Bioshock Infinite review

[Dogg Thang]

Started this today given that it's free on PS+. The visual design is lovely, with beautiful locations. And everyone seemed all nice and friendly until some got a bit racist and then murderous, which was unpleasant. And now it's a FPS. But it seems like a pretty good one and I'm looking forward to travelling around this location. I don't buy the technology, which is far more of a stretch than Bioshock given the date, but I imagine I'll get past that fairly quickly.

Quite Bioshocky so far. No bad thing.

[Mayhem]

If you need any assistance along the way, ask. I finished it on 1999 mode, so I have a good handle about what works and what doesn't, but there isn't just one way to do things.

[Darwock]

I am also giving it a go courtesy of plus, but not forming the same opinions. Never played any previous bioshock so the scenario itself makes no sense to me, but I assume that will become clear with time.

Outdoors may be bright and lovely but the majority of my gunfights so far seem to have taken place in areas so dark I can't see anything of my targets except the muzzle flashes, and that's no good when they're rushing up and clubbing you to death. I basically just fire all my ammo off wildly in the hope of hitting someone, die, then come back with maybe one or two less enemies, repeat until area clear. I followed their brightness settings guide but either they intended people to be playing blind or the guide is set too dark.

The rest of the time I'm getting motion sickness, and I'm already tired of picking up coins (speaking of which I've gathered hundreds and hundreds so how come I only ever have less than 20 in my pocket?)

I doubt I'll make it much further.

[Dogg Thang]

I do find visibility to be an issue in the fights. So often there seems to be smoke or darkness or effects in the way. The FPSing seems pretty average so far (not as good as Bioshock 2) but not really negative. Just average. That's kind of working for me though because it's having a sort of neutral effect that is allowing me just to soak up the atmosphere and enjoy the setting. And the setting is gorgeous. I love the design. Hooked up with Elizabeth now and the locations have got even more interesting.

What I'm liking is that the story so far is the journey and the gameplay is mixed nicely with the narrative, rather than being story/game/story/game and so on which has become a recent bugbear of mine in games. Story and game are one here.

Curious to see where the race thing goes. I remember feeling that Bioshock (though I very much enjoyed it) wasn't quite as smart as I think the devs thought it was. Can they handle race issues without treading on dodgy territory? Remains to be seen but I'm definitely curious.

Only one gameplay issue so far which was finding a key that I didn't know what do to with. It told me to go back and look and I went back half the game but wasn't sure what I was looking for. Not a big deal but I was left somewhat baffled. Oh, and I could do with fewer messages about needing salt on my screen.

But so far, I'm very much enjoying this.

[Darwock]

I've just got that key, can't be bothered going back.

Another irk I had was on the first skyline ride thingy, it told me all these controls to speed up, slow down, lock on etc so clearly some kind of encounter was about to take place... sure enough I heard shouts and started taking hits, so I looked around but couldn't find the enemies anywhere. I even slowed to a complete stop but I guess I had moved out of line of sight or something because I couldn't find anyone. Got to the end of the line having lost a bit of health but not having seen a single enemy to shoot at.

[Dogg Thang]

Possibly MAJOR SPOILERS (although total speculation on my part) -

->Open Spoiler<-

As mentioned in a post above, I don't really buy the technology in a 1912 setting. But I'm hearing music which goes well beyond that date and, coupled with people mentioning an extra mode called 1999, I'm guessing this game actually isn't taking place in 1912 but instead is set long after that with Columbia being some sort of attempt to escape into the past. That or it is 1912 and Elizabeth and the main founder guy (can't remember his name but I already get the impression that he can do what she can) have the ability to open portals to other places and times and that's where the tech/songs come from.

If I'm right, I don't really want to know.

[dataDave]

That could be one possibility.

[Mayhem]

Your last sentence is closest to the truth DT... it IS explained in a reasonable amount of detail as you go along, especially if you collect the audio recordings (as per the previous Bioshock games). Especially why vigors seem so similar to plasmids...

The rest of the time I'm getting motion sickness, and I'm already tired of picking up coins (speaking of which I've gathered hundreds and hundreds so how come I only ever have less than 20 in my pocket?)

You get fined money for respawning on dying (25 for easy mode, up to 100 for 1999 mode), so that's probably why you have no money. Honestly, I can't recall many instances of dark areas and not being able to see. That was certainly more true of the original Bioshock game than Infinite...

[Darwock]

Right, and given that coins are pick-ups and enemies don't respawn doesn't that mean it's impossible to meet the cash requirements for certain abilities? I'm at a vending machine currently which wants 1400 or something, all I have is 80 and there is nowhere to get any more without continuing into the game (and then I will probably die and lose all of that too)

[Dogg Thang]

I think some areas get repopulated. I ran in to some unexpected trouble when I went back on the hunt for that keyhole early in the game in an area I had previously cleared out. What difficulty level are you playing on? I'm just on medium. Haven't had loads of money but still have managed to buy a decent amount of stuff. Are you checking all the bins and desks etc?

[Mayhem]

Some areas get repopulated as you return to them. But you really must be struggling somehow Darwock, as I think I died once on Normal mode, and a few times on 1999 mode, but mostly in two battles that are really hard...

[Darwock]

Yeah I hate to abandon games I've started but I think I will this time. Every time I get killed it's from an enemy I didn't or couldn't see, so it's driving me nuts... and combined with the nausea it isn't giving me much enjoyment.

[Dogg Thang]

Did you start on a hard difficultly level? The game does like to hide enemies in bright lights or smoke but I have found them to be very rarely dangerous (I'm no FPSer so tend to die a lot in most FPS games).

[Darwock]

I can't actually recall but typically I'd always choose normal the first time. I'm not a FPS guy either, the only series I have played is Killzone, but I finished all those on the hardest settings so I don't know what's going on here.

[EvilBoris]

I seem to recall this was a bit of a bastard on hard, that might explain it.