BioShock Infinite Review

Irrational Games’ sequel to the revolutionary BioShock, BioShock Infinite, has been one of the most highly anticipated games in years.  With such a great amount of anticipation, there was a lot of pressure on Infinite to be as good as or better than the original BioShock.  Living up to that pressure seems like an unenviable task, but BioShock Infinite does not falter under the pressure for the most part.  As much as BioShock Infinite succeeds at creating an excellent world, very satisfying combat and a compelling AI companion, there are a good number of areas that hold this game back from being one of the premier first-person experiences of this generation.

“Bring us the girl and wipe away the debt.”  A simple sentence that is muttered at the very beginning of BioShock Infinite reverberates throughout the entire story.  A story which follows Booker DeWitt, a former Pinkerton agent, as he is sent on a mission to free a young girl by the name of Elizabeth in order to wipe away a debt as it seems.  Booker’s mission will not be without hardship as this hired gun gets caught up in a conflict between warring factions and chased by a mechanized creature known as the Songbird.  While Infinite’s story is what motivates gamers throughout the game, it is the setting of Columbia that will keep gamers engrossed in the world of BioShock Infinite.  It is evident that Irrational Games put a lot of time and care into creating Columbia.  From the silent movies to the 1920 covers of hit 80s pop songs hidden throughout the game, Columbia is rich with American culture.  So much culture in fact that the setting becomes a character of its own.  Columbia represents American culture taken to the utmost extremes.  The traits that Columbia takes on, while very twisted and demented, compel the gamer to move forward and discover the history behind this dystopia.

The world of Columbia is just one of BioShock Infinite’s strengths.  Another one of these strengths is the combat.  The combat revolves entirely around experimentation.  The player is given a ton of options to deal with the seemingly overwhelming enemy forces from guns to vigors (Infinite’s version of plasmids) to flying around the environment on Columbia’s skylines.  While guns and vigors are familiar to BioShock and FPS vets, the skylines are a brand new mechanic in the BioShock series.  By using the Sky Hook, the player is able to traverse each environment at breakneck speeds.  The Sky Hook and skylines open up new ways to approach combat as it offers a quick escape when firefights get too out of hand or the ability to reach areas and items that the player cannot easily access. A few hours into Infinite, the player meets up with Elizabeth.  While Elizabeth plays a central role in the story of BioShock Infinite, she also serves as your constant AI companion.  Unlike many AI companions in other games, Elizabeth does not need to be tirelessly babysat by the player.  Elizabeth is able take care of herself and the player.  Elizabeth will toss weapons, ammo, health and other useful items in the thick of battle and she is able to open tears in the fabric of time which offer more options in combat such as cover, turrets and extra weapons to gain an advantage.  From her character to her uses during combat, Elizabeth is easily the crown jewel of BioShock Infinite’s gameplay.

While there is a lot to praise BioShock Infinite for, there is a good amount of flaws that hold it back from achieving the moniker of greatest first-person shooter of this generation.  The biggest flaw with Infinite is the last three or so hours of the game.  Instead of focusing on the experimentation and freedom that the combat was built on, the last three hours of BioShock Infinite devolve into nothing more than any other generic first-person shooter.  The inherent strategy found in the combat gets lost for just shooting everything and anything that moves.  The late of additions of two new enemy types, the Boys of Silence and Sirens, feel absolutely unnecessary considering both only show up on three separate occasions and become more annoyance than a pleasure to fight.  Along with the Boys of Silence, Irrational tries to shoehorn stealth into BioShock Infinite in order to offer some new gameplay, but this attempt ultimately fails due to a control scheme that is designed for a fast-paced FPS, not a slow-paced stealth game.  Other flaws that hold BioShock Infinite back from being the masterpiece it could have been are the lack of penalty for death, the lack of an actual final boss (seriously getting sick and tired of developers trying to pass waves of enemies as final boss encounters), the confusingly convoluted ending and the excruciatingly horrible underuse of the Songbird.

