I once made a claim to my mate that video games age like fine wine (playing the complete version for the lowest price, with better hardware, mods etc.) and I'm glad to see your channel covering some gems from the years gone by. The Bioshock franchise, in my opinion, represents some of the best entertainment this medium has to offer. The "would you kindly" bit in the first game still stands to show what sets games apart from other story-telling vessles. That being interactivity, and the way that the digital world is given meaning by both the creator and player at the same time by way of player exploration. Thanks for the thorough look and trip down memory lane. Great content as usual, onward to further greatness and take care.
I didnt realize people didn't like Infinite. I really liked Infinite, even though we didn't get the game they originally showcased. I liked the combat, and how you could break it with certain attributes.
Infinite kind of killed a franchise. One of the main theme of original Bioshock and Bioshock 2 was horror and loneliness. The most horrific discovery in Bioshock Infinite you make after 5 minutes of gameplay, and it's "Oh my God, they are racists!". And then you are given cute, pretty and omnipotent companion for the rest of the game. Enemies like George Washington animatronic do not strike fear, rather ridicule. The only interesting part for me was travelling Columbia on zip lines.
Infinite left me feeling something was “missing” after my first run of the game. Game has a lot of strong points, but 1 and 2 have a more menacing and tangible atmosphere. I could immerse myself in Rapture, but as you said, Columbia sometimes felt like it was just a shooting gallery. Still a great game though.
Yeah Rapture felt like a real place that existed, where Columbia felt like a theme park. I think part of what made Rapture feel more real was that the game was less linear than Columbia.
Yeah I really didnt like Infinite that much either as a Bioshock game. Like the other person said it felt like a theme park and while playing through it I was just wanting to get to the ending as soon as possible. I thought the giant bird was pretty sick but it really just felt like your average first person shooter.
@LilFeralGangrel the level design helps that, it's superior to infinite since Bioshock 2's team stepped in to finish the project thst was a year past deadline, and Bioshock 2's design already felt linear so Infinitr was doomed to follow that path if not even stricter. It was a game made under a year by two dev teams and was a miracle it existed at all.
The only good thing that Bioshock Infinite and its DLC gave are seeing Rapture before civil war ( still too little area to explore) and Rule34 Elizabeth. Everything else is so forgettable.
i know a lot of people like infinite but i just can't get into it. i found no tension in the city, booker just starts out too strong, and the cops so weak. even the crazy, drug addled splicers had something resembling self preservation and tactics, and their dna is falling apart. and vigors are just there to be there. no purpose in story whatsoever. adam is central to the plot and the very catalyst of rapture's downfall. everything in rapture had purpose and place. it was there for a reason. infinite felt like a very different game shackled to certain things it was never meant to have by virtue of being named 'bioshock'
Bioshock infinite is a huge disappointment. Changing the game from an immersive sim to a bad cod-clone with powers (simplified in every aspects of the game), was the nail in the coffin in my opinion. Yes, is not a bad game, but is not a good Bioshock.
I think your comments on the story exactly nail why infinite's story is so divisive. People who played it for the world hated it for being a mess of too many sci fi concepts that dont make sense, and thats entirely valid, but people who played it for the characters loved it for the the journey of Booker and Elizabeth, and thats also entirely valid.
Facts. It thinks it's being smart, but it's just being annoying. That entire ending and Burial at Sea is just the game talking at you and yet it still says nothing of substance.
infinite was the first game that let me down in a major way. it's the last game I ever preordered. I always think about the E3 footage that came out before hand and how different that game was supposed to be. Incredibly open, actual choices, neutral characters that will aggro based on your decisions, elizabeth had different powers, birdman was an actual threat, and the story was widely different. Thing got reworked before launch, I forget why, but nearly everything but the art was scrapped. I'm amazed it came out how it is since it's not horrible, but for those like me who were expecting something far better, well it's a massive let down.
That’s an interesting perspective, and one I didn’t really encounter until recently (potentially Ratchet Rift Apart). Most games I play I have zero expectations or hype around, including this one. I don’t like looking up stuff about a game before I play it because I know how hype has ruined game after game. I just run it blind. And as a result, I end up enjoying pretty much all the games I end up playing, even the ones that are universally hated. I enjoyed this game a lot, the characters, settings, and gameplay carry through a narrative that I honestly don’t understand. I can understand if the promotional interviews and trailers let down those who payed attention, but I think this game has aged pretty well. I didn’t play any of these till years later so the first two were actually pretty bad, imo, because the dated and clunky gameplay wasn’t held up by the narrative that was not as powerful in 2020 as it probably was in 2007. Obviously that’s on me for waiting so long to play the game. It would be great if these games got a proper rework like FFVII instead of just (at least what it felt like to me) an updated performance and fidelity port.
I love all three games (this one is my personal favorite) . But you nailed it with the characters. They are so well done and the voice acting is so good, that the main plot takes a backseat. And yes I am one of the people who thought the combat was MUCH better.
Still my favorite game of all time. And yeah 10 years ago it was definitely a better lense than 2023. I still make a run every couple of years tho lol.
Having just played through all 3 games again this year myself I can definitely say imo Infinite is the weakest of the three. Although much of what I don’t like about it can be forgiven in context of the lore since it is technically a prequel. Thanks Mort for tackling this trilogy!
Infinite remains very good to look at, really strong visuals. It's definitely an FPS without any ambitions of even the rpg lite elements as found in prior Bioshocks. The story of Infinite falls apart the more you think about it, it's almost impressive how both common sense and the rules the plot establishes trip the story up.
The funny thing is a lot of current stories are falling into the same multiverse trap. The whole "if we stop this one thing everything changes" but the whole point of multiverses is that they're infinite (Hence the title of the game). The idea that there's one "key event" in a multiverse is just stupid.
Bioshock 1's story is exactly the same, it seems cool at first glance but just crumbles once you give it any critical thought. Maybe, just maybe, Ken Levine isn't actually nearly as good a writer as he would like to think after all.
I love this game, and one of the things that really stands out to me in 2023 is how good it still looks! Wow the art design and the smart use of the tech means this game still looks gorgeous on modern PC's running at 4k high refresh rate.
