Still to this day I go back to the first Bioshock to have some fun and at times Bioshock 2 for some multiplayer. I mean there was nothing like being up late at night playing either game in the dark as you progressed throughout Rapture. Now let’s venture forth to the skies in the year 1912 where you’ll find the land of Columbia. Where would you find this area? In the newly released game Bioshock Infinite from Irrational Games.

Now with any game that releases into the market there always seems to be some good things to find along with bad. Though with the game Bioshock Infinite, boy can I say I’ve had a great time playing this game and I’ve already lost count on how much time I’ve put in the game. Is this good or bad? Well you’ll find out in my review for the Xbox 360.

What is Bioshock Infinite about? Well the story is focused in the year 1912 as many of you already know. In that time a lot of things happened such as wars, racism, slaves and more. We’ll first learn about our character known as Booker DeWitt. He runs his own private firm along with being a Pinkerton agent at one point. You’re hired to go after a little girl who has been missing since a young age. Will I get into more details about the girl? No since that would open up a bit of spoilers. Well to start the game you’ll be sitting in a row-boat as you’re slowly being taken to a light house. Like the first Bioshock you had to visit yet another one to reach the underwater city of Rapture and as you can guess with this one you’ll be taken to the land of Columbia in the sky. From then on is when the adventure will start and boy will it be a good one. After getting to Columbia you’ll learn what it was like back then, which is a huge plus about learning what things went on in our past. Sadly no sky city of Columbia existed in our world but many of the issues that came up in-game did. I would love to give more information about the story but no spoilers for you.

With any game I always take time to see if controls are total crap, gameplay itself is solid, has minor issues, or things that some gamers might get annoyed about. I’ll state that I have found a few things but nothing really serious since I’ve beat the game twice already. However, it was the stuff that was shown in the past that has been taken out which bothered me the most. Come on Irrational! Those parts in past videos looked pretty bad ass. From the moment you start the game you’ll be drawn in very quickly to what will be a very detailed story with a lot of twist and turns. One moment you might be tense due to being shot at and trying to figure out how to save ammo and money and the next moment using all your abilities to get away from danger, which would mean kill or be killed. With every new area you visit the more you’ll want to look around, loot, and come out on top against enemies. Bioshock Infinite has more crazy battles than the original Bioshock. There were times due to me playing on Hard that I got my butt kicked or ran out of ammo. However, I was in luck to get by those parts now, and as for 1999 mode it’ll be an interesting adventure. Plus with this story going on you’ll wonder things such as how was the floating city of Columbia created, who and what is Elizabeth, and what’s going on in the sky.

The story itself is a big one and the replay value for this game is there. Who doesn’t want to try a game like this over and over? Plus with unlocking 1999 mode you’ll be sure to try a few times. As for the controls of the game I can tell you that the controls are pretty solid and easy to grasp within the first few minutes of the game. No need to spend 10 minutes figuring these things out when you’ll be using nearly every action by the time you make it to the fair going on.

For the audio in-game and graphics I was pleased with the content. I’ll be starting off with the graphics throughout the game. As I’ve said you’ll be blown away by this game and the graphics were really bad ass from start to end. It could be simple as first getting to Columbia to the battles that take place later in-game to even the ending of the game. The both times I played through the game I couldn’t help but explore, loot, and observe the quality Irrational Games provided for everyone. You can clearly tell a lot of work was put into making a story and that everything throughout the game matched with the time chosen. At times you may get shocked with thinks you’ll see and or hear but you’ll need to understand these type of things have happened back then in time.

The in-game audio such as music was pretty sweet and did set the mood when the time was right. Examples range from being at the fair and having a group singing, to a little girl singing later in-game, and let’s not forget about Elizabeth singing but you’ll have to find that Easter Egg in the game. Also, having some music that some of us know was fun to find and is quite a task. My advice now is be sure to look around since you never know what you’ll hear. As for the acting in-game it was very solid as well and set the mood whether Elizabeth was in trouble, a character you were dealing with was causing problems to simple exploring and finding the records people have left. Again you can clearly tell with the game Bioshock Infinite a lot of time was put into this game and the quality was quite amazing.

Overall, I’d say this is a must buy game for any format you happen to pick. From the start of this game until the end you’ll be blown away by the graphics, the musical scores, and the gameplay. The controls are very easy to grasp and the amount of content the game has will keep you busy for hours. Now I know I said at the start of this review all games have good and bad things but Bioshock Infinite is one of the few that hardly have any. If I had to bring up one thing that was bad about this game it would be the save issues such as not being able to save yourself as you play. Hopefully later Irrational Games can figure out a way to add in this but until then be sure you’ve looked around before you head to the next area. Other than that this game offers many great things and is my choice for a game of the year.

A copy of Bioshock Infinite was provided for review purposes.