BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea - Episode One

It’s definitely a compelling addition to the narrative, but most players will do better to wait and pick it up on sale.

The first part of the Bioshock Infinite’s first single-player DLC takes us back to Rapture but it’s way too short to be truly enjoyable and engaging.

With the Rapture's cameo at the end of Infinite, it wasn’t clear how Irrational could make the same trick work twice. The answer is simple; the return Rapture in Burial at Sea isn't a trick. It's a venue to express an original idea inside stylish and increasingly sophisticated framework. In that regard Burial at Sea gives its all the narrative - and unfortunately comes up short when it wants to be a game.

Finally seeing Rapture before it’s fall is true fan-service as well as the high point of this DLC. It is a tad short though, and some more new features would have lifted the whole experience further.

In terms of what you actually do, though, Burial at Sea is fairly tepid stuff - a fetch quest followed by shoot-outs that introduce Infinite's Tears and Skylines to Bioshock 1's Splicers and turrets, a puzzle that involves finding a new Plasmid, a puzzle that involves doing X of Y, and a boss encounter that's all about attrition.

Just don’t expect the story to yank the rug out from under you quite so delightfully this time.

Burial at Sea could have been one big salutation of the first Bioshock and in some moments, it is. But unfortunately the concept is wasted by not having a good enough story. Hopefully the second episode will make Burial at Sea worthwhile. Meanwhile, save your money.

While Buried at Sea - Episode 1 is well-written, intriguing and presents new questions by the end to tantalisingly set up the last installment, it also doesn't feel like an essential piece of content that enhances BioShock Infinite from a narrative point of view.

Burial at Sea is a game that struggles with Bioshock’s legacy and while, generally speaking, it’s unfair to judge a game for what it is not, when you have a game that borrows as heavily from its predecessor as Burial at Sea does, it’s impossible not to be disappointed by what is an inferior imitation.

The return to Rapture is a self-indulgent and unnecessary one, that combines Irrational’s previous two games into an unsatisfying new whole.