Review of the game BioShock Infinite. Review of the game BioShock Infinite From the depths to the skies
30.03.2013 00:36
1912 City of Columbia in America. The civil war and confrontation between black and white citizens continues. The populists and the founders (this is what the northern and southern warring parties are called in the game) are waging irreconcilable battles, shedding liters of blood.
This is roughly how one can describe the historical component of the released game BioShock Infinite. But this is only the background against which the main and rather dynamic events of the new creation from Irrational Games unfold. From the depths of the world's oceans, the actions of this stunning universe are transferred to the celestial city. Science fiction is again very closely intertwined with the historical context; it is worth recognizing that both trends combine perfectly and complement each other.
The main character named Booker has quite a large number of sins behind him. He was not an enemy of the bottle, nor of gambling, as a result of which this whole story takes place. Having once again lost completely, our character finds himself in a situation in which the heroes of the movie “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels” found themselves, that is, in an almost hopeless one.
In order to get even with his debtors, Booker is forced to agree to the only condition - to go up to the mysterious city of Columbia and lower a girl named Elizabeth into the gray and dirty world of New York reality. As in previous parts of the series, the game begins with a boat, an endless ocean and a lighthouse. Of course, it could not have happened without the evil genius, who this time is the Prophet.
Literally from the first seconds, BioShock Infinite puts all its cards on the table, plunging the player into a world of fantasy, intrigue and the setting of a mysterious journey. It should be noted that all the key features of the BioShock series have been preserved in this part, meaning the characteristic design and interface, continuous gameplay (that is, without cinematic inserts), in every second of which you take part, the magical atmosphere of fairy tales and secrets, even the game engine in the third part of the saga remained the same - Unreal Engine. Having started talking about the technical component, I propose to cover it completely and leave this topic.
The graphics have remained virtually unchanged since the release of the previous BioShock title; of course, numerous effects related to lighting, shadows and physics have been added, but the picture looks the same. However, this does not mean that the game is great will move on systems three or five years ago, which is quite strange in theory. A quad-core processor with a clock frequency of 2500 MHz, coupled with a Radeon HD 6770-class video card, is not able to produce playable fps in a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels and a high level of graphics; you have to be content with only medium settings (30-60 frames/s).
The plot of the entire story is revealed evenly and in portions, leaving numerous options for its development. We get to know better not only the main characters and their characters, but also the history of the city of Colombia itself.
So, the city of Columbia, which we find ourselves in after going through the process of communion in the Catholic Church, is of course incomparable. It’s impossible to describe it in words no matter how hard you try. It is bright, sunny, airy, it is simply beautiful. The main character, as well as the player, cannot fully believe that all this is not a dream. The developers especially tried to captivate the player in the first 40-50 minutes of the journey. They did it really well. There are no shootouts, there is only a living world around you, in which thousands of mechanisms and gears rotate. This acquaintance is fleeting, and it would seem that you could go through the entire game like this, walking through the wonderful parks, bridges and houses of this excellent heavenly Colombia.
But quite quickly, strange things begin to happen on your journey, as well as numerous coincidences that force you to descend, if not to earth, but to one of the various islands of Colombia, for sure, picking up a pistol and pouring into yourself the first energy drink (analogous to the plasmids from previous parts). In the first few hours of the game, we managed to make a very remarkable discovery - the world around you seems completely non-linear, and breaking into the door and seemingly performing one action, it ultimately turns out to be the only correct one.
One gets the feeling that the game itself adapts to you, allowing you to command what is happening, and magically opening even those doors that, at the script level, should in theory be tightly locked. Such a stormy and impressive beginning of the game has not been seen for a long time in any project of recent years.
However, this does not mean that the further course of the game becomes boring and monotonous. Due to the constant plot twists and turns, as well as more and more new improvements, changes in locations, as well as energy drinks, the gameplay does not get boring, but rather makes you travel to BioShock Infinite again and again. Another feature that, like a good book, is inherent in BioShock Infinite is a gradual answer to the questions that concern the player.
The plot of the entire story is revealed evenly and in portions, leaving numerous options for its development. We get to know better not only the main characters and their characters, but also the history of the city of Colombia itself and the events that put the universe in such a difficult situation. I would like to say a special thank you for the dialogues; sometimes they raise very relevant and interesting topics of today.
One cannot fail to note the wonderful localization, which left the opportunity to enjoy the original dubbing of the characters with their voices, but at the same time introduce high-quality translations in the form of subtitles.
There are not too many weapons in the game. These are classic pistols, rifles, machine guns and grenade launchers.
Before moving on to a description of the gameplay and innovations related to this process, I would like to talk about the beautiful Elizabeth. We fall in love with her as quickly and suddenly as we find her. Having met, it is no longer possible to separate, because she is not only the main character around whom all the numerous events take place, but also the real decoration of the entire game. This seventeen-year-old girl grows, changes and evolves before our eyes and Booker, through her lips we learn about the difficult fate of Elizabeth, the ups and downs in Columbia and who we really are.
At some point, we understand that there is something more going on between the main characters of the game than just a joint journey in search of the only way out. After all, Booker needs Elizabeth to fulfill his lifelong dream - to fly to Paris, and for Booker, Elizabeth is salvation and an opportunity to stay alive, even if he has absolutely nothing to lose. But quite quickly we realize that these needs turn out to be only a background for real and great feelings, and now we are interested and joyful in associating ourselves with this character. Such a touching and exciting story has not been seen in modern games for a very long time; it is simply a fantasy, whose name is BioShock Infinite.
