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25/01 - Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes
31/01 - Oceanhorn: Monster of Uncharted Seas
01/02 - SOMA (Safe Mode)
09/02 - Shadow Warrior
18/02 - Mulaka
26/02 - NieR: Automata - 3C3C1D119440927 DLC
02/03 - Race Driver: GRID
04/03 - Bladed Fury
10/03 - Devil May Cry 5 (Devil Hunter)
13/03 - AER: Memories of Old
17/03 - Devil May Cry 5 (Son of Sparda)
20/03 - Devil May Cry 5 (Human)
05/04 - God of War III Remastered
12/04 - Devil May Cry 5 (Dante Must Die)
14/04 - Journey
15/04 - ABZU
22/04 - Journey
28/04 - Lost Planet: Extreme Condition - Colonies Edition
30/04 - Dangerous Driving
02/05 - Final Fantasy XV - Episode Gladiolus/Episode Prompto/Episode Ignis
12/05 - The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings - Enhanced Edition
21/05 - RiME
22/05 - Remember Me
20/06 - Bioshock
08/07 - Ty the Tasmanian Tiger 2
11/07 - Bioshock 2
25/07 - Inside
05/08 - Bioshock Infinite
So, Bioshock Infinite. Quite the pickle of a game. Always was, still is. I think my opinion of it has gone down through this run, but I still don't dislike it. I'm not sure I can so easily say I like it either. It's far too much of a complicated mess to say anything so conclusive. There are still parts of it that are brilliant and breathtaking. But also other parts that are a confused mess, and the general structure of the game being something much less interesting and ambitious than what came before. Yet even trying to ignore the series' legacy and judging it on its own terms, it's got a load of problems.
Opening hours are still amazing, perhaps even the best in the series. The way they introduce you to the world and the way they pace things and the scenes they create are beautiful, with potent imagery, both brilliant and grotesque. It creates this really immersive depiction of a world that is both, well, heavenly, but also disturbing and repulsive. While it's easy to get pulled in by the gorgeous sights to begin with, it quickly becomes unnerving as you realise how horrible this society really is, while still managing to be quite stunning. As I'm sure was the intent. But unfortunately these early impressions create a setup for something that is completely fails at following through with, but I'll get to that later.
Aesthetically it is still really impressive too. The detail in all the environments is amazing. The architecture and set design is top notch, and the way it all blends together with the lighting, atmospheric effects, and sound design makes for a really tangible feeling world where it feels like around every corner is a scene right out of the concept art, and they knew exactly how to evoke a certain feeling out of an area just from being in it. The best stuff is again near the first third or so of the game, but it still keeps up a really high standard throughout. And the soundtrack is really good too. The covers of modern songs done in the contemporary style is a stroke of genius that adds a really unique flavour to the world.
But then there are so many things that miss the mark by varying degrees that damage the experience a lot in the end. As I talked about before, when it comes to game design and structure, this game feels like it's stuck between two design philosophies, both of which feel half-baked, and both of which clash against each other. The change to a more linear style of game, and all the other mechanics it picked from other games, feels like it was done without knowing why those things were popular in the first place, and just feel like unnecessary limitations here. Then carrying over the things from the old Bioshock games which are damaged by these new elements, and feel vestigial and disappointing. The linear levels and slow run speed make the exploration of levels feel sluggish and tedious, especially in sections where you have to backtrack. That slowness and the very artificial feeling arenas built for combat make fighting feel like a clunky chore too. The relative lack of combat serves to highlight the poor exploration even more. The Vigors feel less creative and expansive than in previous games, with a lot of application redundancies. Using them as traps is completely pointless. Limiting to you only carrying two guns,
and then making it so there are two versions of every gun, makes upgrading them feel like a pointless waste of resources. And the limit in the first place feels unnecessary, as you can already swap between two Vigors while also having access to all of them at the same time. Why not weapons? Enemy variety is poor, with the Motorised Patriot and Handymen being poor replacements to the Big Daddies, although I do think the former is pretty cool on a conceptual level. Songbird feels very underutilised, and is disappointing in that respect, but partially because it's actually fantastically designed, feeling really threatening and impressive, and even somewhat sympathetic, in the very short and scripted segments it does appear. Gunplay itself I suppose was competent, but everything else around it was either poor or disappointing in its failure to reach potential.