All-in-all, BioShock Infinite is a great game.  The excellently crafted world of Columbia, largely experimental combat and incredibly useful AI companion Elizabeth are the highlights of this game.  Sadly in trying to appeal to a larger audience during the most crucial hours of the game, BioShock Infinite forgets the freedom and experimentation that separates it from the plethora of first-person shooters that permeate the industry nowadays.  This devolution in those last few hours along with some other considerable flaws really holds BioShiock Infinite back from standing out in the overcrowded FPS genre.  No matter the flaws, BioShock Infinite is a game worth experiencing at some point.  Just do not go in expecting a revolution.

On the Download: April 28 - May 4

Sometimes things do not go as planned.  Originally, I wanted this edition of On the Download up much sooner, but when a two hour nap turned into a ten hour sleep plans changed.  On the topic of plans changing, earlier this week I could not think of any downloadable games coming out this week to warrant a new edition of On the Download.  Then I saw all the coverage for Far Cry 3:  Blood Dragon and well my plans changed.  Sometimes downloadable games can sneak up on you like it did to me this past week if you are not on top of them.  Over the past few weeks, there has been a whole slew of noteworthy downloadable games to hit market such as Fez, Papo and Yo, Dyad and Monaco all for PC.  It is a good time to be a gamer with an internet connection.

Last week I looked at the launch of the Wii U Virtual Console, well more games came out for the service this past Thursday on the eShop.  These aforementioned games are Mega Man and Pac-Man.  While the releases have been cut back from the last week's launch, it is very nice to see Nintendo show continued support for the Virtual Console considering how poor the support was for it during the later years of the Wii's life cycle.  As long as Nintendo keeps releasing Virtual Console games on a regular basis, hopefully once a week, it will provide a good library of games for a system in dire need of them.  While Mega Man and Pac Man may already be on many other platforms, the Wii U versions of these games include all the bells and whistles like restore points and Miiverse support that are included in Wii U and 3DS Virtual Console games.  For 5 dollars apiece, these are two classic games for gamers both young and old to download for the Wii U.

It is 2007.  The world is left in shambles of nuclear fallout after Vietnam War II.  You play as Cyber Commando Rex Colt as you set out to kill enemies, rescue a damsel in distress and ultimately save the world like Cyber Commandos do best.  The game I am talking about is Ubisoft's standalone downloadable expansion to Far Cry 3 called Far Cry 3:  Blood Dragon.  Blood Dragon's only tie to Far Cry 3 is that they both use the same game engine.  Ubisoft Montreal has crafted an insane game that looks to parody what people love about 80s action movies:  inane plot; cheesy one-liners; unnecessary sci-fi elements and; tons of explosions.  You do not need Far Cry 3 to experience the insanity of Blood Dragon, only 15 dollars or 1400 Microsoft Points and a Xbox 360, PS3 or PC.

Bit by Bit: April 28 - May 4

It has been a busy last couple weeks with things picking up on the job front that I have not got around to writing as much.  With completing Darksiders II last week and Luigi’s Mansion:  Dark Moon this past week, I am hoping to get a few more reviews up in the coming weeks.  I also have a review of BioShock Infinite that I am still working on to put up.  It should be a busy couple of weeks of working at my jobs, writing reviews and playing a bunch of games.  Before we get onto the meat and potatoes of this week’s Bit by Bit, let we wish everybody a May the 4^th be with you.  Now let us get on with the show.

Game of the Week

Even though I played enough of Luigi’s Mansion:  Dark Moon this past week to beat the game, my Game of the Week goes to Ace Attorney Investigations:  Miles Edgeworth for the Nintendo DS.  I have been looking for Ace Attorney Investigations for a long time now.  I did not get the chance to pick this game up when it first released back in 2010 and it has been next to impossible to find used.  So when I came across a new copy of Ace Attorney Investigations for 30 dollars at my local Microplay, I could not pass it up.  It was a 30 dollars well spent as I have finally completed my Ace Attorney collection for DS (aside from the currently Japanese only Investigations 2) and Ace Attorney Investigations may be the most unique entry in the series.  Currently, I have spent close to three hours with the game.  From my time with Investigations, I can say it is a very good and also different entry in the Ace Attorney series.  Aside from playing as Phoenix Wright’s rival Miles Edgeworth, the game uses a much different perspective than your normal adventure game.  You actually control Miles Edgeworth as you investigate crime scenes, collect evidence and piece together more evidence using the Logic system.  Not everything you can interact with yields evidence, some things yield little logic notes that Miles must connect using the Logic system in order to progress.  In Investigations, you never step foot in a courtroom.  All the gameplay takes place at the crime scene as you piece together the crime through interacting with the environment and talking to suspects in a similar cross-examination system to the other Ace Attorney games.  These observations come from playing through the very first case in the game.  There is still much more to experience and I look forward to playing more Ace Attorney Investigations:  Miles Edgeworth in the near future.

