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Booker, am I in different timeline where Bioshock Infinite is actually..... awesome?

Dane

Member
I've played a lot years ago and was surprised how hated it became years later, back then it was consensus with everyone that it was a step foward after Bioshock 2 was regarded as a disappointment.
 
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Wildebeest

Member
I've played a lot years ago and was surprised how hated it became years later, back then it was consensus with everyone that it was a step foward after Bioshock 2 was regarded as a disappointment.
Depends on what you call "consensus". Game reviewers absolutely loved it to a man, and even the ones who brought up some of its flaws gave it sky-high ratings. It was tailor-made for them, and they knew it. In terms of players, it divided opinions with its technical problems, failure to deliver on promises, and general lack of depth and things to be enthusiastic about.
 
This game released in a time period that the Xbox360 was falling way behind in tech capabilities. I remember seeing how poorly it ran and build a new PC. That PC took me all the way through the sad offerings of the Xbox One and PS4.
 

ANDS

King of Gaslighting
The "worst" of the three games (I quite enjoyed BIOSHOCK 2 with how different its story felt), but a much better game that I also initially didn't vibe with. Once I got into it though, it becomes one of those "I need to see the narrative end of this. . ."

One of my favorite - style - bits of the game is the old timey remakes that were sort of a mini-puzzle of their own with you trying to figure out what the tune was (and that WEST WORLD completely ripped off).

That's because the game's highest point is the first quarter, it all goes downhill from there.

I wouldn't say "downhill." The constant spam of Presidents - if I am remembering the game - towards the end got a bit old hat and at that point I was honestly just playing for the story.
 

damidu

Member
mediocre all around,
known fact that it went through a development hell and then some.
all the cool concepts they advertised the game with reduced to their most basic feasible fallbacks.

a stupid story and an ending twist trying so hard to be clever and one up bioshock but instead becomes a complete joke (parallel universe oh my)

it had some good world building at least
 
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wipeout364

Member
I really enjoyed it, but it was not as good as Bioshock 1 or 2. The gunplay was more demanding but mechanically it did not feel up to the task. The story was a big let down. The sky city was just not as interesting underwater city. Buried at sea was a really nice expansion and I really recommend playing through that.
 

Isa

Member
mediocre all around,
known fact that it went through a development hell and then some.
all the cool concepts they advertised the game with reduced to their most basic feasible fallbacks.

a stupid story and an ending twist trying so hard to be clever and one up bioshock but instead becomes a complete joke (parallel universe oh my)

it had some good world building at least
Yeah its kind of amazing it even came around to the finished product at all considering the development. The parallel bit actually soured me on the franchise so bad since its soooo open ended anything can be made up and thus ruins any real decisions or emotional impact to be had. It was so bad everytime I replay the series I get to the DLC and stop right in the beginning. I've seen more DLC Elizabeth in vidya pr0ns than the actual game lol. But I swear I'll get to them all again, in fact they're sitting on my Series X waiting for me to start over(played through them all since launch and the updated collection on PS4).

I'm interested in that new game by the main man, but I'm a bit hesitant it'll be more of the same. Also funny considering the Disney princess success of Elizabeth roughly around the time Frozen came out. That whole overly-animated expressions and entitlement bugged me but I still dig the character design. Its a difficult series for me to plow through, going gradually downhill makes for some more notable flaws to stand out when experienced so closely. Still love the games though. Bioshock 1 though is total chef's kiss, as are the System Shock games. The art style in these has always been excellent and Infinite is no exception, they really did great emulating a romanticized version of that fantastical history.
 

Darkmakaimura

Can You Imagine What SureAI Is Going To Do With Garfield?
I always thought that this game looked pretty cool. I love steampunk when the guy give a floating city where you're basically going for a roller coaster ride at some point look really appealing to me.

The enemy design is pretty creepy looking as well and there just seems to be a ton of interesting things here.

I've actually never played a BioShock game before. I think I briefly played the first BioShock game as a demo.