In the game, Elizabeth plays not only an aesthetic (although this would be more than enough) and informational role. She is also a real helper, as well as a sorceress, who has control over other worlds (rifts), through which we have to travel with her. During fierce battles, the girl is happy to help with friendly advice, ammunition and first aid kits. And in quiet time he opens locked doors, picks up what we didn’t pick up and opens up more and more new horizons.
The game mechanics have largely not changed since the release of the last part. It's still an action game with RPG elements. There are now no mini-games with picking locks and mechanical devices; Elizabeth copes with them perfectly, as well as energy workers, which have become significantly smaller than in previous games in the series.
Someone is constantly knocking on your door, demanding that you open it immediately. The moment you finally do this, a magical moment of awakening occurs, and all the events that happened seconds earlier turn into a dream.
Each ability found is also accompanied by beautiful animation, as well as instructions for use, made in the style of old films from the 20s and 30s. Energy, aka “mana,” is now called salt, and its reserves can be restored by picking up bottles with the blue mixture.
Numerous vending machines selling ammunition, tools, upgrades for superpowers and weapons have also not disappeared. But such an item as clothing was added. It consists of four things: hat, jacket, pants and boots. Every item found, and most importantly when worn, gives a bonus to your abilities or arsenal. It is noteworthy that no salt, no energy, or anything else is spent on this; once worn, an item will always and endlessly be useful.
There are not too many weapons in the game. These are classic pistols, rifles, machine guns and grenade launchers. The main problem, as in previous parts, is the lack of ammo in sufficient quantities for every shooter. Despite the fact that you can only carry two types of weapons with you at a time.
One of the key intrigues that the developers managed to preserve is the so-called air route, popularly known as a “roller coaster.” As it might seem at first glance, this is the main and key element of the new project, but this is not entirely true, the game can be completed practically without using this type of transport, but without a hook the game will lose most of its charm and novelty.
With the help of an air route, you can endlessly diversify the methods of combat. A sudden jump on an adversary, a chase or, conversely, an escape from a stronger opponent, a change of location or position for an attack - there can be very, very many options for using rails. Don't deprive yourself of the pleasure of trying something out of the ordinary.
What happened to “big daddy,” you ask. There was a kind of reincarnation of him into Mechanics. The latter is called the toughest opponent encountered on the battlefields of BioShock Infinite. Each such meeting will be remembered by you for a long time, because this battle has to be replayed over and over again if you chose a difficult difficulty level.
It's nice that BioShock Infinite is not a stupid shooter in which you need to kill mountains of enemies in batches.
By the way, the “comeback” process, that is, returning to the game after your defeat, is implemented quite nicely in this part. There are two options: if you are currently traveling together with Elizabeth, she will inject you with a magical injection, thanks to which you will return to the white light; if you are alone, in the black and white twilight you need to make your way to the door, which someone is constantly breaking through, it will open the way for you to a location abandoned to death. Speaking of the office door, it is worth noting that this is a kind of leitmotif of the entire game - each time you lose consciousness during the journey (in the plot inserts), you find yourself in your office, which remains in New York.
Someone is constantly knocking on your door, demanding that you open it immediately. The moment you finally do this, a magical moment of awakening occurs, and all the events that happened seconds earlier turn into a dream. Thus, your pursuers turn out to be unknown characters every time.
It's nice that BioShock Infinite is not a stupid shooter in which you need to kill mountains of enemies in batches. The professionals from Irrational Games managed to avoid this punishment for the user, which is inherent in many modern, and most importantly high-profile projects. The main taste of this game is the strong plot, atmosphere and originality of the entire journey. We can definitely talk about the absolute and previously unprecedented innovation that BioShock Infinite brings to the modern concept of games in general. After all, everything you see on the screen is absolutely alive, especially the beautiful Elizabeth. Perhaps, only Valve managed to betray reality so closely through a computer game in its legendary Half-Life 2.
The musical component, which is a kind of highlight in BioShock Infinite, deserves special attention. The composers of the project not only have a great sense of humor, but also excellent taste. How else to explain the appearance of compositions by such musicians as Cyndi Lauper, Michael Joseph Jackson and others in 1912. Look carefully for temporary rifts in the game, and you won’t miss this spectacle.
There is no point in summing up some usual results and giving ratings, advising you to focus your attention on certain features of the game or something like that. BioShock Infinite is a timeless project, something that will be told to future generations about games played in 2013. This is a thing that has already become a classic, like a good book or novel that does not need testing or critical assessment. This is something that everyone should enjoy, even if they don't consider themselves computer entertainment enthusiasts. BioShock Infinite is that forgotten beauty that our difficult and heartless times sometimes lack today. This is a ray of light in the dark kingdom of despondency and negativity.
Give yourself this charge of sun, pure and bright. And the intrigue that lies in the questions: what is the future of Elizabeth and Booker, where will they eventually go - to New York or Paris, are you ready to fall in love with a wonderful, albeit virtual, creature on the screen of your monitor; With your permission, I will not destroy it, in the interests of your imagination and curiosity.
Ken Levine loves to challenge ideas, including ones he doesn't even know about. A bad shooter can be a good game, the first hour and last half hour can smooth out boring shootouts, and you can make mistakes when choosing a genre without noticing it for years. Bioshock Infinite dreams of becoming an adventure game, but, like the heroine Elizabeth, she is locked in a cage: publisher Songbird will not let her in. This could have been forgotten if Irrational knew how to make shooters. But they succeed in art galleries, characters, plot development, dialogue, staging, thousands of little things, and almost all battles inevitably fail.
