Gaming Bioshock Infinite: The 10 things it got wrong

I loved but also loathed Bioshock Infinite and here are the 10 reasons why.
http://www.bit-tech.net/gaming/pc/2013/04/17/bioshock-infinite-10-things-it-got-wrong/1

 

I don't know, I think all the choice of vitas and guns is actually a good point. Too many games these days are taking away choice.

The npc interaction is a very good point though. It jars with the immersion of the experience.

 

I think these are all valid criticisms with which I agree, but I'd still give the game a 90% review. The incredible attention to detail in every poster, film and building is phenomenal. This, along with the brilliant world-building, creativity and atmosphere, make BioShock: Infinite an incredible piece of work. I don't really care about its flaws when I'm being taken for an immersive ride through an intriguing story and a brand new world.

 

Good points.
For me, it sort of didnt live up to the hype.
- The gameplay was ho-hum. Comparing it to my benchmark "dishonored", there was too much focus on story and not much on actual shooting/strategy, both of which Dishonored excelled at.
- I cleared the whole game using, murder of crows or shock jockey. Salt is given so sparingly in the game, wasting it on the "shield vigor" or the water one was pointless. Also, I didnt have enough money to upgrade vigors even though I started of with extra cash though industrial revolution!.
- Story was a bit random at times. The whole chen-lin episode was boring.
- Dishonored gave you the option of using stealth/agression/ground/rooftops etc...In this there is only one way, kindly suggested by pressing the N key.
-Agree with the review, there should have been open ended skyline routes to explore the world. It was quite rigid in terms of pick up & drop off points.

 

Ah, that was another one I mean to mention. Says a lot about the confusing nature of the game that it felt the need to have a constant magical reminder of where to go.

And, yes, fairly large chunks of the game were just plain boring. I guess the chen-lin bit did really start to crank up the multiverse thing, but it did so in a quite tedious way.

 

Aside from your first four points; NPC dullness, excessive weapons that are similar, loosely defined vigours uses and pointless gear, I don't think any of the rest of the points detract from the game at all and are more nitpicks that are individual to the preferences of the person playing, similar to playing Dead or Alive and complaining about unrealistic moves or excessively large boobs, valid for a person, but not to everyone.

 

I found an item of clothing that gave me 100% chance of being invulnerable for a few seconds when you jump off a Sky Rail, sooo useful towards the end of the game.

 

interaction with Elizabeth was the biggest faliure for me... from the start i tried to chat to her and was like.. umm thats weird and sad that i cant just chat to u or something...

 

No.11 Get on with it, perhaps?

I'm not feeling the love for this game. I really expected to be more into it after two or three hours play time - if you can't grab someone in that time something is wrong.

Now I have to work up the energy to even bother to launch it, so I have doubts about ever finishing it. After the reviews, I soo wanted to get into this game - sorely disappointed.

 

Well a couple of points of encouragement:

1. It's quite short. I completed it in 12 hours without particularly rushing it.
2. The ending is quite profound and one of those seminal moments in gaming.

 

I have found the game over-hyped and underwhelming so far. I bought Infinited and Dishonored almost at the same time and find myself far more into Dishonored. I certainly noticed how rather dated the engine is in Bioshock. Bullet proof flower vases, invisble barriers due to linear scripting, annoying to have your shield drain when an enemy doesn't even have clear line of site.

I will probably complete the game but I was much more impressed by the dark world of the original bioshock. I think people want to like this one so they fluff it up in their heads and make out like it's the greatest thing ever.

 

Not being able to use the sky rails in combat, for me, it induced horrible motion sickness after a while...and besides I dont think you really needed to use them for that anyway, certainly on the easier difficulty settings.

 

I've given up hoping for a proper and worthy successor to System Shock 2. For some reason I thought this might have been it, even after being somewhat disappointed, though still enjoying Bioshock 1 and 2.

I'm also finding the game pretty ho-hum. Fairly linear and with no real need to use vigors most of the time it seems just another modern shooter.

 

7 hrs in and still waiting for it to become interesting (not gonna happen).

If they cut the amount of combat to occur even 1/4 of the time it wouldn't be as bad, but battle after battle is the most tedious thing ever.

And agree with your point - you began calmly exploring -> ripping off a policemans face and instantly having the entire city after you.. just did not make sense. I felt forced to play as a dick of a character who massacred police and rebels alike.

This is an incredibly overhyped game, it's yet another over the top shooter with a small amount of "deep" story.

