VG Review - Bioshock: Infinite

I know I never did a full review of "Dishonored" or "Borderlands 2" which I will as soon as I finish the latter (it's a LONG game) and maybe next week I will do the "Dishonored" one. For now, though, you'll have to "settle" for "Bioshock: Infinite" which I just finished last night.

Bioshock: Infinite (360)

Let me preface this review by stating that if you don't know it already, I love "Bioshock" so my review may be a little skewed. The fact of the matter is, though, that I can often get myself so psyched for something that I get disappointed in the result no matter how good it is. This happens to me with movies more than anything, so I usually try and stay away from news articles and stuff that might pump me up too much. "Infinite" was a little hard to do that with since through their marketing blitz the last couple of months the game has been everywhere. That being said, I was beyond excited for this title and started to get disappointed about 30 minutes in. Then the world I thought I was entering did a 180 on me and all hell broke loose.

When you enter Columbia you'll see how wonderfully beautiful and detailed it is. I played on the 360 so it might not have been quite as detailed as others may have experienced, but I digress. The textures are wonderful, the movements (for the most part) are natural and fluid, smoke and flags billow in a realistic manner...you immediately feel immersed. It initially feels like you're in the total opposite world of Rapture and then, through the plot, you realize something else, but more on that later.

Gameplay is very similar to the original "Bioshock", but more fluid and polished. Plasmids are replaced by Vigors and honestly, they're more useful. I relied upon only 1 or 2 Plasmids through the course of "Bioshock" after trying each of them out. Unless an environmental need arose, I didn't veer from my mainstays. Here, I used them all pretty evenly. Some are more useful than others given a situation, but there's more balance and usefulness of each of them in battle. The Gene Tonics are replaced with Gear which are just different clothing items that give you bonuses. What's great about these is you can actually change them at any time since some of them are pretty specific to certain tasks. The biggest changes are the Skyhook that allows you to ride the cargo rails between floating buildings (Skylines) and Elizabeth your companion through most of the narrative.

The Skyline system is fun and really amazingly done. You whip around like you're on a hanging coaster shooting baddies and leaping off to do melee attacks to them. It's a blast. Where it comes most in handy is to leap out of a tight spot to allow your shield to recharge which you'll need to do often since there's no health/"mana" potions you carry with you. All the health and "salts" (this game's Eve) have to be found in the environment.

Elizabeth is just one of the great video game characters, yes, she's the damsel in distress, but she's just so damn helpful. Anyone worried about having an escort mission throughout the game can put your mind at ease. She finds cover so you don't have to worry about her safety and actually helps by tossing stuff at you mid-battle and creating "opportunities" that I won't spoil. Her biggest role though, is in the narrative, where "Infinite" shines more than any game in recent memory.

So what about this narrative? Well, I don't want to give anything away, but there is social commentary on race, politics, and religion that pulls absolutely no punches. Seriously. That 180 that I was speaking of will shock you in it's frankness on race relations at the time. That's not what it's all about though. Like I said before, you realize that this idyllic world is rotting underneath, just like Rapture, just not as overt (at first). What is striking, though, is the relationship between Booker (you) and Elizabeth and how these characters change, come to terms with what is thrown at them, and figure out all the mysteries in Columbia. The ending will shock, amaze, and make you want to start the game over again immediately much like when "Donnie Darko" ended you wanted to start it again because of the questions swirling in your head. It is one of those stories that will be discussed and dissected over and over because it purposefully doesn't give you straight answers on many things. Like any work of art (that's right, art), it wants you to interpret it how you see it to invite controversy and discussion.

This game more than most shows what an art form gaming can be. Sure there's crap games just like there are crap paintings and sculptures, but then along comes a Mona Lisa or Starry Night that shows just how wonderful art can be. This is that type of game. Sure there are imperfections like glitches where I couldn't pick up a coin here or there and I would've like to have seen more of certain "Heavy Hitters" (mini-bosses like Big Daddies, but different), but that isn't the point of this experience. The narrative is.