In Infinite, only the scenery has changed dramatically. Instead of atheist libertarians there are religious fanatics-racists, instead of a city under water there is a city in the sky. The plasmids were recolored, the hero Booker spoke, and the splicers were organized into a full-fledged Occupy Wall Street, but this is still Bioshock, with all its advantages and disadvantages. The first minutes in Columbia are in no way inferior to the first minutes in Rapcher. At first, all you do is look around, look at murals and propaganda posters, listen to passers-by. Irrational Games came up with a believable city: children are playing hopscotch and smoking around the corner, sellers at the fair are inviting, aristocrats are sitting on benches and relaxing, and girls are looking at Booker, talking and giggling. It's easy to believe that people actually live here.
But one choice changes everything: Columbia is emptying, only policemen remain on the streets. It's easier to hit them in the head with a hook than to shoot them, and that's just one of the problems with Bioshock Infinite's combat. There are a lot of weapons in the game, but they are all boring, cardboard, without strong recoil and tactile sensations of the best games in the genre. I wouldn't pay so much attention to it if I didn't have to shoot so much. Of the 15 hours you'll spend in Infinite, only 5 will be exploration and story time. The rest of the time you will spend fighting, wishing that they would finally end. The exception is riding a skyline, which allows you to jump onto enemies and shoot them on the fly. It's a lot of fun, but in many places the rails aren't laid and the game goes from being an acrobatic shooter to being a mediocre shooter.
The imbalance in battles is best demonstrated by the hint the game gives - “remember to use your powers,” the local equivalent of plasmids. You really often forget about them. Not because there aren't any interesting ones - these abilities of Booker just liven up the battles - but because it's always easier to quickly shoot enemies and move on. When you find a new power, you use it once on some item to advance the story, and then you may not need it anymore. This is where Irrational would do well to learn from Arkane: Dishonored not only gave freedom, but also created conditions for it, providing level design so that no one choice seemed preferable.
The game lacks a change in tone: stealth, puzzles, more interesting sidequests. And in shootouts you don’t need tactics: if anything happens, Elizabeth will always help you. In battles, she throws up cartridges, healing potions and salt (spent on using powers), and also asks for help from other dimensions: she summons turrets, mechanical “patriots” with machine guns, hangs hooks, creates shelters and even revives the hero upon death. With the exception of the last fight, Infinite is almost impossible to lose, and choosing a different difficulty level only highlights the game's weakness as a shooter, not only because of the weapons, but also because of the enemies. Bioshock felt like there was a little story behind each splicer, and the appearance of the big daddy made you panic. This is not the case in Infinite: the enemies are impersonal, and the most powerful of them - the handymen - appear only a few times.
But Elizabeth almost always gets into the frame. This is Infinite's main breakthrough - it doesn't tag along behind you, but runs ahead, helps you pick locks and decipher inscriptions on the walls, watches what's happening around you, and takes care of itself. In the interview, Ken Levine clearly exaggerated the capabilities of artificial intelligence (Elizabeth yawning in a room full of corpses looks strange), but this is nitpicking. Heiress Alyx was a success, and if there's one thing you need to steal from Bioshock Infinite, it's how to fit an accompanying character into the game so that he doesn't get in the way.
I feel bad about bashing Bioshock Infinite because it's a rare type of exhibition game. In it you want to look through every binocular, find every audio diary and every dollar, see every poster. But this is not a film or a video gallery - you cannot skip boring moments, so very often you will have to endure. At times, a plot twist is followed by failure - this can be boring backtracking or fighting the same boss three times in an hour. But I want to forgive the last scenes of Infinite: there hasn’t been such a beautiful and thorough ending in video games for a long time. Immediately after it, you begin to remember: the lines of some characters have a second meaning, unremarkable events become key, but at the same time there is enough room for interpretation. Is she worth it? Yes, sure. A bad shooter can be a good game, even a very good game, although it will never be outstanding.
When projects are developed according to modern Hollywood templates on stream in a short time by companies of 500 people, there is practically no room left for ideologists and personalities like Ken Levine. From this significance Infinite is only getting stronger. Irrational Games- This is an endangered species.
New BioShock does not continue the story of the utopian underwater Rapture, but takes us to 1912, into the sky, to the state of Columbia floating in the clouds. The main character, Booker DeWitt, who previously worked for the Pinkerton National Detective Agency, goes in search of the girl Elizabeth, imprisoned inside some kind of analogue of the Statue of Liberty. Booker owes money after losing everything in gambling, and the only chance to redeem the debt is to find and return the hostage to New York.
The secret entrance to the city is located in a lighthouse in the middle of the ocean, only this time the capsule will send us up, not down. The views of the airy city will take your breath away. Houses, streets and entire neighborhoods floating in the clouds are supported by huge balloons and engines, reminiscent of the artist's old works Final Fantasy Yoshitako Amano. Steampunk elements, soft lighting and luxurious smoke and cloud effects give the picture a unique fairy-tale look.
