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There’s Always a Board: Bioshock Infinite
I would have loved to begin this review with some snark about how there’s never been a good boardgame based off a videogame, but that’s not even remotely close to true. In fact, videogame licenses generally seem to fare better than their television and movie counterparts. There are all sorts of examples: Civilization, Doom, Starcraft, Warcraft, Age of Empires III: Age of Discovery, Gears of War, the Resident Evil deckbuilder — crud, there’s even an okay version of Risk with a pasted-on Halo theme. And that’s only counting direct licenses, not the hundreds of titles that draw inspiration from the digital; take Christian Marcussen, for example, whose Clash of Cultures and Merchants & Marauders elevate Sid Meier imitation to an art form.
But it’s time for all of those games to step aside, because videogame-licensed boardgames have found their One True King. His name is Bioshock Infinite: The Siege of Columbia, and if we really follow this metaphor to its uncomfortable conclusion, then Plaid Hat Games is his mom.
Let’s Talk about Bioshock Infinite
Let’s talk about this (or at least I will).
My first thought upon finishing Bioshock Infinite was, “Well, that was quite the thing.” Then I went to bed and stewed on it for a while. After a few days of pondering, I think I’m finally ready to put down exactly what I liked — and what I didn’t like — about the experience. This stream of consciousness rambling isn’t a review; at least not precisely, though anyone bothering to read it will get a pretty comprehensive grasp of my opinion of the game. Naturally, there will be some light spoilers, about on par with the stuff the advertising has already been giving away for months.
SPACE-BIFF! 