Hope you do System Shock 2 one day, it's one of my favs despite it's not prefect of course and slightly dated. System Shock is better than BioShock IMO, hot take!!! But both are great.
I did not like infinite. At all. Booker and Elizabeth were nice characters, and Elizabeth's AI in helping you was pretty cool at the time, but that was about the extent of what i liked. The dumbing down (both in plot and mechanics) left the whole experience feeling hollow. The lack of choice and nonsensical plot, the ending making less sense the more you think about it. It just didn't feel like BioShock. It felt like a step backward from the originals in all the ways that made them great. And as another commentor so aptly put it, the game is no where near as smart as it thinks it is.
You nailed it. Making it a more standard FPS really took away from the game in comparison to the earlier titles. I actually prefer the more modern FPS controls but that doesn't mean I want a faster paced shooter. I also didn't like the ending. It just came off as a bunch of philosophical nonsense. I hate when writers looking to impress overthink things like that. Another comment I saw summed it up perfectly; it's not as clever as it thinks it is.
Although I absolutely loved the first BioShock I’m still more likely to replay this one due to how streamlined it is. Especially with how the vigors in this game combined/removed the less useful ones from the first one thus trimming the fat. 1 just had so many instances where I’m like “ugh this part” or just general mechanics that I believe outright make the game worse like the photography mechanic and hacking minigame.
I wasn't too fond of this one. The game's more of a Disney-esque Mary Poppins than a 2000 AD Judge Dredd. I know they were pretending to be ironic with the visual designs, but the devs may have genuinely adored that aesthetic a bit too much. It works well with the vigour's visual designs, but you'd think they'd try and make Elizabeth at least look somewhat more distinctive. There's no irony or sense of pathos often, despite the narration pushing for it via exposition(bad sign). The tonal change and action oriented gameplay were big shifts. It's lighter than previous games. This game was not fun for me. A bit of an unwelcome chore. I saw it through to the end though. Very good review as always! I agree with your concluding statements in particular.
Honestly, infinite is a great game, the combat is intense and the vigor combinations you can use are always fun to mix and match in fights. The lore and backstory is interesting and deep, going well with the story. The only criticisms I can make are more nitpicks if anything else: - No visible upgrades for your guns - You're limited to carrying only two at a time. - No special ammo types - Vigor upgrades too expensive.
It's incredible how many times I'm randomly scrolling through RUclips and you've just uploaded content. Go you machine! Great game by the way. Unpopular opinion- probably my favourite of the Bioshock games. It's a bit more of a rollercoaster ride than the previous entries, but the characters and combat are a step above it's predecessors.
I love this game specifically because I'm a sucker for pretentious philosophical bullshit. Even where the substance is ultimately thin, the questions posed are thought-provoking, and the style is linguistically interesting enough to make my brain do a bit of work. 7/10 game. 10/10 experience.
My only problem with infinite is how linear it is. It takes away from it feeling like an actual Bioshock game. But as a game itself I think it’s amazing. But not better than the first two
Best Bioshock game ever and it had one of the most unique and enigmatic endings ever in a game I love this game to death Honestly bioshock trilogy is one of my favourites of all time
Kudos for doing the blue ribbon challenge. I had such a hard time with that part myself and was so happy to be over with it haha. Honestly I think you nailed this review and I can't say I disagree with it. great stuff!
Ight, my favorite game is finally here, and I can't wait for you to destroy it. No hard feelings. Edit: okay I just watched your full review on it and I just have a few notes. 1. Booker is a character that is described as being a war hero It wouldn't really make sense for him to be the type of character to stealth around and be immersive sim like. A big part of his character is the need to shoot his way out of every situation. This reflects onto Elizabeth as the story progresses and she slowly changes. And a vision we can see how when she's older she basically adopts a lot of boogers violent traits and becomes basically the apocalypse. 2. This sort of ties into the first point but I'm going to separate it due to it being a little bit more nuanced. A lot of the time travel was the show the broader themes of philosophy and how it can take on something completely different when characters obtain the power that they desire. Things might start off innocent enough like the vox just wanting equal rights but as time goes on and that power is achieved it evolves into something more radical. This is a big point in the first game. 3. Your point about the removal of choice. There's really no way for this game to construct the narrative that it was going for by allowing players to manipulate the story in any sort of way and that plays into the overall theme anyway. It doesn't really matter what choices Booker made It's all going to lead back to the same place given the particular path that he went down. This is the booker that made these choices This is the booker that is the catalyst for breaking the loop that the twins hypothesized. There's been hundreds of bookers before this one that it tried but failed leading to sort of an apocalyptic sort of situation This was finally the booker that did it. Overall I respect your opinions. It's just this starting to see most of the comment section writing it off is just shallow when a lot of the story beats actually go beyond what the first two games set up in a lot of ways. I could sort of understand it from a gameplay perspective but it's not like the first two games weren't linear in their own rights as well or allowed for much choice beyond kill little sister or save little sister. This game is much more about driving home the theme of the first title. The philosophy to push mankind towards the next stage of evolution but in doing so corruption slowly seeps in and starts the tear away the foundations. And also setting up the idea of fate and if choices really matter. Was it heads or tails that really changed the outcome of this game or was it the broche that Elizabeth wore? Or was it bigger things like choosing to kill in front of Elizabeth? Or maybe it was the exact mindset that this booker had the exact mindset that this Elizabeth had that it took to finally break the cycle.
I think your initial quote about infinites story hits it on the head. The concepts and implications for the characters are very interesting, the story itself is terribly excecute and squanders most of what they set up.
If you remember those early preview videos and interview articles that showed us an incredibly vibrant, twisted vision of what potential this game had...comparing that to the end product is incredibly deflating. The world that was hinted at in those materials promised so much depth and immersion. Sadly, it seems like their ambitions were larger than their available resources and much of what could have been was lost.