Too bad there's no physical version of BioShock Infinite for the Nintendo Switch (there is for download but I cannot download a large game like that) otherwise I would think about picking it up.
 

bender

What time is it?
I still remember the tutorial teaching you how to melee and then proceeding to have you melee kill another half dozen enemies afterwards. I thought to myself, "enough already, I get it" and that's Infinite's combat in a nutshell. Always one too many waves of enemies and always overstaying it's welcome.
 

Darkmakaimura

Can You Imagine What SureAI Is Going To Do With Garfield?
Isn't there a new BioShock game in the works?

One other thing I like about BioShock Infinite is it literally opens up to different dimensions and parallel realities. That's kind of neat. Although, I was hoping they would have System Shock as one of the parallels universes but probably they didn't do that for licensing reasons.
 
This game released in a time period that the Xbox360 was falling way behind in tech capabilities. I remember seeing how poorly it ran and build a new PC. That PC took me all the way through the sad offerings of the Xbox One and PS4.
What GPU and CPU did that build have, if you remember? Curious what you had around at the end of 360 that could last throughout PS4-gen
 

PillsOff

Banned
Great game.
Really fun fps with powers that wasn't pretending to be something It wasn't unlike the first Bioshock that was fun but wasn't anything more then a "Systemshock for retards"
Great story.
Especially how it subverts the tropes
We arrive as a hero to save a girl traped in a racist authoritarian utopia only to find out towards the middle that you n the girl are the only true evil here destroying an entire society that wasn't perfect, but was far from the hellish genocidal catastrophy our HEROES turned it into
Artstyle
is Phenomenal!
Music was also great

N then we got the reveals at the end to top it all off
 
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Darkmakaimura

Can You Imagine What SureAI Is Going To Do With Garfield?
There's a Bioshock 4 in the works from what I'm hearing. Apparently it's going to take place in another city somewhere in Antarctica.

Actually, OP, your thread made me feel like purchasing the Bioshock games since they're on sale on GOG.

Screenshot-20221224-141357-01.jpg
 
I was young when this came out and it was one of my favorite games ever at the time. I didn't see or know the reception for the game at the time, did people not think this was a superb story? I loved everything about the game from the movement to the gunplay.

Edit: game have a 94% on metacritic...someone I guess is in a bubble where this game is deemed anything but amazing by a small amount of people.
 
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Darkmakaimura

Can You Imagine What SureAI Is Going To Do With Garfield?
Is there a physical edition of BioShock Infinite for the Nintendo Switch? I really like to play it but I can't download a large file.
 

Holammer

Member
I'm not bothered by the fact that they had to dial back features and chop it up, I still loved it. Everyone praised HL2 for being so immersive with the Alyx ball and chain, but I never felt that. In infinite it really worked. Really felt like you had a Disney princess tagging along.
Lots of small moments like hearing a pump organ rendition of 'Girls Just Want to Have Fun' while exploring the boardwalk. Feels like a small gag at first, but it's actually referenced later as a musician learned the song (and others) via the rifts. That's some clever shit.
 

NT80

Member
Interesting reading through this as I just played through Bioshock 1 and 2 and going to move onto Infinite after breaking things up with Elden Ring.
I thought Bioshock 2 was an improved Bioshock 1 though the amount of abilities you have by the end can be overwhelming.
Infinite seems like quite a break from the previous games.
 

AJUMP23

Member
I liked it, but never finished it. Made it to Elizabeth and that was about it.

Good cosplay came from the game.
 
I was overhyped for this game and ended up being disappointed. I barely remember the story. I know I finished the DLCs, but can't recall a thing.
Reinstalling it right now.
 

april6e

Member
I find the sudden change in narrative on this game amusing. The criticisms the game got back in the day are reasonable. Bioshock 2 and Infinite are both hugely disappointing. Especially when you go look at the early footage of the game which looks way better than what we got in the final product.
 

