Bioshock Infinite

So, is anyone interested in it? I'm pretty excited about it, it seems to have more or less everything that I'd want in a game: steampunk (it's set in a giant floating city supported by airships which is pretty much a Victorian Worlds Fair gone mad; plus there are half-men half-robots, motorised George Washington look alikes with gatling guns, and a giant mechanical bird that acts like the Terminator), disturbing and violent gameplay, offbeat political ideals (American Exceptionalism to the point of racism and xenophobia), weird sci-fi reality bending-ness (the protagonist is sent to rescue a girl who can tear holes in the fabric of reality), rpg elements and of course crazy crazy powers (called Vigors, which let you have all kinds of superhuman abilities). I've been following the game for quite some time now and to exemplify my fanboyishness I got it pre-ordered as a Christmas present.

One thing that I thought was pretty neat was that a Vigor called the Devil's Kiss which lets you start fires was said to be created in order to deal with the difficulty of being able to start a fire at altitude - it's that sort of attention to detail that gets me quite aroused. Plus the fact if they are paying that much attention to the little things, the big things are likely to be great; I know that in order to get the protagonist and the girl you are rescuing as naturalistic as possible they wrote the script for these characters as the actors were recording their voice work, so it could evolve as realistically as possible with the actors' portrayals. I know Bioshock wasn't ever so popular here (well at least I think I do, I'm sure Zanza said he was underwhelmed by it but I can't seem to get the search function to find older posts), but I thought it was a pretty evocative setting and if anything Bioshock Infinite looks like it will surpass it's predecessor in many respects. Best not mention Bioshock 2, the only good thing about that was Minerva's Den.

Trouble is, the game will be arriving when I should be revising for my finals (along with GTA V - another Christmas present) so I'll have to restrain myself to some extent.

PS I know this is where most people would say they're not a bot, but I am a bot* - that's honestly how much work the developers have put in. They hired me years in advance of the game's release to make an account on steampunk forums and acquire a reputable number of posts so people would be more likely to buy it. It's the gods' honest truth!

*PPS I'm not a bot.

 

Not really. I find the bioshock games to be both shallow and pedantic.

 

Well I find your meatloaf rather shallow and pedantic!

I think at least Bioshock tried to do something different in comparison to most FPSs; it had a focused and concerted visual style, it espoused unusual political ideals (Objectivism - the idea that capitalism and self-interest are the only honest means by which a person can live), it had a reasonable storyline designed to challenge the idea of whether or not you are in control of a character in a videogame, it had a very creative approach to the superpowers you get (genetic modification) and it was bold enough to go for a horror based setting - which is much more of a niche market. The characters naturally extended from the setting and were pretty disturbing, I particularly liked Dr. Steinman who - as a result of being able to make people look physically flawless through genetic modification - let ennui and madness set in and eventually started trying to make people into living works of art in the vein of Picasso.

The only real problem was that the gameplay felt repetitive, but I think in Bioshock Infinite having a protagonist that talks and reacts to his environment will help curb this problem anyway.

 

The gameplay felt repetitive? It's a bloody shooter, Jojobobo!
I've only recently built a computer capable of playing any of the Bioshocks and am enjoying the first one well enough. My chief trouble is I am underpracticed at shooters and I'm using a trackball rather than a traditional mouse. I enjoy the setting but haven't gotten into the story yet.

 

Re:

A fair point, but there could have been more enemy variety or more variation in their tactics. By the end of the game killing Big Daddies is a bit of a chore.

For my first playthrough I just used the wrench, partially because I'm not great at FPSs and partially because the game becomes a lot more terrifying when splicers are screaming in your face at short range (one thing that always got me was when you entered a room and everyone's lying on the floor seemingly dead, but then they'd all spring up and try to kill you). If you find decent gene tonics for the wrench, it's completely viable - I expect there will be a similar feature in Infinite with the sky-hook.

