But I was talking with a friend about the game a few days ago, and I realized that for all the plethora of hate that people have plied on Levine's artgame baby, most of them barely covered or just straight up ignored the thing that absolutely pissed me off the most about Bioshock Infinite: The Two Weapon Limit. Or rather, the most horribly implemented Two Weapon Limit ever implemented.
it was a good way to die. |
Still, things were good for awhile. Then came HALO.
I should be clear: Halo deserves hate for directly leading to what I had to deal with in Bioshock Infinite, but ironically Halo, despite being the first game to go "you can pick this gun, but then you can't use this one," was probably the best one to use this system. Why was this? Simply put, the developers designed the weapons to naturally induce players to experiment, while never frustrating them with a shitty weapon combo situation.
a typical halo gun value decision |
The level and weapon design worked together to encourage players to experiment, while never forcing them to abandon a favorite weapon for too long. When I see people play Halo, they tend to stick with a favored human weapon, while using the second slot for a backup alien weapon. If there was a situation where a specific weapon was REALLY important to use (such as the FUCKING LIBRARY) the game usually threw more than one of that specific weapon to make sure you would pick it up. You'd be forced to abandon one weapon or another from your generic arsenal, but unless you were playing at the hardest difficulty, usually the experience didn't detract from whatever enjoyment you were feeling.
Since Halo, the FPS has been pretty split between giving the player all the goddamned weapons he wants, and imposing some sort of a limit. The best of the latter, like FEAR, try to make up for the loss of total player choice with some sort of strategic depth, giving enough ammo depth and drops that you can use the weapons you like while encouraging the spotty use of other weapons at appropriate situations. In addition, such games usually tried to make it so regardless of the weapon combinations you held, you would be able to handle yourself in any situation provided you had the gamer skills to adapt.
pictured: a rare example of swapping done right |
So here's Bioshock Infinite, a game that cost ONE HUNDRED MILLION to develop. How does it handle weapons, at least on hard mode? JESUS FUCKING CHRIST IT'S SO BAD.
So first, you only get two weapons at a time. I don't know why this is a thing, especially since there's about a dozen weapons total. Oh wait actually I do, because they wanted people to use all the
So the two weapon thing wouldn't be so bad, except for some reason despite all the money, everyone thought that what players wanted was weapons with the fucking wimpiest ammo capacities I have ever seen. I was agape when, about two hours into the game, I opened a garbage can and saw "AMMO FULL" for machine gun ammo. The machine gun that had about 180 bullets total in it. WHAT THE FUCK, I said, HOW IS THAT FULL? Elizabeth chuckles, slipping her hand into the waistband of her frock: Sorry Booker, I can't find any ammo right now....
i luv sponges |
I know what the game is trying to do, of course. The combat specialists wanted to foster a TOTAL BATTLE EXPERIENCE, where the player is forced to use every weapon and spell at his/her disposal to get through the battle, like we're in a Cowboy Bebop toot a toot toot. Of course, this is a fucking failure for a few reasons:
1) It's STUPID AS SHIT to force a player to switch their weapons out all the time. Players develop attachments towards certain guns, and making me drop the carbine I'm making MLG360 headshots in the middle of a battle so I can pick up the garbage grenade launcher isn't fun, it's a fucking drag.
2) It's especially STUPID AS SHIT to do this when the game lets you upgrade your weapons. Usually weapon upgrades would mean you can customize your absolute favorite weapons to really cause some carnage on the battlefield. However, since in Bioshock Infinite you'll never get to hold onto a given gun more than a quarter of time, you're instead forced to budget your money to slightly upgrade every goddamned gun in the game. Naturally, the upgrades also include ammo capacity, so you're gonna have to wait even longer before you start doing more damage. As a result, the Bioshock Infinite game experience is less of being a MURDER KING MAXIMUS, and more like a guy with 12 half-filled Supersoakers against a bunch of cannon-fodder and a sentient raincoat.
3) Most importantly, even on hard, despite all this shit, combat is PISS EASY. Aside from GHOOOOOOST MOOOOOOM, every fight in the game is a cold piece of cornbread, where you shoot a bunch of guys in the head (MUSIC SWELL) and then spend the next two minutes wandering from body to body in the hopes you can hold onto your weapon just a little bit longer, because otherwise you're gonna have to pick up that shotgun and we don't want that do we??
a million dollar garbage bin |
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