14 DAY TRIAL // BioShock 1 and the Half-Life titles represent for me what shooters should be: immersive experiences with great stories and gameplay that's just varied enough to keep things interesting.
As such, I eagerly awaited BioShock Infinite earlier this year in order to see if Ken Levine and his team at Irrational Games managed to bring a new shooter experience that's at least on the same level as their previous title.
The result is the best shooter of 2013.
BioShock Infinite manages to improve on the franchise's formula, so to speak, despite taking place in a completely different time and space, swapping the underwater city of Rapture from the 1960s with the floating city of Columbia in the early 1900s.
Many other changes were made to core elements, as the silent Jack is replaced with the quite talkative Booker DeWitt, while the mysterious Elizabeth accompanies the player throughout much of the game, making the different sections of Columbia feel more alive than the corridors of Rapture, which you explored on your own.
Even with these changes, the gameplay stayed relatively the same. You shoot things with an arsenal of different weapons and us different supernatural powers courtesy of the vigors scattered across Columbia. While a few powers are relatively simple to understand, such as the fire or lightning ones, there are quite a few new and outlandish ones, like the Murder of Crows.
The guns themselves are also quite varied, especially since each of the two main factions, the Founders and Vox Populi, have variations on the different categories, from pistols, to shotguns, rifles, or snipers.
Throw in the great Skyline mechanic that allows you to zip around a battlefield using your trusty Skyhook, and BioShock Infinite evolves the traditional shooter gameplay.
The guns feel quite powerful and the many different foes coming your way force you to keep things varied and constantly change your approach, as regular thugs are much less threatening than the hulking Handymen.
As such, despite the lack of a multiplayer mode, BioShock Infinite is the best shooter of the year.