Bioshock Infinite

Are you afraid of god? No......I'm afraid of you. Wow what a way to start this whirl wind of a game. I will try to keep this review for anyone who has not beaten it yet spoiler free.

I just want to let this out of my system first and foremost, the story in this game is incredible. The story of Booker was an amazing tale. I wondered why Irrational broke from the traditional mute main character, but after putting the 12 hours into the game that I enjoyed thoroughly I understand why he had to talk. In the first Bioshock the main character was Rapture and everything else was just filler. Here, in infinite, the main character to me feels like the story of Booker. The joy of Bioshock was that I was not expecting a twist of any kind so when the plot twist of "would you kindly" came along it floored me. There where about 3 major twists at the end of Infinite. The very last one did not come as a huge surprise I felt that one coming, but when you find out why this game is called Infinite it was a twist that still makes me floored when i play through it again and again.

 
Now to some quick complaints. I did find the fact you can only carry two vigors at a time to be somewhat frustrating in combat. I liked the system in Bioshock where you can tap a button to cycle through them. It allowed you as the player more gameplay options in the heat of a battle for your life. At first I did not like the fact that you can only carry two guns. After playing it more, I am unsure if this was designed this way or just my opinion, but I love it now. To me it feels like what some one could carry in real life. It is nice in first person shooters to have like 6 weapons and feel like a total bad-ass running into a battle, but come on no one can carry that kind of fire power. So it makes it feel more plausible that this guy can go on this quest.

As far as visuals go this game is stunning. I agree with most other reviews it does look a little less than perfect as far as textures go on console, but I was fortunate enough to see it on PC also and wow. Its not that it looks bad on console, not at all, its just the pure powerhouse that Infinite is these aging consoles are showing age.

I wished the game felt a bit more open world. Rapture was a dense closed in and frightening city and it felt like i had more environment options than I did in Columbia. The world felt very large in Columbia but thats because of its vastness. This is being very picky but I wish i could have gone to other floating sections of the city that I could see but never reach and also be able to go into more buildings on the streets. This game for how vast of an environment it had felt very linear.

As far as a FPS goes its on par with the best of the best as far as mechanics go. When first getting a gun I found it kind of hard to be accurate. I have two tips for anyone reading this one be patient you will be better by the time the game is over you have a chance for a lot of practice, and at the very beginning of the game when you get to explore Columbia at first we get to explore a fair. At the fair you can play carnival games to practice and get better at the mechanics of the game so if you need some more practice that is the place to do it and no one is shooting at you.

As a final food for thought, I have not been more engrossed in a story from any form of media in a long time if not ever. Looking back on my second play through I find it as enjoyable as the first if not more so. Its rare to find a book, movie, comics, or tv where when you watch it again it brings the same amount of satisfaction if not even more.

Final verdict 

Possibly best game of the last decade! It truly stands as the best way to send out the last great game of this console generation before the likes of PS4 and Xbox720 comes out. For people who have a PS3 and a 360 I suggest to get it on PS3 it comes with the first Bioshock on it for free.

+ Best story
+ Great city, amazing views
+ So much back story

- Limited use of vigors
(not really a negative just a small complaint)

10/10

Sim City "5"

When this game was announced a while back, I got excited for the simulation franchise again. The details of this game were blowing me away and it was just astounding. The glassbox engine looked extremely impressive. Not just for its graphics but what it brought to SimCity. The number one thing that impressed me was that every person lived somewhere and worked somewhere and had to travel physically from place to place. This, for a simulation/strategy buff was an exciting and enticing puzzle i couldn't wait to tackle. Managing traffic flow is one of the biggest puzzles you may face in a simulation city game.

 
Then the game came out. I was unable to buy it on day 1, hence why this review is later than most. When I started up the game I got excited and ready to tackle the challenges of managing a sprawling city landscape, but boy was I wrong. The first day I owned it I was only able to play for maybe 10 minutes. Not because i was unhappy, but because I could never get on the servers to play the game. The number one problem with the game is it can only be accessed with an internet connection, even if you're wanting to play the single player side of things.   

When you are finally playing there is another somewhat unsettling feature that let me down: the size of your cities. They are limited to an area within a larger map. Through further playing i have come to the realization that this can be a positive and a negative. The negative side of things is you are very limited on what you can do. The positives are much more grand. The first positive is that you can play with your friends and share resources and trades with them.   

The second positive, is you can create a private world and do the same thing between up to 16 cities that you create. You can have one city focused on tourism while another is focused on resources such as iron, coal, or power, just to name a few. Then you can sell those resources to a city that needs those things, which opens up a much larger and more complex strategy than any previous Sim City had before. Yes I am aware that in previous games you could trade with neighboring cities, but you could not control them for your own benefit. Now you can.

I am running this game on a lower end computer, so I cannot speak to you on behalf of the graphics. I have all my settings turned down to low, but even if I had a high powered computer i wouldn't max out the settings, because this game is not about the visuals it's about the game play.

Final Verdict

With the highly annoying server issues, and the somewhat annoying city size, I still believe that this game is a must play for any strategy enthusiast.  

8.5

+ Multiple Cities
+ Great and Amazing New Features
+ Greater Inner City Control

- City Size Limited
- Server Issues