BioShock Infinite is an old-school game in next-gen makeup. And Burial At Sea promises to throw gamers back to the first BioShock. It sounds great on paper, but it’s an abject lesson that nostalgia isn’t necessarily a great thing.
The basic plot of Infinite is pretty simple; you’re Booker DeWitt, a P.I. in Rapture hired by femme fatale Elizabeth to solve a problem from your past. And it’s also the same game, in terms of playing, but that’s the problem; this is the setting and enemy style of a very different game in a new one, and frankly, the bad guys are severely outmatched.
BioShock was a survival horror game; you had to move carefully, conserve ammo, and lure out targets before taking them out. BioShock Infinite, on the other hand, is a game about kicking ass, so mostly the enemies in this game are cannon fodder. You’ve got vigors, you’ve got Elizabeth throwing you ammo and summoning ticked-off samurai, and you’ve got guns; even with the game limiting your ammo and EVE, it’s a far cry from creeping through the tubes with nothing but a wrench and a fist full of lightning. Hell, you’ve got a chainsaw hand. What’s a splicer going to do against a chainsaw hand? This launch trailer pretty much sums up the combat:
The net result is that you basically wipe the floor with everybody until you get to the inevitable Big Daddy fight, which is, it must be said, a lot of fun. But too much of the DLC’s running time, which you’ll get through in less than two hours, is taken up with wandering around, sneaking into Sander Cohen’s creepy-ass party, and generally walking around getting some fan service.
And it’s fun, especially if you enjoyed the original game. But it’s a reminder that both BioShock Infinite and BioShock are better games. It doesn’t help that the game doesn’t really do that much with the plot; you’ll see the twist coming, although it does make for an interesting cliffhanger. In short, it’s worth playing… but wait until the price drops, or see if you want to pay $20 for a season pass.