BioShock Infinite: That's Quite a Large Creative Liberty You've Got There

Oh boy! A new game!  I've completely sold out!  Fuck off, I like Bioshock and didn't want to wait.

Sequels are tough these days.  Not only do you have the original to live up to, you're expected to expand on the idea and make it better.  Take out the sucky parts and add more of the good bits and include enough fan-service that people won't complain.  Story heavy FPS are probably among the hardest to live up to expectations.  You're walking a thin line with creative liberty.  Change too little and people say it's just a remake, change too much and you get crucified.  Examples of good sequels to story based shooters, Half-Life 2, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Medal Gear Solid 3.  Examples of really awful sequels to story driver shooters, every Call of Duty after four, Bioshock 2, Deus Ex: Invisible War, Dead Space 2, Perfect Dark Zero, Metroid: Other M, the list goes on and on and on.

But I think BioShock Infinite strikes a good chord in the realm of sequels.  I'm not going to tote it as the FPS Messiah as most reviews seem to be lording it as, because it is definetaly not without it's problems.  But first a look into the mechanics.

Bioshock: Infinite has a fair amount of really obvious problems with it's controls.  First off, for some unknown reason, they felt the need to add in iron sight aiming.  I understand that firing from the hip is not a good idea and makes you more likely to hit yourself than an enemy, but Bioshock's combat is supposed to be a flow of shooting and plasmids, not a shooter with plasmids in it.  I would understand this choice if the iron sighting was easy to use or didn't break the combat flow a lot, but it sure as shit does.  The original binding for iron sights in middle mouse click.  The fuck?  How is that even a little intuitive?  I get that you can't bind it to right click off the bat because that's for your powers, but clicking the middle mouse button in the middle of a fight is not going to work and it's a toggle system, I assume to allow for the middle mouse button to actually function in some way, but if you rebind the key, you can't turn off the toggle function.  In addition melee attack, something very useful, is bound to v.  Fucking V?  Really?  That's the easy access key that seemed to work?  And it doesn't end there.  Use is bound to F instead of E like every other game ever, weapon swap is E instead of Q, Q is a menu to see all your Vigors, which is not necessary because they're bound to the number keys.

It all just seems like an array of terrible choices.  I pity the person that doesn't play with at least a five button mouse because that's kind of what the game demands.

Moving on from the controls, the graphics are kind of strange.  I have a pretty good machine.  It's not top of the line, I don't have 2 nVidia x90 cards running in SLI or an overclocked CPU, I have a upper-mid range rig.  The game runs at 60fps on high, kind of.  It has the strangest slow downs.  In the beginning, I was walking around Columbia, tons of stuff on the screen, tons of ambient lights and dynamic shadows, lots of textures too smooth out and the game ran fine.  But as soon as I stopped to play one of the shooting galleries, a confined field of view with not a whole lot being rendered, the game dropped to exactly 30fps and stayed there like a rock.  As soon as the minigame was done, back up to 60.  I could not figure out why.  I messed with the settings for a while and then just said, "Fuck it, Medium it is."  And once I turned on the medium preset, it ran perfectly the whole game.  Very strange.  But it's still is damn pretty on Medium, so don't fret if you have to turn the graphics down, the combat demands a good framerate to survive.

I also had a bit of a problem with the combat.  Bioshock 1 had great combat.  It was tense, difficult and relied solely on your skill to get you through it.  Bioshock Infinite departed from that in one incredibly huge and nearly unforgivable way, regenerating health.  Technically, it's not regenerating "health" but the mechanic is still there.  This essentially put training wheels on the game.  The very few fights you have to go through before you get this ability are the best ones of the game in my opinion.  The "Hard" difficulty was actually hard until this addition, then it was fairly laughible.

I also missed how confined the battles in Rapture were.  Everything was tight quarters and it really added a level of difficulty and depth to the combat.  You can't just run away, you have to think quickly and use your environment to your advantage.  The wide open layout of Columbia along with your ability to quickly move about it removes something special that the original had.  It feels a lot like Dishonored but much easier.

Fianlly, the game slightly aggravated me with confining me to two weapons.  In Bioshock 1, you had all the weapons at once because the combat demanded it.  No one or two weapons would see you through.  No use in using the grenades to kill a lone splicer and the Tommy gun was not so good against armored targets unless you had AP rounds.  Bioshock 1 had an array of guns, each with unique ammo types that were useful in certain situations.  The gun upgrades actually changed the way the gun looked which I thought was amazing.  BioShock Infinite carried none of this over.  I used essentially two weapons for the VAST majority of the game.  Just two.  I didn't even want to try out new weapons I found because the two I had, which I managed to fully upgrade as soon as the upgrades became available for purchase, were suitable for every encounter I had.  But one of the guns I used had the prettiest gun texture I've ever seen in a game, so there is that.

