A Man Chooses

You think your life's more than a game of suits and ladders
When nothing really matters
You're not just fluous, you're superfluous
You don't actually do anything, a human redundancy

I've been playing a lot of RPGs this summer. Back in May, I built myself a new PC for gaming. I installed all of the fun stuff, tested it to see just what it could run, but it wasn't long before I was diving into a familiar RPG that could run easily on my tiny laptop, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2 - The Sith Lords. Something about a game where I choose what the character does every step of the way is intriguing to me.

In western RPGs, and Bioware games in particular, there is a heavy focus on fleshing out your own character, and not just the abilities. You choose what kind of person you are. I haven't advanced much in Bioshock Infinite since I started playing it about a week ago, and I think part of it is due to how little I can control my character.

She's gone all tsun-tsun on me.

In Bioshock Infinite, you have full physical control of your character, but it doesn't really feel like you are involved with what he is doing, because he has his own personality, and his own set of abilities and traits that you don't have much control over. The only real choices you must make are whether to upgrade your shields, health, or salts capacity. Bioshock was originally conceived as a game that was all about choices, and it felt like that at first, but I find that this most recent entry plays more like a run-of-the-mill shooter.

I don't have a problem with shooters. I've poured countless money and time into the Halo series, and I'm still waiting for Episode 3 (come on, Valve). I guess I just didn't know what I was getting myself into when I started Bioshock Infinite. There's something very special about it, but for some reason I'm just having a hard time appreciating it. Every confrontation plays out about the same way.

The setting is its biggest redeeming quality.

First, I pick off most of the enemies with headshots and the fire ability, which is essentially the same thing as a grenade. Sometimes a strong enemy shows up, and I pull out my second weapon, unload a clip into it, run away, unload another clip, rinse, and repeat. Looting them just seems like a chore, because all you get is more ammo to shoot more enemies, or small amounts of money towards buying gun and vigor upgrades. I know, it sounds like every other game, but somehow Bioshock Infinite doesn't make it rewarding enough for me to come back and play again.

I'm not finished with this game. I will still give it a few more chances, but so far I'm just not very impressed.