Most Anticipated Game of the Week

Apart from the slew of information Nintendo has been providing gamers on upcoming releases for Wii U and 3DS, there is one game Nintendo has said little to nothing aout these last few months.  That game is The Wonderful 101, the first game developed through Nintendo’s new partnership with the incredible Platinum Games.  Everything shown so far looks amazing.  I am just itching for Nintendo to give us an actual release date because I am planning on asking my family to get it along with Pikmin 3 for my birthday.  So hopefully we get some sort of confirmation soon because it is suppose to be out sometime this Summer.

Video of the Week

While I am loving my time with the Rayman Legends Challenge App, it still hurts that I along with many other Wii U owners could have had this game two months ago if it was not for Ubisoft.  Earlier this week, Ubisoft released a new trailer for Rayman Legends to help make the suffering more manageable or aggravate fans by putting salt in the wound (you be the judge).  Nevertheless, this trailer is pretty awesome as it showcases another one of the excellent music stages that will be included in Legends.  Most people will notice the tune found in this level even with it being performed by a mariachi band.

On the Download: Wii U Update Bonanza

After months of patiently waiting, Wii U owners have finally received the massive update needed to solve the load time problems the system has had since launch.  While this update does drastically decrease the load times between running games and applications, it is not the only feature that Nintendo has added to the Wii U through the update.  Wii U owners can now boot right into the Wii Menu by holding the B button during start-up, download and install games and applications in the background and when the system is turned off and transfer data between two USB storage devices.  Along with the update came a few new games to download in the Wii U eShop.  For the first On the Download of 2013, let us get on with the show.

Wii U owners have gotten a little taste of the Wii U Virtual Console through Nintendo's 30 cent trial program on the Wii U eShop.  Now with the release of the spring update comes the official launch of the Wii U Virtual Console.  While Nintendo's 30 cent program on select Virtual Console games will continue until July, Virtual Consoles will be released much more frequently now that the service has officially launched.  For those looking at what to download for the Virtual Console launch, there are eight games to choose from.  These games are Super Mario World, F-Zero, Punch-Out, Balloon Fight, Excitebike, Kirby's Adventure, Ice Climbers and Donkey Kong Jr.  The prices for Virtual Console games range from 5 dollars for NES games and 8 dollars for SNES game, but Kirby's Adventure is on for 30 cents until May 16th.  For Wii U owners who have moved their Wii Virtual Console library to the Wii U, you will be able to download the Wii U Virtual Console versions of these games for either 1 dollar for NES games and 1 dollar and 50 cents for SNES games.

While the delay of Rayman Legends and loss of exclusivity made a lot of Wii U owners very angry, Ubisoft has been trying their best to make it up to these gamers.  First, it was announced that the extra time has allowed the developers up to 30 new levels into Rayman Legends.  Second, Ubisoft planned to release the multiplayer portion of Rayman Legends exclusively for Wii U owners before the launch of the actual game.  There was a vague mention of a spring release for this feature, but nothing was ever set in stone.  It was to many gamers surprise to see the Rayman Legends Challenges App up on the Wii U eShop ready to download this past week.  This free app allows gamers to play through the final versions of the demo levels along with the online challenge mode.  There are daily and weekly challenges for gamers to test their platforming skills against people from all over the world.  Win trophies in these challenges in order to boost your awesomeness level and unlock more extreme challenges.  Personally, I have enjoyed my time with the Rayman Legends Challenges App and will easily spend more time with my Wii U because of it.  The app is free so Wii U owners should have no excuse to download it while we all wait for Rayman Legends' September release.

