Have you ever tried to write a dissertation after a wonderful trip to an exotic country?? Almost the same task faces any browser BioShock Infinite. A feeling of blissful, happy fatigue overwhelms you after passing, you want to calmly revive in your memory the best moments of the past day or repeat the celebration. After all, this is what creation is like Irrational Games. BioShock Infinite — a gaming holiday that evokes a riot of emotions and thoughts. After something like this, the last thing you want to do is engage in dry analytics and objective assessment. It is difficult to maintain the position of a cold reviewer and not enter the role of a singer of laudatory odes. However, we will try our best.

You may not be Devitt, but you must play Bioshock!

The main thing that stands out BioShock Infinite against the backdrop of most of the high-profile new products of recent times, this is an amazing integrity and unity of all elements of the game. There is nothing superfluous here – no “glued-on” RPG component, no far-fetched plot twists. Gameplay, script, graphics, synchronized music create a truly amazing steampunk atmosphere. When you walk along the sunny streets of Colombia soaring above the sky, hear pleasant music coming from every radio device, pick up all sorts of rubbish, and your actions are accompanied by the characteristic “bioshock” crackling and crunching, you understand that the world Infinite is completely unique, and just being in it becomes a real holiday.

The level designers did, dare I say it, a tremendous job. The appearance of Colombia will make the hearts of even the most demanding graphics lovers tremble. The locations are varied, the scenery is constantly changing throughout the entire passage, every square meter of the city is full of some small details. I want to walk around this world, looking into every nook and cranny, listening to all the dialogues of random passers-by, looking through sets of funny pictures in every kinetoscope.

An important role in immersing yourself in the world is played by audio recordings scattered everywhere by city residents and the main characters. Among other things, they allow you to better understand the local story, a conversation about which is worthy of a separate article.

A story without beginning or end

Scenario BioShock Infinite at first it seems moderately banal and not too outstanding – Mr. Booker DeWitt goes to the flying city of Columbia to find and return to earth the mortal mysterious girl Elizabeth. In fact, the plot turns out to be a complex mosaic, which the player has to put together. It’s kind of like the movies David Lynch (David Lynch) – the fabric of the narrative is torn, the sequence of events is disrupted, and only the ending, at first puzzling and awe-inspiring, provides the key to the solution.

Contrary to our expectations, the ending is the same – the occasionally encountered choices ultimately do not affect anything. However, tell me: how often has the ending of a game made you spend hours remembering all the details of the plot, trying to close the gaps with long mental speculations and wanting a repeat playthrough – more attentive, unhurried and thoughtful? Plot BioShock Infinite will not leave anyone indifferent – after the finale you will either have a long session of independent brainstorming in search of answers, or a short surfing on fan forums. At the center of the story is the traditional psychoanalytic problematic of internal conflict and repression. Properly played and integrated into the narrative, it gives Infinite has a special dramatic flavor and sets you up for philosophical reflection.

The plot is replete with all the best features of the popular science genre. There is a place for parallel universes, quantum paradoxes, and time travel. What is very important is that all these fashionable inclusions do not look pretentious at all – the final picture of what is happening in the game justifies the presence of “mystical” elements.

In the Russian localization, the voice acting of the characters remained original. Maybe it’s for the best – the monologues of the heroes, as well as the characters themselves, are extremely expressive. What is Elizabeth worth?! This is a pretty, lovely creature, the very embodiment of innocence, femininity and love of life. She is like a heroine from a Disney fairy tale: just as kind, friendly and cheerful. Lonely locked in a high tower, Elizabeth dreams only of Paris and dancing. There is not even a hint of an erotic component in the game – and this is pleasing. Otherwise, the atmosphere would lose much of its fairy-tale flavor.

Salt wounds

Elizabeth’s gameplay features don’t stop at pleasing our eyes. During the long period of her imprisonment, the young lady managed to read more than one library, from where she gained knowledge about the structure of door locks, and therefore it costs nothing for her to unlock a closed door or a safe with treasures. The main character only needs to provide the girl with the required number of master keys. Otherwise, Elizabeth is completely self-sufficient; Moreover, in a difficult situation, the lady is happy to come to Devitt’s aid by throwing him ammunition, a first aid kit or a bottle of salt.