9:20 "shields and salts are op and you should upgrade them" - proceeds to show footage of upgrading only health 😅 With all seriousnes though, thanks for the review. My friends tried to get me to play Bioshock, but I guess it just isn't the genre for me. To me the world didn't feel immersive, but rather empty. I just don't like the fact there are no NPCs you could talk to and interact with and the game felt too long and dragged out for how empty it was to me. I got to about the half of the game and then just quit and never got back to it. From your review, Infinite looks a lot more alive and fun, so I might give the series another chance. Cheers!
The plot's derailment from 1 reminds me of the Matrix movies where the 2nd/3rd also became pretentious and way less clever than the authors seem to think, while the action is still cool to look at
Considering how they changed the game play to be more FPS orientated i like how they handled that with the main character. Booker is war hero and a fighter, his "achievements" are shown off during the museum fight which makes it feel more justifiable that you are slaughtering your way through everything. But once you stop playing Booker that stops too. Seems like they were conscious of the tonal changes and designed the character accordingly.
That's how I looked at it too. And I like how the character of Elizabeth slowly lost her innocence watching Booker go on the violent rampages. This also led to her eventually becoming a war monger herself as shown in a vision. It's sort of one of those things you either get or you don't and I think for a lot of people they'd rather just look at it through the lens of the first two games rather than trying to understand what they were really going for with this title.
except that it's present as this grand tale that's really smart with all the shit it does at the end...but if you actually think about it it all falls apart
i'm in the minority, but this is my favorite bioshock game. i thought the story (besides the ending) and gameplay were much more enjoyable than in the first game.
The concept is beyond good, time travel not so much, the gameplay is as linear as it can get, and the art design, soundtracks, beeps and boops of the game were fantastastic, if felt like there was a great game hidden on the surface that didn't live up to anyone's expectations.
Weird. I enjoyed this game much more than the original bioshock (something I didn't quite finish). Outside of the tweeest in 1, I don't see anything better story wise. Infinite had lots of fun turns, but I'll admit when you are doing time travel and parallel worlds it can be hard to keep it all straight in the narrative.
This may ruffle some feathers, but Infinite is the most disappointing game I've ever played. It's not a bad game, but the beauty and potential of the world is let down by a multiverse plot and simpler gameplay than what the E3 demos showed. I've never been as captivated by an E3 demo than Infinite's, but since they were trying to create a realistic A.I. companion, a multiverse plot, and an immersive world, I think the game was just juggling too many plates at one time.
thanks for your review, personally I enjoyed all the Bioshocks at the same level but I understand your point of view I'll wait for your next retro-analyses 😉
I agree, the streamlining made the game move away from its sim predecessors. But I don't need my games to be a sim to enjoy them and I really did enjoy Infinite. It is a great game for what it is. And I assume the next Bioshock is going to take more parts of 1&2.
In the spirit of your previous video, Judas is one of my most anticipated games at the moment. We barely know anything about it, but Bioshock in space is more than enough to get me on board.
I never acknowledge this as a bio shock game even though it is lol to me it doesn’t capture that bioshock atmosphere or environment. I saw through it when it first released and did not get caught up in the reviews
I'm hoping Clockwork Revolution (with Jason Anderson formerly of Troika and the Arcanum team as Lead Designer) will be much more of an RPG/Choice-focused cross between Arcanum and Bioshock Infinite. Although it will have time-travel in it, so it has to be done well for that to work.
Great video. Many people think this game is a masterpiece of storytelling and it was very interesting to see the game reviewed AS A GAME. I thought your coverage was fair and balanced and the points you made were very solid. There are a few things that I liked personally that don't clash with your evaluation that I would like to comment on: 1. The game is not just a time travel story. It is an iterative time/space narrative. So, I do think it has more depth than your typical mess with time narrative. I did like your assessment because I thought you were very fair about it: It is an interesting story, but the whole theme in the end was inevitability so you do have very little choice as a character. If that was not what you wanted then it does not matter how good it was. I feel the same way about cyberpunk 2077 for different reasons. I HATE being on a life or death timer in an open world game because the narrative effectively says don't interact with the world because you don't have time and your going to die, but the game won't let you interact with the world once you finish the main story line... bonkers. 2. The atmosphere was intentionally the polar opposite of the rest of Bioshock. I absolutely agree with you that the oppressive closeness and sense of pressure is absent here. However, I felt like it was intentionally replaced by a feeling of isolation and acrophobia. Especially while you are first learning the movement system for the game, it feels very much like you are throwing yourself into from building to building hoping that you will no miss and fall. This only happens if you are immersed in the narrative of the game, so it is a "hook" that may not land with everyone. 3. I thought the overall sound quality of the game is very solid and immersive, and I think there are some really standout pieces of music that are worth mentioning. If you are paying attention, some of the music will become quite familiar in an absolutely stunning way once you realize what is being done. This was so unique that I thought it was important to note. 4. While not game defining, I did like the skyhook system and thought it added a nice little variance to travel and to some of the outdoor combat situations. Thanks as always for the excellent review. I think I liked that story and gameplay a bit more than you did, but that is why I like your assessments so much as you are a much more experienced and skilled player than I am.
I had a lot of the same problems with Bioshock Infinite that Mortym has, compounded with a couple of extra issues of my own. First: as others have noted, the game is nowhere near as clever as it thinks it is. I found it to be pseudo-intellectual at best and outright predictable at worst. This was compounded by my second issue: I could never warm to Elizabeth. I don't remember exactly why (in the early game at least), but I never really liked her. Later on, when she threatened to throw a tornado at me after going through hell to bust her out of prison, I completely lost my patience with her. Honestly surprised I finished the game after that. As you might imagine, I never bought or played the DLC because of this.
i discovered your channel an hour ago i love the concept of your first impressions and then 100% review and after finishing your dishonored review, then your bioshock 1 and 2 i was checking to see if you uploaded infinite yet. cant believe i got my wish this quick! definetly earned another subsciber with this amazing timing
I've always loved the concept, tone and characters of Infinite. The idea of a "World's Fair in sky", a city that represented the lofty ideals of American exceptionalism and manifest destiny, in which everything comes tumbling down...just incredibly solid ground to build a world upon. I'm not as nitpicky as some about the story and I enjoyed it for what it was and willing to take most of the questionable bits in stride. But in every respect, Infinite is certainly weaker than the first two games in the series. Bioshock is best at creating an environment of tension and forcing you to question the motivations of every character. Bioshock 2 is the best in the series in terms of its gameplay, with the most variety in tactics and ability combinations. Infinite creates an inspiring world but only really delivers on it with a fairly average experience. Strong in character but otherwise struggling to live up to its potential. Still, it was a huge deal when it released and it's a game I'll never forget.
