Bioshock Infinite

[AstroBlue]

The problems with combat were that a)you have a shield and b)you have an open environment; which basically results in you to take the easy route of taking cover and making potshots; in Bioshock you had mostly confined corridors and fixed health so you had to get creative. In this game you're provided the tools for amazing combat but you NEVER have to use them, even skyline combat I found myself either slowing down and sniping or waiting for an enemy to zip past me so I can batter them into oblivion (it's stupid the button to Melee in the air is not the Melee button but to press the skyline button again).

But on second thought, wasn't this the whole trouble with combat in bioshock as well, you expected to create elaborate traps for big daddies with trip wires and stacked gas bottles, but in the end you just made them do the "electric buck dance" until they died.

[Joust Williams]

I like that idea, and when players latch onto something like Bioshock Infinite as the definition of gaming itself

I don't think anyone is doing that. I agree with Astroblue.

[Hero]

The problems with combat was that a)you have a shield and b)you have an open environment; which basically results you to take the easy route of taking cover and making potshots; in Bioshock you had mostly confined corridors and fixed health so you had to get creative. In this game you're provided the tools for amazing combat but you NEVER have to use them, even skyline combat I found myself either slowing down and sniping or waiting for an enemy to zip past me so I can batter them into oblivion (it's stupid the button to Melee in the air is not the Melee button but to press the skyline button again).

But on second thought, wasn't this the whole trouble with combat in bioshock as well, you expected to be have to create elaborate traps for big daddies with trip wires and stacked gas bottles, but in the end you just made them do the "electric buck dance" until they died.

Yeah, and I think that's why I liked Bioshock 2 over 1. There were a lot situations where they forced you to get creative. It was really hard to find one way to beat every fight and stick to it.

I hadn't thought about shields and the openness in Infinite, but it does explain a lot. I agree, the way encounters are handled, it's an easier thing to hide and take potshots than be crazy inventive, and that the restrictive environment if Rapture was a good thing for gameplay.

I don't think anyone is doing that. I agree with Astroblue.

Kotaku has quite a few articles/readers commenting with a tone of "is this Game of the Year, Game of the Decade, or Best Game Ever" as if there really is a consensus that gamers believe this to be one of the greats, and just how it stacks up in the longview is the debatable part. The usual argument for that belief is tied to story and very rarely covers gameplay, or does so while excusing its shortfalls.

[Almaci]

Bird or Cage?
Choose wisely knowing that your choice matters not at all.

[Joust Williams]

It is GOTY so far though.

[Space Pirate Roberts]

Bird or Cage?
Choose wisely knowing that your choice matters not at all.

I think that's kinda the point. As "would you kindly" was Bioshock's meta-comment on the form, the choices with only very minor consequences are Infinite's. Of course, just like the political commentary, it's way less central this time around; you could even argues it's just there because it's something a Bioshock game is expected to have.

[Diff-chan]

Kotaku has quite a few articles/readers commenting with a tone of "is this Game of the Year, Game of the Decade, or Best Game Ever" as if there really is a consensus that gamers believe this to be one of the greats, and just how it stacks up in the longview is the debatable part. The usual argument for that belief is tied to story and very rarely covers gameplay, or does so while excusing its shortfalls.

Maybe I'm just old and have seen everything, but I knew these articles and comments were coming months before release.

In six months everybody will hate the game, in 2 years everyone will say, "nah it had problems but was good overall."

[bbobb]

I think that's kinda the point. As "would you kindly" was Bioshock's meta-comment on the form, the choices with only very minor consequences are Infinite's. Of course, just like the political commentary, it's way less central this time around; you could even argues it's just there because it's something a Bioshock game is expected to have.

Actually the choices fit clearly into the games point that there are constants and there are variables

[Space Pirate Roberts]

Sure, but they're a very small part of making that point. You could take them out completely with no real impact as it is made so much more strongly elsewhere. Not to mention that point... isn't even the point. Bioshock was ABOUT Objectivism and the illusion of player agency in videogames; Infinite USES American exceptionalism, the illusion of choice in branching-path stories, and quantum physics sci-fi WTFery as backdrop elements in a story about personal regret and redemption.

[bbobb]

That's not true though. Yes the story of the game is about personal regret and redemption but its a Bioshock game in name for a reason. It follows the same themes and one of them is the illusion of player choice. It doesn't matter what you do, what you choose it all still ends the same. The whole idea of constants and variables is a commentary on that exactly. You can play through a game any way you want, there's infinite numbers of ways to play (hence the name Bioshock infinite) but it doesn't matter, it all still ends the same.