Bioshock Infinite - Review Thread [UP: IGN exclusive split PC/Console review up]

God damn at that Sessler review. Talking about something he saw (no spoilers)

This moment, in its odd quietude and musical anachronism, is one of numerous tableau's in Bioshock Infinite that catapult this exhilarating meditation on identity, guilt, belief, narrative, revolution, race, national identity and eventually games themselves into a brilliant sensory symphony without precedent in the medium.

It is one of the most remarkable creative feats I have experienced.
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How spoilerish is Sessler's review? And if it has more than I'm willing to watch it for, could somebody give a general rundown to what he says?
 
Magic Mushroom said:
Didn't Resident Evil 6 get a lot of bad reviews? EG gave a 4 to Sim City. Edge gave a 6 to Crysis 3. We all know about Aliens: CM. It's not like every big game gets big scores and certainly not these kind of scores.
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Aliens was so terrifyingly broken that there would've been no wriggling out of giving it 8-10/10 scores. Simcity reviews that came BEFORE the big controversy tended towards 8-10. Warfighter was intentionally held back from reviewers until release day, signifying - as with films without pre-screenings - that EA knew it was complete shit and didn't care about reviews. Edge typically has lower scores than mainstream publications on most games, or in extreme cases much higher than the norm (e.g Bayonetta) - I wouldn't be shocked if they wished they could drop scores altogether and go with the "wot i fink" model. That's putting aside factors like different publishers using different tactics for influencing scores - Rockstar are allegedly extremely aggressive and unpleasant with some reviewers (I recall PC gamer UK grumbling about them a long, long time ago), whilst Capcom tend towards provding them with game guides and playtips for the "ideal experience" (Tom Chick and the Future Pub. guy).

Pretty much all other major titles of the last year or so have gotten 8-10 (usually 9 or 10) scores like clockwork from the mainstream sites. Mass Effect 3, Halo 4, Max Payne 3, Assassin's Creed 3, Skyrim, Diablo 3, Gears of War Judgement, God of War Ascension, Mists of Pandaria, MW3, BLOPS 2, Kingdoms of Amalur....all 8-10s, and invariably 8.5-10 if you filter out the more obscure reviewers on metacritic. That's not to say such scores were reserved for massive or heavily marketed projects - Journey, TWD, Valve games (big budget but typically not all that heavily marketed compared to the big boys) and so forth. Infinite is without a doubt an "AAA" game in the sense of having a large budget, being heavily marketed by 2K (seriously, I've seen 10x as many ads for Infinite as I have Gears of War) and has been massively hyped by journalists pre-release.

Now, those who can look at that list and say "yes, most of those scores fall into the 1-2pt margin of error compared to my own experience with the games in question", then that's fine. I mean, I'm surprised they haven't died of a heart attack at being bombarded with such mind-blowing quality experiences over so short a period, but w/e. If I come back from playing Infinite and think it more-or-less deserved those scores (which happened to me with TWD - bought it for 10 dollars expecting crap, ended up my favourite ga-well, experience, I should say - of 2012) then I'll happily say so.
 
The hive mind mentality thing might just be human nature. Maybe the publisher has mastered the art of buttering up reviewers while keeping an arbitrary safe distance from unethical practices. Reminds me of back door political activity. IGN feels like an insurance policy for the pub.
 
The Crusty Juggler said:
I'd also question how so many different games journalists can share the same opinion. That rarely happens in the music, TV or Film industry. It's almost hive mind mentality.

Again, I'm not trolling before anyone accuses me of it.
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This is pretty common. GTA4 is probably the best example of this. 86 reviews and the lowest score is an 8.
 
9.0 on Gamespot, currently at 96 on metacritic, same as first bioshock. I had high expectations but didn't think it would reach that score. Congrats to Levine and company.
 
spirity said:
God damn at that Sessler review. Talking about something he saw (no spoilers)

This moment, in its odd quietude and musical anachronism, is one of numerous tableau's in Bioshock Infinite that catapult this exhilarating meditation on identity, guilt, belief, narrative, revolution, race, national identity and eventually games themselves into a brilliant sensory symphony without precedent in the medium.

It is one of the most remarkable creative feats I have experienced.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
It's one of the most style-over-substance comments I have heard in a review.
 
So I have yet to play Bioshock 1 or 2. Would you guys recommend I play those first, or is infinite's story completely separate? The rev3games review really hyped me, I want to play this game.
 
I just checked my Gamefly and I see they're sending me BioShock Infinite. I shouted in joy considering I cancelled Gamefly months ago but they offered this month for $1 and I still had BioShock Infinite in my Q.
 
a3den said:
Gamekult is not that harsh, it's just that they never ever gave 10/10 (there's a cultural thing behind this, school/uni marks used to be like that in France). Consider their 8 as a 9 if you'd like.
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The funny thing is, the former Chief Editor wanted to give 10 to... Bioshock 1, but didn't because he wasn't able to discuss it with his colleagues (away at GamesCom I think) and didn't want to break the "rule" without hearing their opinion first.