Both public and private. :) I rather had some different endings, the girls didn't seem to be professorettes of spacetime. Was there any opinion on it coming from the "you missed again" twins?
I've only played Infinite from the Bioshock franchise and I think it is a good game. That being said it has that oldschool "shooting gallery" feel that was mentioned in the review where you go through a fairly linear level wihtout much choice how to approach the situation. (A VERY VAGUE SPOILER BELOW) Storywise it was interesting and also a bit depressing, because as one person said if anything that can happen actually happens then there is no free choice. You just experience one of the possible realities.
BoS DLC game me existential crisis, cus the franchise that I've been playing actually ended. Nothing else to be done, and just sink to the bottom of emotion.
Infinite should've just let the player hold 4 weapons at a time. That's still my biggest complaint. Two weapons only ever works in something like Call of Duty.
The reason there was no alt endings and no choises is that you need to check the story of the guy and studio that was making this game and see what they actually wanted to make, they ended up cutting a ton of content and rushing it, so they just said fck it no endings
1:17 this szene was the last i played because the game hardlocked me out, the giant that was comming jumped behind a fence i couldn't shoot and then the game autosaved this state and i basicly can restart HARD NO XD
I really enjoyed this title. It certainly is fairly different than the others two, but I really liked the story, characters and setting it proposed. I'm quite curious about what they could do with a fourth instalment...
Always had a soft spot for this game, and always get a lot of pleasure from replaying it. I''m aware of it's flaws, yes it was way over-streamlined, but I enjoy it anyway. There's something about the environment and the world space that really appeals to me, and firebombing a load of hooded racists inside the Fraternal Order of the Raven never gets old. Like you, the characters were what appealed to me more than the narrative. That said I actually found the narrative quite compelling too. On the technical side I always find that I have to edit the ini file to get the mouse smoothing disabled, and get it working properly, otherwise mouse control is extremely janky for me. I also deeply hate ALL checkpoint-based save systems in FPS games. I guess it's the future now as most modern games have disabled quicksaves and now rely on checkpoints due to them primarily creating their titles for consoles and the PC ports being an afterthought, but I utterly despise it. I also found myself unimpressed by the two-weapon limit. To this day I fail to see the point. Having to drop one weapon in order to use another is not a particularly fun game mechanic in my opinion.
I still think the story in Infinite was much better and I remember the forum discussions back in the day going off about this title more than the other two. I also felt more connected to the main character in Infinite than in 1 & 2, and that’s what I want from a game.
I liked how thematic was the „time travel narrative” as during early 20th century major discoveries were made in this field - they did the same thing with the fallout of DNA discovery from 1953 to create the setting for first bioshock games.
it really confused me why it got all the praise it did, it was highly inferior to 1 and 2, it just felt like it lost its direction and atmosphere. I had a feeling at the beginning where I was like "okay I can see that maybe they're trying to TRANSLATE the atmosphere to make sense in a different environment so I'll give it a chance" but I quickly lost that feeling and it really started to feel like it was having an identity crisis.
@@shortbreadhead I think it got high praise because it was riding a wave of the original's massive success and had good presentation. Like everyone primed themsevles for it to be amazing and then all it had to do was be at least passable to get praised to high heaven. If it was a brand new title from a less known studio that would have taken its average score down a couple points I bet
As I heard sometime shortly after this was released: "The game is a giant escort mission. It's just that the one being escorted is the player."
You didn't mention the graphics. For a 10 year old game, I think it has aged remarkably well and looks beautiful.
The reveal of Columbia in the beginning was an incredible moment
I once made a claim to my mate that video games age like fine wine (playing the complete version for the lowest price, with better hardware, mods etc.) and I'm glad to see your channel covering some gems from the years gone by. The Bioshock franchise, in my opinion, represents some of the best entertainment this medium has to offer. The "would you kindly" bit in the first game still stands to show what sets games apart from other story-telling vessles. That being interactivity, and the way that the digital world is given meaning by both the creator and player at the same time by way of player exploration. Thanks for the thorough look and trip down memory lane. Great content as usual, onward to further greatness and take care.
I didnt realize people didn't like Infinite. I really liked Infinite, even though we didn't get the game they originally showcased. I liked the combat, and how you could break it with certain attributes.
Learn not to care what others think, most people are stupid and/or have piss poor taste. Infinite is one of the greatest games ever made.
Ya it’s my favorite Bioshock game, I’ll always defend infinite.
@@thegael791 nah
@@thegael791 agree with the first sentence lol
@@thegael791you know that can go both ways right? What makes your taste any better than others who don't like the game? Absolutely nothing.
Infinite kind of killed a franchise. One of the main theme of original Bioshock and Bioshock 2 was horror and loneliness. The most horrific discovery in Bioshock Infinite you make after 5 minutes of gameplay, and it's "Oh my God, they are racists!". And then you are given cute, pretty and omnipotent companion for the rest of the game. Enemies like George Washington animatronic do not strike fear, rather ridicule. The only interesting part for me was travelling Columbia on zip lines.
Bioshock Infinite is a good game, but not really a fitting one for the Bioshock title.
Infinite left me feeling something was “missing” after my first run of the game.
Game has a lot of strong points, but 1 and 2 have a more menacing and tangible atmosphere.
I could immerse myself in Rapture, but as you said, Columbia sometimes felt like it was just a shooting gallery. Still a great game though.
Yeah Rapture felt like a real place that existed, where Columbia felt like a theme park. I think part of what made Rapture feel more real was that the game was less linear than Columbia.
