BioShock Infinite

About

BioShock Infinite is a FPS (First Person Shooter) video game developed by Irrational Games and published by 2K Games. It is the third installment in the BioShock series, and was released on March 26th, 2013. It is available for Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Playstation 3, and Xbox 360. Although the game is part of the Bioshock series, it has been considerably different in terms of direction and aesthetics from its predecessors and as such have developed a subculture within the Bioshock fandom that contrasts with the fandom of the first games.

History

Work on Infinite began around February 2008, when the game's setting and themes were first brainstormed.^[7] News of the game's development was made public in August 2010,^[8] and the game was released worldwide on March 26th, 2013. The development was spearheaded by Ken Levine, who is also the same creative director behind the original Bioshock game released in 2007.

Gameplay

The game takes place in 1912, in an alternate time period in which the South American city of Columbia is now floating in the sky as part of the United States. In the game, the player takes control of Booker DeWitt, a private detective from New York who's gambling habits have caught up to him, so in order to pay back his debt collectors, he must travel to Columbia and find a girl named Elizabeth and bring her back unharmed. However, Zachary Hale Comstock, the city's ruler, believes Elizabeth to be part of a large prophecy, with Booker being named the 'False Shepard' and Elizabeth being named 'the Lamb of Columbia', referencing the fact that he wants to escape the city with her to pay off his debt. Comstock sends his followers, known as the Founders to kill the False Shepard and bring the Lamb back, so in order to make it out alive, Booker and Elizabeth team up to escape the city and get to New York.

The game, along with the Burial at Sea DLC, utilizes a first-person view from Booker's (or in Burial at Sea: Part 2, Elizabeth's) perspective. Weapons such a shotgun, pistol, gatling gun, rocket-propelled grenade launcher and many more can picked up and used by the player. Along with the guns and firearms, the player can also pick up 'Vigors' which are powered by an individual power source called 'salts'. Vigors are based off the Plasmids from the first two BioShock games and allow Booker to genetically enhance his DNA to perform tasks such as throwing fireballs, catching and throwing bullets using an electro-magnetic shield, and shooting bolts of electricity at enemies and NPC's.

Reception

The game currently holds a rating of 10/10 on Steam] 9/10 on GameSpot,^[2] 9.5/10 on IGN,^[3] and 4.5/10 on Metacritic.^[4] It was awarded Game of the Year from over 40 publications,^[5] and WatchMojo ranked it first on its list of "Top 10 Video Games With Great Stories."^[6]

Fandom

Bioshock Infinite shares the same wiki as the original water-logged Bioshock, which is The Bioshock Wiki. The DeviantArt search bar yields a fairly large number of 19,802 results for 'Bioshock Infinite'.^[9]

Related Memes

Booker, Catch!

"Booker, Catch!" is a phrase said by the character Elizabeth. Throughout the game, Elizabeth can assist Booker (the player's character) in gunfights by bringing in objects such as medical supplies or turrets from alternate worlds through 'tears' in their reality. This meme branches off from her assistance, as she can also find medical supplies and ammo to throw to Booker, in which she will alert the player by saying she's found something, with phrases such as "Ammo! Take it!" or "You're bleeding!", with the most common saying being "Booker, catch!". Because the phrase is mentioned many times throughout the game, it has become a inside joke amongst BioShock fans along the lines of "Would you kindly?" or the Andrew Ryan speech from the first game.

Constants and Variables

Constants and Variables is a phrase mentioned a couple of times by Elizabeth that has become iconic to the game for being an ever-present principle especially when seen together with the original Bioshock game and the DLCs Burial at Sea Episode 1 and 2. The phrase states that for every parallel universe, there are constants -- factors that remain the same throughout -- and variables -- factors that may change which makes a parallel universe unique from the others.

Lutece Twins

The Lutece Twins (who are not really twins) are prominent supporting characters in Bioshock Infinite. Their first appearance in-game with the coin and the wearable blackboard is often parodied by artists with other characters that exhibit a sort of twin-mentality. Moreover, the manner in which the Lutece Twins finish each others' sentences whilst portraying a quaint demeanor is also parodied by artists using their own choice of characters with a twin-mentality.

Search Interest

External References