BioShock Infinite

[IamLEAM1983]

Oh. My. God.

This isn't a game. This is Art. It's Emotion and Philosophical Debate bottled together. It tackles the subjects of Identity and Race in ways I didn't think were possible in the context of video game screenplays, and it brings Columbia's universe to life better than some of the other veteran world-builders ever could. This, seriously, knocks Skyrim out of the ballpark and makes Tamriel look like a constrained little sandbox. It's not a question of size or scope, it's all in the details. Every little thing you see onscreen is diegetic, to the point where the game doesn't require the sprawling vistas of Bethesda games to deliver a sense of place that feels absolute. It's not an RPG and you aren't left to whip up a Fantasy Self for the sake of playing pretend, but the identity you are given works masterfully with the rest of the game. I've heard some people complain about how Infinite is yet another game that puts forward a stubble-wearing "Gunbro", but this is one case where I wouldn't have it any other way. Here's why.

The year is 1910, and America's gone through an alternate version of the Chicago World Fair, as well as bared witness to an alternate outcome for the Boxer Rebellion in China. The fair saw the unveiling of Columbia, a fully-featured flying city held aloft with massive hot air balloons. Initially intended as some kind of flying gunship and fortress combined, Columbia was to sail across the United States, spreading the period-appropriate exceptionalism to the land-lubbing Americans below. The Rebellion occurred, and Columbia's leader, Zachary Hale Comstock, saw it fitting to take his city across the Atlantic and Europe, to try and pacify the Chinese.

As you can imagine, America didn't take too kindly to that, seeing as emancipation was on the rise and Colonial ideals favouring slave-driving were dying out. Comstock, however, is of the old guard: he sees America as a predominantly White nation and has elevated George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin to the level of religious figures. Columbia's duty, according to Comstock, is to safeguard what he considers to be the purest extract of the American populace while suppressing immigrants. Unfortunately, a city in the clouds needs some manpower to keep its many hot air-creating generators running. Who better to put to the task than Negroes, Irishmen, Scotsmen and expatriate Europeans of all types? This creates an obviously noxious push-and-pull mechanic, a double bind that forces Columbia to keep rounding up "lesser" individuals, while leaving them to stew in discontent in the poor hub areas of the metrpolis. As can be expected, a resistance group soon surfaces. While Columbia's core population has canonized John Wilkes Booth and demonized Abraham Lincoln, the Vox Populi is fighting to bring Columbia back into the progressive American fold.

You step into this as Booker DeWitt, a disgraced Pinkerton who was forced to take part in the massacre of Wounded Knee. There's a debt that needs to be repaid, a city in the clouds that needs invading and a girl. That girl is considered to be a messiah of sorts by the native Columbians, and she isn't exactly what you'd call normal. She's so far from normal that they keep her locked up in a spire at the centre of Columbia's network of floating and drifting platforms, and guard her with a Steampunk monstrosity they call Songbird. Her name's Elizabeth, and you meeting her isn't the end of the journey.

It's only the beginning.

While the game starts out with a fairly simple "Get the girl and redeem yourself" plot, meeting Elizabeth throws this out as soon as it happens. She's sheltered, bookish, ignorant of the world outside of the tower; but also full of hope, wonder, whimsy and sensitivity. Keeping her locked up prevented her from paying heed to Comstock's racist dreck, so she responds to the racial minorities' plight with a touching level of sincerity. Booker, who only wanted to save her and cash his paycheck, starts to care about the sordid goings-on in Columbia. It's not just a matter of freeing the slaves and restoring democracy to this so-called "New Eden" - understanding just what the Hell it is Elizabeth actually is is also important.

