However, having no gaming console of my own, I wasn't able to even entertain the notion of playing the game. Fast forward to last week, when one of my favorite Apple blogs, TUAW, posted news of Bioshock Infinite being released for Mac, touting it as the game of the year. Only then did I begin to seriously consider playing the game.
You see, I haven't played a video game in quite some time. Sure, I've dabbled on the Wii here and there at parties, but my last serious foray into gaming of any sort was probably The Sims in high school. And, of the games I've played, most of them were Nintendo, in the Mario universe... No blood and gore in Paper Mario, the last RPG I played from start to finish (on my family's trusty old N64, good times).
So, the idea of playing a first-person shooter was a real departure from the norm for me. And, this one is definitely graphically violent, as I had seen from the beginning of the walkthrough. But, the game's story was too fascinating to pass up. As TUAW explains:
You play as Pinkerton agent Booker DeWitt, who is sent to the floating city of Columbia to find a mysterious woman named Elizabeth who has quantum powers. Though the city of Columbia floats in the sky, the game takes place in 1912. Yet many critics have noted that the themes in the game reflect the political, religious, plutocratic and populist divides in America running up to the 2012 elections.
See? Fascinating. When was the last time you heard about a video game that employs history and politics in this way?Still not 100% convinced I should spend $40 on something that was so far afield from how I typically spend my free time, I asked for some feedback from friends on Facebook. The response was overwhelming--a ton of very passionate comments that I simply must play this game! Emboldened by the feedback, and always looking for a good excuse to strengthen my nerd cred, I decided to give it a whirl.
Tonight was my third night playing the game, and it is awesome. I'm playing on easy mode, because I have no idea how to play a FPS, but the game is kindly teaching me what I need to know. The first two nights, I played using my mouse and keyboard, but I was finding it a bit difficult to handle. So, I bought myself a used Xbox 360 wired gamepad, downloaded a driver, and was much happier with the gameplay this evening. If you go this route, I recommend playing with the controller from the beginning, because it was complicated to get used to new buttons and sensitivities for everything after figuring out the gameplay with mouse and keyboard. Seriously, I had to draw myself a cheat sheet:
I'm slowly but surely getting better at playing the game. At first, it was just a matter of exploring the city and collecting things, but then the game forces you to make a choice, and that choice had consequences. Weapons and enemies have been acquired, along with vigors (magic-like abilities), and goals. I get really tense whenever I enter a room, because I'm anxious about what I might face on the other side, but I'm starting to realize that the repercussions for dying aren't all that dire in easy mode (you lose a bit of money, and your enemies regain some health). Pragmatic planner that I am, there's something oddly freeing about diving in headlong into a situation over which I have little control, and just going for it.
I haven't met Elizabeth yet, whom I understand to be critical to the game, so I'm sure I'll have more thoughts on the game once I reach that point. But for now, a few hours into the game, I can at least say that I'm really glad I purchased it, and can definitely see what all the fuss is about.
