Seven years ago, we were introduced to a totally different side of the BioShock coin – BioShock Infinite. Infinite’s setting could not have been more different from 2007’s BioShock, prompting some to wonder why it had the BioShock moniker at all. Upon playing the game, fans quickly realized why. While the visuals and settings were definitely different, Infinite and BioShock shared similar story beats, themes, and pacing that makes the games synonymous with each other.
BioShock Infinite takes place in 1912, in the floating steampunk-esque city of Columbia. Booker DeWitt, a washed-up Pinkerton detective, is given the simple task ‘bring us the girl, and wipe away the debt’. Once he reaches Columbia, he realizes that ‘simple task’ wasn’t so simple. It didn’t take long for all of Columbia to be after Booker. He manages to rescue Elizabeth from her tower, but the job just gets harder as he now has the terrifying Songbird on their tail. As the two try to escape the floating hell, they end up stumbling upon Columbia’s dirty laundry and realize the floating utopia in the sky isn’t what people think it is.
Fun Facts:
— BioShock Infinite’s main adversary is one you never actually get to fight. The Songbird, sworn protector of Elizabeth, who is after Booker for pretty much the whole game. During your first interaction with Songbird, you get to hear its iconic screech. But this isn’t the first time you hear this sound in the BioShock franchise. Tracing back to the first game, Songbird’s scream can be heard when you see Sander Cohen playing his piano.
— The initial game was so expansive that the dev team reportedly cut “five or six games worth” of material before Infinite was finally released.
— Fans were rewarded for their patience during the end credits with a video of Troy Baker (Booker DeWitt) and Courtnee Draper (Elizabeth) singing “Will The Circle Be Unbroken,” which was recorded for a scene in the game.
Easter Eggs:
— Throughout the game, you can happen across various real-world songs if you look hard enough. One that’s almost impossible to miss is a barbershop quartet at the beginning of the game singing a stylized rendition of The Beach Boys’ “God Only Knows.” Later on in the game, you can have Elizabeth open a tear that shows an alternate dimension where you can hear Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Fortunate Son” blaring. Other songs hidden in the game include Tears For Fears’ “Everybody Wants To Rule The World” and Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.”
— Infinite was delayed a good three times before release. Instead of trying to hide it, the devs actually wrote the delays into the game. While in an arcade at Battleship Bay, Elizabeth remarks that the Duke and Dimwit game was delayed three times
— One of the first lines of the games is uttered while Booker DeWitt is being baptized. The priest says “Is it someone new?” This is also one of the first lines uttered in BioShock (2007). Upon entering Rapture, a spider splicer approaches your bathysphere and says the very same phrase.
— Just like the audio diaries in the first two BioShock games, Infinite features Voxophones, which the player can collect and listen to for additional lore. A few of these recordings reference Rapture. For example, one of Jeremiah Fink’s logs references his observations of a Big Daddy and Little Sister through a tear:
“They illuminate a merger of machine and man that is somehow the lesser, yet the greater, of both parties! The process seems to be irreversible. Perhaps, though, Comstock will have some need of this kind of thing to keep watch in that tower he is building.”
Another one of Fink’s diaries references Brigid Tenenbaum, the biologist/creator of the Little Sisters from the first two installments:
“I know not which musician you borrow your notes from, but if he has half the genius of the biologist I now observe, well…then you are to be the Mozart of Columbia.”
— Elizabeth’s lifelong dream was to escape her tower and flee to Paris. Throughout the game, she references the city, and Booker promises to take her there (kinda). Early on in the game, around the time we first meet Elizabeth, we see her open a tear to Paris and step out onto a street near a theater. The marquee reads La Revanche Du Jedi, which translates to Revenge of the Jedi. If that wasn’t enough of a hint, Booker then states “This job is getting worse all the time,” a loose reference to one of Lando Calrissian’s lines from Empire Strikes Back.
Development Differences:
The BioShock Infinite that was shown off during demos and game conferences was vastly different to what we actually received. Early looks at the game revealed a more open world-type game experience. The 2010 game demo also revealed characters that never made it into Infinite – Saltonstall and Charles.
Saltonstall was a man who was running for office, hammering home the second amendment while surrounded by barrels of firearms. When the character approaches the politician, he calls for aide from his chum, Charles, who utilizes the Murder of Crows vigor against the protagonist. The only thing to make it into the game from this interaction was the Vigor, and well…the guns. Although Saltonstall is mentioned a couple of times throughout the game, he is never seen and it is suggested he met his grisly end at the hands of the Vox Populi.
The demo then goes on to introduce staples like skyhooks, familiar Columbia settings, Handymen, and of course Elizabeth (but in a much different capacity). Elizabeth initially had a very different look, as well as a different offensive mechanic all together, taking more of an offensive stance rather than the final game’s more defensive and helpful version.
BioShock Infinite was the game that made me start to think of video games more as an experience/art form rather than just a game. Its incredible story and stunning visuals pulled me in 7 years ago, and still has not let go. The game came out in 2013, and it somehow still holds up. Visuals, still great. Story, still riveting. Gameplay, still a lot of fun. Is it the best BioShock game? I think so. What do you think?
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