| So, I purchased the triple value pack for Bioshock on steam for $10.19 this weekend, despite already having played Bioshock 1. Over the past five days I've finished the Bioshock trilogy, and I must say, Infinite has been one of my most favorite games of recent. While highly rated on my list are Mass Effect 3, Dragon Age, Tomb Raider, and Dishonored, Bioshock Infinite had a way of blowing my mind with its ending. Spoilers Ahead I would just like to discuss the ending with everyone because I know the Bioshock community was in a rather large uproar and was divided over the ending. While I thought it was fairly easy to interpret, many players I know of are relatively furious at the death of the quite bad-ass character Booker Dewitt. So, before diving into the complexity of Infinite, I'm inclined to drop a few remarks about its previous games. I came into Bioshock 1 blindfolded, save for the few remarks my friends dropped her and there. The atmosphere was riveting and I found myself immersed in a particularly meaningful game that focused on not the evil of man, but rather his flaw in vesting too much strength in his beliefs. Andrew Ryan, Fontaine, Tenenbaum, and Suchong are victims to this flaw, and we're shown this quite skilfully throughout the game, living vicariously through the copious amounts of audio dialogue tapes. Bioshock 1 artistically portrays the creation of a utopia and its monstrous metamorphosis into the one ideology it disgusted most. And so, when I picked up Bioshock Infinite I already had my reservations. With doubts with the absurd idea that the third game of a trilogy could beat the first, and the incessant persistence of my friend who claimed that Infinite was "the best of the Bioshock trilogy," I would suppose I had sufficiently high, if not excessively high, expectations of the game. Boy, was I wrong. While Bioshock Infinite slowly grew into a classic action game that carried on just a little too much with the amount of open battles, it performed amazingly in character development--a feat that is crucial in my enjoyability towards games. By the end, I was ready to kill Comstock, and I did so readily when the "intervene" option came up. What truly surprised me, though, was the post-action scenes when Elizabeth regains her powers, and Bioshock Infinite tied its loops, along with a nostalgic walk into Bioshock 1's Rapture beginning. While parallel universes are hardly a new and innovative idea, it caught me off guard when unveiling the true culprit of the game: Booker, who was both Comstock and himself. To those who don't fully understand the ending of the game, Elizabeth describes in rather great detail the complications of Booker's hatred for Comstock. While having defeated the Comstock of his own universe, Booker's hatred toward the man for causing Elizabeth (Anna Dewitt) so much suffering pushes him to the point of wanting to kill Comstock at his birth in order to prevent the contemporary events from ever happening. While Anna continues to explain the workings of of the parallel universe (she is omnipotent now), we're shown to be walking into a baptism we'd wandered in earlier. It's here where everything falls into place. With the baptism of Booker after the events of Battle of Wounded Knee, Comstock is born. If Booker refuses the baptism, he becomes the Booker Dewitt we play in Bioshock Infinite. Both paths lead to the torture and sadness of Anna Dewitt, which Booker wishes to circumvent regardless of the conditions. By traveling back to the time where Booker chooses his baptism, as permitted by Anna's omnipotency (a direct result of her finger being present in one world, and her wholesome being in another), and killing him, Anna effectively destroys all Booker and Comstock futures regarding Columbia, and all we're left with is the Booker prior to the repayment of his "debt." Anna fulfills Booker's wish while simultaneously ending the "infinite" amount of Columbias, Comstocks, and Bookers throughout the universe. While I believe the theory of the universes is explained quite well, I realize there are quite a large amount of plot holes (such as how vigors work) that Infinite never got around to explaining. Yet, regardless of these holes, I've found Infinite to successfully explain and portray its main points. 1) In the utopian society of Columbia, the illusion of choice is presented and construed to its people, effectively manipulating the masses and nobility. This is shown during the Luteces' "head or tails" coin flip, which always landed on heads. 2) The transformation of a symbol: when the Luteces' give the option of choosing the bird pendant or the cage. While both are initially symbolic of Anna's imprisonment (the cage being the tower, and the bird being Songbird), both are catalysts to her freedom (the tower is fully destroyed in order to rid the siphon with Songbird's support) leading to Anna's manifestation as an omnipotent power. 3) The manipulation of the masses through propaganda (company stores). Finkton is the manifestation of this idea (and is a direct allusion to the US's relatively violent history with company towns). Anyways, how do you feel about the ending? I've gone on quite long enough. Infinite ranks rather high up on the list along with the Mass Effect trilogy, but I know for a lot of people they felt it didn't measure up to the intensity of the first game. While all three games perform rather well in terms of explaining their themes: 1) Bioshock 1 and the shades of grey in morality, along with the pitfalls of a utopia and the concept of being "evil." 2) Bioshock 2 further stresses the concept of morality and death (which is why we're given choices in killing the 3 supporting characters). As Andrew Ryan states in his audio log: "either they're with us, or against Rapture." It also attempts to shift the idea of a utopia being in the people, rather a place. 3) Infinite, although its combo-breaker lay in physics, centralizes the themes of Bioshock 1 and 2 by reinforcing them with the distopian society of Columbia. If there's one lesson to be learned through the Bioshock trilogy, it's that utopia is inachievable. And, spoken through the fine words of Keima Katsuragi from Kami Nomi, otherwise known as The World God Only Knows: to be perfect is impossible, for perfectness is unattainable; however, with that notion, to strive your best and embrace imperfectness is in that of itself is perfection. This concept is applicable to people and the idea of utopia. Perfection in people and society is impossible: just acknowledge our imperfection and strive our best to be perfect. |
XariAug 24, 2014 10:05 PM
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| I never actually cared to figure it out. I had a YouTube video about it bookmarked, but it wasn't important enough to me. The average gameplay made the story somewhat exhausting. |
| Spoilers below. Given the impressive nature of the good ol' 'would you kindly' twist in the original Bioshock, I was skeptical about Infinite. I was interested to see if it could deliver something of equal magnitude. I shared your concern about the "classic action shoot-em-up" feel Infinite had when I first jumped in. It almost felt like too much style and not enough substance. I was worried it had fallen victim to an industry that seems obsessed with shitting out FPS titles at a blitzkrieg rate. But I guess I was wrong. Over time, it really matures and turns into a story that is surprisingly complex in its simplicity. I think it would have been a total mess if the twists had come out of nowhere, but much of the plot groundwork is cleverly laid in the opening hours of the game, and I never found myself feeling cheated by deus ex machina. For example, the scene where Booker discovers the full truth about Elizabeth. Who would have thought her missing finger would be such a brilliant and significant reveal? It totally caught me by surprise, but in a good way! I think the real pleasure in Infinite comes from the ending sequences and the realization of just how many layers tie together in a magnificent clusterfuck of time travel, quantum and multiverse theory. Just a few of my thoughts anyway. |
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