Why I Won't Be Playing BioShock Infinite
I've lost count of the number of times people have said to me that I "must play" a particular game. BioShock Infinite is apparently the latest in this long list of games I "have" to play, a list that is getting rapidly out of control.
I know a lot of people playing Sniper Elite: Nazi Zombie Army right now and apparently I "need" to pick up a copy so I can join in, despite telling them at least five times I'm not interested. I've been told Planetside 2 is the multiplayer FPS for PC gamers and that I "must" give it a try. Apparently Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario Galaxy 2 are the "definitive" reasons to own a Wii. Guess what? I own a Wii and I haven't played either.
I didn't complete Grand Theft Auto IV or the original Gears of War. I have Halo 4 and Shadow of the Colossus sitting half-completed in my collection. I've clocked up less than an hour on The Witcher, Amnesia: The Dark Descent, S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Shadow of Chernobyl, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War and Mirror's Edge.
Getting back to the BioShock franchise, I probably played about 25% of BioShock and exactly 0% of BioShock 2.
Are you judging me? It's easy to see why you might. As a 'games journalist', many of the people I talk to are surprised by just how few of the so-called 'classic' games I've played to completion. "How can you not have played Call of Duty: Black Ops 2? I thought you wrote about games for a living!".
Well yeah, and thats half of the problem. Like most writers for small-to-medium sized sites, or most freelancers, I have to hold down a day job to survive - so that's 35 hours of my week gone right there. Then take into account that I review games, so at any one time I've probably got a game or two on the go that I didn't necessarily choose. Add a whole bunch of time for article-writing (like this) onto that. Plus, I take my job seriously, so I spend a lot of time researching and browsing, making sure I'm on top of the latest comings and goings in the industry and up to date with releases, news and reviews. There's more stuff involved in the job too, but I'm sure you don't want a full description.
I know, cry me a river and break out the world's smallest violin. I'm not claiming that I've got it bad, I love my job! It's just an example of where my time goes. The point I'm trying to make is that every single person out there has responsibilities that eat away at their free time and everyone has a finite amount of time they can spend playing the games they want to play.
It's just a shame there are so many great games to play.
I'm a big RPG and Grand Strategy fan, and these games come with a price. That price is time. Right now, every free gaming moment I get I've been putting into Skyrim. I'm just over the 100-hour mark and I feel like I've barely scratched the surface. I'm half-way down so many different quest lines I don't even know where to go next. I'm also feeling the need to delve into a Total War campaign, although I haven't decided which one. There's another 25-or-so gaming hours gone.
On top of that I've got Tomb Raider sitting in the box, still wrapped in plastic. Wouldn't mind giving that a go when I get the chance, but I keep getting distracted with other games that crop up. Truth is, there are a whole bunch of discs on that shelf that haven't made it anywhere near a console since they found their way into my collection.
BioShock Infinite just isn't on my radar. I'm not doubting that it's good. Hell, from what I hear I'm sure that it's amazing. I just don't have time to play it and all the other games, also amazing-looking, that I want to play. I didn't get far into the first and never played the second, so I have no investment in the franchise.
It's up to the individual gamer to make the choice as to where their time should go and people know their own minds. Fair enough, BioShock Infinite may be the best game you have ever played, but that doesn't mean it'll be the best game they will have ever played.
Like most gamers, I know my own tastes and I'm capable of making my own mind up about what I want to spend my time playing. It's ok to offer a suggestion, or to give an opinion, but I'm not taking orders from anyone about what to play. Well, except my Editor-in-Chief.
I've read the reviews and the articles, I've seen the metacritic score, I've watched the gameplay videos and I've made my mind up. It looks brilliant, I hope you all enjoy it, but I'm going to have to give it a miss I'm afraid - I'm backed up with games right now.
I'm not going to play BioShock Infinite. I'm going to play some Skyrim.
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COMMENTS
icaruschips - 03:04pm, 18th July 2016
While I'm playing through Infinite now, I get the same thing only instead of it being "you have to play..." it's more "you're an idiot for not liking...". Equally as annoying. Since it fits the topic, I had many a person tell me how very wrong I was for not liking the original BioShock. Truthfully? Thought it was dull as sin, enemies had awkward animations, the guns were crap, the plasmids were uninteresting and there were a few too many times I'd have liked to explore Rapture (which was wonderful), but I was forced into a firefight instead. Fighting finished, notion passed, I moved on. My reasons? Wrong. Not liking BioShock? I was wrong. I have to like it. Funny thing is, I'm loving Infinite. It's not so good I'd feel compelled to tell someone they must play it or chastise them for not liking it, but it's a whole lot better than the original two in every regard that interests me. /almost semi-related rant Now, like I said before - go play STALKER, you have to finish it.
