Video Game Reviews

Review Disclosure

Ignore the score and examine the print. What you find in the text is the most important, reviews will have both objective and subjective material - how a game works on a technical level, its mechanics, its graphical fidelity, whether or not it operates smoothly without bugs or image errors is objective. How this effects a game's presentation, its personality, its level of entertainment is purely subjective. A game I may love you may hate and a game I hate you may love. What is important is that you learn my perspective, and if written correctly, you'll be able to agree wholeheartedly or dismiss my comments as one form an insane heretic. We all have particular tastes, if you have an affinity with mine and we're a perfect match, take the score with confidence, if not, feel free to write some hate mail.  :)

BIOSHOCK INFINITE

Developer - Irrational Games

Publisher - Take Two

Platform - PC

Here lies the final burial of a long time debate.

For non-believers, the chasm separating art and video games has ceased to exist, and for the believers, a feeling of righteous gratification.

Although the ambition to create a film adaptation of Bioshock has floundered in the depths and will likely never emerge, surely with the popularity of Infinite and its more conveniently adaptable characters: protagonist Booker and co-star Elizabeth, there will be inevitable talks of bringing the game to the silver-screen. Should it though? Irrational’s Bioshock Infinite shows irrevocably how video games can tell certain stories effectively better than what many would consider more conventional storytelling methods.

Irrational Games created a fictional world that touches on the horrific, the beautiful, and does so with perpetual wonderment. Infinite’s primary setting, the suspended city of Columbia, shows on its surface a city in humanistic distress: the Founders are the rulers of the city, a group of religious fanatics who impose racial and social discrimination against the city’s minorities. As a result, a rebel group with revolutionist intentions known as the Vox Populi (Latin for Voice of the People) arises to shake the Founder’s prejudicial foundations. But as the story progresses the player soon realizes that Infinite at its core, is less about these two opposing forces and more about two strangers who are brought together through or against prophecy.

Players inhabit wartime veteran and former Pinkerton agent, Booker Dewitt, “a roguish type”, who has fallen in to debt with the wrong people from a gambling problem driven by his many past sins. To obtain absolution in both a literal and metaphorical sense, he must travel to the city in the sky, free a girl named Elizabeth from her gilded prison, and bring her to New York. The young co-star has a Rapunzel-esque vibe to her, but unlike Disney’s “Tangled” rendition of the sheltered, yet intelligent heroine, the world Elizabeth discovers isn’t bright and magical, but rather a fictitious, yet sickening realistic interpretation of America’s darkest times.

The storytelling methods used to tell Columbia’s story are akin to the ones used in the game’s predecessor – scattered across Columbia are voxophones, which are similar to the tape recordings players are accustomed to finding in Rapture, and like those, add color to Columbia’s enigmatic history, existence, and purpose. Like Rapture, Columbia’s walls, buildings, and posters provide context to the city’s political, religious and societal perspectives. This time around however, the ideologies presented in Columbia hit a little closer to home. Traversing through the outwardly beautiful city, I couldn’t help but observe, with some disconcertion, the historically accurate propagandistic caricatures of the city’s minorities so prevalent in the city – Africans portrayed with oversized lips, Asians with straight lines as eyes, the drunk Irishman, and more.

But, beyond all the racist imagery plastered on the walls, the segregated restrooms and antisemitic vendors, Columbia’s characteristics are presented in one methodologically different way than those of Rapture’s, and that is through the city’s lively state. Many of Columbia’s denizens are alive and well, opposite to that of Rapture’s, which creative director, Ken Levine, describes as a “graveyard”. Columbia’s upper class converse with a misplaced sense of arrogance, while the city’s lower class citizens sing songs of suffering, accurate to the period depicted. Dewitt gets to listen in on these pompous conversations and cries of disenfranchisement, elevating the already high level of immersion.

A challenge most developers tend to face is the integration of game mechanics at the expense of narrative consistency, an obstacle that Irrational has managed to overcome. Infinite does well to give context on why game mechanics function as they do in the world, for example, there exists a reason for how Dewitt returns to the land of the living after suffering his many untimely deaths, as opposed to most games which put little to no effort in explaining the resurrection phenomenon. The superhuman ability to launch stunning bolts of lightning, unleash a pack of murderous crows, or toss explosive balls of fire come from Vigors, Infinite’s nearly identical variant of Bioshock’s genetically altering Plasmids. Vigors are given a subtle short introduction, but still have a logical place in Columbia, although they do not serve the same level of narrative functionality as its predecessor’s Adam and Eve. This quality, though not of the upmost importance, still aids in the believability of the world.

