Columbia: The Immersive World of Bioshock Infinite

Recently I began playing the third installment in the Bioshock trilogy, Bioshock Infinite. I am about half-way through the game and there is quite a few aspects I want to touch on that have stood out to me. Bioshock Infinite has continued what the first Bioshock introduced, which a beautiful, immersive world that is one of the central focuses of the game. A second mechanic is the use of similar
gameplay and tropes as the original Bioshock. Thirdly, a mechanic that stood out to me is the character development that is more noticeable than the original Bioshock.

The first aspect I am diving into is the emphasis on world and setting. Bioshock Infinite does exactly what Bioshock does, which is make the story-line take place in a uniquely located city that was developed by a man trying to create his own society; Comstock, the main antagonist in Infinite, created Columbia, and Andrew Ryan created Rapture in Bioshock. In Infinite, Comstock built Columbia, which is a religious-based city that floats in the sky. Columbia has old-school rules and a tyrannical style government. Comstock is seen as the prophet and leader that people appear to worship.

Similarly to Rapture in the first Bioshock, Columbia is filled with gorgeous landscape, incredible graphics, and engaging realism. Major aspects that stand out for their realism is the buildings, the movement and characterization of non-playable characters, and the changing weather patterns throughout different missions. To be specific about each item, the buildings and statutes look as if you are watching a movie, the characters in the world are always moving and doing activities even when it's not relevant to you, and the weather changes from sunny to intense thunderstorms realistically. The world enough alone to grab a gamer's attention

A second mechanic that stood out was the similar, yet different, gameplay and tropes when comparing to the first Bioshock. In Infinite you obtain abilities which are called vigors, which are the same thing as plasmids in Bioshock. A second gameplay element that is similar is the single melee weapon you can use; in Infinite its the spinning hook and the wrench in Bioshock. Some other tropes that take a little more digging to catch are the song bird and Elizabeth, who is your companion throughout the game. The song bird is basically a giant big daddy, and Elizabeth is all the little sisters combined into a single character; big daddies and little sisters are important characters in the first Bioshock. Elizabeth's clothing clearly resembles what the little sisters wear, and the yellow to red eyes of the song bird, along with the protection aspect, is representative of a big daddy. The gameplay transitions very well from Bioshock to Infinite, so going from one to the other isn't a confusing change.

A third mechanic that I believe is better in Infinite is the character development. In Infinite we are given a character who talks and expresses emotion, which allows for a more relatable character. Additionally, we get a consistent non-playable character by your side who also develops throughout the game. In the first Bioshock, who you play does not talk and in my opinion there could have been more done to create a more engaging protagonist.

I look forward to finishing Bioshock infinite. I would recommend this series to anyone that enjoys story-based games. Next post will be discussing the ending of Bioshock infinite plus an opinion piece on what would make a masterful literary game. Talk soon.