My Gorgeous Re-Introduction to BioShock: Infinite and the history within.

BioShock:  Infinite is a game that seems to exist solely in the black or white for gamers.  It seems to be one of those games that people either completely love or hate.  If you read reviews on Steam there is very little agreement on the game.  Much of that vitriol seems to be directed at the ending.  I'm still not sure I really understand the ending, but I thoroughly enjoyed my first playthrough of the last installment in the BioShock series.  I realized last night that I had only played through it once and decided it was time to go back and see what I missed.  (Possible spoilers ahead.  Read with caution if you haven't finished it before.)

One of the beautiful locales in BioShock:  Infinite

The first time I played through BioShock:  Infinite I was playing on my 6+ year old computer.  Miraculously it could still run the game, but I do not remember it being as detailed and gorgeous.  The hummingbirds flitting around your head as you stand on grassy verandas and the cargo containers gliding along the skylines--I couldn't help but take my time as Booker makes his initial explorations of the floating city of Columbia.  I was immediately taken in by the old-timey atmosphere--the women in their long skirts and huge hats, the kinetoscopes with their silent messages, and the blaring images of the "prophet" Comstock.  Since I had finished the game I also noticed things that should have stood out to me immediately.  A barbershop quartet is singing "God Only Knows,"a song by the Beach Boys which clearly wouldn't have a place in the 1912 world of Columbia.  How come I didn't see that the first time?

Another thing that I started thinking about were the complex and controversial themes that seem to be present throughout the game.  As a historian I can respect the fact that they really tried to accurately portray the era as it would have been.  Columbia, according to a history lesson from a kinetoscope, came into being in the 1890's.  This would have been an time period that was very absorbed in colonialism and Westernizing other cultures.  Americans and western Europeans viewed themselves as being the "civilized" cultures who were tasked with bringing both Christianity and Western values to the rest of the world.  This theme became very obvious as I progressed through Columbia and reached the odd temple belonging to the Order of the Raven with it's messages of "protect our race!"  As you lurk on the balcony you are able to listen to an oration by the leader of this strange group about the duty of white men to civilize other cultures.  I was very strongly reminded of the poem "The White Man's Burden," by Rudyard Kipling (you can read it here).  It's amazing that they included such an accurate depiction of this era which today would be considered racist at best.

That's a little deep for a video game, I know.  I'm going to continue my new adventure through Columbia and try to take in as many of the details as I can.  I always loved Rapture from the earlier BioShock games, but Columbia seems to be just as grand.