Yeah I really didnt like Infinite that much either as a Bioshock game. Like the other person said it felt like a theme park and while playing through it I was just wanting to get to the ending as soon as possible. I thought the giant bird was pretty sick but it really just felt like your average first person shooter.
@LilFeralGangrel the level design helps that, it's superior to infinite since Bioshock 2's team stepped in to finish the project thst was a year past deadline, and Bioshock 2's design already felt linear so Infinitr was doomed to follow that path if not even stricter. It was a game made under a year by two dev teams and was a miracle it existed at all.
The only good thing that Bioshock Infinite and its DLC gave are seeing Rapture before civil war ( still too little area to explore) and Rule34 Elizabeth. Everything else is so forgettable.
i know a lot of people like infinite but i just can't get into it. i found no tension in the city, booker just starts out too strong, and the cops so weak. even the crazy, drug addled splicers had something resembling self preservation and tactics, and their dna is falling apart. and vigors are just there to be there. no purpose in story whatsoever. adam is central to the plot and the very catalyst of rapture's downfall. everything in rapture had purpose and place. it was there for a reason. infinite felt like a very different game shackled to certain things it was never meant to have by virtue of being named 'bioshock'
Bioshock infinite is a huge disappointment. Changing the game from an immersive sim to a bad cod-clone with powers (simplified in every aspects of the game), was the nail in the coffin in my opinion. Yes, is not a bad game, but is not a good Bioshock.
That's really true.
The fact you achieved all blue ribbon challenges alone earns my respect. You are a beast!
I think your comments on the story exactly nail why infinite's story is so divisive. People who played it for the world hated it for being a mess of too many sci fi concepts that dont make sense, and thats entirely valid, but people who played it for the characters loved it for the the journey of Booker and Elizabeth, and thats also entirely valid.
Bioshock Infinite’s original sin is in being not nearly as clever as it thinks it is.
Amen.
Agreed, it's very convoluted
Facts. It thinks it's being smart, but it's just being annoying. That entire ending and Burial at Sea is just the game talking at you and yet it still says nothing of substance.
I thought I was alone! Everyone else seems to think this games story is so deep, but the writing is just awful.
Damn straight.
infinite was the first game that let me down in a major way.
it's the last game I ever preordered.
I always think about the E3 footage that came out before hand and how different that game was supposed to be. Incredibly open, actual choices, neutral characters that will aggro based on your decisions, elizabeth had different powers, birdman was an actual threat, and the story was widely different. Thing got reworked before launch, I forget why, but nearly everything but the art was scrapped. I'm amazed it came out how it is since it's not horrible, but for those like me who were expecting something far better, well it's a massive let down.
That’s an interesting perspective, and one I didn’t really encounter until recently (potentially Ratchet Rift Apart). Most games I play I have zero expectations or hype around, including this one. I don’t like looking up stuff about a game before I play it because I know how hype has ruined game after game. I just run it blind. And as a result, I end up enjoying pretty much all the games I end up playing, even the ones that are universally hated. I enjoyed this game a lot, the characters, settings, and gameplay carry through a narrative that I honestly don’t understand. I can understand if the promotional interviews and trailers let down those who payed attention, but I think this game has aged pretty well. I didn’t play any of these till years later so the first two were actually pretty bad, imo, because the dated and clunky gameplay wasn’t held up by the narrative that was not as powerful in 2020 as it probably was in 2007. Obviously that’s on me for waiting so long to play the game. It would be great if these games got a proper rework like FFVII instead of just (at least what it felt like to me) an updated performance and fidelity port.
This game has one of the most annoying boss battles ever, the one with the flying woman in the cemetery screaming all the time. forgot her name
I love all three games (this one is my personal favorite) . But you nailed it with the characters. They are so well done and the voice acting is so good, that the main plot takes a backseat. And yes I am one of the people who thought the combat was MUCH better.
Still my favorite game of all time. And yeah 10 years ago it was definitely a better lense than 2023. I still make a run every couple of years tho lol.
Because it is
Having just played through all 3 games again this year myself I can definitely say imo Infinite is the weakest of the three. Although much of what I don’t like about it can be forgiven in context of the lore since it is technically a prequel. Thanks Mort for tackling this trilogy!
Tried to replay this about a year ago, it wasn't half as good as the first one. It's just a shooting gallery with cool story concepts and visuals.
Infinite remains very good to look at, really strong visuals. It's definitely an FPS without any ambitions of even the rpg lite elements as found in prior Bioshocks. The story of Infinite falls apart the more you think about it, it's almost impressive how both common sense and the rules the plot establishes trip the story up.
Bioshock and Dishonred really stuck with me due to how strong the art style was.
The funny thing is a lot of current stories are falling into the same multiverse trap. The whole "if we stop this one thing everything changes" but the whole point of multiverses is that they're infinite (Hence the title of the game). The idea that there's one "key event" in a multiverse is just stupid.
Bioshock 1's story is exactly the same, it seems cool at first glance but just crumbles once you give it any critical thought.
Maybe, just maybe, Ken Levine isn't actually nearly as good a writer as he would like to think after all.
How does the story fall apart?
@@penttikoivuniemi2146how so?
I love this game, and one of the things that really stands out to me in 2023 is how good it still looks! Wow the art design and the smart use of the tech means this game still looks gorgeous on modern PC's running at 4k high refresh rate.
I wasn’t a fan of what they did with Elizabeth’s character in Burial at Sea.
Hope you do System Shock 2 one day, it's one of my favs despite it's not prefect of course and slightly dated. System Shock is better than BioShock IMO, hot take!!! But both are great.
Wont be soon, but I will
I did not like infinite. At all. Booker and Elizabeth were nice characters, and Elizabeth's AI in helping you was pretty cool at the time, but that was about the extent of what i liked. The dumbing down (both in plot and mechanics) left the whole experience feeling hollow. The lack of choice and nonsensical plot, the ending making less sense the more you think about it. It just didn't feel like BioShock. It felt like a step backward from the originals in all the ways that made them great. And as another commentor so aptly put it, the game is no where near as smart as it thinks it is.