The last one in the world BioShock Infinite performs the function of mana – it is spent on using a local analogue of plasmids (new abilities are acquired here after tasting a special kind of drink). Colombian energy drinks are a very useful thing. With their help, you can “tame” an enemy turret or throw a group of enemies into the air for a couple of seconds, shower everyone with fire, or summon a flock of hungry crows. Although the arsenal in the game is quite rich, it is extremely difficult to get by with just firearms. And if at first you can easily cope with weak enemies in close combat, then at later stages of the passage snipers, rocket men, and all kinds of robotic guards come into play. At the highest difficulty level, battles really turn into a serious challenge. In these conditions, the key to survival is the ability to find an approach to each type of enemy, as well as to correctly combine “spells” with certain types of weapons. For example, if you attack an armored mechanic head-on, you can spend all the ammo almost in vain – the weak point of the bully is the light circle in the center of the chest, where you need to aim.

Elizabeth’s superpowers also come in https://instaspincasino.uk/ handy in battles. The girl knows how to open holes into parallel universes, and also extract objects of high strategic value from them. We can order Elizabeth to place a "friendly" turret or create cover for us. All this has a positive effect on the dynamics of the game.

The action is especially exciting in locations with aerorails – the local transport system. The battles here reach the highest level of epicness. Ride on the rails, shooting a couple of weak enemies; landing, crush someone’s unfortunate head with a savory blow of the hook; ordering Elizabeth to materialize a turret, lift a crowd of enemies into the air and expose them to machine-gun fire; and then deal with the “fattest” enemy, pelting him with “fireballs” and treating him with a dozen rocket salvos – after this you only feel boundless delight. But it won’t always be possible to show heroism to the world and feel like a cool guy – the local save system in the person of Elizabeth, pumping out Devitt, will remind you of itself quite often.

Nothing extra

Nothing in Infinite does not dangle as an unnecessary appendage, does not cause irritation or boredom. The same goes for the RPG component BioShock. Everything can be “pumped up”: both Devitt’s weapons and abilities, as well as his permanent characteristics – the maximum level of health, shield and salt reserve. In addition, Booker can wear four items of clothing at the same time, which give the hero various bonuses. You feel the importance of “upgrades” quite strongly – twenty-five percent of the additional damage from a shotgun or the strengthening of some energy drink significantly affect the gameplay. All this stuff costs a lot of money, so as you progress, not all of the main character’s growth opportunities will be realized. The feeling of constant material shortage provides an additional incentive to search the corpses of opponents and interior items. When he’s not fighting, Devitt’s movements around Columbia turn into a continuous “russling” collection of everything that’s in bad shape.

Of course, the saddest pessimists and the most disgusting snobs will find flaws even in divine creation. Somewhat frustrating, for example, is not always the rational behavior of enemies. However, all this is so insignificant compared to the merits of the project that was given to us Irrational Games, that complaining about them would be the utmost degree of indecency. Voltaire once said: “If God did not exist, he would have to be invented”. To paraphrase the words of a French philosopher, we can say: “If the disadvantages of BioShock Infinite and there were, one should close one’s eyes to them.”.

No matter how hard we tried to refrain from singing praises in honor of Infinite, we didn’t succeed. This is not surprising: such a deep and fascinating story that the game tells us has not been seen in the industry since the flood. BioShock Infinite gives an unforgettable atmosphere, and you surrender to it completely – with your mind and heart.

Pros: stunning design; exciting atmosphere; interesting plot; thoughtful images of characters; dynamic shootouts; lovely Elizabeth.
Cons: aren’t you ashamed to look here?

BioShock Infinite

Best comments

Sometimes the pictures on the monitor can tell more than some ladies. I’m not insulting you, it’s just a fact.

