Bioshock Infinite (360, PS3, PC)

[Winnow]

This game gives me a headache but so did the original Bioshock. The bobbing islands don't help much with the higher possibility of motion sickness already inherent in the game.

Playing it on the PS3 makes me look forward to the 360 release. The joysticks feel loose and are definitely uncomfortable. Your D-Pad means jack shit in this game so I'd go for the 360 version if you have a choice (or PC).

The environment is what you would expect from a Bioshock game but the whole "air city" theme just seems ridiculous. Suspension of belief was a lot easier in the underwater city.

The story is just a weird as the previous Bioshocks although they really hit on racism in Infinite.

If you like Bioshock games, this is more of the same. You can tell a lot of work was put into the 1800's style clothes, music and architecture. It's one of my least favorite time periods so while I appreciate the effort, others may enjoy it more.

It's a High quality AAA game for sure.

Money seems scarce early on but there is plenty of ammo and "salts" needed or Vigor replenishment lying around if you look for it. The few Vigor abilities I have so far look like fun.

Racism against blacks in this game is really prominent. It seems like a White Supremacist cult you're going up against...maybe best described as militant mormons.

I haven't even met up with Elizabeth yet so I'm betting the interaction between the two characters will give more "feeling" to the game which starts out confusing and impersonal.

[Aslanna]

I didn't really like the first one but had PC issues and the game kept crashing so I only made it a couple of hours in. I'll be giving this one a try because it also came free with my video card. Of course that means using the hand-damaging 360 controller. I can't even play more than an hour at a time of Tomb Raider before I have to take a break. I hear there's a way of getting the PS3 controllers to work on PC so I'll have to look into that. Comfort is key!

[Winnow]

I hear there's a way of getting the PS3 controllers to work on PC so I'll have to look into that. Comfort is key!

Just plug on your PS3 controller with the USB cord into your PC and it will work.

[Fairweather Pure]

I'll get it on sale sometime I'm sure.

[Winnow]

It gets better after you hook up with Elizabeth. She's like a Disney character stuck in a Bioshock world. (look/facial expressions, etc)

It's a lot more entertaining having Elizabeth running around. They did a pretty good job with her AI. For some reason she keeps throwing me money (coins). I feel like a pimp.

One thing I don't like is there is no save function and it's hard to tell where the autosaves are. The saves are pretty far between so if you screw up and quit right before one, you'll end up repeating quite a bit. Pretty stupid design. There's really no reason to not let you save anywhere. If you can only play the game for 30 minutes, it leaves you with a problem of wasting time since you may not get to the next autosave spot and the game doesn't tell you where those spots are. There are zone changes from time to time so I supposed you could use one of those but I don't know if that actually saves the game

While I'm not a fan of the turn of the century late 1800's/early 1900's New York/Boardwalk mixed with some steam punk, etc look, it's impressive how much effort was put into making the areas unique.

This game, just like the other Bioshock games, has tons of semi functional/dysfunctional equipment which is an epileptic's worst nightmare (don't play it if you are!) with all the strobe light effects going on. I'm already getting sick of all the golden oldies music with the artificial phonograph cracking noises thrown in.

I really don't get the lack of save function and vague save points. Turns out I was like 2 feet from an autosave point when I quit last time.

The addition of a sidekick is a nice feature of the game over previous games. I think the original Bioshocks would have benefited from it. This game isn't as creepy as the original, at least so far.

My comments are on the negative side but it's a quality game. If you've never played a Bioshock game, this would be an interesting first experience. There's a bit of "been there, done that" though for anyone that's already played the original, and the floating city isn't as cool as the underwater city. I'm still way early in the game though so it's just initial first impressions.

[Aslanna]

I hear there's a way of getting the PS3 controllers to work on PC so I'll have to look into that. Comfort is key!

Just plug on your PS3 controller with the USB cord into your PC and it will work.

I am fairly certain that won't work. At least it didn't when I tried it. From a quick Google search you need some drivers and some software. I might try that over the weekend. It would be nice to use the DS3 over the 360 controller! Too bad the quicktime prompts and such in games go with the 360 buttons but that wouldn't really be a dealbreaker as I have one sitting close for reference when needed.

[Winnow]

Metacritic so far: PS3: 95, 360: 96

360 wins because of the joystick controls. Using the PS3 controller with Infinite feels like you're trying to use buttered up sticks while drunk.

http://www.metacritic.com/game/xbox-360 ... k-infinite

[Animalor]

I'm leaning heavily towards getting this on the PC and playing with my wired 360 controller.

[Aslanna]

I'm downloading it now on Steam but guess it's locked until tomorrow or something. I haven't bothered with trying to get the PS3 controller to work on my PC so I guess that means I'll be using the horrid hand-crippling 360 controller.

[Animalor]

I'm downloading it now on Steam but guess it's locked until tomorrow or something. I haven't bothered with trying to get the PS3 controller to work on my PC so I guess that means I'll be using the horrid hand-crippling 360 controller.

I've gotten this working in the past but it involved downloading 3rd party, unsigned drivers from China or Japan. While it worked, no game recognised it as a PS3 controller (The graphical assets probably aren't in the build either) and all the mappings had to be redone manually every time. It was a royal, an potentially dangerous, pain in the ass.

[Winnow]

Use Xpadder or Pinnacle Profiler

Both cost money though. Both have advanced capabilities. Profiler is easier to use but Xpadder, while learning curve is high, gets the job done.

I use both. Xpadder for my 360 and Pinnacle Profiler for my Saitek Command Unit Controller thingy.

I'd just stick with the 360 though for Bioshock since it has support built in. Getting the PS3 controller to work might be more of a headache than it's worth if you already have a 360 controller.

