BioShock Infinite

BioShock Infinite PC Review

Irrational’s BioShock sequel swaps a city under the sea for a city above the clouds, while exploring a different time period, different themes, and even different dimensions. You’re Booker DeWitt, a former Pinkerton detective sent to the frighteningly patriotic floating city of Colombia to rescue a mysterious woman named Elizabeth. This, naturally, is a process that involves wielding steampunky weapons, using various psychokinetic powers, and riding around on the tramlike Skyline system.When I finished BioShock Infinite – don’t worry, I won’t spoil anything – I was dumbfounded. I wanted to tell someone what I thought, but for a moment I had absolutely no idea. I’d experienced a kind of excited panic, then total delight, then momentary confusion, and then a rush of extraordinary sights, powerful scenes and sudden twists that left me struggling to keep up.It’s a spectacular ending. It’s just a shame it doesn’t make a lick of sense.Infinite is wonderful. Every single person who can play it, should play it. It’s a fascinating and gruesomely fun adventure in a genuinely unique, magnificent place. But the plot really does jump the shark. It jumps a lot of sharks. It jumps BioShark Infinisharks. That’s not uncommon in cinematic first-person shooters, but I mention it now because the game’s mysteries are such a big part of its appeal.You’re on a flying city of magical racists in 1912, and that soon drops to being only the fifth or sixth most puzzling thing about your situation. Who are those two? Why are they talking about me? What’s with the giant cyborg bird? What does AD stand for? How does he know… why does she think… when did they… why can I shoot crows from my hands? And how do these pants help me reload?

Bright lights, big city

Upon stepping into Columbia, our reluctant hero and former Pinkerton agent Booker DeWitt is welcomed extravagantly to the City in the Sky with its majestic statues of worshipped leaders and vibrant setting of multicolored buildings outlined by seamless bright blue skylines. Everything is peaceful, lively and succeeds in living up to what we imagine heaven to be like. The kids are laughing and playing on the streets while the men and women enjoy picnics and walk like the world is timeless. Everyone is dressed splendidly as though they are all equally privileged and prosperous.

But beneath that beautiful and holy façade lies a brewing turmoil, a raging war between factions that struggle to obtain dominance over Columbia and it all begins with Booker who breaks Elizabeth out of the tower she’s been imprisoned in for many years…