few times when a game comes out and shakes the gameing industry. Bioshock Infinite is one of those games.
Instead of being a sequel to 2010's Bioshock 2, Infinite is a standalone game with subtle tieins to the other games. You take control of protagonist Booker De'witt in the who is told to find a girl named Elizabeth in the flying city of columbia. After finding her, you end up being pulled into the politics and cinflicts of the city. Without giving too much away, just know that you have never experienced a greater story in a video game than this.
Thr world of columbia is lush and beautiful. The art style fully compliments the time the game is set in and also fully emerses the player into the city like rapture before it. Political signs and banter flourish throughout the city and help players to better understand the world.
Artsy stuff aside, Bioshock Infinite is still a video game, and thankfully it delivers on that front as well. For tuhe first few hours, Infinite plays similar to the first Bioshock obly with your plasmids instead being called vigors and gene tonics being articles of clothing. Once you meet Elizabeth, however, the gameplay reaches its' full potential. Elizabeth rarely ever leaves your side and will never need Booker's help when in combat. Instead, she will look around the battlefield for ammo, health, and salts (which is similiar to EVE). She can also open rifts in space and time, called tears, which grants players the ability to gain an advantage.
Speaking of combat, Infinite's combat is a lot of fun. Like the previous Bioshock games, you have the ability to choose how you want to fight. You can use your vigors to attack enemies or leave deadly traps, you can shoot just about everything in your way, or you could do a mixture of both. Unlike the previous 2 entries in the series, you can only have two guns equiped at a time; which may turn a few gamers off at first, but I honestly enjoyed this feature as it adds a bif of strategy to combat.
The last addition to Infinites gameplay is the skyhook. This device can be used as a weapon as well as a way to get around columbia. Throughout the game, you can use the item to hook onto sky rails and move along them at rollercoaster like speed. You can use this to gain an edge in combat by hooking onto the rails and flying at enemies to give them a critical blow. Be warned however that as you progress through the game, your enemies will use this strategy against you.
In short, Bioshock Infinite is the saving grace to a video game genre that has started to become monotonous. With its great story telling, stellar design, and well implemented gameplay; Infinite is the best game I have played since Skyward Sword and will be talked about by gamers for years.
5/5