Fucking hell that's a pretty gun

But I suppose that's enough complaining.  None of these issues stopped me from playing all the way through the game in less than 24 hours.  So now I'll mention what I liked.

The idea of having an AI companion is something that will almost completely drive me away from a game.  There's a small amount of notable exceptions, but I usually end up hating AI companions. 

All that said, Elizabeth wins the award for the Best Support AI in gaming history.  Hands down.

I don't think I ever heard her repeat a line in the whole game.  And the random conversations during the actual gameplay seem real and add greatly to character development.  She even comments on things in the environment in an insightful and interesting way.  The character is very well written into the experience and enhances it at every turn.  On top of that, not only does she stay out of the way during combat, she can't die, never ran in front of my gun sight and even helps you out during combat.  Between Spec Ops: The Line and Bioshock Infinite I'm starting to reel back my total hatred of support AI. 

Sums it up nicely

I promise I will not ruin a single thing about the story, half-pinky promise.  But if you want to experience it all for yourself and completely blacked yourself out from any info on the story before you played the game, like I did, skip this section.  I will only touch the very top of the story, but I'm still warning you.

The story is amazing, it really is.  The subject matter of the story not as much as the characters involved.  Everyone is written in so perfectly.  My absolute favorite characters being these two.

Booker Dewitt is the perfect anti-hero too.  He's written in with exactly that as his archetype.  Most anti-heros eventually stray from this path to become some awful, overly dramatic sap, but Dewitt's character is constructed in a more believable way than most and had the proper feel about him.  I mentioned in my Dead Space 2 review that if you want me to feel for a character, don't make them act outside of their believable realm too often, it will ruin characters.

Elizabeth's character was the pleasant of surprises.  Female supports, especially ones in the age range of Elizabeth tend to be written in as whiny and helpless, and I really hate that.  Aside from kind of a dumb stereotype, it makes me hate the character.  Ashley in Resident Evil 4 is pretty much this incarnate.  It can really bring me out of the story.

The story itself has a ton of nice twists and turns, a few of which I could spoil with a single screenshot, but you will not guess the ending, I guarantee it.  You might be able to call one or two of the twists, but the actual ending will leave you blown away.  But I'm not saying a single word more than that.

I'm willing to recommend this game on story and environment alone.  The combat is no where near the level of Bioshock 1.  The keybinding will need serious overhaul on your part to get them to where you like them, but damn it's a good game, and you still haven't guessed the ending.

Looks like Vault Boy

Listen closely to the music

That wrench looks familiar

I love the setting

Amazing visuals

Fallout: New Vegas: My Words Taste Like Sand And Buffout

Ah fuck.  Fuck, fuckity, fuck, fuck, damn it to hell, son of a bitch, fuck.  I like New Vegas better than Fallout 3.

*Sigh* I was really hoping I would play through New Vegas again, come to the same conclusion that I did the first time, write a relatively short post about why Fallout 3 is superior and move on.  But that's just not the case, New Vegas is the better game and I guess I'll make a normal length post about why this is so.  I'm no more happy about it than you are.

I mentioned in my post about Fallout 3's story and how I feel it started better, and I still feel that way.  The "Courier" had exactly the same amount of back story and motivation that I remember, that is to say none at all.  I can't fathom why you would want to hunt down the guy who shot you in the head.  He thinks you're dead, he doesn't want anything from you anymore, just drop it and start your new life.  If you see him again, alone in an alley, sure shoot him in the head about nine times, but don't stand up from the grave and go after the guy.

But I figured out why I didn't like it as much the first time around.  Hardcore Mode.  I first played through New Vegas fresh off of a playthrough of Fallout 3.  And since I figured New Vegas is just like Fallout 3, I should probably toss on this, "Hardcore Mode" deal to make the game more interesting to play.  That was a bad move, Hardcore mode is the fucking anti-fun.

Just what I was thinking

Hardcore mode is fun in it's own right.  Savaging food, making lunches for yourself, everything having weight.  But after a while it just because annoying.  You have enough food for yourself, enough water, a bed to sleep in, but the Mojave is so big, fast travel will eat through your supplies in a hurry.  So you have to make your destination count or it's just going to eat supplies.  Not being able to carry as much means you'll have less money.  Having less money means you won't be able to afford that awesome rifle you say at Gun Runners and I have a hunger a need for bigger guns.

