History BioShockInfinite / TropesIToP

* JackBauerInterrogationTechnique: The primary means of the Columbian police forces extracting information from suspects or witnesses is inflicting a lot of pain. In the game, you encounter at least one man they tortured to death and another effectively comatose from trauma in their cells.

* ImpaledPalm: Happens to ''Booker'' while at a ticket counter. Booker rests his hand on the counter top, impatient with the man on the other side talking on the phone instead of selling him a ticket. Unless you draw on him, the guy turns around and pins Booker's hand to the counter with a sharpened letter opener.

* ImportantHaircut: Elizabeth cuts off most of her long hair [[spoiler:after she commits her first direct killing]].
* ImprovisedWeapon: The Sky-Hook doubles as a brutal face-wrenching, bone-shredding claw. It sees a lot of use this way before actually getting near a skyline.
* InfantImmortality: Civilians and children in Columbia will mysteriously disappear the second a gunfight starts. The one time the game shows a child in mortal peril, he gets rescued almost immediately, and then disappears just like the rest. Also, in those occasions the player can open fire on the civilians, adults can be killed but children are impervious to any amount of shooting and bombing.

* MechaMooks: The Patriots are robotic caricatures of the Founding Fathers that pack some [[MoreDakka serious heat]].

* MightyWhitey: [[http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/9/2010/09/washington_final.jpg This mural]], featuring George Washington in an elegant and shining outfit holding the Liberty Bell in one hand and the Ten Commandments in the other, rising up above dreary, poor and pathetic racist caricatures of all races.

** Vigors are often put to more mundane purposes when they're not being used for attack and defense: Shock Jockey is often used as a power source- which forces Booker to go on a merry chase after the last bottle in the area when local machinery runs down. Devil's Kiss is advertised as being a handy torch, and in the Industrial Revolution game, it was originally marketed as a [[FingerSnapLighter solution]] to the problem of lighting a cigarette at high altitudes. Bucking Bronco can apparently be used to lift or move things in a more mundane fashion, according to fairground barkers. The Possession vendor suggests using it to avoid getting ripped off by vending machines or to ensure that phone connections run smoothly; Booker goes one step further and uses it to actually steal extra cash from vending machines. And finally, throughout the fair, Vigors are used for entertainment by both the performers and the audience.

** An "amusement" park meant to inform that's really more to scare the kids and keep them in line, or indoctrinate them to the nation's cause. In ''BioShock 2'', it was Ryan Amusements, here, it's the Hall of Heroes.

** A broken vending machine looks much like the tonic vendors from ''[=BioShock=]'', and laying on the ground nearby is the wrench. You can also 'hack' the vending machines with your first Vigor, Possession. They dump out a number of coins.

* NoOSHACompliance: The following could be considered ValuesDissonance and FridgeBrilliance, as modern public safety regulations didn't exist back then, and anyone who falls off the city might well be viewed as having been judged by God for some private sin.
** One of the means of travelling around Columbia is via a magnetic rail system known as the Skyline traversed via hand-held hooks. It's very fast, there's no safety nets, and landings appear to be rough and you'll probably feel horrible pain, but this wouldn't make gameplay fun so [[AcceptableBreaksFromReality it's an Acceptable Break for Your Shoulder...er, Reality]] as you use them. It's an (During the gameplay demo, Booker jumps from one rail to another and laughs with relief that he's not now plummeting to his death.) [[JustifiedTrope The Sky-Lines weren't originally intended]] for people's use, according to [[WordOfGod Ken Levine]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XYPgH_HFCU&feature=relmfu in a video]], their purpose is to move bulk cargo containers about Columbia (though one [[NonPlayerCharacter NPC]] comments that reckless youths sometimes joyride on them with crude wheels.) However, the Vox have apparently been using them to smuggle themselves around the city and establish hideouts and safehouses along them in areas unreachable on foot. The hand-held hook Booker uses was one of several that were recently issued to the Columbia police to help them hunt down Vox operatives and flush them out.
** Columbia is very inconsistent about having railings and barriers at its edges. Some areas are well bounded, others have plenty of unguarded shear drops for, say, children playing tag to hurl themselves off of.

