![]() The audiologs basically become excuses to deliver door codes to the player, and the ones that don’t are narrated mainly by Dr. To an extent, the first two BioShock games suffered from this problem as well, but Burial at Sea amplifies it to an intolerable extreme.īut it’s not just the combat that goes downhill in the last two thirds of the game the character interactions and storytelling go downhill as well. The low amounts of ammo and resources make it seem like Burial at Sea is going for somewhat of a survival-horror vibe, but that doesn’t mesh well with the game’s loud, rapid-fire weaponry. It becomes impossible to tell where enemies are firing from, and sometimes they’re able to walk right up to Booker while his long-range rifle dangles uselessly in front of him. Transferring it to the dark, cramped corridors of Rapture just doesn’t work. The main game’s combat was suited to large, open, well-lit places. It’s not the sheer fact that combat is happening that ruins Burial at Sea it’s the way the combat is implemented. It’s easy to say that the combat is what ruins the DLC, which is true, but the combat in the main game was solid. Too bad they botched the last two-thirds of the DLC. It takes a lot of skill to make the act of walking around and talking to people feel engaging, and Irrational succeeded marvelously in that regard. That being said, I could still admire the first third of Burial at Sea, Episode 1 as a stunning technical achievement. I still don’t buy into Rapture as a setting, and that made me feel like I couldn’t fully invest in whatever story Burial at Sea was trying to tell. ![]() On the other hand, there’s nothing in Rapture’s hodgepodge of art deco and objectivism and deep-sea locations that serves as an anchor for the player, and there’s nothing that ties these disparate elements together. Columbia held together as a believable place within the context of BioShock’s fiction, because it twisted something familiar – Disney-fied Americana – into something more sinister there was at least an entry point for the player – at least those who had ever been to Walt Disney World. It feels like a mishmash of concepts and ideologies and architectural styles that don’t fit together, and this really hits home when you’re walking through a pre-rebellion version of Rapture. Still, as impressive as the first third of the game is, I found it difficult to fully invest in it, for the same reason I found it difficult to invest in the first two BioShock games: Rapture doesn’t feel like a believable place to me. ![]() There are dozens of NPCs to see and interact with, and the slow, deliberate gameplay allows the player to soak everything in. Rapture is a gorgeous place, all red and gold, standing as a tribute to Randian capitalism. In fact, the first third of the game, which takes the player through a recreation of Rapture in its prime, is impressive and engrossing. Burial at Sea combines the worst parts of the BioShock games in awkward ways and wraps them up in a buggy, unpolished package. On the other hand, the first episode of BioShock Infinite’s Burial at Sea DLC is not a good game. Say what you will about Infinite – it was an undeniably well-made piece of interactive entertainment. It featured engaging gameplay, gorgeous visuals, fantastic sound design, an engrossing narrative (at least for the first three quarters), and stellar acting from Troy Baker and Courtnee Draper as the game’s main characters, Booker and Elizabeth. Not a fantastic, generation-defining game, mind you, but a very good game. You’ve been warned.īioShock Infinite was a good game. This review contains spoilers for both the main game and the DLC. ![]()
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