BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea - Episode One (PlayStation 3) Review

One of the defining aspects of BioShock is an incredible sense of place. Rapture and Columbia are both very well realised places; they feel both lived-in and fantastical at the same time. As wonderful as Columbia was, it's great to return to Rapture in Burial at Sea - Episode One. Despite the release of the original BioShock being almost seven years ago now, the mystique is very much still there, and Burial at Sea takes the player to some different places in the undersea utopia.

The game opens with Booker DeWitt, protagonist of BioShock Infinite, stuck in the same dingy private detective office that was featured heavily in the main game. It's a similar scene, Booker slumped at his desk, surrounded by empty liquor bottles and cigarette butts. Before long, there's a knock at the door and Elizabeth arrives, gliding with the grace and inherent danger of all the best film-noir femme fatales. Obviously, following the final events of Infinite, this isn't the same Booker, so he doesn't recognise her, and isn't too pleased when she charges him with the job of looking for a young girl named Sally, a girl whom Booker had grown attached to and has already exhausted himself searching for. He begrudgingly accepts the task, Elizabeth knows he'll feel compelled to, and the pair set out into the city.

The first hour or so has Booker and Elizabeth exploring Rapture in its pomp. Taking place shortly before the fall, players get a great taste of the luxury and technical prowess promised by all those adverts and posters visible in the ruins. There are conversations to overhear along the way and a few nice scripted events to witness, such as some Little Sisters in training. It is pure fan service really, but still extremely satisfying for anyone who played the original game; until now pre-civil war Rapture lived only in imagination. A certain artist even makes a brief appearance in a gratuitous but fun scene.

The rest of the episode takes place in a more familiar setting. Andrew Ryan has taken every measure to ensure that rabble-rouser Frank Fontaine's influence in Rapture is quashed, including detaching Fontaine's Department Store from Rapture and sinking it to the bottom of the ocean. It's here that most of the game takes place and it's an excellent environment. A huge complex of shops sectioned into larger departments, it's really more of a mall than a department store, but that only serves to provide more variety.

That familiarity is present in the atmosphere, though. Splicers and Fontaine goons run rampant through the ruins, but there's still that sense of place; it feels like only a short while earlier this was a functioning shopping district. The creepiness that was forgone in favour of wide open combat arenas in Infinite is back here, everything carries a feeling of claustrophobia and the developer isn't afraid to have things jump out and scare the player.

A reasonably sized arsenal is of course provided to deal with the things in the darkness. It's mostly weapons carried over from Infinite, but there is one new gun and one kind-of-new plasmid to enjoy. The gun is the Radar Range, a device which fires out intense microwave energy that can cause enemies to explode and damage others in the vicinity. It's great fun to use and hearkens back to FPS of old. BioShock needed more outlandish weapons like this.

The new plasmid is equally as fun, although maybe not as imaginative. Old Man Winter allows players to shoot ice from their fingertips to freeze enemies who can then be smashed with a single bullet or wrench swing. It's essentially a drinkable version of Winter Blast from the original game, and there is reason in the plot for that.

Another returning feature is the Sky Hook, here called the Air Grabber (constants and variables...); it's not used as extensively here as in Columbia - Rapture is obviously less suited to flying around large open spaces, being an underwater city. Elizabeth's tears also feature, with the strange ability to call in a samurai to help in fights now as well as the mechanised patriots from Infinite. Best not to ask.

The gameplay is well paced and, although the objectives are mainly just fetch quests, progression is natural and fulfilling. As in Infinite Elizabeth accompanies Booker everywhere and is just as apparently invisible to enemies, a slightly immersion breaking trick but a necessary one. It would be insanely frustrating if she was constantly alerting enemies.

They have plenty of banter between them, and both characters are just as intriguing and enjoyable to spend time with as ever. The new setting (to them) and the new slant to their relationship serves to freshen things up quite a bit, and the reason for Elizabeth's presence in Rapture is well conceived.

Unfortunately, some aspects of the story can feel a little contrived. It seems like Levine and his writing staff have tried hard to adhere to the concept of the same story playing out behind an infinite number of doors; the closing argument of Infinite, and the seams show a little bit.

As the beginning of the end of the BioShock series, Burial at Sea delivers. It provides an intriguing new story, a long-awaited return to Rapture, and it threads the first few stitches in sewing together the two main games in an interesting way.