Gadgetory

what's up internet kevin here with TLD bringing you our review of BioShock Infinite for the xbox 360 ps3 and pc that's been a long time since I first heard about this game and it's felt like an even longer wait after all the delays and push backs but it's finally here and it seems well worth it especially since the lukewarm response to bioshock 2 which was mechanically a sequel to bioshock but didn't live up to the same narrative style or sense of mystery when exploring a new alien City infinite on the other hand shows itself to be much more linked though matically and stylistically to the first bioshock within the first half hour or without even firing a gun yet i was immediately sucked in thanks to the game's attention to detail setting design sense of mystery and tone from the pure gameplay standpoint infinite is in many ways a more diluted but refined version of bioshock horror minor RPG elements and midi games have been removed in favor of pure first-person shooter action still featuring a bit of magic thanks to vigors powers that let you do things ranging from shocking or burning enemies possessing opponents or blocking in throwing bullets back while there are fewer powers and infinite compared to bioshock each of them feels decided to be more useful and balanced with favorite choices occurring more due to play style than one power actually being fundamentally overpowered compared to the rest players are also now limited to only carrying two guns at a time though upgrades purchased for them will always be active and enemies drop a variety of different weapons often up to where you never feel too constrained with options especially when there's plenty of hidden caches holding more powerful short-term use weapons like the volley gun an hour RPG players also have the skyhook weapon that can be used for melee attacks but more importantly can be used to latch onto hooks or rails which not only provide a minor platforming elements for exploration but more importantly give you a fast way to reach further away enemies or a high ground to use as a good vantage point there's also a now an equipment system when which players can equip up to four pieces of gear that give various on bonuses and all the locations of gear are static in the game which specific piece of gear is randomized when you first enter the area it's in giving players different bonuses that might cause them to alter their tactics each time they start a new play through now one of the best new additions to the game both for gameplay and narrative is your partner Elizabeth who the devs made a great decision with right away by instead of forcing you to have to protect her the whole game like one gigantic escort mission is actually able to take care of herself just fine and keeps out of the way in combat while still supporting you while in combat is we'll stay out of your way while supplying you with ammo and health packs when you need them as well as being able to activate special objects called tears that can help you in combat by providing cover ammo caches hooks to hang from or even friendly turrets only one can be active at a time so you have to pick what you need at the right moment and there are a number of choices that can help adapt to how you like to handle different combat situations what makes this genius from a narrative perspective though is how much empty time is filled with dialogue Booker and Elizabeth will often talk in and out of combat oftentimes illuminating aspects of each other's history and personality all while never directly detracting from actual gameplay this constant banter really helps to not only flush them both out as protagonists but makes the game's story come alive all the more when combined with the return of audio recordings that help shed light on historical events within the setting the constant availability of dialogue boasts in the past and present makes for a strong narrative focus and helps to give infinite an edge over its predecessor now one aspect of infinite that I definitely inherited from its predecessor is the twist I don't really want to go too in depth on what that twist is because of course I don't want to spoil it for those of you watching but I do want to talk about a few things regarding it first off infinite did a fantastic job of pacing it whereas in the first bioshock the twist still happens about two or three hours before the game ends thus making players feel like they've already done enough infinite saves it till the very end and constantly builds up the suspense throughout the entire storyline furthermore the twisting infinite is far more ambitious in terms of the story it's trying to tell but as a result it's also considerably more convoluted and takes a second to properly piece together as opposed to bioshock switch to take you clear as day all at once I'm also a little sad than that while the twist an infant is good it doesn't have the same connotations like bioshock's did in terms of how narrative interacts with gameplay bioshock's twist was one that on paper sounded fairly common something you've seen in a book or a movie a few times but the way in which that twist incorporated the fact that you're playing a video game was genius infinite's on the other hand is purely narrative they try to work in gameplay a little bit to it but it's nowhere near this extent it's still good just not as mind-blowing in that respect I also wanted to see a little more exploration into some characters backgrounds there are a few that left me a little disappointed in terms of supporting characters but this could also be alleviated in the future with the planned 3 DLC packs though one might argue that this shouldn't be the case infant endows also like its predecessor in the sense that it's very much on the short side only lasting about 10 or 11 hours for your first playthrough depending on how much of a completionist you are however I do highly recommend playing this game at least two times through as the narrative changes very much once you know the full history for the game these minor nitpicky parts for the storyline aside the only real problem I had with the game was the return of the never dying mechanic basically when you die in combat you just come right back with some health and ammo but lose some money and all enemies gain a little health as well as a result there really is no game over in this just a war of attrition in which you slowly whittled down your opponent's health now given the main goal of bio foxes to see the story not challenge the gameplay but it's still something I feel is a little too forgiving though thankfully the game's highest difficulty setting 1999 mode addresses this with a way to permanently die if you only have so much money on you sending you right back to the title screen overall BioShock Infinite is the true sequel to bioshock that many of us been waiting for well worth all the delays and push backs solid gameplay a fantastic story line and an absolutely amazing amount of time and effort put into the setting design and find details makes us one of the best games to come out this year so far and in my opinion already a clear contender for Game of the Year well that's our review of BioShock Infinite if you're looking to pick the game up for yourself make sure to check out the link in the description for pricing and availability if you've yet to do so make sure to subscribe to stay up to date on all of our latest reviews unboxings as well as follow me on twitter at TLD underscore Kevin as always guys thank you so much for watching our videos if you enjoyed this one make sure that the like button is the easiest way to help us out and we always appreciate it i'm kevin for TLD i'll see you guys next time you