Honestly, I could talk about this game for a long time. I think I will do a series on it a few months from now and give people time to play it. That way I can explore themes, connections and parallels to "Bioshock", and the ending in a detailed and spoiler filled manner. So go play it. Even if you aren't a first-person shooter fan, it's one of the greatest gaming experiences I've ever had, if not the greatest.

Game First Impressions - Dishonored

First things first. I didn't finish "Borderlands 2" yet. As I said before, if "Dishonored" came out before I was done I was switching over and would go back when finished. That's what has happened. I played quite a bit of "Dishonored" over the weekend, so here's a quick first impression.

First of all, let's get out of the way that this is like "Splinter Cell", "Hitman", and "Bioshock" rolled into one. At least the way I'm playing it feels that way. You see, you can play each mission a great variety of ways; killing and not killing as you see fit, run and gun or stealth. I can see this as a sign of great re-playability. Supposedly the main story only takes about 6 hours to complete, but I'm at least that far in, but haven't even finished the first official mission. Let me clarify that. I'm playing it the absolute hardest way possible, playing non-lethal ghost (you can't kill anyone and no one can be alerted to your presence, like "Hitman") and in order to get a really high achievement I'm not upgrading or buying any powers, so there's been loads of restarting parts and even the prologue. I enjoy that type of gameplay and it isn't ever the same way twice because the paths of the guards changed every time I would reload. Also, if you want low "chaos" you have to hide bodies so they aren't discovered which can be a chore in some areas a la "Splinter Cell".

The visual style isn't like either of those games, though. It is much more like "Bioshock" with a kinda Steampunk/Victorian style and directly apes that game in that the "snacks" and items that are strewn about the areas faintly glow gold when you are near them and curser over them. Another thing that reminds me of "Bioshock" are the audio logs that you'll find in different areas that give you some back story. Don't think I'm bashing it for these things, it actually does them quite well and I really liked these touches in "Bioshock". Character models are as good as "Bioshock" and movements & mannerisms are relatively realistic. The only thing that kinda gets me is that the environments are really nice to look at until you get up close to walls, rocks, or ships, the textures are not rendered very detailed. There's so much detail in the world itself that these "out of focus" looking textures kinda stand out and bug me a bit (I'm playing on the 360, btw). Overall, though, I really like the game so far and would encourage pretty much anyone to play it.

Game First Impression - Borderlands 2

Today's is gonna be real quick and I'll have a full review of a movie tomorrow for Freaky Friday.

I really enjoyed the first "Borderlands" once it got going and made a little sense, but never really finished it because I started to get bored and the bugs that I kept encountering just drove me a little nuts (more than usual). So with great hesitation, especially because there was no demo, I purchased it last week and have been playing it some for the last week. Just so you know, 8-10 hour gaming sessions just don't happen with me anymore because of work and the fact that my neck starts to throb then I start to get headaches (it's a medical condition I have) so this is based on mebbe 8-10 hours of gameplay total.

I like where they went with it. Claptrap is still effing annoying, but the game is much more smooth and polished this time around. The visuals got an overhaul so they still stay true to the series, but don't have such a messy "everything but the kitchen sink" feel to them. And mebbe because I played the first one, but it is a much easier game to grasp although they still don't explain how to do everything. A little trial and error is par for the course here which is standard for an RPG. Money gets plentiful pretty fast, especially if you sell of any weapons and shields you don't need at every chance you get (which you should, your inventory is not very big). The humor, however, is the best part. Handsome Jack's interjections while you're playing are just priceless. Imagine, if you will, that they made an "Archer" video game and that Archer was the main villain, then I think you get the idea.

I played to level 8 with Zero the Assassin (3rd from the left) and then tried Axton the Commando (far left) because those were the characters I was torn on. I gotta say, I like Axton much better. His special ability works better from afar than Zero's and even though Zero is supposed to be great as a sniper or close up, Axton seems to be better with the sniper role (which is how I like to play) and is better at mid-range. Close-up isn't his forte, but I prefer to not let them get that close to begin with! I think I'll continue with Axton and I'll write a full review based on that. Hopefully I can finish it before 10/9/12 because it will get dumped in favor of "Dishonored".