The church occupies a vital place in the life of the entire state. People deeply believe in God, conduct services, and the image of the prophet Zechariah Comstock flashes in the frame every now and then in the form of a sacred icon. As we look at the serene lives of the city's residents, we continue to explore the picturesque streets of Columbia, which themselves reveal a piece of history. Decorated with festive garlands and manicured flower beds, the city eventually becomes off-putting and even intimidating with posters promoting American exceptionalism, ultra-nationalism and racism, and the growing unease culminates in a fun local pastime - punching a tied up black man. By the time you reach Elizabeth, you will be accused of heresy and false teaching, and you will be hunted by the police of the air city.
A seemingly simple story develops into a complex full-scale conflict involving the national army, the opposition, mechanical robots and an armada of combat airships, but the main theme of the game is more intimate and personal - it is about the relationship between parents and children. Every event, every dialogue is important for a complete understanding of the plot, which skillfully folds into one intricate tangle that reveals itself in the finale. And to understand all the intricacies of the script, you will probably want to go through BioShock: Infinite a second time. The story of the game is complex and intricate, images and hints overlap each other like in a David Lynch film, although, of course, Infinite much easier to digest than INLAND EMPIRE.
Despite the fact that audio diaries have not gone away, the developers have raised the quality of storytelling to a new level, this time offering a written hero with a voice and a girl who constantly comments on this or that situation. There are constant discussions and emotional exchanges between Booker and Elizabeth, and non-player characters are more prominent in the story, making the game much more lively than before.
But don't think that Irrational Games All these six years we were exclusively focused on the plot. If the original, like the sequel, suffered from dreary wanderings in the intimate settings of the underwater city, Infinite- this is a real breakthrough for the series. Columbia's locations are built like a sandbox, so you have plenty of opportunities to move and destroy enemies, and corridor firefights are quite rare. The girl’s mystical abilities are organically woven into the gameplay. Elizabeth is able to open doors to other worlds through ruptures in matter, as a result of which various objects appear in locations. You can’t “turn on” them all at once; you have to choose one thing, or sequentially. A grab point on the wall of the house will help you climb onto the roofs and shoot enemies from below from a safe distance. Protective walls will hide you from a hail of bullets and rockets. Floor and flying turrets will distract attention and, in good situations, shoot some of the enemies. Tesla installations emit electricity. Moreover, Elizabeth can materialize special points with first aid kits and weapon racks. But her abilities don’t stop there. The heroine picks up the money and points to the location of an important item. And if in the heat of battle you run out of ammunition, she will immediately find a gun and throw it into your hands. She does the same with first aid kits and bottles of mana. As a result, you don’t have to be distracted from shootings to search for the right item, so the dynamics of the game do not drop, but rather constantly increase.
The combat system has changed a bit. The developers abandoned the ability to carry all types of weapons on the hero in favor of two guns, which are quickly replaced with one button. If you need another barrel, then you simply pick it up from the floor or take it from the corpse of an enemy you killed. First aid kits and mana bottles cannot be carried with you either. You now have the equivalent of a recharging energy shield that protects your health from damage until it's depleted. And, if you do not hide from further attacks, you will begin to lose your health. In this case, first aid kits and food placed in various places at the level come to the rescue.
Enemies have become more active, and their various combinations force you to approach the destruction process with creativity. Soldiers with bladed weapons and firearms, several flying and stationary turrets, as well as one or two “fat” enemies can take part in the shootout - be it a mechanical “Patriot” with a minigun or a cyborg with huge steel fists, who is also dangerous because he loves give an electric shock. Sometimes barges with rocket scientists on board arrive to help. This is where air rails become very useful, with the help of which you can quickly change your position in the three-dimensional space of the location. From them you can jump onto an enemy on a barge, throwing him into the abyss and getting a good angle of fire. But opponents can also use the rails, so you should be on your guard. Or with the help of a special ability to stop enemy missiles and redirect them to other opponents. Or another force can seize control of the turret or even the enemy, if you pump it up to the required level. In addition, you can throw small fireballs at enemies and set mines, or call a flock of crows that will peck at them, making it difficult to shoot. There is even a local analogue of the singularity from Mass Effect, where enemies fly into the air, limbs flailing in every direction as you mercilessly shoot them down.
There are many options for the development of events - thanks to a huge range of different means of destruction and the complex design of locations, you yourself direct each shootout, which is simply invaluable in the modern dominance of pre-scripted “kintz”. And, of course, one cannot but rejoice at the absence of annoying mini-games and the need to take pictures of annoying opponents who jump on the walls and ceiling. By the way, they are not in the game either, just like tanks with an incredible amount of health, which were so tiring in the first two parts of the series.
The inclusions of role-playing games have not gone away; you, as before, are free to receive and upgrade abilities and weapons in special stores. The guns no longer change in appearance due to pumping, but this is not very frustrating. And changing clothes gives additional bonus effects. For example, killing an enemy can trigger a chain of electricity that stops all enemies within a certain radius, or additional fire damage from melee attacks. There are also useful features such as increasing the ammo supply for all weapons by 50% or doubling the shield reload time. You find clothes, food, money and much more in the levels. There are also additional tasks in the form of a code and a book that will help you solve this code. As a rule, such tasks lead to a secret passage with hidden money, clothing and improvements in health, magic and shield, which raises one of the parameters of your choice. Therefore, studying locations is not only interesting, but also extremely useful.
