So yeah I played and finished Bioshock Infinite. Wow what the fuck this game is stupid.
Okay so gameplay. Like I didn't like the first Bioshock but I appreciate it more after this. The first Bioshock was just infinitely (pardon the pun, you'll be seeing this a lot) more interesting. Like the first game you could approach in so many different ways. You could fight enemies with hacking or with guns or with plasmids or a little bit of both. Here, it just feels... very samey. You shoot enemies and use tonics. Some enemies are weak to some tonics. Some guns are good and others just kinda suck. You get plenty of ammo (I'm sure it's different on like Hard or 1999 Mode), you get tons of upgrades and equipment to make your guns overpowered as fuck, and you can do pretty alright just using Devil's Kiss and Shock Jockey the whole game. Know how many times I used Undertow? Only a couple when I accidentally switched to it on the wheel instead of Devil's Kiss or Shock Jockey. Oh and Murder of Crows is the only thing that can actually do well on Handymen so that's it's only use.
There is some backtracking optionally in the game but it's pretty awfully implemented. I remember I ran across a chest that was locked and just moved on. I then found a key later on in the level and just went "fuck this" because walking back through the whole goddamn level was stupid.
Every combat scenario just feels like there's one thing to do. You use the same AoE tonics, use probably the Carbine and whatever weapon there's a lot of ammo for in the area, and if there's a turret around to conjure, make that pop up. Sure, the combat areas aren't corridors but that doesn't make them any better.
Oh and the Skyline, talk about a useless mechanic. I got a shitload of gear for Skyline-based combat that it was retarded. There's no point in using it since Skyline combat is very few and far between and it's certainly not a reliable tactic ever.
Then there's the plot. Holy goddamn this is stupid.
First it starts off this whole "Gotta get the girl but also RACISM." It's more hamfisted than pigskin boxing gloves. Eventually it evolves into some "98%" revolution but you're somehow supposed to think that they're really no better than the rich people. They do this by throwing in some attributes to the Vox Populi that make them retardedly evil like making them all rapey and that their leader is willing to take a kid hostage. Mind you the entire game the rich people who rule the city are basically segregating the whole town and just being much more evil in a much more realistic way. There is no deep message here. It just makes no sense.
But that whole thing gets thrown to the side pretty much halfway through the game in favor of a sci-fi time travel story. But really the story makes no sense at all. So spoilers ahead, fair warning.
So the big plot twist in the end is that Booker is actually Comstock from a different time period. Elizabeth is also Booker/Comstock's daughter. They never explain how Elizabeth got her powers or why there are tears in time forming in Columbia. The paradox also doesn't even work. The paradox would be that Booker in his timeline makes Columbia, all this stuff, and then somehow Booker from another timeline gets pulled in or vice versa. This is never said or explained. Or also that Comstock traveled back in time and somehow Booker (before he was Comstock) didn't become reborn and somehow Comstock stayed instead of becoming an impossibility and just disappearing from existence. This is never really explained, the plot twist is just for a bad shock value of "OH MY GOD YOU WERE THE BAD GUY ALL ALONG" type of bullshit. Also when it takes over the theme of a game trying to explore "deep" issues, it feels very confused. The first Bioshock was about this whole notion of Ayn Randian philosophy. The big plot twist in that is that you really had no freedom the whole time and were just a small piece in a large power play. It was neat. Remember your confrontation with Andrew Ryan? People say it was one of the best things in gaming. Want to know your confrontation with Comstock? He goes "YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO ELIZABETH'S FINGER" and then you drown him.
People say Call of Duty and shit are "the cancer of gaming" but I'd argue shit like this is. It's a game trying to act smart and sophisticated but really it's just a bunch of nonsense wrapped in this sense of self importance. Call of Duty doesn't try to be what it isn't. Bioshock Infinite tries to think it's like the evolution of gaming when really it just ends up to be a useless convoluted, thematic mess.
I also played some not bad games though. Like Puppeteer. So far it's pretty cool. I'd say my only issue though is that the controls feel kinda like LittleBigPlanet wonky. Where they're not bad, just really loose and floaty. But the game looks great, it's fun, it's even challenging at times, and it's really worth trying if you haven't already.
I've also been playing Magic 2014 on Steam. So far I'm not liking it as past DotP games, there's just way too many encounters honestly. I just want to play against real Magic decks. The decks in general also feel a bit unbalanced. Like they brought a Sliver deck in, which I thought would be great, but it doesn't even have Muscle Sliver (or whatever it's M14 equivalent) is off the bat. The decks take a while to build up. The game mostly shines in online though I assume (I haven't touched it yet) so I'll try that once I fill out my decks and such.
I also bought a Kindle Fire HD, I had an old crappy offbrand tablet a while ago that broke but I enjoy the convenience and there's some games I want to play. Magic 2014 on a tablet should be fun and I also want to play Shadowrun Returns.
