Incoming wall of text:
I've seen the word pretentious used in describing Infinite, and after just replaying it again, it's a fitting descriptor.
It's faux-deep. Hollow. What are it's themes? Destiny? Violence? Forgiveness? Racism? Classism? Religion? Critiquing American Exceptionalism? Father/Child drama? Quantum physics? The game has all these things but does nothing with them, and they serve a plot that doesn't really go anywhere.
Comstock and Columbia are basically cartoons. There's no depth to anything, because there's no real story to be had here; no nuance in the portrayals. Unless you are a complete monster, you won't sympathize with Comstock, but Ryan and Sophia Lamb both sounded reasonable at times, despite knowing that they were also true monsters in very different ways. That's the hallmark of a good villain- when you catch yourself saying "yeah, that's a good point", before realizing that you're siding with something you don't really believe.
And then Columbia itself really doesn't go anywhere with it's concept, and the whole purpose of it being a flying city is novel rather than rooted in any narrative need. Rapture felt real, alive; it existed to escape the world and build a utopia, but it was ultimately a city that collapsed under the weight of it's own hubris.
The game is full of plots and characters that go nowhere- a prime one I never really noticed until recently was how meaningless Fink is. He's the first major character Booker meets, has his own section of the city, and seems like he'll be a big part of the game; ultimately wants Booker to be his head of security, and sets about a "test". It's a pale imitation of Sander Cohen to me, and then it comes to a halt without resolution when you switch dimensions. He's basically pointless. Then you have other rather meaningless characters and plots like Fitzroy and the Vox being nothing more than equally shitty people to fight, Chen Lin, Lady Comstock, the future attack on 1984 New York, the Boys of Silence, the ending itself, the Siphon, Booker's history, etc. Some get half-resolutions, others just drop.
What's the deal with the Handymen? Songbird? What are they? How were they created? Why do Vigors exist? The Big Daddies and Little Sisters of Rapture could be seen as silly, yes, but they had an explicit purpose that was thoroughly explained. They were integral to the ecosystem of the game. Plasmids also, were thoroughly explained as a sort of gene-splicing arms race within Rapture. Vigors just are there in Columbia for reasons.
Everything in Columbia feels like pieces and parts that don't go together. Then it has the misguided idea to tie everything into the Bioshock universe with Rapture, not to mention the colossal narrative misfire that was Burial at Sea (which also retconned Fitzroy in a weak way when they probably realized they made the strong black female character a villain). While it makes for some narratively interesting DLC, it also doesn't fit at all with the established Rapture world. Rapture seemed like it could be a real place, despite it's obvious fantastical elements, wheras Columbia never feels real- it's straight fantasy bordering on magic.
Also the combat is pretty garbage, especially compared to 2. And no visual changes to the weapons is lazy- I loved getting upgrades in the other games because the upgrades changed the appearance, but the rarity of them also forced you to be tactful of how you would maximize your playstyle. Here, everything is money focused, and while you will have enough to upgrade most of what you need by game's end, it limits you by simultaneously giving you too many options and not enough resources.
It's got some crowd-pleasing stuff, but as a whole it feels jumbled and kind of rushed. The game really feels like it was a bunch of different concepts smashed together, and upon reflection it just doesn't gel at all. It would've been better being it's own thing with the Bioshock name than trying to cram it into the whole universe.
What am I missing Gaf?
TL;DR
Infinite has a lot of ideas that really go nowhere.
I've seen the word pretentious used in describing Infinite, and after just replaying it again, it's a fitting descriptor.
It's faux-deep. Hollow. What are it's themes? Destiny? Violence? Forgiveness? Racism? Classism? Religion? Critiquing American Exceptionalism? Father/Child drama? Quantum physics? The game has all these things but does nothing with them, and they serve a plot that doesn't really go anywhere.
Comstock and Columbia are basically cartoons. There's no depth to anything, because there's no real story to be had here; no nuance in the portrayals. Unless you are a complete monster, you won't sympathize with Comstock, but Ryan and Sophia Lamb both sounded reasonable at times, despite knowing that they were also true monsters in very different ways. That's the hallmark of a good villain- when you catch yourself saying "yeah, that's a good point", before realizing that you're siding with something you don't really believe.
And then Columbia itself really doesn't go anywhere with it's concept, and the whole purpose of it being a flying city is novel rather than rooted in any narrative need. Rapture felt real, alive; it existed to escape the world and build a utopia, but it was ultimately a city that collapsed under the weight of it's own hubris.
The game is full of plots and characters that go nowhere- a prime one I never really noticed until recently was how meaningless Fink is. He's the first major character Booker meets, has his own section of the city, and seems like he'll be a big part of the game; ultimately wants Booker to be his head of security, and sets about a "test". It's a pale imitation of Sander Cohen to me, and then it comes to a halt without resolution when you switch dimensions. He's basically pointless. Then you have other rather meaningless characters and plots like Fitzroy and the Vox being nothing more than equally shitty people to fight, Chen Lin, Lady Comstock, the future attack on 1984 New York, the Boys of Silence, the ending itself, the Siphon, Booker's history, etc. Some get half-resolutions, others just drop.
What's the deal with the Handymen? Songbird? What are they? How were they created? Why do Vigors exist? The Big Daddies and Little Sisters of Rapture could be seen as silly, yes, but they had an explicit purpose that was thoroughly explained. They were integral to the ecosystem of the game. Plasmids also, were thoroughly explained as a sort of gene-splicing arms race within Rapture. Vigors just are there in Columbia for reasons.
Everything in Columbia feels like pieces and parts that don't go together. Then it has the misguided idea to tie everything into the Bioshock universe with Rapture, not to mention the colossal narrative misfire that was Burial at Sea (which also retconned Fitzroy in a weak way when they probably realized they made the strong black female character a villain). While it makes for some narratively interesting DLC, it also doesn't fit at all with the established Rapture world. Rapture seemed like it could be a real place, despite it's obvious fantastical elements, wheras Columbia never feels real- it's straight fantasy bordering on magic.
Also the combat is pretty garbage, especially compared to 2. And no visual changes to the weapons is lazy- I loved getting upgrades in the other games because the upgrades changed the appearance, but the rarity of them also forced you to be tactful of how you would maximize your playstyle. Here, everything is money focused, and while you will have enough to upgrade most of what you need by game's end, it limits you by simultaneously giving you too many options and not enough resources.
It's got some crowd-pleasing stuff, but as a whole it feels jumbled and kind of rushed. The game really feels like it was a bunch of different concepts smashed together, and upon reflection it just doesn't gel at all. It would've been better being it's own thing with the Bioshock name than trying to cram it into the whole universe.
What am I missing Gaf?
TL;DR
Infinite has a lot of ideas that really go nowhere.