Infinite’s combat feels very much like the first Bioshock. The FPS/RPG hybrid has players scrounge around for cash to purchase upgrades towards their guns and/or Vigors. Additionally, players will be able to acquire and equip up to four pieces of gear from a rather large selection. The gear, which is categorized into hats, shirts, pants and shoes, grants a variety of passive bonuses. Some of them are pretty standard – Quick Handed for example, decreases your reload time by 30%, whereas others will be much more situational – Winter Shield grants brief invulnerability when jumping to or from Sky-lines (what’s a sky-line? I’ll explain in a second). The location where gears are found is always the same; however which one they will be is randomized. During my second playthrough I was able to utilize equipment that I didn’t come across the first time and vice versa.

Columbia is a big place and a pretty wide opened one at that, juxtaposed against Rapture’s sub oceanic setting makes the latter seem rather claustrophobic in comparison. Combat takes place on the city streets just as much, if not more than the indoors, but this doesn’t simply translate into equipping your sniper rifle so that you can meticulously pick off enemies in between moments of cover. Columbia’s sky-lines is a rail system originally used to efficiently transport cargo between the city’s many floating sectors; it is later used by the Vox and Columbia’s local authority as a way of travel in the recent times of war (again gameplay mechanics have a contextual narrative place). For Dewitt, they serve more than a digital rollercoaster simulator; they make Columbia a tactical playground. Close the distance quickly and tackle unsuspecting foes or escape swiftly from overwhelming numbers, sky-lines add another layer to an already complex shooter. Additionally, certain gears like the aforementioned Winter Shield, helps to promote some effective, but unorthodox kind of play. Enemies utilizing the sky-lines will be able to attack Dewitt from a multitude of angles. These chaotic encounters will demand that players stay on their toes, vigilant to their positional weaknesses.

The enemies you’ll face in Columbia are pretty standard. They wear varying armor types (light, medium, heavy) and will be equipped with pretty much the same weapons Dewitt uses himself. The more abstract ones are visually compelling, but aren’t revolutionary in anyway. The motorized patriots are both creepy and intimidating with their porcelain George Washington faces and their endless mini-gun barrage. One of the game’s most challenging foes are the ghostly Sirens, who continue to resurrect the dead until you take them out, another is the highly aggressive handyman, who are the bi-product of Columbia’s twisted science, fatally ill citizens essentially caged in a mechanized suit only to be mindless goons for the Founders.

The last major gameplay component is Elizabeth. Most of my experiences with companion AIs are forgettable ones, but Elizabeth stays clear of that category: not simply because of who she is, what she says and how she acts, rather it is the culmination of those aspects and the indispensable assistance she provides in Infinite’s combative encounters. Booker essentially runs on four resources – ammo, cash, salts (which powers your vigors) and health, how much you have left of each of these is known by Elizabeth’s AI and in turn she will help you replenish whatever resource you are most depleted of. Her assistance at times can be seemingly random, but at others, pivotal to your survival. Additionally, Elizabeth is able to open tears, portals to other dimensions in which she can bring objects from other worlds into your own. This could be in the form of a wall of bricks for cover, a mechanized turret, a sky-hook, even a friendly motorized patriot. Her life saving capabilities coupled with her personable characteristics, expressive facial animations, and high level of detail make Elizabeth a companion worthy of affection.

As fans of history buff Ken Levine would expect, Infinite references many real world scientific theories, theologies, historical events and other such subject materials that are all interesting, relevant, complex, but familiar enough to enjoy. The story of Infinite is convoluted, but is constantly pushed forward with undeniable intrigue. At the end of it all I was spent – perplexed by the game’s brilliance, emotionally exhausted by the narrative's finale, and in perpetual disbelief of how well the game managed to tell its bold and wonderful story.

Still… the full impact Bioshock Infinite will have on the game industry and me, personally, has yet to sink in, and I confidently suspect that it never will.

10/10

Dead Space 3

Developer – Visceral Games

Publisher – Electronic Arts

Platform - PC

Dead Space 3 looks like a Dead Space title most of the time, but it rarely feels like one. This dislodge from the game’s predecessors will upset most traditionalist as Visceral Games’ third entry to the franchise opts for more action than horror. Since EA published the original Dead Space in 2008, there has been a spawn of extra reading and viewing material to help bring the intelligently crafted sci-fi world to life, including two animated motion pictures, a comic book series, and a wealth of fan created wikis.

