Shattered dreams form the foundation of BioShock Infinite, the third installment in Irrational Games' impressive saga exploring the devastating effects of isolation (and isolationism) on the human psyche. But even if you loved the original BioShock (2007) and its sequel, BioShock 2 (2010), this chapter won't leave you with the impression your own dreams have been betrayed. Wedding familiar game-play elements from the preceding titles with exciting new mechanics, an engrossing story, and stunning visual design, BioShock Infinite is the culmination of the series' aesthetic and promise to turn a mirror on humanity by probing as deeply into the self as possible.
Columbian Exposition
You must, however, begin this game by abandoning your preconceptions of what the BioShock universe is. For starters, it extends well beyond Rapture, the undersea paean to objectivism (in the first game) and collectivism (in the second) you've explored before. Infinite is set in Columbia, an airborne tribute to—and corruption of—American Exceptionalism as viewed from a perspective that recalls that of the now-legendary Chicago World's Fair of 1893. In the game's chronology, that was the year Columbia, self-sustaining and faith-focused American settlement, took flight and eventually broke away from the Union that spawned it. Now, in 1912, a series of civil wars has reduced it to a perversion of the values it once held dear, a place fueled by racism, blind nationalism, and religious extremism that's led the inhabitants to worship the "prophet," Zachary Hale Comstock, who envisioned the enterprise and took it to the skies.
It's into this boiling-over melting pot that Booker DeWitt is literally launched. A hired gun on a mission to retrieve a missing girl named Elizabeth and wipe away the debts that are crippling him, DeWitt is taken to a desolate island where he finds that the only inhabitant within the only structure, a lighthouse, has been gruesomely murdered, and discovers a device that catapults him to Columbia. A bewildered stumble through a temple-like welcome center and one eerie baptism by immersion later, DeWitt emerges into the unsettlingly patriotic enclave, where Founding Fathers (specifically Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson) are worshipped as gods, and the morality of that transitional era is frozen in place.
Why You Should Game on a PC
It doesn't take long for the (relatively) more modern DeWitt to fall afoul of the Columbians and their parochial ways. As soon as that happens rescuing Elizabeth becomes for him less a job than a crusade, one that leads the pair through Columbia's various neighborhoods—the town square, the romantic boardwalk, a hoity-toity gated community, the workers' slums, and Comstock's imposing homestead among them—learning more about this stilted society and their troublesome places in it. (One of the first, tantalizing hints: Elizabeth was a "miracle" child, born after a single week of gestation—an event her mother, strangely, is no longer around to confirm or deny. Hmm.) What the two uncover is an epic conspiracy that doesn't just involve the privileged upper class and the put-upon laborers on whom they depend, but also may reveal to DeWitt and Elizabeth that the only thing less certain than their futures are their pasts.
Guts, Glory, and Game Play
Though BioShock Infinite is aggressively linear in a way that may leave you longing for the somewhat more open-ended storytelling of the earlier games, it's intricate and surprising, with enough twists and turns to keep you engaged through the 12 or so hours it takes to complete (at least on Normal, the second easiest of four difficulty levels). Critical to its success are the vocal performances of Troy Baker and Courtnee Draper as DeWitt and Elizabeth: His rough-edged world-weariness and her empty, and eventually pointedly betrayed, optimism beautifully accentuate the underlying theme of the difficulty of growing once you've gotten everything you think you want.
Luckily, the game succeeds as more than just a story. BioShock Infinite seamlessly appropriates certain components from the previous BioShock games at the same time it integrates new ones, so it feels both comfortable and daring. Longtime fans, for example, will recognize vigors (potions that give you superhuman fighting capabilities, such as setting your enemies on fire or blasting them long distances) as renamed plasmids, and "Salts" a different term for the EVE that powered them. The not-so-gentle giant Big Daddy protectors are rendered here as Handyman and Patriot androids (the latter deliciously bearing the faces of Washington and Lincoln). And you'll encounter a few other visual "cameos" that show just how different from Rapture Columbia isn't (one of my favorites were the teddy bears).
For the most part, combat hasn't changed much. Whether your weapons of choice are the vigors or more traditional firearms (there's a wide range, everything from pistols to flamethrowers), you can easily upgrade whenever you come across the vending machine, and swap between options. You always have access to all the vigors you've discovered (from a total of eight), though you're limited to carrying two weapons at a time—though this doesn't present much of a problem, because there are always plenty to grab in case you run out of ammo (which can happen frequently) or you just want an upgrade in your destructive capabilities.
There are some "feature enhancements" to fighting, however. More than being just a passive companion, Elizabeth can help you out quite a bit. She's able to locate useful items (ammo, salts, health packs) that she'll often throw you when you're in desperate need of them. And she can also produce larger constructs (such as walls for cover, decoys, or even full gunnery installations) by pulling them through "Tears," or holes between realities that eventually play an important role. Both capabilities are useful but have their limits, and relying on them to survive is not a good idea (as I learned the hard way).
