![]() It's an interesting change of pace that makes combat feel more meaningful. Elizabeth is still on hand with the occasional replenishing pick-up, but the general lack of resources and dearth of rubbish bins to ransack is a clear indication that a more cautious approach is advised. It's here that the lead characters revert to the relationship with which we are familiar, with Elizabeth often out of shot as Booker takes the lead, wielding weapon and vigor (although here they're described as "drinkable plasmids" for reasons explained through Dr Suchong's scattered audio logs).Īmmo is scarce and Booker starts with only the Devil's Kiss and Possession vigors, which lends a more considered approach to combat as the game urges you to make the most of the vigors' alternate fire modes to set traps and to pick off lone Splicers, rather than charge in all guns blazing. The search for Sally takes place throughout a former business premises of Frank Fontaine's that Rapture's architect Andrew Ryan sabotaged and sank as part of the rivals' bitter feud. A Sander Cohen masterpiece, that crazy bastard. It's also where Burial at Sea, the game, begins proper. This is the Rapture of old, a shadow of the city above, with a tone more in keeping with our first visit here back in 2007. The ride ends here, follow the signs to the exit, no re-admittance allowed.īeyond this point, Booker and Elizabeth are plunged into the depths of Rapture, where spliced-up former residents roam an abandoned shopping precinct, where lights are few and leaks are plentiful. Aware that you might be expecting more, Irrational makes sure to flag up the fact that once you cross the threshold to meet with a familiar face, there's no going back for a second viewing. Finding a key to unlock a door to go in search of a girl named Sally brings the Glory of Rapture section of the tour to a close. This is Rapture as a museum exhibit, then: evocative, awe-inspiring and semi-sacred, but largely out of reach and certainly not meant for extensive handling. The lengths to which you can wander are limited by essential maintenance, refused admittance or necessary convenience. A spliced Houdini waiter deliberately bars your passage so he can wow you with his party trick. Its citizens stand around in perpetuity, waiting for you to draw near and trigger knowing dialogue. It feels like a spectacular and elaborate show staged just for you, and all it asks in return is that you sit back and accept that, even here, Rapture is not quite truly alive. If you wish to take the time to drink in the atmosphere and the wonder of Rapture, then Irrational has included much that will make you smile. These opening 30 minutes are crucial to your enjoyment of Burial at Sea. It's not only Elizabeth's appearance and Rapture's architecture that lets us know that we're not in Columbia anymore. As the constants and variables coalesce time and again, it's a delight to sit outside of it and observe, to pick at the many threads of BioShock's richly woven fiction. This opening also serves to highlight the myriad ways in which Rapture is the inverse of Infinite's skybound setting, Columbia: from the crushing black of its horizon to the false freedom of its societal ideals from Booker's transformation into one of Rapture's own to Elizabeth waltzing into his office with talk of jobs and debts before leading purposefully from the front, rather than following timidly behind. Throughout the opening act of Episode One's 150-minute run-time, Irrational serves up a cornucopia of references to Rapture's most evocative themes, places and characters, spinning variables around the many constants that we believe to be fixed. It's exciting to guide them through surroundings to which they are connected but do not belong. ![]() ![]() It's compelling to look in on Infinite's Booker and Elizabeth, a pair we know to be inextricably tied and yet who appear here as relative strangers. ![]() Irrational has had tremendous fun with the notion of taking characters with whom we are familiar and transporting them to a time and place that we have only imagined - Rapture, the undersea city from the first two BioShock games, before its explosive fall. BioShock Infinite's first story add-on does a staggering job of weaving a vivid and memorable tale around these core concepts.
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