Platinum - 03:04pm, 18th July 2016
Stalker, yea loved the first two, the third had a issue with dual monitors where randomly when when turning left the mouse curser would move onto the left screen and kill the game. Need to find a fix for that and get into it.
Ewok - 03:04pm, 18th July 2016 Author
I had an issue with STALKER crashing to desktop when I first installed it. I'm sure I could have found a fix eventually, but while I wanted to play it I wasn't motivated [I]enough[/I] to work it out. I just installed something else instead.
icaruschips - 03:04pm, 18th July 2016
It was buggy as hell to start with. It's been patched to standard now, I don't think I had a single crash on my last play through. First few attempts around release were filled with CTD's and glitches and just a generally broken game. The X-Lab's made it all worth it, though. Still one of my favourite parts of gaming in recent memory.
Ewok - 03:04pm, 18th July 2016 Author
It was buggy as hell to start with.
It was only about 7-8 months ago I was having problems.Platinum - 03:04pm, 18th July 2016
I'm talking about Clear Skys BTW.
icaruschips - 03:04pm, 18th July 2016
It was only about 7-8 months ago I was having problems.
Patch it? If so I'm not sure, can't say I've had any major issues since a couple of months after release.I'm talking about Clear Skys BTW.
CS was buggier than the original. Its faction system was (and without fan patches) is still pretty broken, and the emissions later in the game sometimes result in random crashes. It's a shame, but it's like they just gave up on it as a lost cause and went straight to developing CoP, which is also very good and the most stable of them all without mods.Platinum - 03:04pm, 18th July 2016
F**k me im a retard got em mixed up, Done Shadow of Chernobyl and Clear Skys, its the last one COP I was having issues with.
icaruschips - 03:04pm, 18th July 2016
How was Clear Skies? I never actually finished it, my save got completely goosed about mid-way through and I was that annoyed I uninstalled and never went back to it again.
Kaostic - 03:04pm, 18th July 2016
I always buy new games and play them for about 3 hours then move on. I am now making a point of not buying new games (other than sales) and just playing through the ones I have atm. Playing through Skyrim atm :)
Platinum - 03:04pm, 18th July 2016
How was Clear Skies? I never actually finished it, my save got completely goosed about mid-way through and I was that annoyed I uninstalled and never went back to it again.
Trying to remember what happened at the end, was it the first one with the portals and the two end bits?icaruschips - 03:04pm, 18th July 2016
There were about 6 or 7 endings for the first one.
Platinum - 03:04pm, 18th July 2016
Right, not played them in ages, instead of playing the last one properly for the first time I may play them all again but do it in order, so second one, then first then last :)
Cronos - 03:04pm, 18th July 2016
Really need to reinstall S.T.A.L.K.E.R., such a good game but can't remember if I got round to completing it.
POBmaestro-1428097466 - 03:04pm, 18th July 2016
Nice article and a very pertinent topic having just finished replaying the Mass Effect series over the past 10 months and missing who knows how many new games. At the end of the day I find it's best to play what you want to play, not just what everyone is talking about, though that's easier said than done when you're a freelance writer. At least the winter is dragging out because when summer finally arrives I find gaming time gets even more sparse. On the side topic of Stalker, I fell for one of the false endings before completing the real ending (if only Mass Effect extended cut allowed that), but I thought Clear Sky was pants and never returned to the series after that despite having very fond memories of the original.
icaruschips - 03:04pm, 18th July 2016
The third game, Call of Pripyat is actually my favourite of the series (barring the X-Labs from SoC). It's a lot more solid and has, mostly, properly working systems in place. It also manages to get most of the atmosphere back from the original, which Clear Sky was terrible at from the bits and pieces I played. The stupid anomaly detector thing works a lot better, too.
icaruschips - 03:04pm, 18th July 2016
Jesus. It's just as well I like Infinite, people on the internet, you know, the important internet, are getting in even more of a retarded state when people say they don't like Infinite than they did with the original game.
Ewok - 10:47pm, 6th October 2017 Author
Just thought I'd pop by 4 1/2 years down the line to say I actually got around to playing this.
It was quite good.
Emseypenguin - 11:14am, 7th October 2017
*waves* HI EWOK!
Ewok - 08:01pm, 7th October 2017 Author
Halllooooooo Emseypenguin :)