This game is absolutely amazing. You can tell that there was an enormous amount of thought put into every detail, down to the very last corner. Bioshock Infinite is my favorite game to date, no question about it.
To start, the art direction is very good. Everything is arranged to be very appealing, and the colors are very balanced. I loved just walking around the city and soaking it all up. There are 1912 style shops to go into, and they are all populated. In one area, there is even a good, three-minute quartet that you can just sit and listen to. I was very impressed with the magnitude of everything. Seldom are you placed in a small, dark room or hallway. Most of the game is set in colorful areas with large statues and airy buildings.
I liked that it did not actually put you in the dark, but gave a dark feeling when it was appropriate. As per the Bioshock games, some of the events are quite dark, and I liked the uneasy feeling without the dark corridors of Rapture.
Combat is a step up from other games in the genre. The introduction of "skylines" allows you to jump quickly from place to place, making everything very fast paced. I didn't quite like the inventory management as much as in the original Bioshock, however. I found it much harder to deal with my Vigors, mainly because you couldn't just scroll through them like in the other game. Still, you get used to it - that's a fairly minor gripe.
I can not say much about the story. If I told you what was so great about it, I would spoil it for you. I can say that it puzzled me, and it was a few hours after finishing the game that I worked everything out. I felt like some of the points were repeated too much though. I get that they try to help everyone understand it well, but I would rather just have it all thrown at me - that way it's more fun to work out on my own.
Overall, Irrational Games has gone above and beyond what anyone expected. The only way you would find this game worse than the original is if you are somewhat nostalgic. Even if you did not like the first or second game, I highly recommend that you still give Bioshock Infinite a try. As a side note, there are a few things that you will not quite understand if you skip the first game. They are little details, but in a game like Bioshock Infinite, it is the little details that really count.
This game is worth every cent. If you can not afford it, you can wait until the next sale. The trilogy tends to go for $15~.