You nailed it. Making it a more standard FPS really took away from the game in comparison to the earlier titles. I actually prefer the more modern FPS controls but that doesn't mean I want a faster paced shooter. I also didn't like the ending. It just came off as a bunch of philosophical nonsense. I hate when writers looking to impress overthink things like that. Another comment I saw summed it up perfectly; it's not as clever as it thinks it is.
Although I absolutely loved the first BioShock I’m still more likely to replay this one due to how streamlined it is. Especially with how the vigors in this game combined/removed the less useful ones from the first one thus trimming the fat. 1 just had so many instances where I’m like “ugh this part” or just general mechanics that I believe outright make the game worse like the photography mechanic and hacking minigame.
I wasn't too fond of this one.
The game's more of a Disney-esque Mary Poppins than a 2000 AD Judge Dredd.
I know they were pretending to be ironic with the visual designs, but the devs may have genuinely adored that aesthetic a bit too much.
It works well with the vigour's visual designs, but you'd think they'd try and make Elizabeth at least look somewhat more distinctive. There's no irony or sense of pathos often, despite the narration pushing for it via exposition(bad sign).
The tonal change and action oriented gameplay were big shifts. It's lighter than previous games.
This game was not fun for me. A bit of an unwelcome chore. I saw it through to the end though.
Very good review as always! I agree with your concluding statements in particular.
Infinite is an extended theme park ride - enjoyable for the flash, absent of substance.
i didnt like infinate that much, bioshock 2 was my fav
I found this game tripped over its own feet, to the point that I was bored to death.
I loved this game so much. This was one of the only games that made me think "holy shit" at the end.
I have been missing this game lately. Might do another run. Just love its world!
Honestly, infinite is a great game, the combat is intense and the vigor combinations you can use are always fun to mix and match in fights. The lore and backstory is interesting and deep, going well with the story.
The only criticisms I can make are more nitpicks if anything else:
- No visible upgrades for your guns
- You're limited to carrying only two at a time.
- No special ammo types
- Vigor upgrades too expensive.
It's incredible how many times I'm randomly scrolling through RUclips and you've just uploaded content. Go you machine!
Great game by the way. Unpopular opinion- probably my favourite of the Bioshock games. It's a bit more of a rollercoaster ride than the previous entries, but the characters and combat are a step above it's predecessors.
It is a good game. It is a bad Bioshock game.
I love this game specifically because I'm a sucker for pretentious philosophical bullshit. Even where the substance is ultimately thin, the questions posed are thought-provoking, and the style is linguistically interesting enough to make my brain do a bit of work. 7/10 game. 10/10 experience.
You are so honest that it's what I like about infinite fans over bioshock 2 fans, sometimes being overblown is apart of the fun.
Agreed with your conclusion. Never understood why this game was so redeemed at the time. All I saw was regression.
The new location lived up to Rapture in terms of wow factor and Elizabeth is charming
My only problem with infinite is how linear it is. It takes away from it feeling like an actual Bioshock game. But as a game itself I think it’s amazing. But not better than the first two
Best Bioshock game ever and it had one of the most unique and enigmatic endings ever in a game
I love this game to death
Honestly bioshock trilogy is one of my favourites of all time
Are you high?
Kudos for doing the blue ribbon challenge.
I had such a hard time with that part myself and was so happy to be over with it haha.
Honestly I think you nailed this review and I can't say I disagree with it. great stuff!
"Just a 20 hour shooting gallery."
Naw man, Infinite is the best Bioshock. Love the trilogy though, all 3 are some of my favorite games.
Ight, my favorite game is finally here, and I can't wait for you to destroy it. No hard feelings.
Edit: okay I just watched your full review on it and I just have a few notes.
1. Booker is a character that is described as being a war hero It wouldn't really make sense for him to be the type of character to stealth around and be immersive sim like. A big part of his character is the need to shoot his way out of every situation. This reflects onto Elizabeth as the story progresses and she slowly changes. And a vision we can see how when she's older she basically adopts a lot of boogers violent traits and becomes basically the apocalypse.
2. This sort of ties into the first point but I'm going to separate it due to it being a little bit more nuanced. A lot of the time travel was the show the broader themes of philosophy and how it can take on something completely different when characters obtain the power that they desire. Things might start off innocent enough like the vox just wanting equal rights but as time goes on and that power is achieved it evolves into something more radical. This is a big point in the first game.
3. Your point about the removal of choice. There's really no way for this game to construct the narrative that it was going for by allowing players to manipulate the story in any sort of way and that plays into the overall theme anyway. It doesn't really matter what choices Booker made It's all going to lead back to the same place given the particular path that he went down. This is the booker that made these choices This is the booker that is the catalyst for breaking the loop that the twins hypothesized. There's been hundreds of bookers before this one that it tried but failed leading to sort of an apocalyptic sort of situation This was finally the booker that did it.
Overall I respect your opinions. It's just this starting to see most of the comment section writing it off is just shallow when a lot of the story beats actually go beyond what the first two games set up in a lot of ways. I could sort of understand it from a gameplay perspective but it's not like the first two games weren't linear in their own rights as well or allowed for much choice beyond kill little sister or save little sister. This game is much more about driving home the theme of the first title. The philosophy to push mankind towards the next stage of evolution but in doing so corruption slowly seeps in and starts the tear away the foundations. And also setting up the idea of fate and if choices really matter. Was it heads or tails that really changed the outcome of this game or was it the broche that Elizabeth wore? Or was it bigger things like choosing to kill in front of Elizabeth? Or maybe it was the exact mindset that this booker had the exact mindset that this Elizabeth had that it took to finally break the cycle.
I think your initial quote about infinites story hits it on the head. The concepts and implications for the characters are very interesting, the story itself is terribly excecute and squanders most of what they set up.
If you remember those early preview videos and interview articles that showed us an incredibly vibrant, twisted vision of what potential this game had...comparing that to the end product is incredibly deflating. The world that was hinted at in those materials promised so much depth and immersion. Sadly, it seems like their ambitions were larger than their available resources and much of what could have been was lost.
