Discussing
Playing BioShock Infinite while Mom watches

Ahh...you really didn't grasp any of the themes that Bioshock Infinite wants to point out to. It's a first person shooter, the gameplay requires you to shoot and kill your opponents in all kind of gruesome ways as you escape the grand paradise of Columbia. It's impossible to change the fundamental mechanic of this genre.
As you already said, in its early stage the game becomes a critique of religious extremism, ultra-nationalism, jingoism and racist bigotry. Then comes the long awaited Revolution fueled by the class war that was already ensuing in Columbia between the Vox and the Founders, a rebellion that was expected to bring a better life for the oppressed but it brought even more suffering and bloodshed. This event is more of a reconstruction of the communist and anarchist movements that spread all around the world and culminated in the 1917 marxist revolution in Russia and we all know bad it went. The main plot of the game however is filled with concepts such as cosmogony, quantum mechanics and the multiverse theory. The ultimate arc of the story though is just the struggle of a flawed and broken man to reunite with his daughter. It also serves as metacommentary on the fatalism of linear games and explains many game mechanics. It's a real work of art and a profound story that will be talked about for years to come.

I grasped those themes perfectly well, if I had more time and space in this particular article, I would have explained how the mechanics of the game fail to bring any of those themes home.

It is precisely the mechanics of the game that will prevent many people from discussing this game for years to come as a profound work of art (in my opinion).

I understand that Infinite is a first person shooter, I was expecting to spend most of my time in the game shooting people, that wasn't shocking to me. The level of graphic violence was to some extent but I was expecting this to be a violent game where you shoot people. I understand how FPSes work, I have played and reviewed my fair share of them.

I strongly disagree, however, that this game HAD to be as violent as it was. It is NOT impossible to change the fundamental mechanic of this genre--plenty of FPSes have already done so. Games like Portal, Antichamber, and Quantum Conundrum and the upcoming Scale are all nonviolent FPS games.

Given the current state of videogames, I think shooting people is about the most unimaginative, tired thing you can ask players to do in a game. Like I said, it is the easy choice. I understand why Irrational made that choice, I just think its a really uninteresting choice.

To me, all these themes you found value in were quickly buried under the mountain of digital violence the game required me to commit which wasn't particualrly fun in my opinion--this game was mechanically almost exactly the same as BioShock 1 (vigors vs. plasmids, big daddies vs. handymen, eating tons of snacks to get your health/salts/adam up). The only thing that was novel mechanically was the sky hook, but honestly I didn't feel that it added that much to the game.

I am not trying to dismiss your thoughtful comment, but I think you are right that certain people will be talking about this game for years to come but those people will mostly be people who self identify as "gamers." I don't think the majority of people will care about this game because they will see it, and rightly see it, as just another super violent FPS game just like all the other super violent FPS games before it.

Well said.

I think the best way to prove it is to simply watch through the trailers for the game. That's where the sale is being made. And what did they show to us to sell the game? Guns. Lots of guns.

I found Bioshock Infinite to be front-loaded with flat and toothless caricatures and end-loaded with a poorly paced Dr. Who episode written by Christopher Nolan. There was no conversation with the player, only a soliloquy by the writers that celebrates their own cleverness. The gameplay mechanics were, at best, somewhat tiring by the end. When I finished (on Hard, no less), I thought to myself, "That was pretty good... for a game." That says far more about the current state of blockbuster video games than Bioshock, however.

As a Christian, I found no profit in playing this. The "critique" of Christianity was simply a brief sneer at a mindless stereotype. It only made me ask if any game had yet to intelligently and lovingly tackle themes of faith that have already been raised in film and literature. I pray that if this is not so, it will be someday.

Drew, has your mom played/seen you play To the Moon?

Yeah, I agree. I was really hopeful that the game would offer some kind of helpful rebuke against American Christianity. I have grown to greatly appreciate such rebukes, but what we got instead was rather weightless caricature that did little to advance in the conversation (in my opinion).

I have played To the Moon and I kinda loved it. Weirdly enough there is a sequel in the works to that game.