It just kind of constricts the game unnecessarily.  I like aimlessly wandering about, going to random compass points, carrying an entire armory of ammo on me at all times, the game is better without Hardcore mode on, I'm sorry to say.

I was always in a rush when Hardcore was on.  I wanted quests one right after another so I could scavenge some food and dirty water to keep myself going.  Now I just walk where ever I want to and to hell with the consequences.  It gave me more time to talk to people, to explore places and to do random stuff that I wouldn't have bothered with on Hardcore.

Something I missed

And as a result I found the writing better, the world more alive and vibrant.  Everything was more dynamic than in Fallout 3.  I certainly liked the weapons better.  They had a better progression, there was more of them and much more to do with them.  I may have obsessively modded every weapon I came across save for the damned hunting rifle custom bolt that NO ONE SEEMS TO FUCKING HAVE, EVER!!!1!!1

But I digress, the game is just better.  The quests are more fun, more interesting, more diverse.  The Wasteland has more to see, seems less dreary and is much more alive.  The enemies are more diverse and there's more ways to play the game.  You can side with pretty much whoever you want to, to whatever ends and for whatever reasons.  Your choices matter and the game isn't as geared towards a certain skill set like Fallout 3 was.  Spoiler, if you maxed out Speech and Science in Fallout 3, there's pretty much no conversation or situation you can't win someone over in.

New Vegas had more variety in this area.  I wasn't able to pass every conversation successfully with the same skill set.  And so I failed some, which was a nice change of pace and changed the game for me. 

That doesn't look good

But the things that really sealed the deal, that was the actual butter cream frosting on the Mojave cake was the DLC.  And I only played one of them, that's how good the DLC is.

The Big Empty

Now I thought I had all the DLCs.  During the last sale I tried to purchase the GOTY edition because it was cheaper than buying all the DLCs by themselves because of the Steam sale, and it said I already had it.  So I figured I had it, crazy leap in logic, I know.  But I'm considerably less pissed because Old World Blues is the best DLC I have ever played in any game, ever.

I don't think I've ever laughed so hard at a game before.  The writing is beyond top notch, it's fantastic.  I loved every single second of all of it and was very sad when the main quest had to end because that means I had seen everything there was to see.

Dr. Mobius is very eloquent

This is a model of how DLC needs to be.  New Vegas is a great, amazing and very much complete experience on it's own.  The DLC is like finding the flask of rum you hid in the freezer after you've run out of beer and the liquor stores are closed.  Just when you think everything is over, you find the fun can continue.

This is a big problem with DLCs, looking at you EA, you can't make DLC necessary to the original game, it doesn't work that way.  If I had to pay for the ability to complete the main quest in New Vegas I'd be furious, but luckily Obsidian and Bethesda turned down the Kool-Aid most major devs seem to be sharing these days.

But enough rambling, the final point is, if you liked Fallout 3, you'll love New Vegas, and if you loved New Vegas, get the DLC, it's awesome, especially Old World Blues, seriously go buy it now.  Don't make me forcibly lobotomize you and replace your spine, I'll get Muggy to do it, I'll just tell him you're a coffee cup.

I love this quest

Limping onto the strip

Guess who I sided with?

This week's post brought to you by this Toaster

Hey Boone, you doing okay?

Fallout 3: Pretty lively for a wasteland

What makes an RPG great?  There's a million and a half answers to this question, some would say the characters and the story, others would say the setting, some would say mechnics, some would say none of these.  The question gets even trickier when you throw in the difference between western and Japanese RPGs.  There's no one right answer although I would argue that there are a few wrong ones, but to avoid a fight I won't mention those here.

I've always had a slightly different view on what makes an RPG great.  In my opinion, it's how much it ruins your life.

Kind of like this guy

Now I don't mean to say that RPGs have legitimately ruined my life, far from it, they stand alone on the top pedestal as my favorite genre by leaps and bounds.  What I mean by "ruin your life" is I'm writing this at 6:30 in the morning and I have stuff to do tomorrow, fucking Fallout...

Sticking power is what makes RPGs great.  It's kind of a cop-out answer, I know.  "You made us pick asshole and then made us look like ignorant fucks because the right answer wasn't there!"  Easy there killer, I'll explain.  I'm writing this post at 6:30 in the morning because I said to myself, "Hey, you should tie up some loose ends on quests and write a blog post about it."  And I said, "Wow that sounds like a good idea, let's see, the next on the list is go to a riverboat?  I don't remember that being in the game."  And 7 hours later I have most of one of the DLC's done because I suck at time management.