Most intriguing among all the bigger changes is Columbia's Sky-Line system. Using a device you acquire early on, you can leap onto the metal rails that connect various buildings and locales and use them as lightning-quick transportation, a cunning combat ally, or both. Being able to speed past a pack of threatening enemies, only to revive your health and salts, then ride the Sky-Line back to the bad guys and rain devastation down on them from above is one of the most satisfying parts of a game that's packed full of them.
The Eyes Have It
As enjoyable as BioShock Infinite is to play, it's even better to look at. It might be skirting with hyperbole to declare this the best-looking game of the past decade, especially given stiff competition from the likes of the lush The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, but if nothing else it's distinct and characterful in ways that most other shooters just can't manage. There's not a single scene that doesn't look as if it's been given design consideration and art direction as rigorous you'll find on any Academy Award–winning Hollywood blockbuster.
Whereas Rapture was awash in faded Art Deco, Columbia is the vivid embodiment of creamy, Technicolor Victorian excess. On a walk through a summery town plaza you will encounter men in crisp tan daywear and casual boaters, with the women in elaborate dresses that hint at their style-conscious strata. Or traipse down that boardwalk at dusk to witness the laid-back attire Columbians don when pursuing an evening's entertainment as they stroll before the cheery pastel buildings that scream turn-of-the-century entertainment from behind every painted two-by-four.
The sweeping, alluring vistas of the opening scenes convey the fairy-tale elegance that defines upper-crust Columbia, but you'll feel a shock as you delve later into the dirt-smeared heart of the city. That's where the buildings are all slapped together in vulgar earth tones that mirror their inhabitants' near-poverty-level destitution, and underscore the tensions that propel so much of the plot.
Concerns and Conclusion
BioShock Infinite, then, is a game that, unlike its slightly more theoretical predecessors, readily echoes, identifies, and incorporates real-world concerns. That social consciousness is both a benefit and a liability to the game, highlighting some questionable aspects of American history but in its execution leaving a fair amount to be desired.
The treatment of the members of the working-class "Vox Populi" is especially heavy-handed, and the conflict set up between them and the richer Columbians eventually becomes little more than a "don't become those you hate" message that's far less creative than the game's underlying concept. Religion and racism, which are both key parts of Columbia, are less than convincingly addressed. How exactly the cult of Comstock emerged from the sane Americans who appear to be his "followers" is never explained. The racial strife is also a bit curious. If, as its provenance suggests, Columbia was a northern city, wouldn't it have been more tolerant and integrated than it's ever depicted here? And if relations between blacks and whites are really this strained, why were the races ever mixed within the artificial borders in the first place?
By introducing such complexities, the Irrational folks acquire the responsibility for getting more of the details correct—so it's a bit harder to grit your teeth and bear your way through sections about racial violence and, eventually, a worker's rebellion, that seem to be jammed lazily into the narrative. And with all this weight, it's surprising that BioShock Infinite does not contain, as BioShock and BioShock 2 did, a more ambiguous moral component that forces the lead character and, by extension, his player, to confront their own prejudices and boundaries. Not being able—or required—to make difficult choices is the one thing that, above all others, makes this game feel like something other than full-on BioShock.
There are a few smaller issues as well. Save points are frustratingly uncommon even on the easier difficulty levels (and, reportedly, even less frequent on the punishing "1999 mode" that unlocks once you've finished the game), which means you may have to retrace a lot of your steps if you die (or just want to quit) at an inopportune moment. I also wouldn't have minded a more thorough exploration of the reality-changing Tears; they add some appealing zest to the combat and the somewhat mushy Vox Populi scenes (though after a while their overuse tends can confuse), but their potential is never fully tapped. And though there's a thrilling final battle and an elaborate finale that follows it, the game struggles to build up steam in approaching them.
Even so, BioShock Infinite is a thought-provoking visual marvel that meets and exceeds the exacting standards set by the series' other games. If you progress through to the end to discover Booker and Elizabeth's ultimate fate, you'll likely find yourself as moved as I was at the chances they're willing to take and the sacrifices they're willing to make to further the courses they believe are the right ones. They are, in significant ways, embodiments of the true American ideal Columbia was originally created to celebrate. The duo become unwitting victims of insular worldviews that are often at odds with the reality in which they lived, so it's easy to understand why they become as cynical as they do. But if you might find yourself able to relate to their struggle, the journey on which you'll accompany them will not leave you as melancholy as it does them. You'll only be exhilarated.
Gorgeous to look at and complex in its construction, BioShock Infinite is a captivating addition to the popular first-person-shooter series.
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