"Give us the girl. Wipe away the debt."

Bioshock Infinite I passed on for  some time. I wasn't impressed by the look and changes that were made. However, a few reviews and time got the best of me. I finished it yesterday and I'll be damned if it wasn't a great game!

Welcome to Columbia

The move to  flying city bothered me, for a bit, but then the story changed that. This isn't my favorite crazy town Rapture. This is Columbia a flying city full of wonder, power and a lot of racism.

I was surprised with what was thrown in this game and how it wasn't burned in piles by people for the themes presented. There is a lot of racism and it is not thinly veiled. It is all part of the story and it isn't there for shock value alone. Still in the P.C. world of today it seems a big risk to throw in a game.

The story is a bit of a mystery and a head scratcher for a while, then it opens up and becomes a great bit of sci-fi. I was very happy with the plot and who, why and how of it. The story blows the pants of Bioshock 2, but doesn't quite topple the original. Even the title, which I found strange, makes complete sense by the last act. A great twist that many won't see coming, but fans of meta physical sci-fi will know whats happening, and will hopefully love it. I did

The gameplay is typical first person shooty and very similar to the previous Bioshock games. There are lots of guns and cool powers. Both of which can be upgraded to increase killing power. This incarnation has vigors instead of plasmids. They are still off hand powers that burn,shock, throw and release general doom upon your foes. I was a big fan of the Murder of Crows and Shock Jockey vigors. These could stun groups or fry single enemies in their tracks.

How bout some fire Mr. President!

The foes are not splicers this time, but normal humans, soldiers and a few robot/cyborgs. They are more like steampunkie automatons, or whatever else people want to call them. Their A.I. is descent and they will try to flank and hide from you instead of just run blindly toward you. They are still fairly easy to dispatch and don't make for too much of a challenge.

Hate these guys!

Then there are the two big  enemies, the Handyman and the Iron patriots.The Handyman is a dude in what looks like an iron lung and robot body. The hurl stuff at you, jump and punch a bit. They are a huge pain to take down. They are no Big Daddy, but  seriously what is?

I cannot tell a lie. I'm going to shoot your face off!

The Iron patriots are robots that carry chain guns and are either George Washington or Abe Lincoln. They carry great weapons and are dressed in typical presidential accoutrement That is already cool, but then they also speak in famous political quotes as the rain bullets upon you. It was a riot! Who doesn't like a patriotic killing machine? The Iron patriots were my second favorite thing in this game.

Another great Bioshock game with another great story. The only bit I regret is waiting so long to play it. This should have been a release day purchase for sure. it isn't the original, but play it and you just might be surprised how close to the original game it is.