Since at certain points you leave the level forever, you might miss an important item or side quest, but the developers thought about that too. Therefore, Elizabeth will warn you about such “points of no return.” To the delight of casual players, the arrow indicating the direction to the goal has not gone away, but now it does not interfere with the screen, because for it to appear you need to press a special button, and after three seconds it disappears. Attention to detail sets the game apart from many others. So, for example, if you look at children dancing at a fair, you can notice that over time one will fall to the floor and cry, and the second will run to his mother. It was also surprising to discover that while examining a guitar in the basement of one of the houses, a whole scene starts in which the main character begins to play to Elizabeth’s melodic singing.
Ken Levine's studio not only did not lose face in front of fans of the original, but also greatly improved all components at once. This game will please both shooter connoisseurs and adventure and RPG lovers. And fans of the story will appreciate the most powerful script with one of the most emotional endings that we have ever experienced. BioShock: Infinite- without a doubt, an ideal project and the brightest event in the gaming industry in a long time. Do not under any circumstances miss this parting gift from the outgoing generation.
The game was completed on PC.
In 2007, shooter developers went to the heights of Olympus along different roads. Some, represented by Infinity Ward, turned the genre into a complete attraction, where direction and staging replaced thoughtful gameplay. Others did not give up attempts to revive old concepts, supplementing them with something truly new. An example of the second path was BioShock by Ken Levine and his studio.
Thanks to the increased interactivity of the environment, the game earned the nickname “shooter 2.0,” and for good reason: the enemies in BioShock were not mindless kamikazes, they knew how to heal and retreat in a timely manner, fire allowed them to melt a frozen door, and water honestly conducted electricity. But for some reason, the imitators went the route of attractions rather than “smart” shooters. Did Ken Levine break under the pressure of bad fashion? Neither one nor the other.
- I see two possible scenarios. First: when she comes face to face with herself, thirty years older, she will simply lose consciousness. Or second: a time paradox is created, the space-time continuum is disrupted, and a chain reaction begins. Time and space are caught in a loop, causing the Universe to collapse. But this is the worst case scenario. At best, only our Galaxy will collapse...
film "Back to the Future II" (1989).
From the depths to the skies
Ken Levine is a big fan of city building games. But if we tend to associate this with the arrangement of megacities in simulators like SimCity, then the head of Irrational Games, inspired by books about utopias and dystopias of the 20th century, pleases us with wonderful, sometimes frightening worlds, allowing us to look at their prosperity and slow decline.
This is how Rapture was born - a giant underwater city, secretly built in 1946 on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean by businessman and philanthropist Andrew Ryan. In an attempt to create an ideal society, independent of government and religion, the creator of the underwater paradise invited the most worthy people, in his opinion, into his world, giving them complete freedom of expression.
Vending machines are one of the few things that carried over from the original game almost unchanged.
But, as we know, the road to hell is paved with good intentions, and the greatness of the underwater kingdom is comparable only to its monumental collapse. The Founding Father did not take into account that there were not enough auto service systems to support the functioning of the city, and the lack of organizations to protect people's rights led to fraud, corruption and oppression of the common people.
Utopia becomes dystopia, and democracy is replaced by dictatorship. In 1960, when the protagonist of the game BioShock appears on the scene, Rapture is already engulfed in civil war, most of the inhabitants, under the influence of the miraculous substance ADAM, have turned into insane mutants, and the remnants of those who have not yet lost their minds hid in their homes and laboratories.
The princess, locked in a tower, has not yet learned how to receive guests, but she already knows that books can not only be read.
But the Rapture was not the only attempt to realize the American Dream. In 1900, the United States government, to prove its superiority over the rest of the world, builds the flying city of Columbia - “the greatest miracle created by man.”
It was planned that the project would become a symbol of technological progress and prosperity of the nation, but the designers did not take into account one thing, namely the control system of the “top” of the floating state. An uprising breaks out in the city and the newly-minted rulers announce Colombia’s secession from the United States, citing the words “It’s already good for us.” With good intentions, yes...
Twelve years pass after Columbia's disappearance, and we are introduced to the protagonist of BioShock Infinite - a former employee of the Pinkerton detective agency, Booker Devitt. Unlike the hero of the original game, Jack, our alter ego arrives in the utopian city voluntarily: he is hired by a young couple, ordering him to find and take out a certain Elizabeth in exchange for paying off his debts.
Booker, like Comstock, often experiences visions. Perhaps they have much more in common, besides the ability to see the future?
The link between the real world and the miracle state will again be a lighthouse, only this time we get to “paradise” not on a bathysphere, but on a rocket. Upon arrival, you will immediately feel the contrast with previous BioShocks - the gloomy corridors and atmosphere of decline are replaced by majestic monuments, colorful gardens, beaches and fairs, and the noisy streets are always full of people.
In this world, the revolution has not yet taken place, and the government is quite different: if in Andrew Ryan’s universe freedom and democracy were preached, then Columbia resembles a religious commune led by a self-proclaimed prophet, Zachary Comstock. Some people pray to him, others consider him a protector and patron, only the working people have a hard life, which means that this little world will sooner or later step on the same rake that destroyed Delight.
Nightingale is Elizabeth's jailer and only "friend". He would be a worthy replacement for the Big Daddies if they were allowed to really fight him.
The plot of BioShock Infinite resembles a work of art. Not in terms of the fact that it is good, but because not everyone will understand it. This is a story about greedy power, space-time paradoxes and their consequences. Playing through the game is comparable to watching the Matrix trilogy for the first time - the story touches on a bunch of philosophical questions, but does not give clear answers to them.
