What makes a good game? Is it good characters that feel like real people or a compelling story equivalent to a TV show or movie? Well, the answer is both but filled with ambitious ideas that work alongside good and fluid gameplay.

A personal opinion of mine is that I like games that are historically originated. For example, Red Dead Redemption Two is better than Grand Theft Auto Five because Red Dead Redemption Two takes place in the 1800s while Grand Theft Auto Five takes place in the present day. The reason why is because I like history.

Well, if you put human-like characters, a good story, fluid gameplay, and history in a melting pot mixed with Doom and other first-person shooters with the amazing ideas from head chef Ken Levine thrown in, what do you get?

You get Bioshock Infinite and its two-part DLC, “Burial at Sea”.

Bioshock Infinite came out on March 26, 2013, but the first time I experienced the game was in April.

I went to Target with my mom because I had some money to spend from my birthday. I went to check the video games section, and I saw that the Bioshock Collection was on sale for twenty dollars. I was surprised at the price because it was three games for twenty dollars. 

I played the first five minutes of Bioshock Two in 2013, but I never played the first one or Infinite. I decided to get it because it was a good deal.

I got home and played a little bit of Infinite, but then I got bored, and I played a different game. I did not play Infinite for another three months.

It was July, and I was bored, so I decided to give Infinite another chance, and wow, I am glad I did.

I had an amazing time playing it because it was always a fun, amazing, and sad ride.

The game is outstanding in many aspects. These are the reasons why I love Bioshock Infinite so much:

Setting:

Starting off at a lighthouse in Maine, you are transported to the steampunk floating city of Columbia, and this is where I praise the game.

Columbia feels like a character in the game, like how Rapture did in the first Bioshock.

It feels lived in, and each character has his or her own life.

I like games that treat NPCs like this and not like meat shields.

The city is grand and makes you say wow. The game takes place in 1912, so the city feels like the turn of the 20th Century mixed with steampunk and futuristic design.

Columbia has different places to explore. For example, when you first arrive in Columbia, you have to go to a raffle drawing, but you can play games at the city’s fair/celebration event. I did not catch this the first time I played, but I found it naturally the second time I played it, so I like the little detail.

I like it when games have little details that you can easily miss, but if you find them, you are rewarded.

Columbia feels more lively and bright when compared to the first Bioshock’s horror and dark setting, even though Columbia changes and gets darker over time.

The city and sky setting also leads to the skyhook, a magnetic grappling hook. You use the skyhook to get to high places, take down enemies both as a melee weapon on the ground and from the sky by jumping down from a hook onto an enemy, and for the skyline, a track that takes you around from place to place. 

I love this mechanic because it makes you free, and it is fluid when using it and soaring on the skyline. It feels so futuristic and yet so old. I love it.

Columbia also display

s the racism of the time for African Americans, Irish, Chinese, and Native Americans. I do not think it was racist for the team to include this because it shows what life was like in the 1910s. Also, it makes the villain even worse because he is racist.

There are also different parts of Columbia, but my favorite part of the map is Battleship Bay because I liked its old-timey beach theme.

Overall, the game is worth playing just for the setting of Columbia alone.

Characters:

In the game, you play as Booker DeWitt, an ex-Pinkerton now turned private investigator, as you follow him on his search for a lost girl named Elizabeth. The story goes so much deeper than that, but I like how it is a basic story that becomes more and more complex.

Booker is a standout protagonist who feels like a walking tank with character. Unlike the two quiet protagonists of the first two Bioshock games, Booker DeWitt is played by the fantastic Troy Baker (Joel from The Last of Us and Two-Face and Red Hood from Batman: Arkham Knight). Baker brings a lot to the character of Booker, like a mysterious element, and overall there is no one who could have done a better job playing Booker.

Booker is like a one-man army, and to put it frankly, he is a sick character.

He is a man who has done bad things like his despicable and horrendous actions at Wounded Knee, but he is not a bad guy.

I like this part of Booker because it fleshes him out more and brings complexity to the character, and makes the players ask questions.

That is what a character should be like: a two-sided sick character with complexity and moral issues that he/she has either overcame or has to overcome.

I liked Booker a lot because he is a two-sided sick character, but I liked Elizabeth more.

She reminded me of Belle/Rapunzel from Beauty and the Beast and Tangled, respectively.

What starts with a naive girl who is amazed by anything in the world that are common occurrences, turns into a more adapted woman who kills someone.

She also has powers. She can open tears, portals that bring objects from other dimensions into Infinite’s dimension.

This power can be used in combat, and it makes for an interesting aspect.