[Animalor]

15 seconds in and I knew I didn't make a mistake getting the PC version.
Holy shit is this game gorgeous. And the environment/immersiveness of that first hour are unparalleled.

I'm looking forward to going home and playing more of this.

[Funkmasterr]

I want to get the pc version, but my video card is shitting the bed and I need to reinstall windows. Xbox it is, this will probably be my first release day game in a while.

[Animalor]

I dropped down some cash on a NVidia GTX650ti about a week and a half ago. First decent card I've bought in years. It's incredible what they're doing in PC games nowadays.

[Aslanna]

Console versions apparently appear muddy and have framerate issues!

[Animalor]

Well given that the PC download was 15GB, it's no wonder the Xbox textures look significantly lower resolution. Also, 512MB or ram in the Xbox and 2 pools of 256 in the PS3 ain't helping matters much either.

[Funkmasterr]

Haha, 15GB download with the internet connection I currently have to deal with at home would take me like 3 days. Yeah I'm a little disappointed my PC isn't feeling well, but I'm sure I'll still enjoy it thoroughly on the console.

[Winnow]

Haha, 15GB download with the internet connection I currently have to deal with at home would take me like 3 days. Yeah I'm a little disappointed my PC isn't feeling well, but I'm sure I'll still enjoy it thoroughly on the console.

15Gb would take me 10 minutes!

I completely agree that the console version of games are hurting these days compared to the PC versions. Infinite looks blurry on the PS3, and I'm sure on the 360 as well. Still looks ok but the next gen of consoles were needed a year ago.

I mentioned the 1800's look wasn't my thing but it's done extremely well and the background noises, music, etc is really well done.

[Aslanna]

I'm downloading it now on Steam but guess it's locked until tomorrow or something. I haven't bothered with trying to get the PS3 controller to work on my PC so I guess that means I'll be using the horrid hand-crippling 360 controller.

I've gotten this working in the past but it involved downloading 3rd party, unsigned drivers from China or Japan. While it worked, no game recognised it as a PS3 controller (The graphical assets probably aren't in the build either) and all the mappings had to be redone manually every time. It was a royal, an potentially dangerous, pain in the ass.

I used this process and got my Dualshock 3 working no problem. Obviously yeah in-game prompts display the 360 buttons but I have one sitting nearby so it's not a big deal to figure out what's what. I didn't have to do any mappings just select 360 Mode.

Now that's done I'll probably finish Tomb Raider before moving on to BI. At least the good thing about PC games is I don't really care about 100%ing them. Just finish the main game and move on.

[Winnow]

I've gotten this working in the past but it involved downloading 3rd party, unsigned drivers from China or Japan. While it worked, no game recognised it as a PS3 controller (The graphical assets probably aren't in the build either) and all the mappings had to be redone manually every time. It was a royal, an potentially dangerous, pain in the ass.

Using a PS3 in Infinite will make you think you're still in the original underwater Bioshock city as it will feel like you're trying to hold a wet fish in your hands while you play.

[Aslanna]

I've gotten this working in the past but it involved downloading 3rd party, unsigned drivers from China or Japan. While it worked, no game recognised it as a PS3 controller (The graphical assets probably aren't in the build either) and all the mappings had to be redone manually every time. It was a royal, an potentially dangerous, pain in the ass.

Using a PS3 in Infinite will make you think you're still in the original underwater Bioshock city as it will feel like you're trying to hold a wet fish in your hands while you play.

That quote isn't mine.

[Funkmasterr]

I played through to the point where you get to monument island last night. I'm really liking it, being able to switch abilities on the fly instead of having to be at a machine or whatever adds a ton of strategy to the game. I probably won't have time to play the next few nights, but I'll be looking forward to getting back to it.

[Winnow]

I played through to the point where you get to monument island last night. I'm really liking it, being able to switch abilities on the fly instead of having to be at a machine or whatever adds a ton of strategy to the game. I probably won't have time to play the next few nights, but I'll be looking forward to getting back to it.

I'm just a little bit past the Hall of Heroes. I have a new Vigor that I like. I started out at first pumping up my Salt Bar whenever the opportunity to expand was available. I'm now increasing my shield. Overall, I think all the Vigors are fun/usable.

Elizabeth is good about keeping you supplied with ammo and salts during fights. Her "rips" are also useful and fun.

So far, I agree with whatever reviewer said that the main male character is an ass.

[Animalor]

Just finished the game. OMFG... It's been a long time since an ending to a game ANYTHING has made my jaw drop to the floor quite like that..

[Zamtuk]

Getting close to finishing this game, and I am blown away by it constantly. Playing this on ultra graphics on a PC is the only way to do it. Escaping from Monument Island with Elizabeth was one of the greatest sequences I've ever seen in a video game. Everything about discovering Columbia was exciting. And the animation with Elizabeth is gorgeous.

I don't want to give the story away, but holy shit!

[Kluden]

Beat this quick myself, couldn't stop playing. Was about 14 hours with my pokey way of looking around for everything. Totally worth it on the PC, it was stunningly good @ 2560x1440 high/ultra settings. I can only imagine the screen blurring and tearing that consoles must experience with all that's going on in any setting.

[Fairweather Pure]

Beat this quick myself, couldn't stop playing. Was about 14 hours with my pokey way of looking around for everything. Totally worth it on the PC, it was stunningly good @ 2560x1440 high/ultra settings. I can only imagine the screen blurring and tearing that consoles must experience with all that's going on in any setting.

It's great in an a triple monitor set up, but I'm still playing the console version!

*not my video, my monitors are larger*

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1w7eoH3024

(enlarge and select top quality please!)