

Every fight can go poorly if you don’t plan.

You’re only able to carry two weapons at a time, so running out of ammo is a real possibility. Enemies will try to flank you or wait for you to reload. The phrase “intense combat” might not be associated with the original Bioshock, but Bioshock Infinite has this in spades. Bioshock Infinite doesn’t try to make your moral decisions for you, or even attempt to frame the answer. There are those with good intentions and bad intentions. But the game never paints them as completely right or completely wrong. The question the Vox pose to the player is, “Do the ends justify the means?”Īs Booker DeWitt, you’ll encounter both of these groups. However, as is the case with rebel groups, some parts of the Vox Populi do turn into violent, bloodthirsty mobs.
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The Vox Populi, seeing what the Founders are doing to the underclasses, want to overthrow Comstock and install a new sense of justice in Columbia. Led by Comstock’s former scullery maid Daisy Fitzroy, the Vox are demonized by the Founders as a violent, bloodthirsty mob through the propaganda that they distribute. But hearing people state that God wanted the Black man to work and toil with the White man leading him grounds your thinking and makes the mood especially unsettling, as that same “logic” was in fact used in America in the 18th and 19th centuries to justify slavery.įighting against these forces are the rebels of the Vox Populi (Voice of the People, in Latin), a subversive group that seeks to overthrow the leadership of Columbia. Being put in a world set 100 years ago allows the mind to wander and take a few leaps. But I came out of this experience believing that this sky-bound society could actually exist, and I am able to do that thanks to the effective depiction of said setting in the game. There are segregated bathrooms, numerous propaganda, and audio recordings that reinforce the idea that the White American is the “chosen race.” I am not old enough to remember a time when segregation was politically mandated, so the efforts the game takes to show class differences seems like it could’ve potentially created a caricature of a society that existed several decades ago. Anyone who is Irish or isn’t White is seen as a second class citizen. To drive this home, the people that rule Columbia are known as the Founders, a name obviously meant to invoke the Founding Fathers.

George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin are prayed to as gods, and Columbia is seen as the last bastion against the foreign hordes. The world of Columbia is set in the ideal of American Exceptionalism, but taken to severe extremes. This makes it sound like much of the areas are portrayed similarly to the original Bioshock, where it seems like each area has its own mini-story and its own cast of characters, but each individual area doesn’t bleed into the next one: They stand alone in Bioshock Infinite. You’ll see everything from the ritzy banks and shops of Columbia, to its poor, downtrodden underbelly. The sun will occasionally peek through, resulting in a totally believable “god ray” effect I spent several minutes just stopping and staring at. It’s rendered with an unbelievable shade of blue, sometimes punctuated with clouds. Columbia’s most salient feature is its sky. Rapture, the city under the sea that the original Bioshock took place in, was more limiting as a setting. It was either indoors, with limited lighting, or in tubes surrounded by water. Doing so will pay back a massive debt DeWitt owes to some mysterious figures.Ĭolumbia is simply beautiful. It is there that you, Booker DeWitt, have to rescue a mysterious girl named Elizabeth and bring her back to New York. But the city’s inhabitants, led by a quasi-religious figure by the name of Zachary Comstock, defiantly seceded from the United States. The city was originally developed by America as a showcase for the World’s Fair. Made by the same studio behind the original Bioshock, has the passage of time and experience resulted in a better game?Įasily, Yes: Bioshock Infinite is a game that’s been polished to a fine sheen.īioshock Infinite takes place in the year 1912, set in a floating city known as Columbia. Five years in the making, Bioshock Infinite has finally been released to the masses. 2K Marin’s Bioshock 2 fixed the latter problem, but introduced a mostly forgettable plot. Enemies don’t do a very good job of taking cover from your gunfire, and you can only use either your plasmid or your gun at any given time. However, deeper reflection exposes the game’s flimsy combat. I loved the setting and marveled at the underwater vistas, shivered as pipes would burst and break sending chest-high water to meet me, as I cowered in fear from the hulking, brutal Big Daddies. My memories of the first Bioshock are rosy.