The End of Nintendo E3 Press Conferences

News broke late Wednesday evening, early Thursday morning that Nintendo would be taking a much different approach to E3 this year.  Instead of tackling the giants of the PS4 and the next Xbox head-on with a major press conference of their own, Nintendo has opted to holding smaller Nintendo Direct broadcasts from E3.  Definitely a move to save the Big N some money and make them stand out from Sony's and Microsoft's offerings at E3.  To say the least, ending the tradition of major E3 press conferences is an incredibly bold, risky and polarizing move by Nintendo, but it is also a smart move.

Ever since E3 downsized way back in 2007, the grandeur and spectacle of what was originally the video games industry's biggest convention of the year has slowly but surely been lost.  To the point that last year's E3 was nothing short of abysmal.  While great moments have squeaked through the cracks on occasion such as the unveiling of the 3DS, Kevin Butler's speech or Watch Dogs, the E3 press conferences these past six years have left a lot to be desired.  Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony have tried too hard to appeal to a much broader audience with their E3 press conferences that many of them lose their focus and easily become a chore to watch.  These companies forget that the people who actually tune into to watch their E3 press conferences are primarily hardcore gamers.  These gamers want to see games, not applications or entertainment options.  With the Nintendo Direct format, Nintendo has captured lightning in a bottle.  Nintendo directly talks to their consumers through 30 minute to one hour mini conferences.  Providing information on upcoming games, applications and initiatives directly to their audience.  Due to the nature of these mini conferences, Nintendo is able to make these Nintendo Directs target certain audiences be it casual or hardcore gamers, Wii U or 3DS owners or even younger or older fans.  It allows Nintendo to keep these conferences focused and more importantly keep surprise game reveals from leaking.  From Link to the Past 2 to the sequel to Xenoblade, Nintendo Direct has offered a numerous amount of E3 quality surprises that if not kept internally would have easily been leaked.  Adapting this format to E3 is an excellent idea because it keeps the focus on the games and makes a more intimate connection with their audience than a massive press conference would.  While it is a great idea, Nintendo still needs to worry about being swept under the buzz of the PS4 and next Xbox and the lack of mainstream coverage due to the smaller scale.  Addressing these possible problems will be the difference between Nintendo's success or failure at this year's E3.

No matter what breaking tradition can always sting.  Personally, I am a little bummed out about Nintendo's announcement of no more large-scale press conferences.  While I do have some fond memories of past Nintendo E3 press conferences, the video game industry is constantly changing.  With the traditions of E3 becoming more and more stagnant over time, change is definitely needed in order for E3 to regain the grandeur and spectacle that it has lost.  Nintendo is trying an entirely different format to how they present their news at E3 and it will be interesting to see how things turn out for better or worse.

Games for the Summer

When new game releases start to slow during the spring and summer months, many gamers get very impatient.  Instead of a steady stream of new games to play, they are left with a little trickle.  One option for gamers to turn to during this drought is the realm of downloadable games, which release more frequently during the summer.  Another option is for gamers to resort to their backlog.  For those gamers who rarely trade their games like yours truly, we have accumulated a massive library of unfinished games to work on.  During the spring and summer, most older gamers (ages 19 and above) have much more time on their hands to dedicate to gaming.  This list below are the games that I personally want to dedicate a significant amount of my gaming time to with the ultimate goal of beating these games.

BioShock
After playing the great yet somewhat disappointing BioShock Infinite, I have had an urge to go back and experience the very first BioShock.  Having missed out of the revolution that the original BioShock was, I impulsively picked up Infinite just so I would not miss out on experiencing the revolution again if BioShock Infinite actually lived up to the hype.  While I did enjoy my time with BioShock Infinite, I was left wanting to experience that revolutionary first-person shooter that could possibly give Half-Life 2 some competition for my favourite FPS game.  Considering I own BioShock, it is finally time for me to really experience this game more than an hour.  Time to fight splicers, get scared crapless by the Big Daddies and learn about the underwater dystopia known as Rapture.