Initially, the game plays like the other two BioShock titles, with horror swapped out for awe at Columbia's simple beauty and shock at how bigoted and generally loathsome some of the so-called "virtuous" natives actually are. The colours are far too vibrant to bring forward anything like fear, and you're not witnessing a failed utopia that's gone to Hell. Well, technically, it has - but DeWitt reaches Columbia just as an annual fair held to celebrate the city's origins begins. The opening tone is bright-eyed and filled with wonder, and you'll need a few hours to spot the grime and filth underneath the Colonial arches and stately office buildings climbing up and spinning out into view, from the opaque cover of a thick bank of clouds, below.

To Elizabeth, who becomes your faithful friend and companion throughout the game, Columbia is a unique playground. First and foremost because she seems to have the ability to open what she calls "Tears" whenever and wherever she wishes. Tears are essentially dimensional rifts that either lead to secluded spots elsewhere in Columbia or to other universes altogether. In combat, this means that you aren't limited to your average BioShock-esque palette of firearms and powers. Elizabeth can bring weapon caches and turrets into being for you, and is a capable fighter as well. On a bigger scale, she can make both Columbia's universe and a rather curious alternate 1987 overlap, in a few places.

Play your cards right, and you'll come across one of the now classic E3 demo shots. Elizabeth finds a dying horse that's been left behind in the wake of the chaos between Columbia's police force and the Vox Populi. Torn up at the sight of the animal's agony, she resolves to try and find a way to use her ability to open Tears to swap out the moribund horse for a healthy alternate. For a few short minutes, she opens one of the biggest Tears in the game, leading to a verdant field. In place of the dying beast is another one that's also lying on its side, but appears to merely be asleep. For a few seconds, you're given to believe that the healthy animal will overlap its dying counterpart - but this is clearly too much strain for Elizabeth. Her efforts terrify and strain the poor thing, and she's forced to give up. It's with a touching amount of fear and regret that she asks you to put it out of its misery.

Throughout the entire game, Elizabeth's naivety and Booker's belief that he's damned himself are both tested. One grows more grit on top of her initially charmingly girlish affects, the other learns to be affectionate again. This is due in no small part to Courtnee Draper's performance as Elizabeth and Troy Baker's as Booker. Even though you rarely see Booker's face, the fact that you're not playing a silent vessel provides you with a tremendous sense of agency.

With Liz and her reality-bending powers and Booker's Vigor-augmented gunplay, you'll carve a path through Columbia to not only save the girl, but also save yourself as well as those people who do truly matter to Columbia. Before long, you're demonized as the so-called False Prophet by the locals, while the Vox Populi begin to idolize you. All things considered, Infinite is a story of faith and redemption, and of how far you might be willing to secure one and obtain the other. It also tackles games and why they matter, with Elizabeth's abilities making you wonder if the America that spawned Columbia isn't an alternate of our own, in and of itself - and if Elizabeth is aware of it, as impossible as it might seem. Reality doesn't so much unfold à la Inception, but in a means that feels much more organized and contemplative.

The long and short of it is that I don't care which type of game you happen to like. I don't care if shooting at people with guns is something you're not fond of - this is the industry's Waiting for Godot and it's one of the most poignant narratives I've ever installed to my hard drive. If there was a novelization available, I'd twist Ten's non-gamer arm so she'd read it, and I'll definitely twist Weird's.

Buy that shit. Play through it. Think on it. This is one for the records, folks. It has its flaws and it might be a little punishing at the onset, but every single mechanic that ties the game together contributes to the narrative whole. It's thoughtful and it's provocative in a way I didn't think games could be. Above all, however, it's plainly and simply awesome. If you don't grin or squee during one of the game's many Skyhook rides, you have no fucking soul.

[IamLEAM1983]

What do you get when you stick two mod reviewers and the voice actor for Robert Lutece together in the same room, along with a modded copy of GTA 4?

You get insane pastiches of common Infinite lines.



"Booker, catch! Tear! Tear here! Booker, catch! Take this! Catch! Booker! BOOKERCATCH!COOKBOOKTCHA-ARGH.

BOOKERCATCH!"

And a helicopter lands in Booker DeWitt's face.