EDIT: Also, if anyone has bothered to pre-order it what did they think of the Industrial Revolution minigame? I thought it was a pretty fun way of rewarding those who have pre-ordered the game (it unlocks a few in game rewards, which doubtlessly will be available through other means when the game is released), and also an excellent marketing ploy. That, along with the Season Pass DLC (you get the three DLCs they are going to release at a discounted price, and you get a few extra superficial goodies too), make this one of the most well marketed games I can think of in recent history (another thing that scores points in attention to detail for me). They even based the cover art for the game off extensive research of what the majority would be interested in (and subsequently got slammed for it by hardcore fans believing that they are trying too hard for mainstream appeal), but still it shows that they've put in actual thought into trying to make the game successful compared to the majority of AAA games where success is guaranteed.

 

Re:

That comment actually made me think for a second because I am actually known to make a pretty mean meatloaf of all things.

 

Tsk, don't even know your own references.

 

So I played it, and enjoyed it. It didn't have quite the same horror stylings as the original Bioshock had, and the villians weren't quite so deranged but it was still fun. The whole setting derives from multiple universes and being able to alter the universe you're currently in by bringing stuff through from others, so in terms of the story all sorts of paradoxical weird crap happens. The game was also really, really hard on the hard setting - I considered turning the difficulty down as even with unlimited respawns this game can be incredibly tough. As a final point, it has God Only Knows sung by a barbershop quartet - which from whatever angle you look at it is very cool.

Anyway, I've got a spare preorder code that unlocks Industrial Revolution game which lets you unlock a few things in Infinite I found really useful (GAME in the UK was late sending my code, so I complained to 2K and GAME and got myself two codes); I think I heard somewhere that you wouldn't be able to access Industrial Revolution after Infinite went live but it still might be worth a shot. PM me if you're interested (plus the requisite hundreds of naked pictures of yourself to win my favour) and I'll send it you, if not I'll probably just post it up here in a week.

 

Give me free copy of game?

 

Nahh.

 

Dead to me.

 

Well I would if I could... no wait, I still wouldn't.

 

While the both the gameplay and the setting seems quite wonderful, I can't even look at the environment without getting seasick. Buildings going up, buildings going down; it's enough to turn my stomach inside out. A shame really.

 

Come here Rude boy, boy buildings going up
Come here Rude boy, boy stomach inside out...

 

Just finished the game on hard. Started playing on 1999 mode. Got gunned down, charged 50 silver for a revive. I quickly ran out of money and got ejected to the main menu when I couldn't afford a revive. Oh well, don't have the patience for it anyway. Hard was agonizing enough, pumping round after round into enemies, running out of ammo and having to clobber them with 3 or 4 melee attacks to finish them off.

Stellar game, all in all. However, I was quickly reminded of my primary grievance with RPG/FPS hybrids: they invariably turn you into a full-time treasure hunter, part-time killer. You walk around with your nose to the ground, deathly afraid of missing some critical piece of loot, only partially aware of the environment around you. When you walk into a room full of dead bodies, your first thought isn't, "I wonder what killed all these people," it's, "I wonder how much money is in their pockets." And God forbid that the plot ever progresses before you've made half a dozen laps around a room. "I know we've got that really important, time-sensitive thing we have to do but I HAVE TO OPEN ALL THESE BOXES!!!" By the end of the game, you will have spent more time poking around in dark corners looking for loot than actually fighting.

 

Re:

I completed it on hard too and am now progressing through 1999 mode, but with a better sense of what weapons and Vigors to use this time playing is much smoother than when I attempted hard from fresh (plus you get better gear in 1999 mode too from what I can tell). I think after that first little bit after the raffle where your weapons are terrible things do improve as long as you take cover and allow your shield to recover often enough. I'm also trying for the achievement where you don't use the Dollar Bill vending machines, which although may sound harsh isn't that bad seeing as you can upgrade your Vigors and weapons a lot quicker.

What you call a grievance, I really enjoy! I don't know what it is but I like poring over every minor detail, looking for any minor thing that might give me an edge - and this game as with the original Bioshock is very much tailored to that style of play. I couldn't say why I like to do it either, I guess I'm just weird like that.

 

Sounds pretty shit to me.

 

Or, you know, awesome and supercool.

 

If you're into shit.

 

Well, I think that goes without saying if you've ever seen those videos of me.