![]() ![]() Elizabeth never gets attacked by enemies so you never have to worry about getting her out of trouble, instead she finds you health, Salts (negating the need to carry either), money and ammo, points out significant enemies or items, and can open Tears on your command. The biggest change to the Shock formula is the inclusion of a regular AI partner in the form of Elizabeth, which could have gone disastrously wrong but fortunately Irrational has utterly nailed it (I’m glad I said “it” and not “her” there, since that would sound very wrong). This is a bit of a step-back as I mentioned with health packs above, but it’s obviously meant to enhance the usefulness of Elizabeth. Vigors use ‘Salts’ to recharge, and once again unlike EVE hypos from Bioshock they cannot be carried with you. These powers can be totally optional and are rarely used for environmental puzzles or to fight certain enemies, which is a bit of a shame but they add to the fun of combat if you play with them. Vigors can also be combined, like water with electricity, although the results are often so brief it’s hardly worth it. ‘Undertow’ for example blasts enemies backwards with a jet of water, which is useless indoors but outside near a railing it can be devastating. With the exception of Electro-Bolt/Shock Jockey there are no carry-overs from Bioshock, and some are only useful in certain situations. Vigors are picked up throughout the game and can be equipped two at a time, although are easily changed out through a dial menu. The same goes for the special powers formerly known as Plasmids, now known as Vigors. It’s all change from Bioshock with Irrational bringing in modern FPS tropes such as a two weapon limit and a rechargeable shield, although the traditional health bar is still present – but Irrational have ditched carry-able medkits and so now we’re back to Doom-style health pack-hunting, weirdly. The Skylines are therefore more used for travel over a short contained area during shootouts using Booker’s hand-mounted Skyhook to attach to them, and this is just one part of what makes Infinite’s combat so on-the-fly tactical and fun. I’d always head in the opposite direction to the Dead Space-style objective pointer and would frequently get rewarded for doing so. This is what a few extra years of development time gets you, as no matter what corner you head to odds-are there will be something of value to find. It’s an early disappointment to find that Infinite isn’t quite as free-roaming or open-world as the much-advertised Skylines may have suggested, but while Booker’s path through the game is definitely linear there is a lot of scope for exploration. Consequently you get the chance to explore Columbia as a normal city at certain moments, visiting fairs, shops, museums, factories and beaches, and getting a grasp of people’s attitudes – which are usually horrifying, especially towards racial issues. ![]() Unlike the rest of the Shock Series ( System Shock, Bioshock) Bioshock Infinite does not take place in the aftermath of some great disaster, instead you get to play through the downfall of Columbia and be instrumental in those events. You may want to play “guess the twist” during the game (they’re all clones! He’s his own brother! Everyone’s a ghost!) and undoubtedly some people will get some, but how the dots are connected and how messed up things get only Ken Levine and possibly Christopher Nolan could think up. While I’m not going to spoil moments or plot it does not spoil things to say that you can expect major twists in the game, not only because after Bioshock’s amazing “would you kindly” gamers are expecting it from Irrational but also because Bioshock Infinite basically tells you right at the very beginning that twists will come. Upon arriving you find Columbia ruled by a religious fanatic called Comstock, the city divided into Haves and Have-Nots, an uprising in the works, mysterious rips called Tears are showing glimpses into other times and places, and everything is not as it seems. Not going too deep into the plot, the year is 1912 and you play as Booker DeWitt, a shady ex-military man who is tasked with going to the wondrous floating city of Columbia to find and bring back a girl named Elizabeth to wipe away some unspoken debt. Expect a very high score indeed, if I can wipe the tears away enough to see the ‘1’ and ‘0’ keys. but you know what’s coming, in this review at least. And I’ll be buying the soundtrack now, thank you. It’s called “ Walking Dead syndrome” I think, but it might as well be called “ Bioshock Infinite syndrome”. I completely forget any issues I had while playing and it makes me want to slap the highest award I can give on it. I hate it when I’m supposed to be reviewing a game and it makes me cry at the end (both that it’s over and just, well, generally). ![]()
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