There are intellectuals who argue that video games should not be regarded as an art form. There are still activists who fight to prove that video games are a harmful exercise, as there are people who experiment every day to prove them wrong.
Regardless of what these groups of people think, it is an undeniable fact that games have had a huge impact on society and culture on a worldwide scale.
Sometimes, narratives of contemporary video games dare to challenge the threshold of what they should be about, casting doubt on the arguments of those who would not admit to their artistic values. One thing is ascertainable, that if art is an expression of human life and its most significant characteristics, then a game as the one described below is worthy of this recognition.
To hold infinity in the palm of your hand…
‘Are you afraid of God, Booker?’ Asks the girl.
‘No. But I’m afraid of you.’ I tell her, with no hesitation whatsoever.
‘Bring us the girl and wipe away the debt.’ Says the strange man in a yellow coat, rowing the boat towards what appears to be a lighthouse. And thus it begins…
I remember the first time playing through Bioshock Infinite. I remember feeling, like almost every other gamer, the senselessness and emptiness of the infinity that was laid bare against my eyes. Merely half an hour had passed, and yet my mind was already flooding with hundreds of questions that I needed to answer. I remember opening my browser to look for those answers. I remember getting disappointed, and I certainly remember running the game that same night to experience the journey of Booker DeWitt all over again.
Bioshock Infinite is one of the few games that at the very least remains faithful to its title. Since the first moment the game was announced, players were promised an infinity from the game franchise they held dear, and that is exactly what they got. Never mind the fluidity of the fast-paced shooter gameplay that Infinite has to offer, for the real achievement of Ken Levine and his team at Irrational Games lies within the complex and unlikely narrative that unravels through the course of the game and reaches its ultimate height as it ends.
Bioshock Infinite, at its core and to no one’s surprise, was about love; the love a father has for his child, and a wrongdoing that drives him insane, but this context could in no way hold in itself the infinity that is Bioshock Infinite. Religion, hypocrisy, fanaticism, free will, sense of identity, multiple realities, denial, and redemption are but a few subjects that Bioshock Infinite weaves together in an intricate narrative that, surprisingly enough, never feels overloaded.
Indeed, this game is one of those experiences that takes hold of your mind and soul and traps it in a world created out of the imagination.