By Bryan Creevy – Entertainment Editor

“Bioshock” first hit consoles on August 21, 2007, and has been deemed the third best game of all time.

“Bioshock 2” followed as a sequel to the underwater city Rapture’s story and was released on February 9, 2010. Finally, after three long years, “Bioshock Infinite,” the third installment in this first-person shooter, is ready to swoop in and steal gamers away.

Originally set to be released in April 2012, “Bioshock Infinite” was delayed until October 16, 2012 and was later pushed forward again to its definite release date of February 26, 2012.

The game has no relation to the story of “Bioshock” 1 or 2 since it’s set in the year 1912 while the original two were in the 1960s.

However, what set the originals apart from other first-person shooters, the amazing artwork within the city and “Plasmids” that the character shoots out of his left hand, are still being incorporated, though the Plasmids of Rapture are now called “Vigors.” The classic powers of “Electro Bolt” and “Incinerate” were revealed in the “Beast of America” trailer, so they must be returning as vigors, but they seem to be much more graphic and possibly damaging to the player.

There are also new types shown when the main character Booker Dewitt shoots a flock of crows out from his hand at two enemies, much like the “Insect Swarm” Plasmid of the originals. This vigor is called “Murder of Crows.”

While the original games were based around Objectivism, Infinite is based around the ideas of American Exceptionalism in the early 20th century.

Booker Dewitt, a former agent of Pinkerton National Detective Agency, is sent to the sky-city of Columbia to seek out a girl named Elizabeth who has been held captive for 12 years.

Elizabeth has some powers that have not been fully revealed yet. It has been told that she is able to open up these things called “tears.” Tears are rips in the space-time continuum that every citizen of Columbia can see, but only Elizabeth has the power to open them up and use them. In one demo released, Booker and Elizabeth are in a firefight behind cover and there are three tears nearby: a gun ammo crate, a giant stand to provide cover, or a doorway to somewhere else. Elizabeth shouts saying she can open one but just one, and the gamer gets to choose which one will help him survive the situation better. Tears can give a tactical advantage over enemies, but they are limited. After excessive use, Elizabeth will begin to take physical damage, and if she attempts to open one, she will not be able to control it.

After rescuing Elizabeth, her freedom spikes the current civil war with both the Founders of Columbia and the Vox Populi wanting her and her unique abilities to change the course of the war. To make matters worse, “Songbird,” Elizabeth’s friend and imprisoner, feels betrayed by her leaving him and chases both her and Booker throughout the city.

Songbird can be compared to the original games’ “Big Daddies” who feel protective of the “Little Sisters” except there are three major differences: there is only one Songbird, Songbird is much stronger, and Songbird can fly. Because of the second two factors, the first seems very insignificant because gameplay and trailers are making it seem like Songbird is nearly invincible.

If fighting off Songbird and the soldiers of the civil war wasn’t enough, the developers created four “Heavy Hitters” to make things more hectic. The “Handy-Man” is the first Heavy Hitter. This foe is a giant man who is made almost entirely out of a machine. He is very powerful and very agile, but there’s really nothing to him other than brute force. The second Heavy Hitter is the “Motorized Patriot.” A robot made to look like George Washington with a gatling gun seems terrifying, but it’s definitely rewarding in the end since the player can pick up his gun after he is defeated. The third Heavy Hitter is called the “Boys of Silence.” These boys are blind with a giant helmet covering their entire heads that amplifies their hearing. They have the sense of a Big Daddy where the player can choose to engage him or sneak by him. If he chooses to engage them, as soon as they hear Booker nearby they’ll act like the Security Cameras in the originals and call in enemies to help them kill Booker. The final Heavy Hitter is called the “Siren.” She is a type of spirit that wanders the map and revives the people that Booker has killed. The gamer must choose to either kill the revived enemies once more or focus on the Siren which takes all her revived souls down with her.

Probably the most unique thing that has got gamers hyped is the Sky Lines. Since the game takes place in a floating sky city, they need a way to move from one floating structure to the next. This is where the Sky Lines come in handy. The Sky Lines are a set of hanging tracks that players can zip across the map on using a Sky Hook on their left hand that locks on to the track allowing him or her to climb the tracks up and go down them much like a hanging roller-coaster without the safety precautions. There is plenty of released gameplay showing how the Sky Lines are used throughout the story, and it feels like it will take gamers on a wild ride.

If gamers want to get a bigger “Bioshock Infinite” experience, the “Premium” and “Ultimate Songbird Edition” are available as pre-orders to the game. Premium comes with a 3in. baby version keychain of the Murder of Crows vigor bottle replica, a 5 x 7 in. lithograph by, a 25mm resin-case Handyman game piece for an upcoming “Bioshock Infinite” board game, a mini-art book, and several exclusives in the game such as DLC, in-game gear, and a soundtrack. This edition costs $79.99, but for hardcore fans, they have the Ultimate Songbird edition for $149.99. The gamer would get everything mentioned above plus a special edition packaging including a 9.5 in. Songbird statue.

“Bioshock Infinite” has been in development for a very long time and from comments over the web, gamers seem to be anticipating its release date. However, there is competition for this game in February. The also long-awaited “Dead Space 3” is set to release in North America on the eighth of that month. Nonetheless, Irrational Games, the developer, is shooting for the skies with “Bioshock Infinite” and they just might have surpassed it with the sky city of Columbia.

(Photo courtesy amazon.com)