Real disapointment. The original Bioshock games were fantastic. Here it feels like they are using the name to trade off their earlier successes while producing something that is frankly orders of magnitude inferior a gaming experience.
They've done well in creating the impression early in the game of a massive world, and visually its very impressive. But the game space is actually extremely small and limited and play is almost entirely linear.
You basically follow a tightly set route and shoot large numbers of boringly repetitive enemies.
The story is not bad, but the sheer tedium of the gameplay makes this frankly a tedious experience. Despite my completionist streak, I don't think I will finish this chore

I know that some people are still bitter about the Bioshock Infinite we could have gotten. Those criticisms are valid as a matter of opinion, but after this recent replay, I firmly believe that much of the audience was, and still is, far too hard on this game. It's brilliant, cerebral, and has aged very well. It's not perfect, but it's still my favorite Bioshock game. I only have two real criticisms, one big and one small. But first, some praise.

The presentation is wonderful. The art style is consistent, and there's tons of detail packed into each level. More importantly, the aesthetics reinforce the ideology of Columbia. The patriotic iconography, sanitized propaganda, and romanticized Americana all feed directly into the game’s themes. I adore the bizarre twist on Colonial Revival architecture, and it bleeds into everything. Outfits, enemy design (especially the robots), and weapons. The music is exceptional, and I love each and every one of the little musical stings that trigger during gameplay.

The gameplay is of its time, but still works well for me. Two-gun shooters were all the rage, but the traversal mechanics, Vigors, snappy gunplay, and Elizabeth's tear mechanics keep it from feeling like a thirteen year old piece of software. However, I do have some nitpicks about the gameplay to be explored later.

The voice cast is incredible. Courtnee Draper as Elizabeth is my all-time favorite voice performance in a video game. Elizabeth herself is an absolute standout from a gameplay perspective. I would consider her to be one of the medium’s strongest companion characters, both mechanically and emotionally. Her curiosity, awkwardness, and gradual understanding of the world around her make Columbia feel human. She never feels like a lame AI companion that only follows rigid scripting. You never have to babysit her, and the way she helps you in battle feels awesome.

The narrative touches on many sensitive subjects, especially race, the dangers of organized religion, and class dynamics. Not every aspect is handled perfectly, but I still respect how willing the game is to engage with uncomfortable ideas at all. It's shocking at times, but feels both warranted and earned. It holds up a mirror to America, religion, and the human condition itself. I fear that games like this might not be made anymore due to those types of subject matter, at least to the same extent as this one.

My big criticism of this game is that it simply tries to do too much. The narrative is excellent, but tries to tackle so much that some parts do feel stretched thin. It's a superb science fiction story mixed with a critical analysis of American and religious exceptionalism. As time goes on and I get older, all of it resonates deeper. As my understanding of the world, human nature, and history grows, so does my grasp of the concept that beyond the whole floating city thing and magic god-powers, all of the narrative is perfectly plausible in terms of character motivations and ideological drive. The writers simply understand human nature. Booker and Comstock work especially well narratively; their characters explore guilt, reinvention, and the danger of convincing yourself that your worst actions were somehow necessary.

My small criticism is a slight feeling of gameplay redundancy. Many of the Vigors sort of do the same thing, and many guns share ideal use cases. The upgrade economy also encourages players to commit to a chosen loadout early rather than experiment broadly. You can beat this game on most of the difficulties with only the starter pistol (my favorite weapon, mostly due to the sound effects) and one Vigor (Murder of Crows my beloved) without much trouble. On one hand this is fine, it lets players choose what they like the most thematically for their playthrough, but on the other, I would have preferred more diversity in the weapons and Vigors.

This remains a personal favorite game, even after all these years. I still remember my very first playthrough on the Xbox 360 way back in the day, and I imagine I'll keep coming back every few years to keep that memory fresh. The ending still lands for me. Even knowing every twist beforehand, it remains emotionally effective and visually memorable. I just love it.

Subversive garbage.