Should be Playing - Bioshock: Infinite

I tried not to go with the obvious last week, but it has to be said: no gamer should miss Bioshock: Infinite.

(MILD SPOILERS OF THE FIRST 10 MINUTES OR SO)

Yes, the game play and gun play are fantastic. Yes, vigors (the “powers” in this game) are fun to use and make you feel very powerful. Yes, the graphics are insane. But that’s not why you should be playing it, and might even turn people who don’t like first person shooters off the experience. This would be a huge mistake.

From the moment you step out into the gates of Columbia for the first time, to a haunting rendition of “Oh Lord”, and are baptized (and nearly drown) before you are allowed to enter the city, you know this is going to be a powerful statement. By the time you win (by raffle) the opportunity to be the first to stone an interracial couple to death, it’s clear that statement isn’t going to be very comfortable. It only gets worse from there. You see, before TV and movies became the feel-good experiences they are, one of the main goals of art was to make us uncomfortable and question ourselves. It was soon discovered, however, you make a lot more money telling people they are awesome and everything is going to be ok, so we stopped doing that. Video games have become the only medium where it is still ok to shock and to confront the viewer with the true horror of the human experience, and this is something we all need from time to time. Bioshock not only guides us on that journey, it shows us why it is important in a girl named Elizabeth.

I could spend pages detailing how much of a leap forward in interactive art Elizabeth is, and others will in time. She isn’t a background character, an NPC, an escort mission, or even a companion; she is the main character in a wonderful and horrible story. It was Bungee who first understood what a leap forward in story telling this would be; they have also said that “Halo” is a game about an AI, not her protector, but never quite pulled it off. You see, in most games the idea of “player choice” is difficult to nail because you are the one affecting the whole of the universe, while being the center of it. The Mass Effect series is a great example. In Bioshock you are not the star, but you’re an important cast member. You react, and you get an opportunity to question the actions you are taking based on moral implications rather than outcome. I spent more time deciding if I should give Elizabeth a necklace with a bird on it, or one with a cage on it, than I did deciding which of my friends to send to their death in Mass Effect because the choice mattered more to me. I still don’t know what effect, if any, it had.

You need to play Bioshock not because it’s a great game (don’t get me wrong, it is) but because it’s a great, and truly accessible, work of art. You don’t have a lot of other options in that regard.