Darksiders II
I have put a good amount of time into Darksiders II, one of my favourite games of 2012 and currently my most-played game for the Wii U.  Even though I have invested 20 hours into this game, I have not finished the game.  That is what usually happens when a game gives me a massive open world and numerous side quests to complete.  I am in no rush to complete Darksiders II because I am loving it.  Although to move onto newer games, you have to beat your older games.  Eventually, my time with Darksiders II will have to end and I want to make it this summer.

Half-Life 2:  Episode 2
I love Half-Life.  Valve has easily created the greatest first-person shooters on the face of this planet in the Half-Life games.  While I have still yet to beat the very first one on PC (I hit a random bug that completely halted my progress and I have not picked it up since), I tore through Half-Life 2 and Episode 1 on the 360 edition of the Orange Box a couple years back.  I was about to get into Episode 2 and then I stopped.  I cannot remember why, but I have not played it since.  When thinking about games to work on these next four months, Episode 2 just sprung up right away as I game I have to finish.  Not only in preparation for whenever Valve decides to grace us with the next instalment of Half-Life, but just for my own gamer pride.

Pokemon White Version 2
Before Fire Emblem Awakening sucked up all my game time on the 3DS, Pokemon White 2 was taking up most of my game time.  Currently 28 hours into the game, there is still quite a bit to do in my second trip through the Unova region.  More Pokemon to capture, trainers to defeat and evil forces to stop.  Especially with the worldwide release of Pokemon X and Y this coming October, I want to finish Pokemon White 2 so I will be able to dedicate most my game time this Fall to the next Pokemon game.

Rayman Origins
While Ubisoft ripped my heart out of my chest, and repeatedly stomped on it with their delay of Rayman Legends just a couple months back, there were a couple good things that came from this heartbreak.  One was having some more money to spend on games during the game rush that was March.  Another is now having time to finally beat Rayman Origins before playing Rayman Legends.  I have been working my way through Origins for a while now, so I know I am closing in on the end of the game.  This summer is just the right time to make one final push to beat this game in preparation for the September release of Legends.

Bit by Bit: Q1 2013

Freedom at last!  Finally my first year of university is over.  Now with a little more free time on my hands, I can dedicate much more time to blogging.  As the season transitions from winter to spring to eventually summer, the release of games slow significantly.  While game releases slow, game news starts to pick up with big announcements leading up to some huge conventions like E3, Comic Con and PAX Prime.  The slowing of game releases for the spring and summer help with working on the immense backlog that has been building since last Fall.  Along with a few new games I am looking forward to in the next four and a half months, there are quite a few I want to work on this summer break.  I will get to those games in my blog tomorrow.  Before we look to the future, it is time to look back at the best of the first quarter of 2013.

Game of the Quarter
Even with the busyness that is university, I did make some time to pick up and play a good amount of new releases.  The games I picked up this quarter were Tomb Raider, Lego City:  Undercover, Luigi's Mansion:  Dark Moon and BioShock Infinite.  All these games are great and deserve your time and money, but none of them could compete with the 3DS's masterful strategy epic that released this past February.  Yes, Fire Emblem Awakening is the best game of the first quarter of 2013 and quite possibly could go to be this writer's Game of the Year.  Intelligent Systems has produced many great games over the years be it strategy, role-playing or even puzzle games, but Fire Emblem Awakening stands as their crowning achievement in this medium.  The countless hours of content, great story and vastly improved support system are the stars of Awakening bar none.  Combining these elements with the excellent tactile battle system and challenging yet fair difficulty that this series is known for easily makes Fire Emblem Awakening the best game in Nintendo's venerable strategy series, on the 3DS and of this year.  Personally, I have put just over 100 hours into Fire Emblem:  Awakening and I still have a handful of sidequests and DLC levels to play and plenty SpotPass teams to fight with tons of more content being uploaded daily.  Fire Emblem Awakening is a game that no 3DS owner should pass.  It is the 3DS's killer app.

Video of the Quarter
One moment in the past three months captured the hearts and minds of gamers around the world and put Capcom in a much better light after the hellaciously bad 2012 they had.  That moment was the reveal of DuckTales Remastered at PAX East.  Nobody saw this reveal coming, but when it happened jaws dropped.  Gamers have been clamouring for another DuckTales game for years now and finally got their wish when Capcom showed this trailer.