BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea - Episode 1 (DLC) review

First-person-shooter games have always been associated with bad immature narratives and themes. BioShock Infinite , along with its predecessors were primarily responsible for raising the level of the narrative genre, proving that it is possible to tell stories emotionally rich and morally relevant, complete with social commentary, between one shot and another against alien heads. And maybe that's the fault of Burial at Sea: Episode 1, which carries the heavy burden of expanding the narrative already so rich and well settled Infinite, sailing through boggy field of multiverses. Lack of substance makes its much less impactful and engaging as the original, albeit minimally usable for those who played and experienced the previous games.

Playing with parallel and infinite realities of BioShock, Burial at Sea is a remix of the familiar elements of the series, mixing objects, events and characters of the two games in interesting ways. In the DLC are an alternate version of the investigator Booker DeWitt, Infinite, living in 1958 Rapture BioShock. The game opens with the visit of Elizabeth a more mature and determined Booker's office, persuading him to discover the whereabouts of one of the many girls who, for some reason, are disappearing in Rapture.

The first hour of Burial at Sea is intriguing. For the first time, we can walk through Rapture and walked Infinite interacting with its people and hearing what they have to say honestly about the underwater utopia of Andrew Ryan. But while Infinite explores this quality to expose the dangers of political extremism associated with religious indoctrination and discriminatory ideologies, Burial at Sea leaves loose ends, without presenting any profound social argument.

The gay couple embracing each other publicly while watching the underwater landscape or man who defends his right to become a prostitute friend to give us a brief flash of a socially just and egalitarian Rapture, built around libertarian ideals. But at the same speed in this masterfully constructed scenario is presented to us, it is discarded to make room for the typical action series, never to return - at least in this first episode .

From there, Burial at Sea becomes a game purely about mechanical, like a compressed version of the original BioShock, but play with weapons and special powers Infinite. New skills, equipment and upgrades for weapons are offered by default on every corner, and everything becomes rushed and "loose" too so you feel important in their actions, is exploring every drawer in search of coins and special items, is seeking get the best performance in combat. And free of the meanings that interspersed the experience of BioShock Infinite or the kernels Burial at Sea turns out to be just an unnecessary bridge to its abrupt.

While Infinite devotes almost half an hour to complete their story and connect the loose ends in smart and surprising sequences, invading even the field of meta-language, the outcome for the first episode of Burial at Sea boils down to a brief non-interactive sequence three minutes, where the curtain opens, and all answers are evicted from one once the player without much discretion. It's such a confusing scene that I had to watch it a second time to understand it and consult outside articles on the internet to understand how the events fit into the history of previous episodes.

The episode 1 of Burial at Sea intrigue more than satisfies. With the exception of one Elizabeth dumbed down by artificial intelligence, there is nothing much wrong here, just missing. It created a DLC with the same polishing Infinite, especially with regard to artistic direction, but without the narrative brilliance that made it one of the most iconic games of the last decade. As a complement to the previous games, the story of Burial at Sea: Episode 1 is quite interesting, but the hasty way it is presented does nothing to enhance the extremely rich universe of BioShock. The feeling of emptiness after the abrupt ending is what remains - at least until the arrival of the second episode, still no release date.

BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea - Episode 1 (DLC)
Developed by Irrational Games
Distributed by 2K Games
Available for download for PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

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