3.5/5 ★ – PigParty's review of Bioshock Infinite: The Complete Edition.

Beaten: 1/10/2025 Playtime: unknown Bioshock Infinite is a weird end to the trilogy. It changes a number of major gameplay elements. It's much more linear than its predecessors with very few open regions until you get towards the end. There's no more RPG-like elements with choosing what vigor build you have - you get them all, all the time. I know there's going to be mechanical differences since the setting isn't Rapture but this was a surprising change for me at least. I think Bioshock Infinife is a mixed bag with a high floor. The gameplay is the best in the trilogy. Movement options feel better than ever. Gunplay feels more responsive than ever. Vigors feel the same to use, however, not being limited to the amount available means that I frequently had choice paralysis and also felt less satisfied by using vigor. There's no good equivalent to Big Daddies here either. The Patriot mechs are the closest thing but they're far less formidable. The new setting is a welcome change from the twice-explored Rapture. The story is fantastic but I must say I felt the pacing was a little inconsistent. In a few points it dragged and I wanted to move on to the next story beat but it felt like I was stuck in a repetitive cycle. Also the environmental storytelling seemed less effective than its predecessors, relying more on the very good direct storytelling. As seems to be the pattern, the story only gets better when the ending is revealed. It connects everything together and makes parts of the story I may have found somewhat boring and unimportant to be really interesting and crucial to my appreciation of the story as a whole. I really enjoyed Infinite but I think there's a fair amount of fat that could've been trimmed. I don't think Bioschock's gameplay has ever been a driving force for my desire to play the game so I'd say maybe there's too much combat. There's also no real boss fights here. A few repetitive mini-bosses but most of the big fights are encountered in waves. It's just an unusual approach which differs from the prior games. I would've loved a fast track story mode with a stricter focus on when combat scenarios are important and removing them when they're filler.