Understatement syndrome
Ken Levine has once again created a unique universe where magic and technology, religion and science coexist. Thanks to the brilliant work of artists and designers, this city at first glance seems like an earthly paradise where thousands of people live in peace without troubles and simple everyday worries.
Columbia floating behind the clouds is the game's key advantage... and its main drawback. Why did this hulk take off in the first place? By what principle does it move and what keeps the city in the air? People live at such an altitude where, in theory, it is impossible to be without oxygen masks - how then does the atmospheric pressure stabilize? Some of the explanations will be revealed only to those who are closely involved in collecting, but many questions will remain unanswered.
It's rare that a game can boast an abundance of such unique locations. Although in a number of scenes the lighting was still too clever.
Yes, the game is fantastic, but this is not a reason to ignore the laws of physics and pretend that this is normal - the same Delight was worked out so much that questions about the implausibility of what was happening did not even arise. There are dozens of voicephones and kinetoscopes with grains of information scattered throughout Colombia, but a hundred pieces cannot be assembled into a picture that would fit a thousand puzzles.
The longer you wander through the streets of the transcendental giant, the stronger the feeling that the whole city is just a backdrop for a theatrical production, and the actors in it are dolls who are not capable of depicting emotions. There is no talk of any life simulation - city residents with cloned faces are tightly nailed to their positions and occasionally throw out phrases when Booker passes by.
Interesting: Colombia is an extremely rich city. Even in poor areas, trash cans are filled with money, although scurrying beggars would kill for food. And communism is also thriving here: no one will say a word to you if you strip the closet behind the store or the boxes of supplies to the skin. Looting will be mistaken for theft in only a couple of places.
You can dance around the policemen or play staring contest for hours, but as soon as you shoot at the other end of the map, a horde of law enforcement officers will crawl towards you from all over the area.
The puppetry of the NPCs can still be forgiven (after all, only Rockstar and GSC had succeeded in normal life simulation before this), but what happened to the vaunted intelligence of Booker’s companion Elizabeth is a mystery. A pretty young lady runs after the main character, throws in cartridges, money or medicine, and pulls out combat drones or weapons from other dimensions - that’s the whole range of her “revolutionary” capabilities.
Her interlocutor is also unimportant: most often she opens her mouth only in plot points and rare cut-scenes, otherwise you hear from her a few meaningful “Hmm” and “Oh” when rummaging through the room with supplies. Even the dialogues with companions from Diablo III were much more entertaining, not to mention their number.
It’s even sadder that in the videos her bright image was shown in a completely different way. The girl has been locked up all her life and knows about the outside world only from books, but surprisingly has little interest in her surroundings and is also not surprised by anything. What can we say, if many fragments from the trailers came under the knife - remember the scenes with the horse or the parody of the American president. They are not in the release.
Elizabeth only appears to be a decent girl, but in reality she is a skilled housewife, although she is powerless without master keys.
What remains is depressing, and the low quality of the Russian release played no small role in this. The lack of dubbing and complete translation of textures, the unreadable screen size - all this puts an end to any attempts to get used to this wonderful world, to feel its atmosphere.
You won't envy English lovers either - the original voices are a B minus. Elizabeth's speech is most terrifying: a young girl speaking in the voice of a mature woman is comparable to playing an untuned piano - in both cases you just want to turn off the speakers.
The game world itself remains at the level of the previous parts, with the only difference being that freedom is limited not by narrow corridors, but by abysses and invisible walls. Yes, the locations are vast, and often allow you to return to where you wandered an hour or two ago, but once you step past the invisible trigger, the path to unexplored areas will close.
These are not wall curses, but a mark of the “populists” cache. You cannot enter the hiding place without a key book.
There is still something to study. Most often, levels are not straight corridors, but small “sandboxes” with a couple of “optional” rooms or establishments. In such places there are caches with codes, audio recordings, weapons and a bunch of useful junk. Those who care about the plot will not be allowed to get lost by the magic arrow, which illuminates the path to the goal like stardust from Fable III.
The most notable novelty of the game was the monorail transportation system. In the very first skirmish with the enemy, Booker will receive a tool that allows him to cling to the rail and “ride” on it to the next location. The local “metro” will also help in battle: what is the cost of being able to land on an enemy or shoot while traveling. But opponents are not fools either: this is often how reinforcements arrive at them.
The lack of a map is disappointing, which makes it impossible not only to determine which areas of the location have already been surveyed, but also to navigate which part of Colombia you are currently in. You shouldn’t overestimate the transport system either: one branch connects barely a couple of locations, and your tour of the flying city is somehow limited by the plot.
The only version of the game world map. It's difficult to navigate, but it's better than nothing.
If you don't break any speed records, BioShock Infinite will take fifteen hours of your life. The journey is also lengthened by a strange save system: the developers refused to record the game anywhere - now there are only checkpoints, and they are found either in story places or when entering a location, which means it’s easy to lose the progress of even a two-hour session if you enter the menu carelessly or system failure.
Interesting: completing the game completely unlocks the “1999” difficulty mode, where the cost of resurrection increases to one hundred coins, weapon damage is reduced, and enemies hit even harder. Those who are impatient will be able to unlock it using the Konami code in the game menu: up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, cancel button (Backspace) and confirmation button (Enter).
“When she gets to 88 mph, you're going to see something amazing!”
The game does not overwrite saves, but creates new ones each time, so if desired, it is easy to roll back several checkpoints. There is only one ending in BioShock Infinite, and all nonlinearity ends with a choice between heads or tails, birds or cages (and this is not a joke).
