Players who have never experienced BioShock or BioShock 2 will be able to jump right into BioShock Infinite because of the totally new characters, setting, and storyline. But those who have experienced the previous BioShock games and have been waiting for this new game for years will immediately feel right at home.
The game starts at a lighthouse, where players can look around for currency (Silver Eagles replacing Ryan Dollars) and food, as well as clues to the situation the player character, private eye Booker DeWitt, has found himself in and the situation he's about to be launched into.
Once again, Irrational Games has excellently crafted a unique world. While the original BioShock's Rapture was a piece of Art Deco, Columbia is a Norman Rockwell painting come to life. In the same way that the original BioShock held a magnifying glass to Ayn Rand's Objectivism, Infinite looks at jingoism and religious extremism, though this shouldn't alienate anyone. It's made clear early on the United States has disowned Columbia for its extremism, and the religion practiced by Columbia's citizens is satirical but decently removed from anything practiced in the real world.
Rather than the traditional dull tutorial, the game allows players to experience basic gameplay and the setting through a friendly carnival before things turn dark and enemies start attacking. Combat is similar to previous games but tweaked. The new melee weapon, the Sky-Hook, is an improvement over the wrench or the drill, allowing the player to execute an enemy low on health by breaking their neck or decapitating them, and can also be used to navigate Sky-Lines, adding a new form of movement and opening up new combat strategies. Vigors, Columbia's answer to Rapture's Plasmids, are a blast to use, some resembling traditional Plasmids with new twists. For example, the Possession vigor replaces both the Hypnotize plasmid and the hacking mini-games from earlier games, while also causing the enemy under its effect to violently suicide after the hypnotism wears off. Different Vigors consume different units of salt (the new EVE), meaning more powerful Vigors like Possession allow fewer uses than more practical Vigors like Shock Jockey (the new stand-in for the old stand-by Electro-Bolt) before Salt must be replenished. Also, without hypos that can be carried around and used at will, items must be consumed cautiously, as trade-offs between health and salts are common. Instead of ADAM, Silver Eagles are the only currency in Columbia, so you'll need to budget to be afford health, ammo, and salts, as well as upgrades to the different weapon types and Vigors. Wearable gear replaces tonics and is able to be swapped from an options menu rather than at selected Gene Banks.
Since Columbia is still a thriving community when you arrive, it doesn't have the same feeling of every little area yielding its secrets the way Rapture did. But the world is still interesting enough to make exploring worthwhile, even though creepy moments are fewer and farther in between than previously. Encountered characters are all excellent. The Luteces are great as the comic relief characters, bizarre enough to be hilarious and somehow creepy at the same time. Booker DeWitt is a hard-boiled man of few words who is only chatty compared to the two previous games' silent protagonists. The resistance leader Daisy Fitzroy contrasts the ultra-nationalists of the game and does a good job of showing extremists on the other side of the social spectrum aren't necessarily a lesser evil. But the most fascinating character is Booker's companion, Elizabeth. Her expressions are incredible, and while she'll appeal to the same protective instinct those who chose to rescue the Little Sisters experienced, she never needs to be escorted. She stays in cover during combat, tosses helpful power-ups occasionally during fights, currency during quieter moments, and is able to bring items from other dimensions to add another tactical element to battles. Those who couldn't get into previous games because of their claustrophobic nature will find the battles in Infinite hard to resists, facing large hordes of foes in open arenas.
Music is another great element. Garry Schyman deliver another great score and the selection of licensed music is as good as ever, consisting not only of period music, but ragtime and blues covers of some of the greatest hits of later decades as well.
Many people revered the game's ending. I was not a fan of the story's conclusion. That said, the journey is well-worth the destination.