9:20 "shields and salts are op and you should upgrade them" - proceeds to show footage of upgrading only health 😅
With all seriousnes though, thanks for the review. My friends tried to get me to play Bioshock, but I guess it just isn't the genre for me. To me the world didn't feel immersive, but rather empty. I just don't like the fact there are no NPCs you could talk to and interact with and the game felt too long and dragged out for how empty it was to me. I got to about the half of the game and then just quit and never got back to it. From your review, Infinite looks a lot more alive and fun, so I might give the series another chance. Cheers!
The plot's derailment from 1 reminds me of the Matrix movies where the 2nd/3rd also became pretentious and way less clever than the authors seem to think, while the action is still cool to look at
Considering how they changed the game play to be more FPS orientated i like how they handled that with the main character.
Booker is war hero and a fighter, his "achievements" are shown off during the museum fight which makes it feel more justifiable that you are slaughtering your way through everything.
But once you stop playing Booker that stops too.
Seems like they were conscious of the tonal changes and designed the character accordingly.
That's how I looked at it too. And I like how the character of Elizabeth slowly lost her innocence watching Booker go on the violent rampages. This also led to her eventually becoming a war monger herself as shown in a vision. It's sort of one of those things you either get or you don't and I think for a lot of people they'd rather just look at it through the lens of the first two games rather than trying to understand what they were really going for with this title.
Already lol!? Noice.
I think story is great if you aren' t trying to think too much about it, but the game itself (music, style, graphic etc) is a work of art
except that it's present as this grand tale that's really smart with all the shit it does at the end...but if you actually think about it it all falls apart
Call me an idiot but the ending of this game I didn't see it coming
i'm in the minority, but this is my favorite bioshock game. i thought the story (besides the ending) and gameplay were much more enjoyable than in the first game.
The concept is beyond good, time travel not so much, the gameplay is as linear as it can get, and the art design, soundtracks, beeps and boops of the game were fantastastic, if felt like there was a great game hidden on the surface that didn't live up to anyone's expectations.
Bioshock 1 was inspired. Bioshock Infinite was derivative.
Weird. I enjoyed this game much more than the original bioshock (something I didn't quite finish). Outside of the tweeest in 1, I don't see anything better story wise. Infinite had lots of fun turns, but I'll admit when you are doing time travel and parallel worlds it can be hard to keep it all straight in the narrative.
This may ruffle some feathers, but Infinite is the most disappointing game I've ever played. It's not a bad game, but the beauty and potential of the world is let down by a multiverse plot and simpler gameplay than what the E3 demos showed. I've never been as captivated by an E3 demo than Infinite's, but since they were trying to create a realistic A.I. companion, a multiverse plot, and an immersive world, I think the game was just juggling too many plates at one time.
I agree. This game bummed me out and was unpleasant to play.
It was a distinctly underwhelming experience foe me as well.
Positives: Elizabeth
Negatives: Elizabeth
I totally agree. After playing Bioshock 1 & 2, Infinite was quite disappointing.
good video, pretty much how I feel looking back at BI
The game supports cloud saves you say, eh?
Patiently waiting for your thoughts on aliens dark decent
thanks for your review, personally I enjoyed all the Bioshocks at the same level but I understand your point of view
I'll wait for your next retro-analyses 😉
I agree, the streamlining made the game move away from its sim predecessors. But I don't need my games to be a sim to enjoy them and I really did enjoy Infinite. It is a great game for what it is. And I assume the next Bioshock is going to take more parts of 1&2.
In the spirit of your previous video, Judas is one of my most anticipated games at the moment. We barely know anything about it, but Bioshock in space is more than enough to get me on board.
Just finished playing the whole trilogy, Infinite is actually my favorite, not by a lot tho
Good day Mortym! I absolutely love the Bioshock series. Infinite was a great game but the original Bioshock game is my fav of the series.
I never acknowledge this as a bio shock game even though it is lol to me it doesn’t capture that bioshock atmosphere or environment. I saw through it when it first released and did not get caught up in the reviews
I'm hoping Clockwork Revolution (with Jason Anderson formerly of Troika and the Arcanum team as Lead Designer) will be much more of an RPG/Choice-focused cross between Arcanum and Bioshock Infinite. Although it will have time-travel in it, so it has to be done well for that to work.
Have to play it with the DLC for story value. It's amazing IMO
free comment.
Great video. Many people think this game is a masterpiece of storytelling and it was very interesting to see the game reviewed AS A GAME. I thought your coverage was fair and balanced and the points you made were very solid. There are a few things that I liked personally that don't clash with your evaluation that I would like to comment on:
1. The game is not just a time travel story. It is an iterative time/space narrative. So, I do think it has more depth than your typical mess with time narrative. I did like your assessment because I thought you were very fair about it: It is an interesting story, but the whole theme in the end was inevitability so you do have very little choice as a character. If that was not what you wanted then it does not matter how good it was. I feel the same way about cyberpunk 2077 for different reasons. I HATE being on a life or death timer in an open world game because the narrative effectively says don't interact with the world because you don't have time and your going to die, but the game won't let you interact with the world once you finish the main story line... bonkers.
2. The atmosphere was intentionally the polar opposite of the rest of Bioshock. I absolutely agree with you that the oppressive closeness and sense of pressure is absent here. However, I felt like it was intentionally replaced by a feeling of isolation and acrophobia. Especially while you are first learning the movement system for the game, it feels very much like you are throwing yourself into from building to building hoping that you will no miss and fall. This only happens if you are immersed in the narrative of the game, so it is a "hook" that may not land with everyone.
3. I thought the overall sound quality of the game is very solid and immersive, and I think there are some really standout pieces of music that are worth mentioning. If you are paying attention, some of the music will become quite familiar in an absolutely stunning way once you realize what is being done. This was so unique that I thought it was important to note.
4. While not game defining, I did like the skyhook system and thought it added a nice little variance to travel and to some of the outdoor combat situations.
Thanks as always for the excellent review. I think I liked that story and gameplay a bit more than you did, but that is why I like your assessments so much as you are a much more experienced and skilled player than I am.
The illusion of choices.
I downloaded a outside save for the achievements of the clash in the clouds because I couldn't bring myself to play it.