And again you can feel how much the developers cut from the game. Even in the flash browser game Industrial Revolution they showed the beginning of the conflict between the “founders” and the “populists”. In Infinite itself, the dialogue sets us up for the fact that a revolution is coming and we have to choose which side to take. But this fork does not happen. Not in this game...
Shooter 1.15
Let's ask Elizabeth to create a time gap and take us back to 2007, when BioShock discs first hit the shelves. Remember how Jack's journey into the unknown world began on high difficulty: searching for weapons, killing the first enemy with a wrench, healing with a first aid kit, pure joy if you managed to kick a mutant without losing health.
When you had a revolver in your hands, the question often arose: to spend the precious cartridge now or save it “for later” - you never know what kind of creature is waiting in the next corridor. The very first skirmishes with the Big Daddies seemed like an impossible test: there was not enough firepower, success depended on interaction with the environment, the skillful use of plasmids and hacked turrets.
The same choice. Do you know what it affects? No matter what.
Combat in BioShock Infinite is confusing. You cut out frail policemen in close combat with one swing, and with the very first pistol you get hundreds of rounds of ammunition - even with Kerzhakov’s genes you are unlikely to shoot all the ammunition before the enemies run out.
The principles of the combat system have not changed: bots have their own reserve of “strength”, each gun has its own damage indicators: don’t be surprised if an enemy sniper, a seemingly simple fighter, can withstand several hits to the head, and larger enemies will absorb a couple of machine gun horns.
To prevent the game from seeming easy, the creators have added a number of restrictions: in BioShock Infinite you carry only two guns with you - if you have used up all the ammunition, please look for another weapon in the midst of battle. It gets to the point of absurdity when you are locked in the arena for a battle with the “boss” and there is nowhere to get a new gun. There are no places to store weapons: if you want to always have your favorite grenade launcher with you, carry it with you or fight with whatever comes to hand.
We pulled this mechanical patriot out of a parallel universe - a good help in a fierce battle.
The structure of the battles has changed, and again not for the better. An incommensurable amount of “meat” has appeared on the levels: the enemies do not shine with intelligence and run with a baton towards a gunshot in a frontal attack - this is how a “smart” shooter becomes ordinary. Bots no longer use medical devices, since there are simply no “trauma centers” in Colombia, just as there are no portable first aid kits: your health is zero - run away from the battle and look for a panacea every time.
The size of the cut content is shocking: there are no different types of ammunition, there are no mini-games for picking locks, cameras and turrets (as well as the cameras themselves!), there is also no clear analogue of Big Daddies, and although the ability to improve weapons remains, there are modifiers on its appearance no longer influence.
Plasmids and tonics were cut out, but this time a replacement was found. As the game progresses, you find energies: some will allow you to take temporary control of an enemy or a combat robot, others will teach Booker to shock enemies with electricity or throw a natural fireball. Each ability has an alternate mode that allows you to set a ground trap.
Steam will not only promptly inform you about the rewards you have earned, but will also remind you of the remaining balance until the next achievement is unlocked.
Energy drinks eat salt (an analogue of mana), so you won’t be able to fight much with “magic” alone, and there is now little room for tactics: there are only eight abilities, some of them are useless, but such a thing as telekinesis was not invented in Colombia.
Clothing serves as a substitute for tonics. These are the same passive improvements, but now they are strictly tied to their cell: if previously you could combine strong bonuses in any way you like, now you definitely can’t wear three shirts or two hats, which means that the scope for tactics is greatly limited.
The lack of portable first aid kits was compensated for by a regenerating shield, so now the gameplay differs from Borderlands only in the meager selection of weapons. Due to the restriction on two slots, rocket launchers, grenade launchers and shotguns have become completely useless - it is wise to go either with a couple of machine guns, or take one machine gun and a sniper rifle.
Yellow cracks are a sign that your shield has been knocked down... or it has begun to recover.
It is difficult to single out anyone among the enemies - for most of the game we fight with cops of varying degrees of survivability. Firemen who throw bombs and explode after death, snipers, rocket launchers and invisible men who can turn into a flock of crows can be an unpleasant surprise, although their strength lies not in damage, but in an unimaginable amount of health.
If anyone gets on your nerves, it’s the “bosses.” The mechanic is similar in size to the Big Daddies from the original game, but is extremely hostile - without a decent supply of ammunition, it is difficult to defeat him. But the most annoying thing is the battle with the ghost boss - the developers have not found a better solution than to impose the same battle in different scenery.
Conclusion
Confusion. This feeling haunts you like an invisible companion from the very beginning until the end of the video after the final credits. Why was Infinite so simplified (more accurately, dumbed down) compared to the original 2007 game and its sequel? Why did many reviewers suddenly go blind, not recognizing a whole bunch of shortcomings? Why does 2K Games have so much disrespect for the Russian-speaking community?
Elizabeth is not as simple as she seems at first glance. Sometimes she is not herself, as you can see.
However, don't think that the game is bad. It’s just that the original raised the quality bar to such a high level that achieving it a second time turned out to be an impossible task. A difficult-to-understand plot, poorly developed characters and a bunch of at least ambiguous gameplay decisions - multiply all this by the excellent work of the artists and divide it into unjustified promises and cut scenes. The rest is BioShock Infinite.
