Bioshock Infinite

reviews are pretty un-mediocre...lots of 100s on metacritic...either it's payola, or the game is actually "quite good"

I played the first few hours yesterday. The art is amazing. The colors, the lighting, the shader work... It's a stunning game. The combat is less clunky than Bioshock 1. Nothing truly special or groundbreaking, but it's fast and satisfying. Gameplay may not be where it shines, but it's a beautifully crafted ride with great set pieces, amazing environments and very convincing character animations.

I'm going to pick up my copy later today, this game looks great, I'm anxious to get into it... All reviews seem positive so far. This guy gives a pretty good spoiler free review of it:

jesus. Chinatown and Godot? wtf? really?

  On 3/26/2013 at 2:57 PM, Ego said:

I played the first few hours yesterday. The art is amazing. The colors, the lighting, the shader work... It's a stunning game. The combat is less clunky than Bioshock 1. Nothing truly special or groundbreaking, but it's fast and satisfying. Gameplay may not be where it shines, but it's a beautifully crafted ride with great set pieces, amazing environments and very convincing character animations.

same here, spent an hour fiddling with the settings ,then an hour walking round drinking it all in,gonna get stuck into it later today,can,t wait! btw the actual combat feels a LOT better

Going to let the fresh release hype die down a bit. The spectacle of it tends to taint peoples opinions. I won't be sold on how shiny and nice it looks!

  On 3/26/2013 at 3:39 PM, Obel said:

The spectacle of it tends to taint peoples opinions. I won't be sold on how shiny and nice it looks!

this sentiment is often displayed after being exposed to my cock.

  On 3/26/2013 at 2:52 PM, lumpenprol said:

reviews are pretty un-mediocre...lots of 100s on metacritic...either it's payola, or the game is actually "quite good"

There's a lot of payola in games reviewing for sure, not to mention score inflation, but I'm not swayed by most reviews anyway. More than anything I just find flashy FPS games boring.

I don't play games at all but that Adam Sessler review makes me want to give this a looksee, because some of my smarter gamer friends say that dude is one of the less-goofy voices in gaming journalism

Ha, just remembered this game was due to come out, found out the release-day is today. Neat.

So only a couple more months till I can afford it!

  On 2/1/2013 at 3:41 PM, The Overlook said:

I still need to re-visit TWBB, because as most of you know, I was totally meh about it in 2007.

I saw it for the first time about two weeks ago and I also thought it was very meh.

Still only about two hours into the first one, and I've had it for about 5 years. I blame Dark Souls. For everything.

Pre-loading's complete and game's ready to play now. But I'm still working on my first Far Cry 3 playthrough. I should probably finish that first before jumping ship.

I've finally gotten to the point where I need more depth to my games than a shooter can supply.

You can use the Konami Code to unlock the ultra hard "1999 Mode"

I want to play this so badly. Gotta wait for my measly quarterly musician paycheck before I can afford it. D:

played about 5 hours of it, it's a real shame that such an incredible world, art design, music, attention to detail etc. is wasted on a generic, linear shooter.

  On 3/27/2013 at 3:33 AM, eugene said:

played about 5 hours of it, it's a real shame that such an incredible world, art design, music, attention to detail etc. is wasted on a generic, linear shooter.

kind of how im starting to feel about the series. Did you play the first game?

  On 3/27/2013 at 3:55 AM, david said:

 

  On 3/27/2013 at 3:33 AM, eugene said:

played about 5 hours of it, it's a real shame that such an incredible world, art design, music, attention to detail etc. is wasted on a generic, linear shooter.

 

kind of how im starting to feel about the series. Did you play the first game?

nope

Completed the first chapter of it so far, after finishing my first Far Cry 3 playthrough.

I agree it does feel kind of linear so far. Couldn't help but poke around Columbia for a while though before engaging the first bad guys. There's something really creepy about that huge angel-looking statue.

It also feels like it echos the first Bioshock game. Item pickups generally have the same mechanics. Vigors and Salts are basically Plasmids and Eve respectively. Even the lighthouse at the very beginning is a nod to the tower leading to Rapture in the first Bioshock. The health boost sound goes back to even that of System Shock 2's usage of Med Hypos.

It's too early for me to establish a definitive review at the moment though.

Original Bioshock was one of the most atmospheric games I played. Great to hear the reviews are great. Ken Levine and Valve are the best FPS game developers out there. They don't make generic games.

Played through the first few chapters tonight (would've played more but the gf had to go to bed, and she enjoys watching the story as I play and didn't want to miss anything.) Honestly, the game is great so far... The gameplay is similar to the original Bioshock, yet just feels better, the AI is definitely improved. And the zip-lining and aerial combat seems pretty cool so far. A HUGE plus is that Elizabeth handles herself and acts independently while following you and doesn't feel like a burden at all. You don't have to command her or protect her at all, just play. As for the atmosphere, god damn does this game have atmosphere and it looks fucking amazing, fans of the first will not be disappointed, the first part of the game allows you to kinda soak it in for a while before shit starts hitting the fan... Even when it does, take the time to explore and poke around there's little gems of content hidden everywhere. The story is great so far, I can't wait to play more again tomorrow... I have to say, so far my impressions are the game lives up to the hype, I really have no complaints.

finding it pretty ordinary, myself. sure, great models and textures, design in terms of all that stuff - but i can't help but feel people forget it's essentially a different-looking shooter. we get a hand-holding beginning and end, but no real fresh take on the activities at it's core to differentiate it substantially from needing to hunt stuff down or shoot it up like so many other games people convinced themselves were more than a genre in a certain style. feels like a theme park - only there to entertain you, not there as though it would exist without you needing a setting for the latest gun antics, which i don't find particularly immersive.

Seems shooter-fatigue is pretty widespread among gamers these days.

That can only be a good thing!

  On 3/27/2013 at 2:20 PM, Iain C said:

Seems shooter-fatigue is pretty widespread among gamers these days.

think it's gaming fatigue. nobody designing games seems to imagine they're not really managing to design the elements that would set them apart, and they manage to dress up a certain kind of structure which was designed by someone at some point, but has been taken as convention. oddest thing is that there's loads of lessons as to how to do a game well, but massive outlays from companies mean they don't really risk redesigning what seems to be the wheel that should be left alone.