Not many games can survive six years of development. Most AAA shooters top out at about three years, and even they are often victims of their own over-blown hype. These risks rise even more when following a game as beloved as “BioShock.” There’s no way this could turn out well, right?

“Infinite” opens in 1912, when former soldier Booker DeWitt is brought to an empty lighthouse off of the coast of Maine. Booker (the player) knows only that he must find a girl named Elizabeth and bring her to New York. At the top of the lighthouse, he stumbles into a small rocket that launches him through the clouds to a floating city called Columbia.

The citizens of Columbia worship America’s Founding Fathers and the city’s founder, self-proclaimed prophet Zachary Comstock. As it happens, Elizabeth is Comstock’s daughter, and Booker’s goal will pit him against every angry zealot in the clouds. After being branded a “false shepherd,” Booker finds Elizabeth, who uses her dimension-hopping powers to help fight their way out of the city.

As you can probably already tell, there’s a lot going on in “Infinite.” The game bets big on its mystery, and new questions are constantly dropped on the player. When you first hear a barbershop quartet singing “God Only Knows” by The Beach Boys, it’s like the polar bear moment from “Lost” — you’re in or you’re out.

Luckily, the game does a great job of building the world, giving you plenty of down time to explore Columbia’s patriotic sky-utopia. Like in the first “BioShock,” the world’s backstory is — sometimes literally — written on the walls, and scattered audio diaries give even the most villainous characters a tragic bent.

Also like the first game, “Infinite” has plenty to say. It trades the philosophy of Ayn Rand for commentary on jingoism, religion and even racism.

Though its stance may be simplistic and a bit heavy-handed, it’s the first time I’ve seen such issues tackled head-on in a video game. It’s also impressive how hard it works to explain its science fiction. The mystery of Elizabeth’s powers is linked to the city itself in a way that sounds just complex enough to be plausible.

The best part of all of these strange and disparate pieces is that they’re more than just set dressing. While Elizabeth’s ability to open “tears” into other worlds is one of the story’s major mysteries, she also uses the power quite effectively in combat.

In each area, you’ll find a number of fuzzy, half-real features that Elizabeth can bring into this world for use in battle. With her help, you’ll call in more cover from which to shoot, health packs and weapons to pick up, and even mechanical sidekicks to draw fire away from you.

Many of the larger battles involve skylines and a rail system you can use to get the advantage on opponents. Jumping from rail to rail only takes one button, and the sense of speed is very satisfying. “Vigors” are the new stand-ins for the original plasmids of “BioShock.”

You’ll still find old favorites, like the ability to shoot electricity. Out of the new ones, some of my favorites were Murder of Crows, which lets you send crows to distract and devour your enemies, and Return to Sender, which lets you absorb incoming bullets and hurl them back in a ball of energy. Every vigor is useful, and by the end, I was just as likely to use my new powers as the early ones.

“BioShock: Infinite” is something completely new and yet perfectly familiar. It’s bigger, faster and deeper than the original, while still making all of its old tricks work. If you want a thrilling, mind-bending adventure that’s well-built on every level, just look to the sky.

Published on March 31, 2013 at 11:56 pm

Contact Isaac: ikdavis@syr.edu