Verdict: never a game of the year, never a failure. Just a great game, without any variables. It could have been better, but thanks for at least that.
Rating: 8.0.
Between the lines. For me, this is the main disappointment of the year so far. It is a rare case when expectations are so different from the final result. If with Aliens: Colonial Marines and Resident Evil 6 everything was essentially clear from the beginning, then the quality of BioShock Infinite was a real blow. It turns out that to spoil the ideal concept, it is enough to remove the map, first aid kits and normal saves, adding an unnecessary restriction on the weapons carried.
Vitaly Krasnovid aka Disintegration
- BioShock Infinite: Performance Testing
Testing of nineteen video cards and seventy-two processors in three resolutions and two operating modes. - at the conference website.
Main character BioShock Infinite Booker DeWitt owes some people a lot of money - without explaining the details, in exchange for financial freedom they demand to bring to them the girl Elizabeth, who is being held in custody in - most interestingly - the flying city of Columbia. Without warning, the foul-mouthed DeWitt is shot into the air in a special capsule; a moment later, an absolutely fantastic landscape with houses and entire streets floating in the clouds opens before his eyes. Thus begins one of the most fast-paced, confusing and unusual adventures that video games have seen in the last five years, if not more.
I visited an amazing place - so amazing that I want to tell my friends - and advise them to go there immediately. Ken Levine, the game's lead designer, has been guided throughout his career by the following principle: the environment comes first, not the mechanics. First you need to create a scene, figure out how everything works there, populate it with people, give them housing and work - and only then add details to this picture in the form of the player, his enemies and other utilitarian things. This principle was used to build both previous BioShock games and must-have classics like Deus Ex and System Shock 2. In Infinite, this technique reaches its apogee. The aerial city of Columbia is not just a set of attractions (although they are there too), but an absolutely independent environment, built not only for the sake of the player and his actions. We find ourselves in an unfamiliar city full of surprises, every detail of which deserves attention. Damn it, I visited an absolutely incredible place.
You have to understand that we are still talking about a shooter, where the main thing is that it is interesting to shoot, and everything else is, it seems, optional. It's based on the mechanics that Levin's two previous games worked on: in one hand the hero holds a weapon, and in the other he shocks enemies with electricity, launches them into the air, sets them on fire and entertains them with more wild methods - here they are called “energy drinks”. All this can be developed in different directions near special stalls; Most often, the choice depends on the price of the issue: it’s cheaper to improve weapons, but in the end it either shoots more painfully, or reloads faster, in that spirit. The development of abilities has a dramatic effect on what is happening: among others, an energy drink called “Return to sender” is available, which allows you to catch all the bullets flying at the hero, and then launch them back at the author. Infinite surprises and greatly refreshes with a whole host of moments. The dynamics of the shootings pull the ground out from under your feet: as soon as the introductory part ends and the game itself begins, the pace of what is happening picks up at the speed of light, and somewhere in the middle of the game, shooting in the alleys of Columbia grows into a modest theater of military operations with boarding aircraft and the possibility of fall on the enemies' heads, having previously accelerated on special rails stretched through the air between houses. The protagonist's companion, Elizabeth, unlike, it seems, all virtual partners from other games, clearly does not behave like a kidnapped girl, more often helps than requires care, and only makes the game more interesting. Together with the heroes, BioShock Infinite constantly grows above itself, at times jumping over its head; right up to the very end, new mechanics and algorithms are proposed, and from the point of view of staging and plot development, absolutely amazing things are happening.
Back to the nineties
Announced six months ago, 1999 Mode for BioShock Infinite, as its name suggests, offers the toughest difficulty level yet. What’s interesting is that the mode not only works in the spirit of the old school, but also opens up in it. To open 1999 Mode, you need to either beat the game, or type the so-called Konami Code in the main menu: Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, (Cancel), (Confirm).
The authors know how to maintain a tone and know when to stop: a shootout wild in scale of bloodshed and fuss with the participation of animated George Washington mannequins with machine guns will certainly give way to a contemplative part, where all you can do is turn your head from side to side with your eyes bulging out of curiosity. A significant part of the game time is spent exploring places that are not at all necessary to visit, but otherwise it is impossible - curiosity takes its toll. Elizabeth helps get behind the locked doors: at some point it turns out that many years of loneliness surrounded by an entire library have taken their toll, and at the theoretical level the girl generally knows a lot of interesting things. A separate story is the development of the relationship between Elizabeth and Booker. As the play progresses, the strictly business interest of the characters in each other develops into a certain dependence, and contrary to logic, it turns out that it is impossible to get out of the city without breaking these ties. This is where the twists and turns begin that it’s impossible to talk about without touching on vital tissues, but believe me: throughout its development, Infinite’s plot manages to turn in unexpected directions so many times that you’ll get tired of counting.
To answer a popular question: Infinite is a hermetic, complete work, to understand which you do not need to know the background of previous BioShocks. However, there is an extremely non-trivial connection between these games, and to completely tear your head off during the finale of Infinite, it is recommended to watch at least the first part.
Memory painfully tries to find films and books within itself with which BioShock Infinite could be compared for clarity, but nothing works. This is a completely unique experience, a rare occurrence that extends its exclusivity far beyond understanding the functioning of video games and boring discussions about gameplay. It’s difficult to talk about this with a straight face: I didn’t just complete BioShock Infinite, I spent several days in a fantastic, incredible city, the reality of which I have no reason to doubt.
The PC version was reviewed.
