Bioshock Infinite

[Gusington]

^That's what I'm saying...even if I bought it and got XCom and who knows what else I am finally at a point where I am starting to enjoy my 'gaming now' instead of prowling for the 'next big thing.' I have enough unplayed games to last me until Infinite goes on sale. In theory. Regardless of the glowing reviews it will still be a good game a year from now.

I think have finally beaten the release day fixation.

[Grim.Reaper]

Going to fight the impulse myself, not going to preorder.  Just not sure if my type of game.  I'll pick up on sale later.

[Gusington]

Stay strong!

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

Wow!  I love the look of the world they've created.    The music is also great and this is coming from a guy who usually turns music off in 99% of games.  The barbershop quartet on the floating gondola was fantastic.

The gameplay is pretty much the same as the previous Bioshock/System Shock games.  Now plasmids are called vigors but they basically do the same things.  Fire, electricity, hacking, etc.  I haven't played too much as I spend a tonne of time just roaming around Columbia enjoying the sights.  Once the actual game did kick off I was a little disappointed.  I don't like having someone else's moral choice rammed down my throat.  I really, really wanted to throw the baseball at the chick....

[son_of_montfort]

Didn't you have the option to do so? Also, how heinous!  :P

I'm really liking the game so far. I was right to assume that Social Darwinism and White Man's Burden/Racism/Imperialism would highly feature in this one. The game is not as "creepy" as Bioshock, but it is much more unnerving in the casual way it deals with taboo (by modern day) subjects. I don't want to spoil, but man I've been a little "woah" at some of the things I have seen.

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

Didn't you have the option to do so? Also, how heinous!  :P

No.  They took my baseball away from be before I could chuck it.  Bastards....


I'm not that far into it yet but I do get a bit miffed when a game forces moral choice upon me.  Maybe it's the contrarian but when someone tries to force me to feel or think something, it makes me become reactionary and want to take up the opposing view, just out of spite.  At this juncture, I want to join the quasi-Masonic Raven dudes and worship Booth.

[son_of_montfort]

Yeah, I'm fairly certain that 2K would have gotten into HUGE trouble if they made a game where you could side with the racists...  ;)

The baseball scene (without spoiling) was the real "beginning" of the game. It turned my stomach.

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

Interesting what will push our buttons.  For me, the baseball scene felt forced and manipulative.  I found the photos in the dark room much more disturbing.

[son_of_montfort]

Interesting what will push our buttons.  For me, the baseball scene felt forced and manipulative.  I found the photos in the dark room much more disturbing.

Still not there. I guess I wasn't expecting such a scene, which is why it was shocking. Up until then, Columbia was overtly religious but not so creepy. It goes way downhill from there.

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

Finished it.  The title makes a lot more sense now. 

That got pretty mind-f@#kery in the end.  Overall I thought it was a very good game.  It took me 11 hours to complete it and I felt I got my money's worth.  I liked it about the same as the original Bioshock but not quite as much as System Shock 2.

TIP, watch all of the end credits as there's a bit at the end that might help clear up questions about the ending.

[W8taminute]

^That sounds pretty cool.  Only 11 hours to finish?  That's good to know.  I can plan my gaming week a little better now and fit this title in somewhere.   ;)

[son_of_montfort]

^That sounds pretty cool.  Only 11 hours to finish?  That's good to know.  I can plan my gaming week a little better now and fit this title in somewhere.   ;)

11 hours is pretty standard for a FPS, and I have to say that I'm starting to feel the "ok, it is time to get this show brought to a close." That isn't to say I am getting bored with it, I really love the game and the setting, but I think it is a natural sense of "there are only so many times I can desperately struggle to reach my destination."

At first I was thinking that there are far fewer interesting audio journals that move the story forward than in Bioshock. But then I realized that this one uses character-to-character dialog much much more (notably with Elizabeth). In Bioshock, everyone was a degenerated and demented psychopath due to rampant Adam use. Here, they are still human - they just hold values and goals that are antithetical to most modern people's values. So you can talk directly to the bad guys more frequently in BS:I.

Elizabeth steals the show. The new character model is much more reasonable (although still *distracting* at certain parts), her face is expressive - mixing naivete with deep knowledge - and she evoked a guardian-protector emotional response from me. Her voice is spot on. Booker is a bit of a flat character, but that is always the case when you voice your player character (in a sense).

Certainly this isn't System Shock 2, but there are aspects of it that make it equal to Bioshock (IMHO). It doesn't have the same creepy, horror setting - this one is more dystopian sci fi and psychological revulsion than "OMG THERE IS A GIANT DIVING SUIT MONSTER STALKING ME FOR DRAINING THE LIFE FROM A CREEPY GLOWING EYED GIRL." But that is ok, because Bioshock Infinite delivers.

Also - Steampunk.

[Tuna]

This game ok for my 14 year old? He's asking for it? Note, I let him play Fallout 3.. Skyrim...

[son_of_montfort]

This game ok for my 14 year old? He's asking for it? Note, I let him play Fallout 3.. Skyrim...

No, I would say not. It is considerably more bloody than Skyrim (you can viscerally rip a person's head off with your sky claw). It also deals very openly with racism in a way that takes fairly mature mind to best process. I think that aspect would be the most problematic - the entire game revolves around a social critique on American manifest destiny and exceptionalism, religious fanaticism, and social Darwinism. Those are topics most 14 year olds have not be exposed to or understand.

That being said, I wouldn't say the game is "worse" in content that Fallout 3, which contains graphic violence and a myriad of adult themes.

[LongBlade]

The whole thing with a religious cult built around the Founding Fathers just rubs me a bit wrong.  I'm not judging the game without playing it - but I can wait to play it.   ;D

Agreed.

A not-so-subtle message from the devs.

Infinite looks steampunky enough to be interesting, but stepping into the political realm as noted by SoM isn't exactly a smart marketing move IMHO. I'm interested in gaming, not discussing 9th grade civic history. This is likely to be a bargain bin purchase - if that.