Anyway, interesting reviews. :)
 
Nestunt said:
I highly doubt that GTA or the Last of Us can get to this level

both are more cookie cutter than this one
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There's nothing really cookie cutter about TLoU if they pull off the concept they're aiming for. And GTA is GTA. 4 has the highest Metacritic rating ever for a game (98).
 
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/03/bioshock-infinite-review-in-the-sky-lord-in-the-sky/

The Good

A wonderfully detailed, vibrant alternate history world
Wonderful pacing and excellent storytelling
An ending that brings everything together beautifully
Well fleshed-out characters that forge meaningful relationships
Combat doesn't wear out its welcome with a lot of filler

The Bad

Shooting is nothing to write home about
Lack of gameplay tension due to overly forgiving death/revival process
 
Screaming Meat said:
Weird. You wouldn't think so from the general comments here!
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Its usually the unhappy that are the most vocal, or rather the most visible. If you're happy, you're happy and you don't feel as compelled to tell everyone. If you're not, there's more motivation to tell people about it.
 
upJTboogie said:
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/03/bioshock-infinite-review-in-the-sky-lord-in-the-sky/

The Good

A wonderfully detailed, vibrant alternate history world
Wonderful pacing and excellent storytelling
An ending that brings everything together beautifully
Well fleshed-out characters that forge meaningful relationships
Combat doesn't wear out its welcome with a lot of filler

The Bad

Shooting is nothing to write home about
Lack of gameplay tension due to overly forgiving death/revival process
Click to expand...

The two Bad points sound like they're rectified by 1999 Mode.
 
Fucken reviewers. "Game does not live up to its expectations but here's a 10"

I feel that this game will be the new MGS4
 
spirity said:
Its usually the unhappy that are the most vocal, or rather the most visible. If you're happy, you're happy and you don't feel as compelled to tell everyone. If you're not, there's more motivation to tell people about it.
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If that were so, there wouldn't be so many OTs barely distinguishable from viral marketing.
 
Computer said:
It's one of the most style-over-substance comments I have heard in a review.
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I like The Sess, but that comment... Jesus Herbert Walker Christ. It's so over the top and it almost reads like he threw a thesaurus and some ten cent words at the screen to see what would stick.
 
The pacing is what I am most excited about. It sounds like it has a wonderful balance of exhilarating combat and downtime to explore and reflect on different themes. Even more so than the first one.
 
Nestunt said:
I highly doubt that GTA or the Last of Us can get to this level

both are more cookie cutter than this one
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One of the games has no imitator of substance within the gaming landscape and the other is so different they have to tell people to forget gaming conventions they are used to.

Cookie cutter indeed.
 
The PC gamer review lines up with a lot of the opinions of gaffers that have finished the game already, and it worries me since I'm here for the story
When I finished BioShock Infinite – don’t worry, I won’t spoil anything – I was dumbfounded. I wanted to tell someone what I thought, but for a moment I had absolutely no idea. I’d experienced a kind of excited panic, then total delight, then momentary confusion, and then a rush of extraordinary sights, powerful scenes and sudden twists that left me struggling to keep up.

It’s a spectacular ending. It’s just a shame it doesn’t make a lick of sense.

Infinite is wonderful. Every single person who can play it, should play it. It’s a fascinating and gruesomely fun adventure in a genuinely unique, magnificent place. But the plot really does jump the shark. It jumps a lot of sharks. It jumps the BioShark Infinisharks. That’s not uncommon in cinematic first-person shooters, but I mention it now because the game’s mysteries are such a big part of its appeal.
........
It’s awkward: I want to tell you why the plot failed for me, but I have to be vague. It has many, many leaps of questionable logic, but the ones that really hurt are when your terrible predicament seems to be the direct consequence of decisions that didn’t make sense at the time.

At one point, your solution to a simple logistical problem is the equivalent of setting off an atom bomb to clear a cobweb. So when anything bad happens from then on, you’re thinking, “Boy, it almost seems like setting off that atom bomb was an insane, unnecessary and irrational thing to do.”

You don’t set off an atom bomb. That was a metaphor.

The worst culprit is the ending. The plot’s final emotional sting is an action that just doesn’t seem like it would achieve anything. It seems to be assuming some new rule about how this world works – but since those rules were never established, any drama that hinges on them feels arbitrary.
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Ithil said:
They're standalone, it doesn't matter if you've played the earlier games.



Bioshock 1 is worth playing for itself, but it's not necessary for playing this one at all.
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dont know why but bioshock PC, makes me dizzy, i play a lot of fps games, but this game makes me sick, im gonna try to change resolution or FOV,
 
BruceLeeRoy said:
One of the games has no imitator of substance within the gaming landscape and the other is so different they have to tell people to forget gaming conventions they are used to.

Cookie cutter indeed.
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To be fair, many developers are saying "forget gaming conventions you are used to, we are different."

We'll have to see.
 
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