Okay so gameplay. Like I didn't like the first Bioshock but I appreciate it more after this. The first Bioshock was just infinitely (pardon the pun, you'll be seeing this a lot) more interesting. Like the first game you could approach in so many different ways. You could fight enemies with hacking or with guns or with plasmids or a little bit of both. Here, it just feels... very samey. You shoot enemies and use tonics. Some enemies are weak to some tonics. Some guns are good and others just kinda suck. You get plenty of ammo (I'm sure it's different on like Hard or 1999 Mode), you get tons of upgrades and equipment to make your guns overpowered as fuck, and you can do pretty alright just using Devil's Kiss and Shock Jockey the whole game. Know how many times I used Undertow? Only a couple when I accidentally switched to it on the wheel instead of Devil's Kiss or Shock Jockey. Oh and Murder of Crows is the only thing that can actually do well on Handymen so that's it's only use.
There is some backtracking optionally in the game but it's pretty awfully implemented. I remember I ran across a chest that was locked and just moved on. I then found a key later on in the level and just went "fuck this" because walking back through the whole goddamn level was stupid.
Every combat scenario just feels like there's one thing to do. You use the same AoE tonics, use probably the Carbine and whatever weapon there's a lot of ammo for in the area, and if there's a turret around to conjure, make that pop up. Sure, the combat areas aren't corridors but that doesn't make them any better.
Oh and the Skyline, talk about a useless mechanic. I got a shitload of gear for Skyline-based combat that it was retarded. There's no point in using it since Skyline combat is very few and far between and it's certainly not a reliable tactic ever.
Then there's the plot. Holy goddamn this is stupid.
First it starts off this whole "Gotta get the girl but also RACISM." It's more hamfisted than pigskin boxing gloves. Eventually it evolves into some "98%" revolution but you're somehow supposed to think that they're really no better than the rich people. They do this by throwing in some attributes to the Vox Populi that make them retardedly evil like making them all rapey and that their leader is willing to take a kid hostage. Mind you the entire game the rich people who rule the city are basically segregating the whole town and just being much more evil in a much more realistic way. There is no deep message here. It just makes no sense.
But that whole thing gets thrown to the side pretty much halfway through the game in favor of a sci-fi time travel story. But really the story makes no sense at all. So spoilers ahead, fair warning.
So the big plot twist in the end is that Booker is actually Comstock from a different time period. Elizabeth is also Booker/Comstock's daughter. They never explain how Elizabeth got her powers or why there are tears in time forming in Columbia. The paradox also doesn't even work. The paradox would be that Booker in his timeline makes Columbia, all this stuff, and then somehow Booker from another timeline gets pulled in or vice versa. This is never said or explained. Or also that Comstock traveled back in time and somehow Booker (before he was Comstock) didn't become reborn and somehow Comstock stayed instead of becoming an impossibility and just disappearing from existence. This is never really explained, the plot twist is just for a bad shock value of "OH MY GOD YOU WERE THE BAD GUY ALL ALONG" type of bullshit. Also when it takes over the theme of a game trying to explore "deep" issues, it feels very confused. The first Bioshock was about this whole notion of Ayn Randian philosophy. The big plot twist in that is that you really had no freedom the whole time and were just a small piece in a large power play. It was neat. Remember your confrontation with Andrew Ryan? People say it was one of the best things in gaming. Want to know your confrontation with Comstock? He goes "YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO ELIZABETH'S FINGER" and then you drown him.
People say Call of Duty and shit are "the cancer of gaming" but I'd argue shit like this is. It's a game trying to act smart and sophisticated but really it's just a bunch of nonsense wrapped in this sense of self importance. Call of Duty doesn't try to be what it isn't. Bioshock Infinite tries to think it's like the evolution of gaming when really it just ends up to be a useless convoluted, thematic mess.
I also played some not bad games though. Like Puppeteer. So far it's pretty cool. I'd say my only issue though is that the controls feel kinda like LittleBigPlanet wonky. Where they're not bad, just really loose and floaty. But the game looks great, it's fun, it's even challenging at times, and it's really worth trying if you haven't already.
I've also been playing Magic 2014 on Steam. So far I'm not liking it as past DotP games, there's just way too many encounters honestly. I just want to play against real Magic decks. The decks in general also feel a bit unbalanced. Like they brought a Sliver deck in, which I thought would be great, but it doesn't even have Muscle Sliver (or whatever it's M14 equivalent) is off the bat. The decks take a while to build up. The game mostly shines in online though I assume (I haven't touched it yet) so I'll try that once I fill out my decks and such.
I also bought a Kindle Fire HD, I had an old crappy offbrand tablet a while ago that broke but I enjoy the convenience and there's some games I want to play. Magic 2014 on a tablet should be fun and I also want to play Shadowrun Returns.