You could completely cut out the shooter component from this game and make it an action adventure, and it would still be amazing.

I’m too lazy to downvote you, you shit-eater who kills his time writing nonsense from twinks.

but I bought it, even though I’m not a bourgeois, and I don’t regret it. It’s quite possible to afford to buy something worthwhile once a month. It all comes down to desire.

although the price is really high, I don’t argue.

personally, I’m a schoolboy, but money in my family is really bad. I usually download games, but if I like the game, then over time I will definitely buy it, because.To. this is the work of developers and blah blah blah. and I think many people do this. This is how we do it)

Comment taken from another site This is what the freak developers promised and what kind of stub they got at the end. Feel like suckers, grabbers XD
-for some reason they stopped working telekinesis
-Previously the levels were much more vertical, with intricacies of rails, the ones in the game are pitiful stubs
-Initially, trolleys rode on rails that could hit the player if he did not have time to jump to another branch, which added dynamism and risk
-Apparently because of the previous points, large levels with a complex layout were cut, as they considered it too difficult for casuals
-You can no longer hack cars for discounts
-Now weapon upgrades are not displayed on the weapon itself
-removed the ability for Elizabeth to open a gap with a door that could be used to go through the wall
-Previously, the game had more flying physical objects (plates, pots, small rubbish and garbage), probably they decided to simplify the physics because of the consoles
-they cut out a siren, a huge clockwork barrel organ to which the enemies ran and raised the alarm, after which reinforcements arrived, the process could be interrupted
-Elisabeth’s auxiliary abilities were cut out, previously she could call down a rainstorm, which the player could shock, creating an electrical storm
-a dynamic model of wind and weather behavior was implemented.The wind could randomly generate interesting moments, such as turning the unstable islands of the city upside down and then falling, cut
-Previously, the city hovered on giant balloons into which hot air was pumped, and not with the help of a quantum mamba jamba
-Previously, the city was subjected to much greater decline than in the final version, and was closer to the spirit of the first parts of bioshock
-in the Vox Populi group, consisting mainly of people of color and ethnic minorities, the enemies liked to shout loudly in the manner of Indian tribes, which added a classic touch of enemy madness, reminiscent of splicers out of delight, which is why the developers also later abandoned
-cut out large guns firing from afar
-Previously, GG had an Orthodox wrench
-there were also nostrums, an analogy of gene tonics from the original bioshock, which for some reason were converted into clothes
-for some reason they changed the design of Comstock, turning him into a ridiculous gray-haired Santa Claus
-according to the original concept, Elizabeth had blood flowing from her nose and there was a cooldown period after using her abilities, it was thought that her use of ruptures would have consequences that would affect the ending
-there should have been several of them
-they cut out a fully realized and voiced, and most importantly very vivid scene with Elizabeth’s attempt to resurrect a horse and the subsequent spontaneous transfer into the future to 1980. Living horses and even their corpses were also thrown out of the game
-there is practically no moral choice, decisions have no effect on anything.Again, the moral choice was also planned and partially implemented before the cut; in the scene with the horse, the player could shoot the animal in front of Elizabeth, which would undoubtedly have an effect later
-therefore, the game has only one ending, and a very stoned one at that

You can downvote me. But BioShock Infinite is a good game, very good, with a fascinating plot, with Elizabeth, with good shooter mechanics. But it’s good, not brilliant, not mind-blowing, it’s ordinary, it’s amazing how the industry and players have degenerated in our time, if they turn an average game with a good plot into a masterpiece. MASTERPIECE! MASTERPIECE! MASTERPIECE! Everyone is shouting just this, but think about it, there’s nothing in it, well, yes, the design is cool, I don’t argue, the plot is strong, but this is the standard, it should be like this, this is not a breakthrough. The universe, in my opinion, there are much better worlds. Regular game, for 8.5 points. It didn’t bring anything to the industry, but the “spiritually enlightened” on every corner shout: “The best game of the year, decade!"It’s sad friends, it’s sad..