There was no point in there where I wanted it to end, I wasn't getting tired playing it, I wanted to see more.  This is a culmination of a lot of things.  Mechanics, settings, writing, characterization of NPCs and of course the lure of the next level.  I've played Fallout 3 before, multiple times, but this time was no different, I just get lost in the splendor of it all, and that's a great RPG.

Such a charming game

Fallout 3 was my first experience with the Fallout universe which generally means I'm predisposed to liking it more than New Vegas, and I do.  The consensus seems to be that people who didn't play Fallout 1 or 2 like Fallout 3 better and people who did play Fallout 1 & 2 tend to like New Vegas better.  I've been told it has to do with New Vegas capturing more of the spirit of the originals and 3 being more "gritty" in it's setting and writing.  But no matter how you cut it, Fallout 3 is one of the best western RPGs ever made, and I make this statement with no question in my mind.

After I explain the differences in the beginning of the story I swear I'll stop making comparisons between 3 and NV so stop writing that angry comment and hold your hate until the end. 

Fallout 3 has you beginning in a Vault, a giant nuclear fallout shelter constructed to ensure the survival of the human race in case of a nuclear war (SPOILER: A nuclear war happens).  You have been kept here all your life and it's all you know, then events beyond your control throws you out into the wasteland with an incredibly open ended objective and you have to figure everything out on your own, it's nicely done.

New Vegas starts with you getting shot in the head, because you're a courier and apparently someone wants what you have.  You then wake up in a nearby town and have to track down the guy who shot you (which seems like a terrible idea) in a very, "Oh where could he possibly have gone, maybe that giant glowing place over there?" type of obvious storytelling.  And the game never addresses your life before you getting shot in the head, ever.  No one recognizes you, you basically just blipped into existence to get shot in the head, it's a little odd.

Ready?

Mechanically, the game is solid and should be a template for future games in the genre.  The game gives you tons of choices in how you want to play.  Don't like FPS?  We'll handle the shooting in a pseudo turn based system.  Don't like turn-based combat?  No problem, the game holds up fine as a pure FPS.  Want to carry around a giant minigun and mow down hordes of enemies while wearing a suit of powered armor?  Awesome, we got you covered.  Want to sneak around and use a gun that nails peoples limbs to walls?  No problem, have fun.  Now do you want a normal gun or a laser gun?  Or maybe you'd like some grenades?  Or perhaps a flaming sword or a weapon made of the severed hands or your enemies?

It's all just waiting there for you and the game doesn't penalize any particular play style, they're all equally viable, they want you to do what you want to do.

The setting is one of Fallout's most engaging points.  I've never seen a game world feel so alive and so dead at the same time.  Exploring is by far the best part of the game.  You might be running somewhere and see a unexplored location pop up on your compass and 2 hours later you've cleared out a radar station of raiders, found a new quest, completed it, and have a new weapon and a stylish hat to show for it

Maybe you'll wander into the capitol rotunda

The game does very little hand holding.  You can wander anywhere from the word go and you'll learn very quickly that you probably shouldn't have taken a pot shot at some weird looking thing called a "Deathclaw"

Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck.

You have to learn what's dangerous, what works, what's to be avoided, you are the Lone Wanderer.

I have a bad feeling about this...

The game is not without faults, however.  It is a wide open, sandbox game, so it comes with it's share of glitches.

Collision fail

Pretty sure his face and arms should be the same color

Amazing floating merchant

But all the ones I've encountered were more funny than anything else.  None of the quests messed up on me and none of them really upset me.

The game's main storyline also falls rather flat.  It's rather short, only taking a few hours if that's all you do.  And be warned, unless you have the Broken Steel DLC installed, you do not get to continue your game after the final mission is complete.  But I feel that this is okay.  I'm not sure it was intentional or not, but the lack of focus on the main questline lets you focus on a much more interesting story, your own.  The main story of the game, in my opinion is all of your interactions in the world.  The random quests you find, the random things you find, it's all part of your story.  One in which you actually develop from a terrified vault dweller to a master of the wastes.

If you haven't played Fallout 3, I would highly recommend picking it up.  It's one of the best experiences in my gaming career and every time I start it up again it sucks me back in, there's just nothing else like it.  I'm currently 43 hours into this play through and I'm not done.  The world is out there, waiting to be explored.

Kind of showing off

One in a million shot