It is cool when she opens a tear because one opens up to the 1960s-1970s, seeing that “Fortune Sun” is playing.

I also liked how Elizabeth can use tears because it is another helping factor in combat if you need health, salts, ammo, weapons, a hook, or help from a turret.

Elizabeth is played by Courtnee Draper, and wow, she kills it. Elizabeth is with you for most of the game, and she is a great companion that feels like a real person and not like a video game character.

The motion capture by Heather Gordon Elizabeth is impeccable. Every movement she makes is just like a person in real life. Her movements express her naiveness, delight, and scorn for the world.

I like the relationship that Booker and Elizabeth form throughout the game. It makes them feel like good friends. 

I like the dynamic that these two have in combat too. I will go more in-depth on it when I talk about combat.

In one part of the game, when you do not have Elizabeth, it feels weird because she has always been on your side, and when you rescue her and get her back, it feels like old times.

Honestly, the game is worth playing even if you do not like first-person shooter games just to see Elizabeth and how human she is.

Combat:

Just like the first two Bioshock games, Infinite is a first-person shooter. I usually only play games with a third-person perspective, but it works in the game’s favor. You only see Booker’s face maybe three-four times throughout the whole game and its DLCs. It adds a mysterious element to him, as said before.

The combat is very fun in Bioshock Infinite. There are a wide variety of weapons to choose from, like the pistol, shotgun, RPG, etc. You can have two guns in your inventory at once, and it is fun to use different load-outs to experiment with and find one that works the best.

In my opinion, the best loadout is the hand cannon and shotgun because you use the hand cannon for long-distance and close-up kills, and the shotgun is devastating for close-up kills. It is cool to jump around with the skyhook and shoot enemies with the shotgun.

The skyhook adds combat to the sky, and I like it because you can play the game how you want to play it. It is fun raining hell on enemies while soaring around the skies of Columbia and then jumping down on an enemy for a skyhook strike.

Like how the first two Bioshocks had plasmids, Infinite has vigors. They work in the same sense, but instead of injecting them into yourself, you drink them. The animations that play after you drink them are horrifying. 

You collect vigors throughout the game, and you start off the possession one. My favorite one to use is the shock jockey because it makes you feel very powerful, defeating enemies with electricity.

They are all very cool, though, and they make the game stand out in the sea of first-person shooters.

I also like the lore of how they were bigger in the 1910s and had a different name, but then they were made smaller so they could be safer and got their name changed when the first game was set (1960s).

I also like that you have to find salts to refill the vigors so you cannot abuse them 24/7.

I felt like the upgrading system was a mixed bag. I upgraded some things but not everything because it was expensive, and I did not feel like upgrading weapons that I never used/ rarely used. 

But upgrading weapons in most video games always feels like a mixed bag, in my opinion.

I also liked how you could wear different clothes that would give you buffs during combat. I liked to experiment with different clothes and find an outfit that worked the best and was the most fun.

The enemies are also very cool. There are police officers, soldiers with patriotic grab, soldiers that have Statue of Liberty helmets, and robot turrets.

Enemies like the Firemen and Handymen are very cool because they show the futuristic and steampunk side of the game.

The Zealots of the First Lady were very creepy. They can teleport by turning into crows, and they show that Columbia is racist because they wear hoods and robes that resemble ones worn by the Ku Klux Klan.

The Motorized Patriots are the coolest enemies of the game because they look futuristic but also show the historical themes of the game. In the game, you can find presidents like George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.

There are also other types of enemies that I did not mention.

The vast array of enemies makes combat interesting and never boring, especially when you have to fight different types of enemies with other types like soldiers with Firemen or Handymen with different iterations of soldiers.

In combat, Elizabeth can use tears to give you health, salts, weapons, and other things, and it adds a refreshing part to the combat to make things interesting and stand out.

A thing I hinted at in the character section was that she and Booker have a dynamic in combat.

Elizabeth never fights with you in combat because she is not an experienced soldier/ ex-Pinkerton/ private investigator that you are. Instead, she takes cover, but she is not worthless though.

When you are low on salts, ammo, or health, she will say, “Booker, catch” or “take this,” and Booker will say “much obliged” or “that will do” as he catches the item. I like this combat addition because it never feels like you are alone, and the game does not get overly annoying if you run out on a certain thing.

It also builds and strengthens the bond between Elizabeth and Booker that shows that each of them cares for each other. It does it in a subtle way that does not bash you over the head, and I like it.

If you die in the presence of Elizabeth, which I did maybe like five times throughout the main campaign, she will be sad, say “do not die,” or “stay with me,” and then revives you.

