The soundtrack to this game is fantastic—I urge you to give it a listen, especially if you like the style of Persona and Shin Megami Tensei games.

The gameplay seemed a little gimmicky at first, but ultimately FFXIII-2 won me over, in large part due to the excellent soundtrack. I bought the deluxe edition of the game just so that I could get it on disc. Definitely one of the best Final Fantasy soundtracks I've ever heard (and I've heard them all, even if I…

Well, it's just the idea that you shouldn't be able to acquire the game's items by any other means than earning them within the game. Like, the game shouldn't offer any kind of real money item shop or anything like that—so that the "norm" is for players to find ways to acquire what they need through skilled play. Of…

I meant "Slate."

It's true that, like Ken Levine once said, "we could ruin the industry with cynicism." I must, however, support Leigh in calling out some aspects—both mechanical and otherwise—of Infinite that diminish the strength of its message. I think Infinite's plot is much, much better than MGS4's—but I also felt that it…

If I could attempt to summarize Alexander's critique in two sentences, it would sound like this: "Bioshock Infinite is a great shooter, in the same sense that Half Life 2 is a great shooter. But this is 2013 and, for the acclaim it has received, Infinite doesn't do enough to push the medium forward." I totally agree…

Okay guys. Identifying excessive violence in games is one thing—let's not make it too much of a fad to criticize Bioshock Infinite's mechanics. It's a polished (but not revolutionary) post-Call of Duty shooter. That means it's fast and furious, constrictive, and features some kind of regenerating health mechanic. I…

Rather than focusing on the question of defining "art," the best thing for the gaming community to do is try to distinguish good games (or "experiences," if you want to use a more encompassing term) from bad ones and let the things do their own talking. If we want the rest of society to recognize games as art, we…

The best thing for the gaming community is for gamers NOT to discuss art under any circumstances. That's my two cents after reading some of these comments.

Amen. I love Bioshock Infinite and had a hell of a time with it and yet, like Leigh, I find it highly problematic in many ways. More often than not, the flaws in a game are more interesting than the smooth edges.

Leigh doesn't really call Bioshock Infinite a mediocre or bad game—this isn't that kind of review. She's not trying to reduce the game to a numerical score; rather, she's just contesting what she finds to be problematic trends shared by videogames as a whole.

The review you linked to is the type that, in the words of the reviewer, focuses on "structural and design stuff, not lit crit stuff." I think we can both agree that Alexander's is of the latter type. And she's not saying Bioshock Infinite is a bad game—she discusses things which are bad about games in general and…

Dear Kotaku commenters: let's please not start a flame war over Leigh's thoughtful, well-written critique. If you disagree with her opinions, please try to be equally thoughtful and articulate in your responses.

I checked up on Vindictus and noticed that it has an FTP system. Are there any games like this one that follow a subscription system? The reason is that I only play "found items only" games as opposed to those which rely on microtransactions (I fear Murphy's Law).

This looks great. I stand corrected. I've never seen any combat like this in an MMO. I guess I've just been trying the wrong games (Diablo III, Path of Exile, many WoW-likes come to mind), and I couldn't imagine any more possibilities for M/KB controls in ARPGs.

I always thought the mouse and keyboard thing was such an odd complaint...as an input device it is horrible for action RPGs that feature more advanced controls than "click until it dies."

FPS is a violent genre—the games themselves are all about violence. Is Bioshock a violent game? Yes. Is it more violent than the average FPS? No. So what is this discussion about, anyway?

Well, I didn't mean to say that he isn't somewhere on that spectrum—I just don't think he is quite as radical as Ayn Rand was—he at least supports some government regulation and taxation—I would say that he's more grounded in reality (which makes sense because he's an experienced politician). Ayn Rand never came up…

Ron Paul's not really an Objectivist...but I agree regarding the other two.

I think this negative reaction to Infinite's violence is evidence that the game has accomplished its purpose: to make us feel uncomfortable about the violence in our natures.