VG Review - Darksiders II

First video game review on here and like I said before, it will not have the same structure or flow as a movie review, mainly because though you can't be totally objective about a movie, you really can't do that for a game. Everyone looks for something different in a game so I'll give you some opinions and impressions of the game and you make up your own mind.

 Darksiders II (360)

As you can see, I played this on the 360 so it may vary slightly from the PS3 version I have no idea.

I really enjoyed the first game and highly recommend playing it before this one so that the story will make a little more sense. Where the first one was fairly short outing that reminded most everyone of a Zelda game (in a very good way), Darksiders II is bigger in scope and play length (a little more on that in a moment, because it isn't necessarily a good thing) and while it still maintains a bit of the Zelda idea, it has some God of War thrown in as well as some Ninja Gaiden and like last time a tiny bit of Portal. They also were able to have a style and build to the dungeons that was all their own this time around. The environment that you start in has a very Nordic/Viking mixed with Celtic/Scottish feel to it which gives way to more independent style as you go on. Not that this opening style is too referential, it just has echos of real cultures that fade the further into the game you go. Character models are really awesome too with the over sized chunkiness of most of the characters (much like the first game) being offset by Death's relatively small and lithe stature. I did think that the texture for Death's chest was a little flat, literally, with the "3D" detail to everything else, Death's chest looks just airbrushed on, I guess it was a decision because of the changeable armors, but still.

The story is really pretty good as long as you're not looking for Biblical accuracy. I do find it interesting, however, that the Four Horseman are supposed to be Nephilim, which if you know your Bible are the offspring of Angels and the "Daughters of Men" that were one of the reasons for the Flood. Look it up, interesting stuff. Otherwise, it can be a bit much to follow from time to time, but, like I said, if you play the first game again before playing this one, you'll for the most part get it.

Game play and combat are more fluid than the style of the first game. This time Death's quickness and agility are his strengths instead of the brutish strength of War. You'll need to leap, flip, and stick & move to stay alive. You would think with this type of combat that the controls would be really responsive, but sometimes Death does things you don't want to or you end up using a potion (that are hard to come across when you need them, but plentiful when you don't) when trying to activate an ability. It is also frustrating to find short areas where you have to climb quicker than the lava is rising and if you make one little mistake, you're dead which is all the more difficult because the controls often will mess up on their own. It got better after the first patch, so hopefully they will remedy it more soon.

There's also a wide array of items and weapons to choose from with a very RPG feel to them. Unfortunately some of the stats really don't have any explanation of what they're for (i.e. Thorns?) so you just try things out until you see what you like. There are TONS of items to find and unlock from side quests and completing sets. Which leads me to my biggest complaint with the game. In order to collect all the stuff you absolutely HAVE to play twice because of a level cap on your first play through and to get the last 1/4 of the Crucible you have to hit a higher level than that. And the Crucible itself as well as The Arbiter's Maze just feel like they were tacked on to make the thing longer. I know the latter wasn't because you find directions for each level of the maze strewn about the whole game, but when you have the Crucible that is 100 levels of just wave after wave of different baddies in the same arena and the Maze that is the same room over and over with four compass direction doors with up to 10 directions to go in each level I can't help but scream "PADDING"! The early areas of the game are also really sprawling but get smaller and smaller as the game goes on, so that by the time you reach Hell, you've only got one medium sized dungeon and that's it.

Overall, I really liked the game and look forward to the next one, but it wasn't without flaws. They tried to do some different and interesting things compared to the first one and really soared with some, but failed in others. If you liked Part 1, make sure you play this one and, if not, give the first one a try then pick this one up if you like it.

PS-Playing Borderlands 2 right now and am really liking it so far. Review to follow. Any suggestions for a Top 10 list for Tuesday?