LogFAQs > #950873398

#18 Bioshock Infinite (Playstation 3, 2013)

I really love all three Bioshock games, and while I felt good about the order that I ended up ranking them in, I think that all of them stood a good chance to be my favorite. But there is an evolution of the series through each entry, and the Bioshock formula is markedly improved each time.



The major improvements with Bioshock Infinite are in terms of the characters and setting. Booker Dewitt is the first player character in the series to speak or have any sort of personality, which makes the story more flavorful, if slightly less personal. Elizabeth coming into the picture somewhat early on gives Booker someone to bounce off of throughout the game, which is welcome. Like Bioshock 2, their relationship is really the core of the game, and as much as I give Bioshock 2 credit in that area, Infinite pulls it off even better. Even though Booker has a personality, I felt a lot like I was Booker while playing the game, and felt a responsibility and fondness for Elizabeth.

Like Rapture before it, Columbia is once again a wonderful and mysterious place that is a job to explore. The "city in the clouds" is impossible, and staggering in its size, but feels pretty real and true to its turn-of-the-century period. Throughout the game you go to a lot of different neighborhoods with distinct feelings, and you can see that there is so much more to Columbia than what you can access. Infinite once again takes on more philosophical narratives, this time the ideas of American Exceptionalism and religious revivalism. The designers put a ton of work into the art and throughout the city are tons of unique murals and posters that demonstrate the beliefs and culture of the people of the city.



The way the game plays is once again improved from previous entries, although not as starkly as 2 did from the first game. The skyhooks and rails of Columbia provide a lot of nice mobility options in the battle arenas and amp up the pace of fights.

I do have to mention the DLC. I'm not really taking away points for it, but after the nice bonus the Bioshock 2 DLC provided, it's a shame that the story DLC for Infinite turned out to be downright awful. Acting as sort of an epilogue, it feels completely reactionary to criticisms of the game's story, and yet manages to only make any problems the story had worse. Something that retroactively makes Infinite's story worse, which left a bad taste in my mouth afterward. Luckily, it's not hard to tell myself that the DLC is just bad fanfiction and leave it out of my regard for the rest of the game, which I still love very dearly.

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At least your mother tipped well