Bioshock Infinite
After going through my list of the best games of 2013, I used my embarrassingly arbitrary criteria to narrow the field to just two games. Bioshock Infinite and The Last of Us. Both games were stellar, and looking back at the notes I made while playing through them, they both had very few flaws. If the decision between the two is based on how much fun the games are, or how well they're made, then I think it would be impossible to choose. What gives Bioshock Infinite the edge is that the game has something very important to say. And for me personally, as an American politics geek, I was really interested in hearing it.
The way Infinite begins was a smart introduction to the game's political point of view. You walk through a beautiful city in the sky, a perfect place with no crime and happy kids playing everywhere. It's like Mayberry in the clouds, but just a few minutes later you're entered into a raffle at the fair in which the winner gets to bean an interracial couple with a baseball. Columbia is a reflection of the America that was when the city separated itself from the rest of the globe. Manifest destiny, American exceptionalism, racial purity, Infinite never lets you forget how fine the line between patriotism and disgusting evil can be.
While you are admiring that thought provoking plot, you will be busy shooting robotic gatling gun wielding George Washingtons, and launching goons off of zeppelins with blasts of magic water. The frantic shootouts and gunplay are the best the series has ever shown, and Infinite is as fun as it is complex. Unlike the previous two games, my play style was catered to in Infinite, sniping from far away while laying traps for those who try to come find me.
2K has found a way to make every installment in their Bioshock series important. Yes, they are all fun shooters, but now we are seeing the Bioshock games made with the intent to start intelligent, grown-up conversations. I eagerly await the next one, and while The Last of Us is just as life changing and amazing, Bioshock Infinite makes you question a lot of things that you had never thought to question before. Gaming sure has changed hasn't it?
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