Hopefuls eagerly awaited new info about the game to come out and Visceral/EA obliged, releasing details of the game’s brand new and “exciting cooperative” experience. Immediate reactions however, were speculative as players wondered - how scary Dead Space 3 may actually be? Accusation about EA’s meddling similar to the one Mass Effect 3’s ending aroused. Was co-op implemented to garner a new audience? Is profit centered EA habitually destroying all classic franchises?

No! claimed EA’s PR department, assuring fans that Dead Space 3 would deliver all the chills and thrills players would expect from the sci-fi horror franchise. Adventurers who would prefer to fight alone would be able to do so, unhindered by costar EarthGov Sergeant John Carver and his scared countenance and austere attitude.

The problem with Dead Space 3 doesn’t lie in its cooperative experience. It’s Visceral’s over simplification in Dead Space 3’s gameplay that truly ails the “survival horror” aspect of the survival horror game. Most of the elements that drove the hair-raising Dead Space 1 and 2 have been abandoned. Desperation, chaos, and the threat of danger drives fear, but none of these qualities are present in Dead Space 3 because the game, in a very simplistic interpretation, is too easy.

Weapon crafting, a component introduced in Dead Space 3 that allows a player to essentially combine two weapons together is often deemed the most interesting component of the game by critics, I strongly disagree. The mechanic seems to add a layer of complexity to the game’s combat on the surface, but it actually deprives Dead Space 3 of essential survival elements.

Logical players will craft a single weapon that can accommodate for a multitude of situations. The most obvious, effective and commonly conceived weapons will be those that have a primary function that is suitable for mid to long range combat while the secondary one will have an area of effect influence designated to combat foes that are close up. In shooter terms think an assault rifle assigned to your left click with a shotgun attached to your right. It would be very infrequent for a scenario to arise when a single, well-crafted Dead Space 3 weapon would not suffice – this means no weapon switching. Imagine being in a small corridor with Necromorphs coming at you from both sides. As the clip in your current weapon quickly approaches 0, you begin to panic and reach for the next item in your arsenal. Is it the correct weapon for the correct situation? Does the weapon I’m switching to have an adequate amount of ammo to survive the impending assault?  These are questions you don’t have to ask yourself in Dead Space 3. Fire a volley from your ranged attachment when they are far, fire with the shotgun like attachment when they’re close and since reloading one weapon will reload the clips for both functions simultaneously, there’s no reason to switch to the other weapon, unless of course you’re low on ammo. But that won’t happen because in order to make weapon crafting practical, Visceral normalized ammunition. Meaning all the weapons share the same ammo type which is both illogical and incredibly boring. In the first two Dead Space’s, the player would develop a feel for how much ammunition they would purchase for each weapon. Weigh an encounter out and carefully allocate your funds to be as proficient as possible. A miscalculation would increase the difficulty of a scenario enough to make you think. The challenge was both realistic and adaptable.

There’s no fear, no need to worry, it’s a walk in the park even on the most difficult setting. Dead Space 2 in the other hand was one of the most challenging single player games I’ve ever played, and that evoked a level of fear that had me taking long breaks to gather my broken self before I pushed highly unfortunate protagonist Issac Clarke further.

Let’s touch on the story, briefly since we don’t want any spoilers. Clarke has been going through some rough times – he suffers from a condition called, I barely survived two horrific encounters with Necromorphs that make you suicidally insane, and was recently dumped by a one-eyed girl. Well the one-eyed girl, Ellie, now has two very beautiful green eyes and is grave danger. Clarke gets called upon to save the girl he clearly still has endearing feelings for and vuala, Necromorph encounter number three.

You’ll find yourself in the familiar residence of space for a brief period of time, but the crux of the game is on an icy planet called Tao Volantis. The setting doesn’t really effect the atmosphere too much as the majority of the game is played indoors. A positive as the close quarters offer more frantic encounters, at least as much as the game could, considering the previously mentioned faults.

It’s not all bad - there were moments where the game truly shines, but they exist few in far between. The most enjoyable experiences were cooperative encounters where one player would be segmented off from the other. One player would have to tackle a problem, whether it be deciphering a puzzle or battling with internal demons, while the other would have to protect his partner. These brief moments of isolation that still maintained a cooperative agenda led to some very entertaining dialogue. During my experience there were a lot of yelling, plenty of swearing and some dying. “Hurry the f**k up!” was frequently tossed around, emulating a truly frantic scenario.

The title is a downgrade from its predecessors in nearly all respects, and it’s a shame because it is a fantastic IP. The simplification might have been done in an attempt to acquire a new audience, or perhaps a disappointing grasp at innovation, either way they would’ve been better off retaining the game’s previous weapons system while tossing in more interesting enemies.

6/10