I like this because instead of just a boring death screen, it is something creative, and it shows that Elizabeth cares a lot about Booker.

I cannot understate how much I love the relationship that Booker and Elizabeth from throughout the game, but that is off-topic.

Overall, the combat is very fun and works well with solid weapons to use and fun additions like the skyline and skyhook, the vigors, and tears to make you feel like you can fight however you want to fight.

Booker and Elizabeth’s Bond:

Booker and Elizabeth’s bond is probably the best thing in the game, and for a good reason. It feels so natural. Like what was hinted about before in the character and combat section, the bond between them is like one between friends, and they care for each other.

It starts as a person scared of another. Booker has to go find Elizabeth on Monument Island, and when he does, Elizabeth is scared because he is the first or one of the first people that she meets in her life.

She tries to attack him, but Booker resolves things, and they escape together.

Then, later on in the game, she saves him from falling but does not want anything to do with him, but Booker convinces her to rejoin him to try to escape, and she says, “You’re a liar, Mr. DeWitt, and a thug. You’re also my only means of reaching Paris.”

As the game progresses, they become closer and closer, and it becomes a friendship that does not exist just because of selfish reasons.

As said before, in one part of the game, Elizabeth gets captured, and Booker goes and rescues her. This shows that they care for each other and want to escape Columbia together.

I also like how Elizabeth calls Booker Mr. DeWitt first and when she is mad but then calls him Booker.

It shows that Booker is opening up to a new person, and Elizabeth cares for, treats, and talks to Booker like a friend.

It feels weird to play the game in some parts when Elizabeth is not by your side because that is how real her relationship with Booker feels.

It is crazy because it is a video game from 2013, and their bond feels so life-like.

Story:

The story is about Booker searching for a lost girl, who turns out to be Elizabeth, and their journey to escape Columbia.

On their journey, they go to different areas of Columbia, meet different people, fight a wide range of enemies, grow closer, and learn some secrets.

That is all I will say because the story is very good and it is best experienced going in and playing it blind.

Going into the game blindly made everything look amazing because I was seeing everything for the first time, and it made the twists, secrets, and ending hit harder. Because I went into the game blind, my mind was blown at everything because it is truly an amazing game in every aspect.

It was on the shorter side of games that I played, and I did not think it went too fast. It said all it had to say in an experience that did not drag.

Even though it was a shorter game, it took me longer to finish it than other people because I took my time with it and explored a lot of things instead of just doing the main quests back to back to back and so on.

I usually do not explore in most games, but I did in this game because every location was so cool. I wanted to see more, and because I wanted to see how Elizabeth would react to each location because she acts curious and very animated, as it is her first time in the real world.

My Experience (Graphically Speaking):

As I said before, I played this game in April for like five minutes, then picked it up again and completed it in July.

The graphics looked good especially being at a remaster of an eight-year-old game and since I played it on the Nintendo Switch, which has worse graphics when compared to a Playstation Five.

I am not sure if it is like this on every copy or if it was just my copy of the game or my TV, but the sound was so loud that I would have to put my TV on volume five because anything higher than that was very loud. For reference, I usually have my TV on volume seven-eleven.

The game never crashed or lagged, and I did not have any issues with it.

Overall, I had a great experience playing Bioshock Infinite, in terms of visual graphics.

DLC:

DLC means “downloadable content,” features in video games that are downloaded separately from the main game. DLCs can include extra items, characters, levels, costumes, and more.

Bioshock Infinite has two DLCs, “Clash in the Clouds” and “Burial at Sea.” “Clash in the Clouds” is four-based combat map challenges and “Burial at Sea” is a story-based DLC that is made up of two parts.

“Clash in the Clouds” is not really for me because it is not story-based, but I liked playing it a little to get money to unlock concept art in the museum.

I thought it was cool how you could unlock character designs and concept art.

The challenges were cool, but I did not play too much of it because it was not story-based.

“Burial at Sea” is the two-part story-based DLC of Bioshock Infinite, and it was amazing.

It is a great sendoff to Ken Levine, who stopped working on the Bioshock series after this game.

I really cannot say much without spoiling how Infinite ends.

I will say that part one feels nostalgic for some, and part two is different and refreshing, but it is best to go in blind.

Overall:

Bioshock Infinite is probably my favorite game or at least in the top three, only rivaled by Red Dead Redemption Two and Breath of the Wild because of the story, setting, characters of Booker and Elizabeth, their relationship, combat, DLC, and my experience (graphically-wise).

This game has so many amazing aspects that contribute to the overall fantastic game.

Just play this game because you will be rewarded with an amazing experience.

You will not be disappointed.