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| Credit: MinecraftModerMan @ DeviantArt |
***Warning: This op-ed will contain SPOILERS, whether vague or in-your-face. You have been warned.***
Last night, I received a very tired reaction from someone when I brought up yet another point concerning BioShock: Infinite. While they didn't make a spectacle nor a scene nor any verbal complaint, I was able to recognize that, to them, the conversation piece had become tired. And who could blame them? I had rented the game on Sunday April 7th and finished it at around 1:30am, Tuesday April 9th (seriously, it was that good), and hadn't stopped talking or thinking about the game since. That could be pretty exhausting to anyone, on any topic, let alone a topic on a game that only one half of the conversation has completed - they've seen major plot points and the ending, but haven't played it themselves, yet. So, I stopped bringing it up, if only to be fair.
However, I go online and find that the gaming community has yet to find the conversation growing stale. Honestly, I don't blame them. And it's important that they don't stop talking about it.
BioShock: Infinite has been available for nearly 2 weeks now, and ever since a few days after the game's release the gaming community has been a buzz over it. Whether it be talks about the different themes (racism, elitism, religious-zealotry), the necessary/unnecessary amounts of violence in the game, or the bizarre and out-of-left-field finale, the conversation hasn't stopped and certainly hasn't been without its differing opinions.
This is exactly why BioShock: Infinite should be shelved among the great games, at least of 2013. While a game's mechanics and story, in the immediate moment of play, are important to how you rate it, what makes a game great is how it leaves an effect on you; how it leaves you talking and questioning, and wanting to play it again, even if just to clear up something about which you were confused.
Now, you might say, "Well, there are some games out there that are pretty terrible that people talk about all the time. Does that make them great games?" Of course not - see Aliens: Colonial Marines for a prime example of a horrendous game that people still talk about. It's not just the fact that conversation is happening, it's the topics of those conversations that really bring a unique light to Infinite. When it comes to BioShock: Infinite, people are talking about the stories, the gameplay, the themes, the ENDING!! Oh God, the ending! How much did that ending mess with people?
And that's really something that needs to happen more in video games; conversation. Good, productive conversation.
I grew up with video games, starting from 8-bit NES games through every console generation up to the present systems. Most of those games were nothing more than an attempt at making great entertainment, usually using puzzles, violence and/or tired character tropes. But, like many other gamers out there, I'm in my late twenties and I want to have my games mature with me. I want my games to treat me like an adult and make me think on an adult level. I don't want to simply be shown pretty things and flashy graphics anymore. I want something real, in-depth and intelligent.
More and more developers are starting to understand that. Games like Heavy Rain and Journey are among those that realize that age doesn't limit those that play video games. It just means that you, as the developer, need to give those older gamers something more than just entertainment. And that's where I feel BioShock: Infinite has really started to demonstrate the industry's grasp on this notion.
Why? Because they give intellectual themes. Sure, they might hit you over the head with these themes and maybe they don't give their players very much intellectual credit, but the point is they're trying. And because of that, people are talking about a video game's themes as much about, if not more than, the gameplay and the graphics.
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Here are the main talking points concerning BioShock Infinite as seen on the internet:
Violence
Anyone who's played an FPS (first person shooter) probably should expect some level of violence in another FPS like BioShock: Infinite. That's definitely past experience in the BioShock series of games, anyway. But Infinite turns it up a notch from previous BioShock games, which has put a few bees in the bonnets of some gamers. These people are feeling that the violence wasn't necessary and was nothing more than a means to draw in a crowd of gamers, who may never have played a previous BioShock game, who see video games as nothing more than a Y-chromosome action sport. These critics felt it cheapened everything that Infinite set out to achieve.
Then there are those - myself included - who feel that the heightened violence was a means to either A) distract from the underlying theme(s) of the game so you could be better blown away at the end, B) draw more of an importance to the ugliness of Columbia's society, or C) both.
Personally, I saw that the violence was necessary to show more importance on the ending (SPOILERS!!!), where we learned that Comstock (the antagonist) is actually Booker (the protagonist) from another universe. Booker runs around Columbia destroying everything in a horrid and violent manner. So, when Comstock makes a jab at Booker, saying, "then again, you've always had a talent for self-destruction," the player realizes it resonates throughout the entire game; Booker is essentially destroying himself, and doesn't even realize it. Thus, necessary violence; unfortunate to admit, but true.
