![]() ![]() What was once a minigame so involved it had its own related perks is now an optional bonus if you don’t mind blowing a fair bit of your science-magic. Even previously clear-cut moral choices involving power have greater complexity.īioShock Infinite has none of that. When you can’t tank in the first two games, you suddenly find yourself being stealthier. ![]() The preceding BioShock games often rewarded carefully upgrading your character, customizing a unique build, and making meaningful choices in how you navigate each combat arena and puzzle - the latter of which barely exist in Infinite - and most importantly, they ensured that higher difficulties encouraged shaking things up. Worse, upping the difficulty only weakens your health bar and makes enemies spongier. Outside of an incredibly half-baked stealth sequence and an infuriating final battle that doesn’t even have much narrative payoff, BioShock Infinite is remarkably, almost troublingly easy. The only non-weapon-based upgrades that are crucial are bottles that can increase your health, “salts” (mana), or armor ( Halo-style energy shield).Īs such, you’re free to go sailing through like it’s nothing. Your own stats are improved via swappable clothing rather than permanent passive bonuses. Elizabeth’s abilities can’t be expanded in any way. The Vigors, the awkward stand-in for Plasmids, rarely offer upgrades. In fact, with the two-gun limit imposed for the first time in BioShock Infinite, the weapon upgrades effectively necessitate you pour all your money into the weapons you like, then ignore the rest. It has ideal accuracy, ammo capacity, damage output, and several upgrades that make it even more powerful. You can choose to use your starter pistol across the entire game and be fine. Thus, the majority of the time you’ll be crushing squishy human enemies with extremely generous hit boxes. Unique enemies who wield elemental damage or distinct strategies are often used either as minibosses or full-on boss fights, whereas they’d been previously advertised as regular enemies much like the variety of Splicers and Big Daddies you fought in the previous two games. Your basic guns, without any upgrades, can decimate most opponents. It’s very hard to lose while playing BioShock Infinite. ![]() This emphasis on avoiding friction is a key upside and downside to Infinite on a whole. There’s no reason to get mad or frustrated with Elizabeth because she’s functionally a tool. She’s never in danger unless the plot needs her to be. While incredibly charming, she’s just a gopher who grabs things for you and a narrative explanation for the Tear mechanic that rips holes in reality. The result is a game that’s absolutely shippable and technically delivers on several promised features - just rarely in the way those features were clearly intended.įor instance, take your objective and companion, Elizabeth Comstock. In early 2012 - a year before release - Irrational Games brought on Jordan Thomas and Rod Fergusson to rein in development and finish the game. The game we were all promised in 2010 with the game’s longest E3 gameplay demo looked like a true successor to BioShock, if still highly divergent, but behind the scenes it still needed a lot of work. Infinite changed dramatically over the course of its development. It arguably failed in barely feeling like a BioShock game and in having holes in both its plot and its message about American politics and religion. It succeeded in how it made players feel at launch through more emotional stimuli like your AI companion Elizabeth and the gorgeous aesthetics of the floating city of Columbia. BioShock Infinite is as much a failure as a success.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |