I played tonight with but one goal in mind: To get to Elizabeth. I wanted to finally find her and see what all the fuss was about. I didn't think I was going to make it -- I didn't want to stay up too late this evening and it seemed like I was on the run through the city forever. (Though, I don't mean that to sound like it wasn't enjoyable, because it was.) But at last, I found her. So what did I think? Well, let's get there first, shall we?
First things first. It seems that last night I stopped right before the first boss. So, I had that to deal with pretty much first thing. It wasn't much, really, and quite easy. But, as with any game worth its time to play, killing the boss yielded its power! Which I now have. It's fire. And the ability to set people on fire. The introductory animation to this vigor was so cool. Have a look for yourself.
Pretty cool, eh? What followed was a lot of running from the police through the streets, houses, rooftops, and even the sky itself. It's pretty standard fare for a first-person shooter. First you have your introduction where you get accustomed to your world and the movements within it, then you get your first weapon, and then what follows after that is your standard few hours of getting used to the combat. The game usually throws in new abilities during this time, and BI is no exception. I have a pistol and a machine gun, now, along with three vigors.
It was during this time that I began to notice a couple of strange things, gamewise. First of all, remember when I said that the game isn't open world? That may not have been entirely accurate. There are at least some small open world elements to it, in that you do get optional side missions and you can return to just about any area at any time. Within reason. It very much reminds me of how Dead Space 3 handled things. BI even has the little "follow the light" system that the Dead Space series has. Press "N", and it appears on the ground briefly, pointing the way. For the most part, it's executed well. The only problem I had with it was that there are audio cues for your character strewn about in random places. I found myself setting these off at inappropriate times. So, for example, I was getting shot at by a whole group of police officers while Booker is nonchalantly saying, "Hm, I need to get to higher ground to reach that skyrail." And then two seconds later, he's yelling at the antagonist. It was a bit jarring, but this is a minor complaint.
Up until this point, what I've been liking most of all is how mysterious Columbia is. This is both good and bad. The good being that I'm frickin' loving it right now. The bad being that once I know the mystery, that's going to make replaying the game a bit less enjoyable. And that's a shame, because the game is so well done, so smooth, and so fun to play that it deserves multiple playthroughs.
Before meeting Elizabeth, my favorite part so far was my time spent maneuvering through a building that seemed to be the home to some kind of cult worshiping John Wilkes Booth. The game takes place in 1912, which is 48 years after Booth murdered Abraham Lincoln. Given the racist undertones of the denizens of Columbia that I briefly mentioned, and without spoiling any of the story, given what Lincoln accomplished during his presidency it's no surprise these people worship Booth. There was also some pretty fucked up baby back bullshit going on there. As you can see.
Now, I mentioned open world elements, didn't I? So, if you are a veteran to such things, you may be wondering if there is a fast travel system. Well, kind of. All around the city are hooks attached to buildings, and also skyrails that wind around all the buildings. Remember the hook I mentioned from the beginning of the game? Oh, probably not, because my description of it was nothing more than "WHERE DID THAT MAN'S HEAD GO?!" Yeah, well, that thing I used to decapitate the man looks like this:
It's magnetic, too. So, when you jump towards a hook or a rail, it pulls you to it. The hooks are used to get to higher buildings or to jump long gaps. The rails you can ride, at very high speed, around the city. It's quite the rush, really!
Now, this below shot shows a loot of good stuff. If you look in the background, you can see a green aura around the two vending machines. I used Possession on them. When you use that vigor on a vending machine it gives you some free stuff. Usually coins. Using it on a turret is better though, because that makes it attack your enemies and ignore you. You can also see my Murder of Crows in this shot. The yellow bar at the top is my shield, red is obviously health, and the bottom left bar is Salts. Salt is mana, pretty much. You can have two vigors on your bar at once, and can switch between them at any time. You can also hold down the vigor-switch key to pick ANY of your vigors at any time. So you're not fully limited to just two. You simply pick the two you want to be able to quickly use. The rest are all still available to you, which I really like.
Okay. Now with that out of the way, let's move on to Elizabeth, shall we?
I was surprised when I read that the game was delayed for an entire year solely because of her. They wanted to make her character right, and I can certainly appreciate that. Given this knowledge, and given the praise that I have seen critics give her, I was very much looking forward to this.
I wasn't disappointed.
A few very important things changed about Bioshock Infinite the moment I met her. Up until this point, the game has been about me. About MY character, Booker DeWitt. I wanted to know who sent him, why he was there, why he was there, and how the antagonist knows so much about him. I wanted to know his history. The meaning of his nightmares. The source of that demonic sounding voice speaking to him. After meeting Elizabeth, I still want to know these things, but they are now secondary. Now, my focus is on HER. It completely and irrevocably changed the dynamic of the game for me in the greatest of ways.
When it comes to companion characters in games, especially shooters, I rarely take them along willingly. I send my companions in Skyrim and Fallout packing as soon as I can. I don't like them, I don't want them, and they get in my fucking way. Alyx in Half-Life 2 was probably the only exception to this rule. Until now. I'm going to be pissed if/when the game separates Booker and Elizabeth. So the question is, what is BI doing correctly to make me feel this way?
First, she's not intrusive. I'm not tripping over her, I don't have to move her out of the way to fit through a doorway, etc. Second, she's fascinating. She is a mystery in and of herself. But I think most importantly is the fact that they have succeeded in giving her a personality. Her voice acting is stellar. But more than that, her facial animations are utterly amazing. They are successfully portraying emotions with only her facial expressions. She eyes me suspiciously when I won't give her a straight answer. She rolls her eyes when I say something silly. The corners of her mouth tilt up in a grin when she sees something she likes. It's borderline uncanny.
I read somewhere that her design would actually be so close to human that it would have been creepy had the game been developed with a more realistic graphical style. I can see their point. It may have actually crossed the line into creepyville if the graphical style wasn't so whimsical. But as it is now, it's perfect. I can see the results of them putting the extra time into perfecting her.
I look forward to the day when developers have the tools they need to make EVERY character in a video game as alive and wonderful as Elizabeth. It would take years, maybe even a decade or more, to do such a thing today. But I think that BI has really moved the ball down the court in that regard with this character.
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