Bioshock Infinite: 8 Reasons Why It's Incredible

By Patrick Dane /

4. The Opening Hour

The introduction to Columbia is one that will live long in the memory. While many might suggest the original Bioshock had one of the best introductions to a setting ever, I am perhaps surprised to report that Bioshock Infinite blows it out of the water and into the heavens above. While summoning Columbia at the initial lighthouse, clearly inspired by the final scenes of Close Encounters, is haunting and suggests a massive scale, it is nothing compared to after you land in Columbia. From one of the most elegant interiors in recent memory to the visual feast once you walk out onto the main streets of Columbia, the opening hour is a masterclass. Like Booker, you will walk bleary eyed and confused through the streets of Columbia, not entirely sure where to look or go next. It is a purposeful sensory overload of sights and sounds all celebrating old time American Traditionalism. Songs, people, bells, celebrations, barbershop quartets, telegrams, shops, floats. It is over whelming. As it should be, you just walked on to a fantastical floating city in 1912 bucko!