And the story, oh boy. I mean, I didn't totally hate it. Some stuff I still liked. But there's definitely
a lot wrong with it. Yet at the same time, some of the more scathing criticisms I've heard, either I don't agree with at all, or in other cases perhaps I can see where they're coming from, but can't really understand how viciously they were applied. As I said, the opening hours are really good. The introduction to the world, to Elizabeth, and to a lot of the sci-fi and mystery elements are really well done. The setup for where it looks like it's going with the story in terms of its depiction of racism is pretty compelling and powerful. I don't agree that them merely showing a horribly racist society is bad in itself. But that doesn't excuse it at all from not following up on that properly. It drops the ball
so hard, but I am inclined to believe that was done mistakenly. A very dumb, ill-considered, clumsy, and uninformed mistake, but a mistake nonetheless. It definitely doesn't feel like it's trying to portray this society as anything other than terrible. But what definitely does deserve a lot of criticism is how they portray Fitzroy and the Vox Populi. They fall back on the terrible and ignorant trope of showing the oppressed being just as bad as the oppressor once they manage to fight back. And it has zero examination of anarchism as an ideology that could be pointed to as at least an attempt to justify that sudden heel-turn. It's merely just going with the empty cliche that anarchism is a synonym for chaos and aimless violence. Both Booker and Elizabeth are even talking about how she's just as bad as Comstock before she's done anything of the sort. It ends up somewhat confirming Comstock's own propaganda towards Fitzroy and the Vox. But even with all that said, I don't find it to be enragingly offensive. It feels like it's done through thoughtlessness, not malice. It's trying to say "violence breed violence", or that it doesn't matter whoever is in charge, giving someone power will lead to them violently oppressing others. The problem is that it doesn't realise what's wrong with saying all violence is equal, and is making really bad assumptions about why people feel the need to resort to violence. Obviously these things are still pretty bad, but it doesn't feel like to me that it invokes the same kind of reaction as a straightforwardly racist piece of media would.
Although with all that said, I am aware I'm coming at this from a certain perspective. I try to be aware of these sorts of issues, and be sympathetic and understanding to them. But my perspective is still one that comes from a place of privilege and relative ignorance on these matters. I suppose I can see why someone with more of a first-hand experience with this stuff might have a justifiably stronger reaction. And it could also be argued that even if the game isn't outwardly trying to send a racist message, it is a case of unconscious systemic racism that is emergent through its uncritical use of certain tropes.
But there's still a lot more to get through! Once you do get to the area where the Vox Populi are introduced, that is when the pacing of the story starts to falter too, and the focus starts feeling like it's meandering and not really sure where it's trying to go. This is also when the gameplay problems start becoming noticeable too, making it even worse. After you deal with that section, the Vox stick around as normal enemies too, feeling like it's dropping another ball as their role in the story is more or less done, yet they still want to murder you on sight for the rest of the game. And up until near the end of the game, it's not really clear why you're going where you're going, and it seems to have totally dropped any attempt at ideological critique. The part where you go to the future where Elizabeth gets broken and turned in to what Comstock wanted her to be actually had some impact to it though, and is genuinely horrifying, but it's over far too quickly to really feel like it could fulfil its potential, and I've never really been that convinced that a fleet of 1910s airships firing primitive mortar volleys would stand a chance against a 1980s New York that would have been defended by the most technologically advanced military in the world at the height of the Cold War arms race. But I do still think the central mystery and the way they did alternate universes was pretty good. While the twist isn't as good as the one in the first game by a long shot, it still had a good lead-up that dropped hints satisfyingly, and made good on them in the end. And the final sequence where they pull back the curtain is still very impressive, and feels more similar to the opening in terms of how great the presentation is. This reveal is another thing that I've heard get torn to shreds, but I can't agree at all. It follows its own rules well enough, and it feels like an impressive expansion of scope that blows the whole setting wide open. It doesn't pretend that killing Booker at the baptism is the only thing that needs to be done. Even as they're doing it, they mention how there are infinite other Comstocks to "snuff out in the crib", and the one we're seeing is just the first. Just the one closing off this one plot thread we've spent the game building towards. And I feel like some of the criticism about this moment aren't really being very charitable. Putting it on the same level as "it was all a dream", which it doesn't feel like at all. And it's also kind of a self-defeating criticism too. Because, sure, while technically having infinite universes means that no single one is important and nothing you do actually "matters", it is also true that the Ancient Psychic Tandem War Elephant from Adventure Time could have barged its way in to every universe in existence and murdered every single character in the game before they were even born too. Taking it to the logical extreme feels like it's not giving it the benefit of the doubt or coming at it on its own level. It's like the same sort of thing as asking why they didn't just ride the giant eagles to Mt. Doom.
And well, that's that. A messy convoluted dump of thoughts for a messy convoluted game. A disappointing end to the series that didn't stand up well to a more experienced eye, but which still had the ability to deeply stir my emotions in some ways like it always did. I plan to play the Burial at Sea DLC as well next. I was never particularly fond of this the first time round, so I doubt I'll be that excited by it this time either. But it's the last thing left, so I'll do it.
EDIT: Thoughts on Burial at Sea
here.
Chopper wrote: ↑August 5th, 2019, 1:47 pm
@Scrustle - any plans to tackle Prey again, now that you've been through the Bioshocks once more?
I don't plan to, unfortunately. I already gave it multiple shots, and tried hard to get in to it, but it just didn't happen. Drove me up the wall, and any magic it did have wore off on me a long time ago. I've always been very disappointed about that, because I always really wanted to like it. Maybe one day. Although I have been somewhat considering giving the original Prey another look, as to catch up with the podcast.
Maybe I'll look in to the Dishonored games though. I did try the first a long time ago and didn't care for it, but I barely played any of it. Might react differently now.
Also I happen to be playing Eastshade myself! Just started it today, and very much enjoying it.