, with nice plot twists and an intriguing finale. On the other hand, FPS elements are lackluster by today's standards. Guns and "spells" are varied enough, yet its nothing to write home about. Game doesn't tell you that you have access to all your guns all the time besides only those two in quickslots, and on longer fights ots a pretty relevant info. And the story is coherent and understandable only if you find almost all of the audio logs and hear them out, otherwise you most likely woudn't get it, which is a pretty big downside. I also found DLC content only so-so. Overall, I am impressed as all get out that you can have THAT much fun with a 9-year old game. Maybe its because I am not into FPS, but I love RPGs. Maybe its because I am a sucker for alternate realities. And maybe its because its just a damn good game, worthy of 9/10 ot gets from me.

There's a reason people don't really talk about Bioshock Infinite anymore, other than to occasionally ponder how something as embarrassing this game got as much praise as it did at the time of its release, and that reason is that Infinite, much like all FPSs of the 7th generation of consoles, was a leap backwards in quality to what already existed and can't begin to stand up to the new releases that have come out of the boom-shoot revival era. A meagre handful of very similar enemy types, blandly linear level design, and unsatisfying weapons combine to make the experience of playing Infinite an absolute chore even before it starts boosting the health of every enemy to obnoxious hights to make up for the fact that the game, on its orginal hardware, could only render so many enemies at a time. Another 7th gen gem that makes itself often felt is the total lack of boss fights which, along with the lack of enemy variety, leads to all combat encounters bleeding together into a bland slush, the ultimate punchline of which is that the game only managed to wring about 6 hours out of the whole affair. The story has a very similar problem, simply spouting edgey nonsense at you for most of the dialouge. For all Infinite was praised for its brave criticism of rascism upon its release, the only trick the writers really had was for cartoonishly evil people to say something racist and then move on, which isn't really a criticsm of anything; it's just looking for a cheap shock. This is no different to a thirteen year old thinking putting the word "fuck" in the comics he draws makes them mature. The funnest thing about the story might be that its so poorly stiched together and its final twist so forced that Infinite must spend the last hour of its 6 hour playtime explaining the convoluted series of contrivances that occured for the twist to make even a little bit of sense at all. Awful, even for the time. Don't let anyone trick you into thinking its a classic.

Yahtzee said of Bioshock 1 compared to System Shock 2 that "it just feels like a kick in the balls. A very pretty and exceedingly well executed kick in the balls with the best of intentions. But at the end of the day you're still walking funny" Well that is applicable for Bioshock Infinite compared to Bioshock 1 as well. The game has been simplified even further and is now just a ho-hum FPS game with middling to bad gunplay feel. The setting is nice though, bright and vibrant and still looks quite good. The storyline tries to seem deep but just comes off as random complexity for the sake of being "Deep" And the world is now even more of a straight corridor than Bioshock, leaving few and unrewarding options for exploration. In all the main game would've gotten a 2,5 star review from me. There's so much better you can play out there. The Burial at Sea DLC however saves a lot. Rapture just looks more interesting to visit. The first episode now lets you carry more than 2 weapons and the story moves at a decent clip. The second episode focuses a lot more on stealth and exploration, and was actually fun and challenging to play through. The two DLC tie Infinite fairly well together with Bioshock 1 as well. So in all something that would've been a 2 star score becomes a 3 star score on the back of the DLC. Good save, of a mediocre to bad main game.

A nice FPS with memorable environments, nice atmosphere which is let down by mediocre and repeatative action sequences. THE GOOD * good looking, graphics aged very well * very well optimized * no bugs at all * brilliant work on sounds and music * Columbia is a very memorable setting. Early 1900's + sky cities are rarely (if ever) used in western gaming * story is ambitious _for a video game_, and it is well told * Elizabeth is very well implemented. The only game I know where a sidekick NPC is actually useful and fun to have around THE BAD * big open spaces + AI which hits you with a pistol from 300m. Players will spend lots of time pixel hunting for the enemy. * only two weapons at a time + low ammo reserves... I mostly used what the enemies drop, and the game is doable this way. But using my favorites would have been more fun. * the opposition is very repeatative, players fight the same enemy types over and over * the usual plot holes common in these types of stories are there. * not much replay value. This is a story-game, which is known after one playthrough. Gunplay is not interesting enough to make a second run appealing * very lazy save system, no manual saving allowed. Shame. I would recommend this to players who don't mind long intros and non-interactive sequences in FPS games. The story is probably more memorable for those who didn't read much sci-fi. It is not bad at all, bad personally I find it a bit overrated. Does it wroth €55? For an eight year old game? Hell, no! But for €10-15 it is a good buy.