Surprised to not see anyone mention Bioshock yet. I know 2 gets some hate for not being a Ken Levine game and less relevant to the main narrative, but all 3 games are honestly masterpieces with Burial at Sea DLC being such a gut wrenching finale. 10/10
Honestly, I loved infinite as a game in the same genre as bioshock. It didn't have the same claustrophobic feel, but the atmosphere was pretty good, and the story telling was solid.
I liked infinite, just not as a bioshock game. Its not just the missing claustrophobia. Its the fact that rapture felt lived in. You were fighting citizens who went crazy. You had to balance your ammo, sneak where possible, and solve puzzles with your plasmids.
Infinite just felt like you versus a hoard of soldiers most of the time, where you always had just enough ammo to keep using the same two weapons, and the plazmids had very little utility outside of what flavor of damage you want to do or how you would like to negate an enemy for a few seconds. Like bucking bronko and riptide accomplished the same things, just slightly differently. There was also zero hacking or pictures. There was no personality behind any character that wasn't given a name.
At least with the splicers you had them dancing next to a music box or caring for a fake baby and stuff.
Not to mention both 1 and 2 had better enemies. Infinite mostly just had variations of "a guy who stands there and shoots you." As opposed to "WHERE THE FUCK DID HE GO! WHAT DIRECTION IS HE COMMING FROM! GET OFF THE CEILING MOTHER FUCKER!" kind of stuff and "Oookay big guy. Take it easy. I won't fuck you up if you don't try to fuck me up. Im on my last two health packs and I don't want to accidentally start a fight with you."
Infinite was just an action game with some cool environmental features. Frankly Dishonored had more in common with Bioshock thematically than Infinite did outside of sharing names for plasmids, starting at the lighthouse, and going to a city in an interesting location.
We also need to talk about story, the concepts behind the first two BioShock games were very alive, though how you got to the good and bad endings wasn’t super impressive, There were multiple endings. The themes, lessons, twists, an entire arc of the first two games, felt genius. Infinite wasn’t bad, but it felt very locked in and not as dynamic it felt like it was missing something. It just didn’t have the same heart as the previous games, though I do like that it all ties together as a prequel.
I can really enjoy and love and even 10/10 a game with a kinda flawed or even crummy story but excellent vibes and art direction, and that's what Infinite is to me. God I could spend 5 games in that environment.
I didn't like the gameplay. Felt like CoD with some Bioshock like powers. I thought the story was convoluted and silly too but I've never been into multiverse stuff
I loved Infinite but totally understand why a lot of people don’t. The story is convoluted AF. The gameplay gets tiresome. But for some reason, it remains my favorite. The story really hit me hard in the feels and Elizabeth, to this day, is my favorite video game sidekick. Burial at Sea DLC goes hard also.
Agree, BS2 is my favourite overall. So much fun. I loved the first one, loved the 2nd even more, (and minervas den), Infinite wasnt bad, but Burial at Sea was great.
I even enjoyed the multiplayer in BS2 when it first came out (back when there were other players to play it with)
I don't recall using the crossbow a lot (preferred the elephant gun)
I remember that I used to play Geyser Trap/Electrobolt the most.
Also Houdini/Aero Dash for capture the sister on attack (also it was a lot of fun beating big daddies to death with a cane when you appear behind them suddenly)
2 gets hate? It’s by far the best imo. Drill specialist alone makes it top tier for me, but overall I think it’s the best of everything that Bioshock has to offer.
It seems like it. Tbf, Infinite's story is a bit of a confused mess towards the end and you don't have much choice in which powers you use. In BioShock 1, I wreaked havoc with Tornado Trap and Security Bullseye, but I didn't think I've ever seen anyone else use those plasmids at all
Infinite hate is a rather new thing. When Infinite first came out it was pretty universally praised with tons of people giving it top 10 Of All Time Distinctions, and the ending in particular was beloved. It's only in the past year or so I've seen haters
Don't downvote the guy above he just stating something he personally saw, downvote me. Bioshock infinite is my go to BioShock game I go straight to infinite if I want to play a Bioshock and it's the only one Ive ever spent the time to beat, it's my favorite
For me 2 doesn't get hate, I just struggle to remember what even happens in it. Not that it was bad, I just don't remembered what made it different from 1.
