Hey everyone! I recently decided to replay the Bioshock trilogy after learning that Infinite has grown a lot of hated over the years (I also learned people didn’t like 2 either, I’m not really online that much. That was a total shock). I used this information as an excuse to replay one of my favorite trilogies, especially wanting to have 1 & 2 fresh on my mind to best compare to infinite, which before this I would’ve considered my favorite by a mile before starting.
After playing through it twice (first just a casual play through, then the other 1999 mode), I still truly love it, but MAN, it’s a lot more messier than I remember. Having Bioshock 1, tightly knitted story fresh in my mind going into infinite, I definitely noticed a lot more flaws and plotholes that I glossed over in my initial playthrough that’s the biggest curse of any multiverse story. I think They’re always kinda filled with plotholes or inconsistencies so I was a bit more willing to forgive it but despite that, I still really loved going through the story again and especially that ending. I understand what it was trying to go for, even if not executed the best it still left a damn good impression on me
When it comes to gameplay differences, I guess I’m in the minority because I like a lot of infinite changes. I felt that 1 kinda just threw your Medkits and Eve practically everywhere, making any encounter not terrifying or feel remotely challenging because of how much you can just play reckless and still be totally fine (not that gameplay is why a lot of people play Bioshock but still) I felt actually challenged by encounters in infinite cut while the shield could have the same issue but even more boring since it’s just waiting around the enemies try to flank you all the time especially in 1999 it’s a fun kind of challenge I really enjoyed.
Dare I say I love the 2 weapons limit as well!! I totally understand the complaint when the first 2 games let you basically be a walking tank. Going from that to only being able to carry 2 weapons kinda sucked. For me, however, I liked the strategy of choosing what to bring. I had a lot of moments about whether I wanted to swap for something like a sniper rifle for the next encounter or “is this shotgun really worth carrying?” Stuff like that.
I think the vigors are really damn fun, but they don’t truly shine unless you play 1999 mode. I’m not saying 1 & 2 gunplay was bad per se, but infinite guns are really damn strong, so for my casual play through I honestly struggled even to find a use for them a lot of the time. Luckily, playing through 1999 mode, I really relied on them a lot more, especially the trap function on a lot of them (devils kiss and shock jockey, my beloved). Just a bit of a shame I had to play on the hardest difficulty just to find them truly useful.
What I really love most of all is just how snappy all the guns feel to use there was a weapon here and there I thought was ehhhh in 1 like the chem thrower and speargun in 2 but in infinite all of them was a joy to use which honestly does make the 2 weapons sting a little bit more lol.
It’s honestly kinda hard to even compare Infinite to the other 2 when it’s so damn different. Having a messier story doesn’t help either. Now I can at least confidently say I still love this game's flaws and all, rather than having a fragmented memory of it being the greatest experience ever. Lol
Sorry if my post was all over the place, but I’m curious if anyone replayed it recently? Or going through it for the first time, or just have strong feelings on it in general what do you think about infinite now?
Also, if anyone’s curious, my rankings now are
1 >infinite > 2
TLDR: replayed Bioshock infinite not as great as I remembered still awesome.