As a Retrogamer perfectly happy playing old stuff, I rarely keep up with new releases. Most new titles cost 50% less if you wait a year, and honesty—unless you play online multiplayer—the game will be just as good or bad as the day it was released. Heck, by then the developers may have even patched some bugs in the code! Another factor is that I play games at a snail’s pace. For me, keeping up with the Joneses is a fool’s errand.
That said, BioShock Infinite has held my curiosity for awhile. I enjoyed the first BioShock, particularly its scenery, but overall I thought it didn’t quite earn all of its critical acclaim. Part of it could be just personal preference, but I was hoping for “more puzzle, less shooter”. So I found it interesting that Infinite also received heaps of critical praise—placing on many best of the year lists, yet was considered overrated by many, both critically and through word of mouth. The main complaint I’ve read is that Infinite’s story is held back by the FPS format.
Anyway, once Infinite was announced as a Game of the Month for Sony’s PlayStation Plus service and Remember Me—another game I’ve had my eye on—was announced for the following month, it became too good of a deal for me to pass up. Who knows how long they will keep up a streak of games I actually want to play on the PS3, but it could work out to as low as $2.50 a pop.
So I paid my money and slowly, slowly downloaded BioShock Infinite, and I have to say, after playing through the first hour, I am impressed. I enjoyed how it plays with and riffs on the opening to the first BioShock. The quality of the graphics, both in fidelity and art direction, is stunning. But most of all, I loved the creepy, slow burn of the baptism sequence as the “price of entry” to Columbia. The church location is really unnerving, and it’s an experience that just would not work as well in film. Once I survived my sanctification, I started to explore the city in the clouds and wondered if the game will be able to reasonably explain how Columbia came to be, and I continue to be eager to find out.
I have no idea if Infinite goes off the rails once the guns come out, but that first hour has to be the strongest opening videogame sequence of any that I’ve played. Considering that BioShock creator Ken Levine just dissolved Irrational Games so he could work with a much smaller team, I wonder if AAA games that aren’t primarily aimed at teenagers (and the adolescent at heart) are a dying breed. However that plays out, I look forward to playing more Infinite soon.