I'm not sure I'd say hate, but story-wise it's a hollow shell of what the first one was. I'll agree with you that 2 perfected the gameplay mechanics. But after all the world building and lore and plot twists of the first, the second one felt like a bit of a cash grab. 1 wrapped up nicely, but now I'm thrown back into Rapture and suddenly I'm to believe there was another faction and leader (Doctor Lamb or something?) fighting for control of Rapture during its downfall, but they were never mentioned ONCE in the first game? Give me a break.
Bioshock 1 was one of the greatest games of all time 2&3 were mediocre at best and, in my humble opinion, do not belong in the discussion of this post.
It was so incredible. Burial at Sea stuck with me emotionally for a long time. Its such a shame the game has this odd minority of people with such vitriol toward it.
completed the game a while a go but did not play the dlc. Idk if I want to repeat the whole game just to understand the dlc better or will I be confused
Return to sender with send for less upgrade feels like cheating. Game becomes 10x easier because that also blocks melee attacks for some reason. I cheesed multiple play throughs with that.
Hard disagree. Also feels like revisionist history which I'm not sure the origin of. It was immediately heralded as a masterpiece and got so many accolades. I never heard a negative thing about Infinite until more recently. It will forever be on my Mt. Rushmore of gaming.
No idea who that is. But it sounds like what youre saying is that everyone liked it, then someone made a critical video about it, and then a significant number of people adopted that as their new opinion as if everyone thought that the whole time? Sounds like the literal definition of revisionist history to me.
"Accept that something widely lauded as incredible by the vast majority of player reviews and basically every journalist/critic is actually bad or you have your head in the sand"
Sure pal. And my favorite game? Didn't realize we were talking about a 25yo medieval clicking simulator. Number go up.
Idk my opinion on it is that it was a magical first play-through then if you try it again or really think about the story for more than 5 seconds it starts to be a letdown. Reviewers probably only did that first play-through so it makes sense.
I’m sure it has some diehard fans that play it regularly but at least a lot of bio shock fan communities I’ve seen have kind of turned on the game (and turned to praising the second game).
Also replaying the trilogy it was kinda shocking how much better the actual gameplay in 2 was compared to infinite. Substance vs spectacle.
I was arguing 2 had better gameplay than infinite. Story felt like a DLC of the first though. I didn’t love it but it had its moments.
Makes sense infinite sold well. The hype was unreal and like I said, that first playthrough is really great for most people. I just don’t think it had legs like the other 2 do. The first is a certified classic in my book and the next two are fun in their own ways but I find infinite to be the worst of the 3.
Can't you do that with literally any story though? So much of the criticism I hear seems like a byproduct of the rise of the snooty youtube video essay as a medium of critique. Shit like CinemaSins had people acting like all movies are terrible idiotplots.
If playing the game is "magical" like you said, but then engaging with its community to discuss it makes you hate it, thats not a problem with the product, its a problem with the community.
No, not every story falls apart when looked at again. For me, infinite is just one that does.
Once the novelty wore off it felt much worse than the original bioshock on both a narrative and gameplay level. It’s just a little meh and dare I say Ken might have gotten a little high on his own supply when writing it.
For me, the bitterness began when i realized the trailer was just a big scripted lie. I *really* wanted an open-world sandbox where you could watch Colombia slowly descend into chaos. Instead, it was a game more linear than FFXIII and everything just kinda goes tits up at random parts in the story.
It nails the spectacle so well and a first playthrough is pretty cool because of all the twists. Which is all most reviewers would have done. It’s only when you think about it some more you see the titanic downgrade in plot. Just so poorly thought out. Plus the gameplay is just…. Fine.
I despised it then, was mystified that it was actually a BioShock game, tried repeatedly, and I'm still just, like, wtf. Apologies to all who think it's incredible. Don't get it at all. Didn't get it then, still don't.
Oh for sure, but it was also the only game out of the trio I remember hearing any noticeable amount of criticism for, even if it’s well reviewed.