For me the game is a masterpiece. I completely agree with SG. But I’ll explain my point of view. There are games in which you evaluate the graphics, the gameplay, and so on, and so on… And there are works of art. Not the gaming industry, but the art industry. They may have outdated graphics, most of them are banal shooting games, but they touch you to the core. I can’t digest the plot of most games, I can’t accept the narrative because of the openness. In the next scan of the planet or the next race for feathers, you lose the plot. You remember it, but you don’t feel it anymore. And for me the plot is very important. I am a romantic, a lover of stories. Of all the parts of Mass Effect, when I remember them, I think of those that touched my soul moments. But the plot as a whole is not very moving. If you completed the game for 50 hours, then you were distracted by additional. quests and boring but unexplored locations. If the game is difficult, then I get distracted by the battles. And in both cases, the plot no longer spins in your head for days. The thought is spinning: “How can I get through that moment??“Infinite doesn’t let you forget about the plot, doesn’t let you forget about the plot, doesn’t have enough heavy shootouts (I think that’s why “1999” opens after beating it on a different difficulty), doesn’t bother you with exploring a bunch of locations and collecting feathers in hard-to-reach places, doesn’t let you get distracted from the difficult fate of Elizabeth. This is not a game, this is art. Because only in art do we look at the narrative first. For real gamers there is a 1999 mode. But before you criticize the gameplay and graphics of other difficulty levels, think about the story. The “18+” rating suggests not only the presence of bloody massacres and sexuality, but also food, sometimes heavy, for the brain. Everything is not limited to debauchery and vulgarity.

ps. And multiple endings, if there were any, wouldn’t be so… impressive.

Damn, the game is so cool that I learned this song.In my opinion, this is an indicator of quality. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O87_N-BWdL0

Come on, what’s new?? 1.5 types of break-in, shootout, chase. The same speaker, only modern. Yubiks don’t know how to make such games the first time, it’s always been like that. Yubi generally make high-quality and cool projects, but not masterpieces. I’m talking about when you perceive a game not as a game, but as a Work, as Art.

I replayed the game 3 times to fully understand everything and find all the voice phones.
I agree with the ratings, the game is great. After halfa, this is the first game that touched me with the plot, and which I thought about for a long time 🙂

I can’t call my current self an ardent “pirate”, because.To. I always buy a game if it deserves it in my eyes. BUT, when I didn’t yet know what this project was, I downloaded, as usual, “torrent edition”. The reason for this was a rather negative attitude towards the first two parts of the series, which… I simply could not digest and did not go through. Stupidly infuriated.

However, after hearing a lot about the efforts of the radiant Kevin Levine and Co., about the funds invested in the game, and simply because the city is now flying, and not underwater – which, as was noted in the same Infinite: “Idiocy” ©

Passed. I was delighted and worried, and then tossed about for the rest of the day, digesting everything I saw and heard. I decided to buy the game at the moment where Elizabeth sings (those who played will understand me). Which is what I urge all doubters to do. Such wonderful, deep and philosophical adventures with a “Cameron” scope come out… well extremely rarely – that’s for sure. And the price… is more than acceptable and justified for such labor-intensive creation.

Z.Y.: Don’t skip the end credits 🙂

Z.Y.Y.: oh yes, take religion without fanaticism and play cards less.

Casuals?
Well, well, try to beat the ghost boss on the 1999 difficulty.
And the videos were just cutscenes. I can also direct something that will make you feel like you can do everything exactly like this in the game, but in reality you can only run/jump and shoot.
And the result will never be like expectations. NEVER.

After finishing the game, you understand how wrong John Carmack was when he said that a game should have no more plot than a porn film. The game struck me not so much with the gameplay (although it is excellent), but with the exciting plot and ending. The denouement, by the way, reminded me a little
the series "Fringe" and King’s book "The Dark Tower"

I bought it because the set included 2 more games, Bioshock and X-COM, because of the second game I wanted to pre-order, because I really liked it, but now I understand that the main candy in this set was Bioshock Infinite.