Let's discuss Bioshock Infinite (Spoilers)

So, I know I'm behind the times on this game but if there are other people on this board who'd like to discuss it, I'd like to hear your thoughts and share mine.

Overall I loved it and I want to state right out of the gate its art direction and sound design are possibly the best I've ever experienced in any game.

My biggest issues with it were around the combat. Namely, I wish there were way less of it and what was there was more engaging. The rail system is under utilized and there needs to be more enemy variety.

It would be cool if, rather than always going to violence to solve a problem, there were dialogue options or exploration based puzzles that could get you to your objective. But this game doesn't exist if it’s not a first person shooter. That’s what sells these days and a company like 2K probably isn't going to throw a bunch of money at a first person adventure / puzzle game. It makes me sad, but I get it.

As far as the story and the way it's told, I can't think of another game that had my jaw dropping more often than this one. When you enter Columbia for the first time, when you see NYC under siege, when you are teleported to Rapture, and when you are shown the infinite lighthouses, it all had me in awe.

And while Infinite didn't fully explore the themes I initially thought it would, the game kind of needed to go to the crazy places it’s science fiction story takes it to set itself apart from the first Bioshock. And similar to the first Bioshock, Infinite touches on the role of the player in video games. No matter how many times you play it, the main plot points will turn out the same. Booker will never row the boat. The coin will always land on heads. Song Bird is always too powerful for Booker to fight. You can even view the multiple Bookers and Elizabeths at the end of the game as other people who are playing Bioshock Infinite. They are all having their own experience with minor variables, but the constants are all the same. Their experiences are just part of the infinite realities story. I’m not sure the game is saying anything profound here, but it’s a fun idea to toy around with and I like how it has meaning for both the player and the characters within the story.

What I’m wondering about now is where does Bioshock go from here? Have they written themselves into a corner? Will Levine return to a space/future setting for the next one, assuming he and Irrational make another Bioshock? I went into this game thinking there was no way Infinite would surprise me but it did. But now I’m really wondering how they can do it again when this game went SO far.