BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea - Episode One Reviews
BioShock Infinite's mechanics don't play nicely with the underwater city of Rapture in Burial at Sea - Episode 1.
Burial At Sea tells an interesting tale with plenty of twists, but it doesn't have enough substance on the gameplay side of things to back it up.
And, of course, it takes us back to Rapture, one of gaming's most compelling spaces, where we can draw expansive parallels between its present and its past and feel clever for connecting the dots. How heavily invested you are in Irrational's artistry will ultimately determine how much you get out of this slender expansion.
With Burial at Sea, Irrational's greatest accomplishment is resuscitating Rapture. The city is a visual feast, and the developer once again proves that it has some of the most talented environment artists in the industry.
There's a sadness to that as much as there is to our limited time with a fully-operational Rapture, but at the same time Burial At Sea is extremely effective at posing big, gnawing and dramatic new questions to a riddle we thought answered. I am so very hungry for part two, but I do hope it gives us more Rapture-in-light as well as answers, self-reference and metatextuality. Burial
Part 1 of BioShock Infinite's story-centric DLC returns to Rapture but doesn't give you long to enjoy it.
I wasn't too impressed by Burial at Sea Episode One, mostly because it just doesn't add a whole lot to the overall franchise outside of the last 30 seconds, and it's simply not compelling enough. While it's quite possible that Episode Two will tie everything together in a neat bow and blow us all away, Irrational Games has yet to make a legitimate case for a return to Rapture.
Practically oozing fan service from every pore, Burial at Sea is both as glorious and as imperfect as Rapture itself. The visuals are sensational, the combat a reasonably healthy marriage between Bioshock and Bioshock Infinite. Booker and Elizabeth both take well to their detective noir roles. Yet, like the promise of Rapture itself, Burial at Sea's splendor doesn't last forever. Things go unexplained, shrugged off as the too-short DLC rushes towards its conclusion.
Burial at Sea is a worthy return to Rapture, but by the end you'll wish you could've spent more time absorbing the sights and sounds of the city's unspoiled areas. The grand tourism of the game's opening versus the constant combat in the rest of the DLC creates a disconnect that makes both halves feel underdeveloped. Hopefully episode two will mend the tear of Burial at Sea's two disparate parts.
The first narrative addition to the BioShock Infinite delivers everything it promised – it's an affectionately crafted homage to the first game, retroactively building on the grim story and Ayn Rand-ian themes, galvanising them with a fresh perspective whilst simultaneously tying Rapture more wholly into the Columbian narrative. It's intelligent, indulgent and nostalgic in equal measure, left dangling on a transfixing narrative hook. It's everything we love about BioShock, condensed.
The mystery of how these characters fit into this setting is the big draw, but don't expect a complete answer until the second (and final) episode hits
Burial at Sea, Episode One is good but not essential - the only piece of BioShock story content you could say that about.
A criminally short opening chapter that nonetheless offers a glimpse of Rapture at its opulent heights. The noir intentions are dispensed too soon, so the Booker/Elizabeth relationship and familiar combat have to see Burial at Sea through to its disturbing, perplexing climax.
Burial at Sea has a real pacing problem, stemming from the very literal segregation of its narrative and combat sections. It makes you finish your meat before your can start on your vegetables, where the metaphorical meat is the talking and the vegetables are the shooting. As a digested mush in your tummy, Burial at Sea is a beautiful brown ride through gaming's most iconic city and a compelling return of two remixed and much loved characters. On the plate however, its two very different games struggling to find a common ground, and both doing themselves a disservice as they try.
The return trip to Rapture is welcome, but Burial At Sea's first episode is confusing
It's definitely a worthwhile purchase and I'm already itching to play Episode 2 which promises to turn the formula (and series) on its head, but it's entirely up to you what price you pay for it. Xmas Sale starts a month from now, just to let you know.
Will this smaller story set in Rapture incite discussions over things like ludonarrative dissonance or how out of place the overly violent protagonist has gotten as video game storytelling evolves? I doubt it. It will, however, return you to Rapture and reference the events of Infinite, reminding you for a couple hours how damn awesome both of those things are. And for me, that's worth the price of admission.
Overall, BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea Episode 1 is solidly OK. In the end, it's much more of what we have come to expect from BioShock Infinite, awesome pieces of story broken up by uninteresting sections of combat. It's not a reimagining of the series. It's not a grand departure that examines BioShock's past. It's really not much more than some more BioShock Infinite with a Rapture coat of paint slapped over it. If that's what you are looking for, then the 15-dollar price of entry isn't bad. For everyone else, there is always BioShock 4.
Ultimately, the recreation of Rapture is work worth doing, and Irrational Games deserve the credit for the sweat of their brow. Anyone thinking of playing this already has a sunk cost in BioShock Infinite – if three hours of the upper quartile of that game's level of world-building and combat justifies the expense, you should not be disappointed.