Bioshock Infinite is probably one of the best video games of 2013 and rightfully deserves to be so [SPOILERS AHEAD]
PLOT: You play as Booker DeWitt, a Pinkerton detective sent on a mission to rescue a young woman named Elizabeth and bring her alive to New York. However she is held captive on the mysterious place called Columbia, ruled by a heavily religious man named Comstock. Once Booker has Elizabeth they must try to eliminate Comstock and leave Columbia. The story is fantastic, and is really the only Bioshock game I know of where the protagonist has a voice and opinions on the world around him, but Booker does seem a little flat at times. We know from experience that Booker has no knowledge of Columbia, a city in the sky, and yet he is completely unphased by it when he gets there. We as players feel the beauty and mystery of Columbia, like it's culture and the fact that it is floating, but Booker just seems like he ignores it and is annoyed. It's sad because there is a lack of immersion there when the player character is not at all interested in what the player is.
In addition [SPOILERS] Booker's reaction to the ending is also not so well done. We learn that Comstock and Booker are the same person, although they are from different universes where one accepted the baptism (Comstock) and one did not (Booker). Elizabeth (Who is revealed to be Booker's daughter that he lost paying a debt off many years ago) states he must die before the baptism (using tears) in order to prevent Comstock, and all events of the game, to exist. Booker just seems okay with it, like he doesn't care that his whole life is about to not exist and his daughter that he just found he has to leave. There is no emotional farewell between father and daughter here, it's just "You need to die to save the world" and "Meh, whatever". It seems rushed and for me felt like the ending had no impact. Even Elizabeth's reactions on how her father gave her up and went searching for her is weak. There is no telling what she feels about when she doesn't show what her opinion is on it.
On the plus side though, the concept of having an emotionally torn father trying to gather his memories while traveling to a strange world and meeting a mysterious woman is interesting. The background stories of each character with the voxophones are very well done and help build an image of Columbia and the situation Booker is in. It's also nice to have a protagonist that talks and has feelings, rather than a silent character that we have to fill in the blanks. If Booker had more of a reaction to it all it would be great.
SETTING: The world of Columbia is amazing. The art style of the world is in such great detail here and feels alive. You can enter multiple stores and see the occasional shoppers, here people talk to each other about there day or on recent events in the area, and even see parts of Columbia moving off in the distance. The music that is heard on the radios throughout the world is fantastic (though I'm peeved none of it was on the soundtrack), and it was clever using the idea of "tears" to have some muscians write songs they hear through it that shouldn't exist until years later.
Although there are downsides; because of Booker's disinterest of the place he never interacts with the world. He never engages conversation with people that are talking, it just feels like he is just standing there really creepy like staring at them. Even exploring the world feels weird to me, it feels like I'm pulling Booker to everything I want to see rather than me BEING Booker and wanting to go explore. At later points of the game I even forget I'm on a floating city, if Columbia made some bobbing effects or react to harsh winds it would feel like a city in the sky, or even add enemies that can fall of ledges from strong winds. It just feels too stationary for me. Even the joy at looking at the citizens of Columbia is cut short. There is only three times where you can peacefully engross yourself in Columbia but as soon you start a shootout everyone just seems to vanish like a magic trick. Another problem is that the game sets Columbia into too dark of imagery to the point where it feels like it is forced. Like Columbia NEEDS to have this really dark side to it like Rapture did. But does it really? Why not have the dark side of Columbia come from the fact that it's citizens are blinded by Comstock's religion? That the people are unaware that he stole a child and is brainwashing here to be a dictator? It seems that the developers felt like it was necessary to make Columbia corrupt like Rapture, where it really needed subtlety.
Columbia is still a remarkable place but still needs a little polish to make it great. I will remember Columbia pretty well as an amazing place to explore, just like Rapture. It was peaceful, unique, and clever in it's design to give us something beautiful.
GAMEPLAY: This is the part where I felt somewhat disappointed in a way. The game introduces vigors, which is similar to plasmids from the earlier games. The wide variety of vigors the game offers is great, but outside of combat they are pointless, and even in combat they are all pretty weak. Each vigor has to functions basically, a direct attack and a "landmine" attack, and since the areas you fight in are so huge and either flat or spaced out by giant gaps that the "landmine" attacks are useless. In the first Bioshock game plasmids can also be helpful outside of combat, like using "Spark" to open switch and deactivate cameras, or using "Fire" to melt ice blocking the way, stuff like that. But with vigors like "Murder of Crows" that send flocks of crows at enemies, and "Bucking Bronco" that launches enemies into when would I ever need them outside of combat? The only vigor I used was "posession" because I could use it to get money from vending machines and posses turrets (Which have perfect aim when shooting at me but seems to miss an enemy five feet in front of it when I control it). You can pretty much use guns all the way through the game because they are so useless. Even the enemies like "firemen" and "handymen" are pretty much bullet sponges, and are not fun to fight at all. There is zero strategy other than to throw everything you have at them.
Although Elizabeth does make combat interesting. You don't need to protect Elizabeth at all during combat since she can take care of herself and actually helps you in the process. If you are running low on ammo, health, or salts (to use vigors) Elizabeth will throw the corresponding item to aid you. She doesn't do it to the point where she constantly throws money and aid items at you all the time either, it's done at a reasonable pace and feels helpful when she comes in. Elizabeth can also use "tears" to bring in objects from other worlds like hooks, cover, turrets, and aid items. Although it would be nice to see Elizabeth pull in unique stuff once in a while as well, for example you are fighting in an open area and she can pull in a bomber plane that carpet bombs enemies, or you are fighting in some deep water and she can pull in piranhas that can swarm enemies. That way her abilities feel fresh and rewarding all the time.
I wouldn't be upset if the game had no combat at all as the pacing between story and combat doesn't blend really well. It feels at times you are thrown in a scene with story then are immediately swarmed with enemies to fight like an endurance round. It feels odd for a place like Columbia to have so much violence in it. With some fine tuning to combat, and making vigors a little more powerful, it would make the game more fun.
CONCLUSION: While Bioshock Infinite is an amazing game I feel most reviewers were gushing alot when it first was released. Don't get me wrong, I love it, it is in the top of my favorite games this year, but it is not perfect. The story is great but the character feel dead at times with performance and the combat, while sometimes fun, ends up feeling like a chore. The setting is absolutely genius, but with such an uninterested player character it feels like I can't actually "be" there. The graphics are stunning and the music is probably the best I have ever heard, right next to the soundtrack of Fallout 3. I highly recommend buying it but don't hype yourself up from the gushing reviews.
+Great setting
+Beautiful soundtrack
+Interesting Story with Jaw-dropping Plot twist
+Great controls
+A wide variety of powers
-Sometimes emotionally dead characters
-Pacing sometimes feels forced
-Combat can sometimes feel like a chore
-Vigors feel really underwhelming
-Immersion can sometimes can be broken by odd quirks