Doczu

Member
I find the sudden change in narrative on this game amusing. The criticisms the game got back in the day are reasonable. Bioshock 2 and Infinite are both hugely disappointing. Especially when you go look at the early footage of the game which looks way better than what we got in the final product.
While Infinite is dissapointing as they changed the genre and streamlined everything beyond recognition, Bioshock 2 is considered by some as a step-up from 1, with hugely better combat and a continuation/ending of Rapture.
I wouldn't put them in the same bag, cause even if it's more of the same, Bio 2 is a good im-sim
 

Umbral

Member
If only it had released as an actual immersive sim. I loved the first game. All I remember about Infinite is it gave me headaches on PS3 and being pissed that I was duped. Perhaps I should revisit it with the remastered version.
 

dcx4610

Member
I loved Infinite and that is coming from someone that really didn't like Bioshock and didn't bother with part 2. I loved the aesthetic and graphics of Bioshock but I didn't didn't like the goofy enemies and gameplay.

Infinite however sucked me right in with the story and design. The story was excellent and the gameplan was more refined and action based which I preferred. The acting was also really top notch. It would have been my game of the year if not for Last of Us.
 

GigaBowser

The bear of bad news
It breaks my cold heart that I turned my back on this game in 2013 but now I have to give my GOTY to this game in 2022. My little Christmas miracle as I like to call it.

A game made for gamer's who love games.

Play it on hard mode at 60 fps, 4k and all the dlc.

Thank me later.

chris-farley-hello.gif
 

Bridges

Member
I only played through it for the first time last December, but I really loved it. I thought it was surprising how well be it held up considering its age (360 version through Series X so whatever benefits that may have provided were there, in fairness).

My only real complaint is how much more noticeably linear it was compared to the first two.

It's true, the game was not what the Game Informer cover story made it out to be (my only reference for the pre release material at the time), but taken in its own merits it was a great game. Can't wait for Judas and whatever Bioshock 4 turns out to be.
 

Fools idol

Banned
Levine is the most over rated of all time, maybe even beyond Kojima imho.

But. He is good at one thing - world building, and that is where his games do shine. It's just a shame that everything else is so painfully mid and basic.
 

april6e

Member
Infinite reminds me of Bloodborne in the sense that people are more in love with the worldbuilding and characters than the actual video game aspects. You know, the important things like gameplay, amount of content, story, game mechanics, etc.
 
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Soodanim

Member
Infinite reminds me of Bloodborne in the sense that people are more in love with the worldbuilding and characters than the actual video game aspects. You know, the important things like gameplay, amount of content, story, game mechanics, etc.
I'm not sure that's the best comparison. Bloodborne seems to be generally regarded as the most refined Souls gameplay, second only to Sekiro which barely follows the Souls template.
 
Infinite was without a doubt the weakest of the Bioshock games.

1) Extremely linear compared to prior entries. Storyline corridor, then a shooting arena, then a storyline corridor, then a shooting arena, repeat for 25 hours. Columbia did not feel like an real open, explorable place, like Rapture was.

2) Two weapon limit. Major downgrade from prior entries, presumably to make it more familiar for modern FPS fans to understand.

3) Duplicative powers. So many did the same thing, so many were mostly useless, and several were completely and utterly broken and it's not like they were used to solve any puzzles.

4) Nonsensical, plothole-filled storyline. "It's about religion! No, it's about America! No, it's about racism! No, it's about classism! No, it's about the free market! No, it's about communism! No, it's about time travel! No, it's about multiple universes! No, it's actually about an alcoholic father who refused to accept he was an asshole." By the end, I couldn't care less about the story, because the game itself kept telling you the story wasn't important. The constant use of the tears in storyline also kept creating plotholes that I couldn't get around. They're a bit too nitpicky for here though.

On the other, I will give the game credit for art design. The game is absolutely stunning.
 
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sono

Member
I started it when it came out with high hopes. I didnt like it, it just didnt jive with me, didnt like the scenes, the style of the gameplay. it just seemed a mess, like a caricature of various things that had gone before and that did their thing much better. Never want to go back to it. (It wasnt because of any bugs I recall)
 
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