BioShock Infinite may very well be the final entry in the adored franchise, preceding the closure of Irrational Games, its development cycle was one plagued with uncertainty. Showered with praise during its 2013 release, Infinite is no stranger to retrospective analysis. With its brain-teasing interdimensional plot, fleshed-out characters, and high-octane combat; Irrational's conclusion to the BioShock franchise is a fitting send-off, though it wasn’t what we were promised. The game's marketing boasted features that are missing from the final product, parts of the released title were unrecognizable when compared to pre-release footage, and worst of all, Infinite hid its linearity behind a facade of player agency.
Infinite takes place in the fictional city of Columbia, an airborne beacon of twisted nationalism. The city itself is breathtakingly gorgeous, every angle boasting a scenic view of the clouds and floating islands that comprise it. The use of 1912’s architecture and various racially charged propaganda pieces contrast each other perfectly, Columbia's fetid underbelly is ever-present, despite the cotton candy and over-saturation. We play as Booker DeWitt, a downtrodden ex-Pinkerton, told to “bring us the girl and wipe away the debt”. Booker has a complicated past to say the least, riddled with guilt from his actions taken at the real-life Wounded Knee massacre in 1890, beginning the turn of the century utterly destitute. He arrives in Columbia and is pitted against the game's primary antagonist, Zachary Hale Comstock. Viewed as a Prophet of sorts, Comstock is aware of Booker’s “sins”, he rules Columbia, brainwashing its denizens with faux religious heresy, and a healthy dose of hatred for minorities.
All of these elements, not to mention Elizabeth and alternate dimensions, should create a compelling narrative, but Infinite disappoints in that regard, being a mile wide and an inch deep. Columbia's bigotry, for example, is only directly interacted with ONCE near the first hour of the campaign, and through a binary button prompt to boot. There are, in fact, multiple binary choices throughout the game's roughly 11 hour runtime, most of them having NO impact on the story. Elizabeth’s ability to open rifts is a cool visual and provides some minor variety to the admittedly solid combat, but is also painfully hollow. Beneath the game's striking visuals and compelling concepts lies a void, one likely caused by the console generation Infinite had to cater to, the hardware of the PS3 and XBOX 360 being unable to render Irrational's ambitions.
Despite its inherent shallowness, Infinite is still a solid romp, standing the test of time visually in almost every aspect due to its cartoonish flair. It’s a shame Irrational Games dissolved, the prospects of a modern BioShock utilizing today’s hardware capabilities is quite exciting.