--Elizabeth, BioShock Infinite
"There's always a lighthouse, there's always a man, there's always a city."
--Elizabeth, BioShock Infinite
As if BioShock and BioShock 2 are not already masterpieces of philosophical storytelling, BioShock Infinite is one of the most philosophically ambitious video games that has ever been released, tackling issues of a grand metaphysical scope and of dire relevance today all at once. Gone is Rapture, the failed egoist utopia of Andrew Ryan. Rapture does make an appearance in the main story and in both parts of the included Burial at Sea DLC, but the flying city of Columbia is the primary location of Infinite. The gameplay and art style have undergone a series of very noticeable changes, but much of what made the first two BioShock games so unique and spectacular returns in a different form. A multiverse of parallel worlds that connect Columbia and Rapture is the new focus, along with a hyper-conservative cult that practices a blend of very distorted Christian theology, nationalistic patriotism, and racism against black people. On a storytelling level, Infinite is perhaps BioShock at its best combination of worldbuilding and thematic intensity.
Production Values
In contrast with the dimly lit city of Rapture, BioShock Infinite's Columbia and other locations have much brighter, varying colors that help distinguish the art style and environments of Infinite from the first two games of the series. On nearly every level, the aesthetics have undergone minor and major changes that give the game a very distinct look when compared to its siblings. This complements the drastic changes to some of the gameplay mechanics. One thing that is as strong as ever is the sound, whether the increased amount of dialogue is playing or a weapon makes its signature noise. Since there is more depth to the characterization than before, quality voice acting is a vital requirement for Infinite, and the voice actors give performances that bring further nuance and personality to protagonists Booker and Elizabeth.
Gameplay
The updates and removals of certain mechanics will almost immediate get noticed by veteran players of the BioShock series. The playable character (Booker DeWitt) talks frequently, the weapon wheel is no longer present, plasmid powers are replaced by vigors, and rideable sky rails hang throughout Columbia, just to name several examples. Players can now only carry two guns at once, and vigors are fueled by salt rather than ADAM. One of the most valuable new additions is having Elizabeth, one of the most central characters, accompany you around much of the game as a CPU that does far more than engage in scripted dialogue.
Elizabeth is genuinely helpful for many other reasons, such as the fact that she sporadically gives you health kits, salt, and ammunition in firefights and gives you coins at random intervals (coins can be spent on expendable supplies and permanent upgrades for both weapons and vigor powers). Her assistance can literally save the player's life in dire situations! Her relationship with Booker as a character is also the core of the story, making her one of the most important and useful CPU characters of all time. She even fulfills her combat roles in a bonus DLC mode called Clash in the Clouds.
Clash in the Clouds is a series of wave-based challenges in different locations with optional requirements called Blue Ribbon Challenges. You earn money and can upgrade weapons and vigors as you clear waves, and all money that has not been spent, all unlocked vigors and vigor upgrades, all weapon upgrades, and all weapons equipped at the time of death are saved for later attempts, even when the location is switched. Thanks to its optional challenges and unlockable content about the game's development, Clash in the Clouds could easily keep interested players content for several extra hours.
Burial at Sea is an atmospheric look at Rapture without combat and plasmid use (although they are referred to as plasmids, they are the same vigors from the main story mode) until around at least half an hour into the DLC's Part One; the focus is initially on dialogue, miscellaneous tasks, and the unfolding of the story. Plasmids that aren't in the main game make an appearance, and Rapture's gene banks now sell plasmid upgrades instead of serving as a station to equip and unequip unlocked plasmids like they did in the first two entries in the series. A crossbow with a variety of darts and a weapon that looks like a small radar dish also debut here in the DLC.
Moreover, Part 2 features Elizabeth as the playable character, and this part of the game develops stealth mechanics in ways that have never before been implemented in any BioShock game. Walking over or through different materials, like glass or water, affects the likelihood of nearby enemies investigating the noises or seeing Elizabeth directly, but even a semi-wary enemy can be knocked out with a quiet blow--as long as they have not fully seen or heard her yet. When spotted, she must use plasmids and weapons to overpower foes despite a very limited ammunition supply.
Story
Some spoilers are below.
An investigator named Booker DeWitt has taken a job requiring him to visit the sky city Columbia to find a girl, a job which brings him to a lighthouse from which he is launched in a pod to the clouds. Columbia is governed by Comstock, a man who has branded himself a prophet and whose daughter is expected to one day lead the city. Booker finds the girl, a young woman named Elizabeth, and discovers that she has been confined to a tower guarded by a giant, mechanical "Songbird" in order to keep her powers of opening dimensional rifts under control.
In the Burial at Sea DLC, an alternate universe Booker DeWitt is visited by a separate version of Elizabeth in his office at Rapture. DeWitt is asked by Elizabeth to investigate with her in Rapture's pre-fall era--after plasmids had become normalized, but before the descent into chaos. Elizabeth participates in a series of events that link her directly to the arrival of Jack in the first BioShock.
Intellectual Content
Religious epistemology, workplace reform, racism, and misunderstandings of Christian theology are included in the diverse set of issues prominently placed at the heart of BioShock Infinite. These themes evolve until their nuance is seen in at least some of its different aspects. For example, closer to the beginning of the game, a class of poor, manipulated workers, many of them blacks relegated to specific jobs by the racist leaders of Columbia, bide their time in a position of oppression. Later, in an alternate universe, the woman who becomes a figurehead of revolution on their behalf fights oppression with oppression, showing how injustice can so easily be responded to with more injustice by irrational hypocrites. One of the game's successes is illustrating such points without ever deviating the story from its overall trajectory. That trajectory happens to heavily involve a multiverse of worlds with various overlapping and exclusive features.
As the story progresses, the "tears" in the multiverse become a grander part of the game until Elizabeth's revelation that there are perhaps an endless number of parallel universes, all of which share at least a handful of similarities--similarities other than being inescapably governed by the necessary truths of logic, something too abstract for many people to bring up when addressing the concept of a multiverse despite its utter simplicity and foundational nature. However, there cannot be an infinite number of different universes, as there is a finite number of logically possible states of affairs in physics and history, but there can be an infinite number of universes if some of them have identical scientific laws and historical events. Elizabeth does not clarify this, but Infinite never attempts to convey logical truths about the concept of a multiverse, instead using parallel universes as a plot device that eventually leads to a nostalgic and unexpected ending.
Conclusion
Few video games can rival the conceptual heights of Bioshock Infinite, and any gamer who is even somewhat drawn to philosophical storytelling but has not played the game might enjoy Infinite for the spectacle alone. It is highly different from the first two BioShock games to the point of initially seeming connected in name and spirit only, but the twin cities of the franchise are revealed to be tethered to each other to a very significant extent, with the Burial at Sea DLC particularly exploring the ties between the two cities. Columbia easily stands alongside Rapture as a grand scientific achievement poisoned by false ideologies and the sins of its inhabitants. For these reasons and others, Infinite is a worthy successor to the Rapture saga.
Content:
1. Violence: Infinite is far bloodier than the previous two games, but still is rarely, if ever, graphic to the point of showing gore.
2. Profanity: "Goddamn," "shit," and "bastard" are used in audio logs or dialogue.
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