 

I think the opposite of most of your points. In no particular order:

Weapons needed more diversity in upgrades, the number of weapons was right, just the uselessness of some of them meant that they sat on the backburner unless you ran out of ammo (I'd rather die/respawn and pay the hefty $50 than switch though).

Gear was handy for encouraging a style of play, not sure I found all of the bits, but it sounds like you didn't if all you found were the obscure ones (specifically the one you found was to encourage rail hopping).

I found the rails were a weak point in the game, having more would make it even more dull.

Finishing blows were probably for the console crowd, I can forgive them for that, plus they put in gear to supplement executions.

NPC interaction? Since when has that ever been a standard? CoD they just stand there and run to their deaths unless you take too long and they might utter something. I'd rather not be called Chicken Chaser ever again!

You wanted them to spoil the game by telling you it is actually connected to the previous Bioshock? Are you mad? Surely the lighthouse alone should have hinted at that it would be connected in some exceptional way.

Bioshock never let you go beyond the invisible wall, why did you think this time you could?

Elixirs, just spend it all on mp and hp as the shield seemed to shatter regardless of the attack (I finished it on Hard).

I played it more for the story anyway than anything else.

 

Definitely continue with it, the ending is worth the slog.

 

It's gripes for gripes sake. You've got some points but they're thin on the ground.

Regarding weapons - the heater/repeater/burstgun etc are exact swap-outs of their lower level counter-parts if you hadn't noticed from the wep icons. Heater = red shotty, repeater = red MG etc etc..

 

I loved the whole experience of Infinite.

That's slightly different to saying I loved playing it, but then, I don't think I care that some of the gameplay mechanics were only good rather than brilliant.

I didn't really care about the various gear to the extent that I had to check what I was already wearing almost every single time I picked up something new.

I thought that there should still have been more background NPCs around once the shooting started running around with their hair on fire and trying to stay out of everyone's way,

I stuck to the carbine, sniper rifle and hand cannon pretty much exclusively while Possession and Shield were hardly ever not my active Vigors once gained, though Possession was what I used overwhelmingly in just about every fight, which may explain why I actually felt that the game was far too easy.

Even the Handymen weren't that scary, certainly not compared to the insane sheer ANGER that Big Daddies showed in Bioshock. I'll try 1999 mode when I play through again, but I'm a deeply average skilled gamer and I died 2 or 3 times in total.

I loved Elisabeth. She was strange and 17 and she acted like she was strange and 17. Do I want a coin right now? No. But you're strange and 17, so thanks for trying.

When I finished the game (and I genuinely said out loud "Oh my god its Rapture" while on my own wearing headphones at midnight) I felt slightly bereft that I'd left that world.

I'm not sure its a better game, but as an experience I would rate it above Bioshock.


I miss Columbia, and I miss Elizabeth.

I wish I hadn't played it yet, so I still had it to come.

 

Wow, strong argument... If it were gripes for gripes sake, it wouldn't be the case that I genuinely - as mentioned in the piece - felt sad that the game didn't live up to the story. It could have been great but - as a game - was average at best.

As for the weapons, you're correct that that is the concept, but they don't actually work like that in reality. The heater is more powerful but it's also much slower and with lower ammo than the shotgun. etc.

 

Er, most of the points you make actually backup what I was saying.

Weapons - you said it yourself that some of them were useless. My suggest solution was to drop some and add upgrades.

Gear - okay we seemingly disagree here but I can assure you I found all the gear. It was all obscure.

rails - yup, they were rubbish, which is why they should've made them better...

finishing blows - you backup my point by dismissing them as "for the console crowd"

NPC interaction - Really? COD as an example? It's a war game - shoot first ask questions later. Columbia is supposed to be a living breathing city full of real citizens. As for it being a standard. How about as far back as Half Life?

Telling you to play bioshock - Of course I'm not suggesting they explicitly tell you to play the game. It's making a point about the story and assumed knowledge the game puts on players.

Invisible wall - Bioshock was underwater, in tunnels. As such the limitation felt natural. This is a city floating in the sky that has sky rails that can zip you all over the place. As a player you expect to be able to explore a bit more. Also, Bioshock starts off hostile so exploration isn't at the forefront of your mind. Infinite starts friendly, seemingly encouraging you to interact with and enjoy the world of Columbia.

Elixirs - Not sure you're disagreeing there as such. They just seemed a bit useless regardless.

Story - As did I and as should everyone, but that doesn't mean there shouldn't be grievances with its poor gameplay. It's like Dear Esther. That game was a fascinating experience but because the 'gameplay' was so, well, non-existent in the case of that game, it tarnished the experience.