Let's also note that Irrational Games, the minds behind all of the BioShock games, put in a little reminder of the disgusting nature of video game violence. If you pay attention to the ambient noise during fights, anytime you execute an opponent with the Skyhook, Elizabeth will give an audible reaction ("Oh God...", "Why?", "*groan*"). It's sort of Irrational Games' way of saying, "This may be a necessary thing to our story but this violence in video games is getting old, fast, and here's a little conscience to follow you around just to remind you of that."
Religion
This aspect of the game was one of the biggest conversation pieces, prior to BioShock Infinite's launch. It drew in people because we watched a "moral" land of the sky demonstrate how God hates all people of different creeds and races than those who are in the elite of Columbia. We saw how God anointed the Founding Fathers with a blessing to create a truly Utopian society and how Columbia emanates that. What we saw was a Theocracy at its finest level of manipulation.
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| The "Lady Comstock", martyr of Columbia. |
People got angry because it makes some people feel that creed is being persecuted. Others are saying it's a true reflection of how some in our current government are using God as a means to create morals for all people in the country, even if there are people of different creeds. And then there are those who believe that this was nothing more than a red herring, a distraction from what was really going on in Columbia.
Regardless, this was a great talking point that didn't have to do with violence and/or graphics. And I personally loved it.
Racism
Prior to launch, BioShock Infinite talked a lot about racism and religion as the two themes of the game; the things that truly drive Columbia. Infinite boasts a grand level of racism and bigotry in Columbia as a means to create a massive superiority complex in the white, non-Irish members of its society. Interracial mingling is forbidden and "indentured servitude" is commonplace. And the Irish are seen as nothing more than factory workers sent to serve the higher folks.
This obviously sent a nice ripple through the world of gaming. "Why is there so much racism?" "Do they have no shame?" "How can they put this right in our face?"
Well, because while racism isn't as blatant in society now as it was before, it still was something very big during the turn of the 19th century. Therefore, it'd only make sense to have it be something important to a society that is hellbent on improving upon its "holier-than-thou" superiority complex; not to mention important in a game that takes place in 1912. No?
While violence, religion and racism were the main points of conversation, at first, the finale definitely made people realize there was something more important to talk about.
Time Travel
Now, this isn't the modern-day version of time travel where we'd expect to find a blue box popping up on the corner of a Columbian street. No no. This is the type of time travel where the universe is a living thing and if you tear into it, there are wounds. This is the type of time travel where choices have consequences and new paths are formed from said choices.
As stated earlier, it is revealed in the end that Booker and Comstock are one and the same, but are different versions of each other from different universes. Each are formed after one specific moment in time, where one choice creates one path and another choice creates another. The choice to be baptized and have his sins washed away was one choice Booker made, being reborn as Comstock. The other Booker chose to run from baptism, believing that his sins couldn't be so easily forgiven, let alone forgotten. After this, numerous worlds were born and millions more were born from the choices that followed in those worlds. Thus, "a million million worlds" were created just from that one moment. So, in the end, the only way to truly defeat Comstock was to remove him from existence. And to do that was to make sure only one choice was made at the point of baptism, the one where you kill yourself and never let Comstock be "born" in the baptismal river.
And that's really where all these different talking points come together, where conversation makes people question different things. "What was important to the gameplay?" "What was the point of religion and racism in Columbia?" "What truly happened in the end?" "Does the post-credits sequence mean Booker can keep his daughter and raise her without interference from Comstock?"
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With all the talk of gun violence in the United States and just as much talk of video games being responsible, it's good that we get more and more games coming forward and displaying the gaming community's willingness to think and be challenged intellectually. Finally, we're seeing something happening in gaming where conversation is about the story, or why something was necessary to help the story, not just about something that was there to help the entertainment value of the game, or how awesome it was blowing off a guy's head. Finally, we can say, "We understand it's violent, but in order to show how horrid a man Booker/Comstock is we need to show how he embraces this nasty side of himself."
Many people outside of gaming probably won't understand it, but this game, BioShock Infinite, is a huge step in the right direction for video games. And we need to keep talking about it. We need to keep hearing more about what someone thought of the Nolan-esque ending. We need to hear more about how religion and racism as themes were nothing more than red herrings distracting us from the truth of the matter. We need to hear more about how Elizabeth had verbal disdain for the violence we enacted upon our enemies. We need to hear more on how it was a battle between two men, that are the same man, fighting to be the right version of that man; the right version of the father for Elizabeth. We need to hear more about BioShock Infinite and games just like it.
Plain and simple, folks, we need to keep talking.
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| Elizabeth is one of the most realistic and engaging NPCs one could ever encounter in a video game. Credit: gamereuphoria.com |