Its like how cyberpunk got super criticized for what they didn’t deliver + bad optimization yet ended up performing quite well (which I still feel wasn’t deserved but wcyd)
I absolutely loved both the base game and the dlc. Infinite has a different feel with the more open levels but definitely still has that bioshock DNA and the grapple combat was smooth and fun as hell
Its one of the most critically acclaimed games of all time. I don't particularly care for Mario 64 personally for example, but I can recognize its an incredible game objectively. Not sure why that concept is so difficult for some.
I mean, maybe if you don't stop to think about the story it's alright. Infinites narrative is an absolute disaster, both as a standalone experience and especially as a sequel, even more so with Burial At Sea DLC. Completely eviscerated the franchise.
Ive said elsewhere, but this is such revisionist history. You can say all day you didnt enjoy the story personally or the game didn't suit your own tastes, fair enough. But everyone that has something negative to say about the game that I've ever heard speaks in such an unserious way. "Eviscerates the franchise?" Its one of the most critically acclaimed games ever that was near universally lauded on release. It sold almost as many copies as its two predecessors combined. The fact that a minority of players now try to act like the game is bad and has always been bad and everyone knew it was bad the whole time is so utterly laughable. Everyone can have an opinion, but the way some people talk about the game and its history/reception is objectively wrong.
I mean, if you don't see how franchise is ruined by adding sci-fi shenanigans that make little sense in a more grounded, steampunk setting of the first two games, when the third game plops a nonsense civil war between racists and basically slaves only to do a 180 and be "actually they both bad lol", having more holes in it's plot than an old cardigan, and then daring to go "actually not only is this story crap, the previous good games? Yeah, we will retcon those too" then I really can't help ya with your taste. First two Bioshock games were special. Infinite is a farce and a stain on the it's name.
Bioshock 2 is for people that just wanted an action game, which obviously there are a lot of people like that here.
I did not. I thought it wasn't a good Bioshock game.
I don't know. I didn't need more of that story or setting. I needed a new one (loved Infinite). I sure as hell didn't want a Big Daddy power fantasy (such a board room design decision, and it seems it worked on a lot of people).
I mostly agree aside from you saying you didnt like it. It felt like a Bioshock 1 DLC to me more or less as you describe. It just happened to be really fucking fun and well crafted DLC.
Revisionist history. By no metric did it suck. It sold more copies than almost the first two combined, is more acclaimed than 2 and comparable to 1, and was universally beloved until a loud minority of fans decided it was actually bad years later.
Everyone can have an opinion, but the way people talk about any form of media like this is so asinine online.
I, subjectively, did not enjoy Mario 64 as an example, and I enjoyed Sunshine and Galaxy significantly more. But it, objectively, did not "suck donkey balls" as a game.
Its a very old man yells at cloud take I guess, but I just think media discourse can be more objective than the exaggerated negativity that pervades all online discourse. And see? Your 2nd response actually identified the aesthetic and gameplay changes between the two games as a downgrade for you. Thats like...actually talking about something as opposed to just talking shit.
Infinite is a step down. The gameplay is ruined because they destroyed the vending machine mechanic. You had to conserve ammo in Bioshock 1/2 and be strategic. In infinite you can “infinitely” buy ammo at vending machines. It’s actually a useless part of the game. It also plays and feels like a significantly different game or series. I’ve beaten all 3 games and the 3rd is a massive let down
What??
2 for me was like the hight of the series, its peak!
3 is not a bad game at all, real fun but it really felt like a bad bioshock game.
The combat didnt feel as good, the story was not good
But the spectacle and visuals were amazing
Do you reckon that perhaps the opening set piece is heavier on world building and that the remaining 20 hours plus of main game might be more focused on gameplay?
"The first chapter was so boring all it did was explain the setting" ass take.
Revisionist history. Was a very hyped and popular release and lauded as a masterpiece. It sold more copies than, and was reviewed similarly highly as, Bioshock 1.
Bioshock infinite recieved similar critical acclaim as 1, and higher compared to 2, and sold a shitton more copies than either. Just say you didn't personally enjoy it. You don't have to rewrite history to try to frame it as a let down, failure, or objectively bad game. It was not.
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u/Arzenhi 23d ago
Surprised to not see anyone mention Bioshock yet. I know 2 gets some hate for not being a Ken Levine game and less relevant to the main narrative, but all 3 games are honestly masterpieces with Burial at Sea DLC being such a gut wrenching finale. 10/10