I had a lot of the same problems with Bioshock Infinite that Mortym has, compounded with a couple of extra issues of my own.
First: as others have noted, the game is nowhere near as clever as it thinks it is. I found it to be pseudo-intellectual at best and outright predictable at worst. This was compounded by my second issue: I could never warm to Elizabeth. I don't remember exactly why (in the early game at least), but I never really liked her. Later on, when she threatened to throw a tornado at me after going through hell to bust her out of prison, I completely lost my patience with her. Honestly surprised I finished the game after that.
As you might imagine, I never bought or played the DLC because of this.
i discovered your channel an hour ago i love the concept of your first impressions and then 100% review and after finishing your dishonored review, then your bioshock 1 and 2 i was checking to see if you uploaded infinite yet. cant believe i got my wish this quick! definetly earned another subsciber with this amazing timing
I've always loved the concept, tone and characters of Infinite. The idea of a "World's Fair in sky", a city that represented the lofty ideals of American exceptionalism and manifest destiny, in which everything comes tumbling down...just incredibly solid ground to build a world upon. I'm not as nitpicky as some about the story and I enjoyed it for what it was and willing to take most of the questionable bits in stride. But in every respect, Infinite is certainly weaker than the first two games in the series. Bioshock is best at creating an environment of tension and forcing you to question the motivations of every character. Bioshock 2 is the best in the series in terms of its gameplay, with the most variety in tactics and ability combinations. Infinite creates an inspiring world but only really delivers on it with a fairly average experience. Strong in character but otherwise struggling to live up to its potential. Still, it was a huge deal when it released and it's a game I'll never forget.
Both public and private. :)
I rather had some different endings, the girls didn't seem to be professorettes of spacetime.
Was there any opinion on it coming from the "you missed again" twins?
This is by far the best Bioschock game. The plot is amazing.
I've only played Infinite from the Bioshock franchise and I think it is a good game. That being said it has that oldschool "shooting gallery" feel that was mentioned in the review where you go through a fairly linear level wihtout much choice how to approach the situation.
(A VERY VAGUE SPOILER BELOW)
Storywise it was interesting and also a bit depressing, because as one person said if anything that can happen actually happens then there is no free choice. You just experience one of the possible realities.
Hi, I love your channel.
BoS DLC game me existential crisis, cus the franchise that I've been playing actually ended. Nothing else to be done, and just sink to the bottom of emotion.
Infinite should've just let the player hold 4 weapons at a time. That's still my biggest complaint. Two weapons only ever works in something like Call of Duty.
The reason there was no alt endings and no choises is that you need to check the story of the guy and studio that was making this game and see what they actually wanted to make, they ended up cutting a ton of content and rushing it, so they just said fck it no endings
"A man chooses, a slave obeys"
1:17 this szene was the last i played because the game hardlocked me out, the giant that was comming jumped behind a fence i couldn't shoot and then the game autosaved this state and i basicly can restart HARD NO XD
I have it on switch and it still looks really good
I really enjoyed this title.
It certainly is fairly different than the others two, but I really liked the story, characters and setting it proposed.
I'm quite curious about what they could do with a fourth instalment...
I got this game for free with a gpu along with Tomb Raider and I remember liking it but I havn't played it since it came out.
It would be really cool to see a list of your top immersive sims of all time.
I'd have to play more of them first
How do you know a game is completed 100%? Not all games have a convenient percent complete stat displayed.
Only thing that bugged me was only having two weapons at a time. Other then that they did an excellent job.
I played the first 2 Bioshocks countless times, I've played the 3rd Bioshock a handful of times ;p
Always had a soft spot for this game, and always get a lot of pleasure from replaying it. I''m aware of it's flaws, yes it was way over-streamlined, but I enjoy it anyway. There's something about the environment and the world space that really appeals to me, and firebombing a load of hooded racists inside the Fraternal Order of the Raven never gets old. Like you, the characters were what appealed to me more than the narrative. That said I actually found the narrative quite compelling too.
On the technical side I always find that I have to edit the ini file to get the mouse smoothing disabled, and get it working properly, otherwise mouse control is extremely janky for me. I also deeply hate ALL checkpoint-based save systems in FPS games.
I guess it's the future now as most modern games have disabled quicksaves and now rely on checkpoints due to them primarily creating their titles for consoles and the PC ports being an afterthought, but I utterly despise it.
I also found myself unimpressed by the two-weapon limit. To this day I fail to see the point. Having to drop one weapon in order to use another is not a particularly fun game mechanic in my opinion.
I still think the story in Infinite was much better and I remember the forum discussions back in the day going off about this title more than the other two. I also felt more connected to the main character in Infinite than in 1 & 2, and that’s what I want from a game.
I liked how thematic was the „time travel narrative” as during early 20th century major discoveries were made in this field - they did the same thing with the fallout of DNA discovery from 1953 to create the setting for first bioshock games.
I actually used to speedrun the game. It's quite wacky what the game does when you don't cap the framerate.
Day 19 pls review fear and hunger
I feel this is more... timeline/dimension manipulation? Still kinda weird x3
Mortismal, even though diffirent I would love to see you review Doom Eternal
This game was so good until the ending just shits the bed. Burial at Sea, kind of the same thing
I wish i had the massive patience for 'ending' all those games you play mate
1999 system shock 2 , 1998 thief 2
This was one of my biggest gaming disappointments of the generation
it really confused me why it got all the praise it did, it was highly inferior to 1 and 2, it just felt like it lost its direction and atmosphere. I had a feeling at the beginning where I was like "okay I can see that maybe they're trying to TRANSLATE the atmosphere to make sense in a different environment so I'll give it a chance" but I quickly lost that feeling and it really started to feel like it was having an identity crisis.
@@shortbreadhead I think it got high praise because it was riding a wave of the original's massive success and had good presentation. Like everyone primed themsevles for it to be amazing and then all it had to do was be at least passable to get praised to high heaven. If it was a brand new title from a less known studio that would have taken its average score down a couple points I bet
I prefer to pretend the DLC never happened.