Game Evaluation By: Chad Seippel CIS 487 – Fall 2013

BioShock Infinite Developer – Irrational Games Publisher – 2K Games Genre – First Person Shooter / Action Adventure Price – $59.99 Release Date: March 26, 2013

Hardware Available for Xbox 360, PS3, and PC/Mac Minimum Requirements (PC) OS: Windows Vista Service Pack 2 32-bit Processor: Intel Core 2 DUO 2.4 GHz / AMD Athlon X2 2.7 GHz Memory: 2 GBHard Drive: 20 GB free Video Card: DirectX10 Compatible ATI Radeon HD 3870 / NVIDIA 8800 GT / Intel HD 3000 Integrated Graphics Video Card Memory: 512 MB Sound Card: DirectX Compatible

Hardware Recommended Requirements (PC) OS: Windows 7 Service Pack 1 64-bit Processor: Quad Core Processor Memory: 4 GB Hard Drive: 30 GB free Video Card: DirectX11 Compatible, AMD Radeon HD 6950 / NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Video Card Memory: 1024 MB Sound Card: DirectX Compatible Digital installation available through Stream No installation required for 360 or PS3

Story The player takes the role as Booker Dewitt Former Pinkerton agent, and in debt to the wrong people To resolve your debt you must go to the majestic floating city of Columbia and capture a young girl named Elizabeth and bring her back to NY Players travel throughout Columbia with the goal of seeking out the residence of Z.H. Comstock, leader of The Founders, who Elizabeth must see before they can escape Elizabeth is held captive in Columbia and has the mysterious ability to create tears in space/time There is unrest and revolution coming to Columbia. This leads to the player and Elizabeth fighting their way to escape the dangers of Columbia

Gameplay Played from the first- person perspective. Right hand fires weapons and left hand fires your powers Various powers called “Vigors” such as fire, lightning, murder of crows Player can use vigors and weapons simultaenously, allowing for interesting ways to destroy enemies Player can also equip four slots of gear that can give added bonuses to weapons, vigors, melee, etc.

Gameplay Elizabeth has the power to manipulate "tears" - windows in space and time. You can ask her to open these tears at any time during battle. These tears can bring in objects and weapons in from another dimension. Columbia also features an intricate series of "SkyLines" a rail system that connects the different parts of the city. Players can leap onto these rails using the Sky-Hook, a magnetized tool that allows for quick travel around the environment. These rails can also be useful in battle, as players can perform jumping melee attacks onto enemies.

User Interface UI is very basic and shows only the essential information. Shield and health, Salts (mana) and ammo Two vigors and two guns that the player can quickly switch between during battle Menu system allows the player to look at the objectives, equip weapons and vigors. As well as get more information about them.

Scoring Money system (silver eagles) and player upgrades Buy or sell through “vending machines” found throughout Columbia Ammo, med kits, upgrades to vigors and weapons can be purchased in vending machines Various gear hidden throughout Columbia “Infusions” are hidden bottles of special formula that allow you to upgrade one stat of your choice (Health, shield, salt)

Artwork Colorful and beautiful scenes Very detailed world Takes advantage of Unreal Engine 3 Great mixture of cartoon and realistic design Steampunk vibe, circa 1912 Not as good on Xbox 360 or PS3 when compared to PC (obviously)

Sound and Music Composed by Garry Schyman Dynamic music Dramatic music during combat Special noises with critical hits or head shots Outro music to let player know when combat ends Various old period pieces to set the mood of circa 1912

Special Features Three DLCs to be released “Clash in the Clouds” released June 30, 2013 that adds wave- based survival “Voxophones” are in-game audio devices that can be found which give an interesting background on the plot of the game Upon completing the game, you unlock “1999 Mode” which greatly increases the difficulty

The Good Fast, smooth, and unique combat experience Different combinations of vigors and weapons allow you to kill enemies in creative ways Dramatic and emotional story plot Unique plot that has twists and turns You actually care about the characters Very beautiful and colorful art style with a world that you can explore Companion that is actually helpful fun to play with

The Bad No multiplayer Versus, Cooperative, Leaderboards Navigation arrow shows you where to go Discourages exploration

How does it compare? It's a very unique first-person shooter so I can only compare it to the original BioShock and BioShock 2 Graphics are much more colorful and lively compared to original games It has characters you actually care about Added melee sky-line combat BioShock 2 has various competitive multiplayer modes and leaderboards while BioShock Infinite does not Better in almost every way

Audience This game is targeted to a wide range of gamers Big world, action-adventure with a great story and fast gameplay Not overly violent so it's not only playable by adults Strong male and female protagonists Men and women 17+ would enjoy this game, fans of shooters or adventure games

Summary Strengths Fast, fluid and creative gameplay Amazing story Beautiful and big world Weaknesses Lack of multiplayer Some hand-holding that pushes the game linear instead of encouraging exploration

How can it improve? Multiplayer support at release! I'll accept multiplayer in a DLC

Verdict BUY IT! One of the best games I have ever played Potential GOTY