* OldTimeyBathingSuit: Sported by many visitors to beach at Battleship Bay. One of the female beach visitors will comment that she would like to see Booker in one, scandalizing her friends with how brazen she is.

* OutOfFocus: The first half or so of the game centers around the city of Columbia, its pristine shining display hiding the horrors rotting at the core, the extremism, the boiling political uncertainties, even the budding revolution hoping to make changes to the unfair way things are run. [[spoiler: Then Elizabeth kills Fitzroy and the story stops treating Columbia as anything but a wacky floating city the characters zip around on in favor of becoming more of a CharacterFocus on Elizabeth]].

* PassThePopcorn: You'll even find a bag of popcorn in one of the viewing rooms in the tower on Monument Island.

** The code for an elevator is 0451, which is a reference to the title of ''{{Literature/Fahrenheit451}}'' as well as door codes in all of the following games: both ''VideoGame/SystemShock'' games, ''VideoGame/DeusEx'', the first ''[=BioShock=]'', and ''VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution''. Yeah, Ken Levine (and Ion Storm) really likes that number.
** When you first arrive in Columbia, upon [[ItMakesSenseInContext entering the circle]], the first words from the priest who tries to [[HollywoodDrowning baptize]] Booker are "Is it someone new?", echoing the first words you hear from [[VideoGame/BioShock a female Splicer once you enter Rapture]].

** A scene from the [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gBVZj6ROV0&feature=plcp Beast Of America]] trailer has you rowing towards a lighthouse, opening a box and cradling a gun, which refers to Jack's arrival at Rapture in the original ''VideoGame/BioShock''. Adding further to it, the way to get to Columbia [[spoiler: is a one seated rocket ship which has a window which gives a nice view of the city once you arrive. Similar to the bathysphere which dove you down to Rapture in the first ''[=BioShock=]'']].
** A down-on-his-luck man being hired to infiltrate an insane religious cult secluded from the rest of the world, possessing advanced technology, was the pitch of the original ''BioShock''.

* {{Nerf}}: Melee attacks are significantly less useful in this game than [=BioShock=] 1 and 2. They do less damage and enemies recover from them a lot faster, and should generally only be used as a finishing blow.

* NumberOfTheBeast: The second upgrade for the Devil's Kiss vigor costs 666 Silver Eagles.

* {{Pun}}: One of the vigors is the ability to sic a group of crows on your enemies. It's named ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_collective_nouns murder]]'' of crows, of course.

** A scene from the [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gBVZj6ROV0&feature=plcp Beast Of America]] trailer has you rowing towards a lighthouse, opening a box and cradling a gun, which refers to Jack's arrival at Rapture in the original ''VideoGame/BioShock''. Adding further to it, the way to get to Columbia [[spoiler: is a one seated rocket ship which has a window which gives a nice view of the city once you arrive. Similar to the bathysphere which dove you down to Rapture in the first [=BioShock=]]].

** The [[AudioDiary voxophone]] ''[[http://bioshock.wikia.com/wiki/A_Soldier%27s_Death A Soldier's Death]]'' in the Hall of Heroes plainly states that Booker received the nickname "White Injun" because he took so many scalp trophies at the Massacre.

** At one point, you get a voxophone made by Comstock that asks that if a man in baptized then it's a sinner before the baptism and a saint after it. He then goes on to say that perhaps the man in the process of the baptism is both sinner and saint. [[spoiler: Comstock is the greater sinner even though HE'S the one that was baptized. Furthermore, Booker needs to be drowned during a "baptism" to stop the sinner from emerging]].

* [[GoLookattheDistraction Look! A Distraction!]]: As a policeman revs up his Sky-Hook, Booker throws the baseball to distact the cop's partner, and then, positions his face in the path of destruction.

* MindScrew: The various shots scattered around the [[http://youtu.be/hvX0D3j4gbE Lamb of Columbia]] trailer, which shows: [[spoiler:Elizabeth on display with various zoo-like factoids in a condemned Mounument Island, an audibly enraged Comstock refusing to "give up his Lamb", hints of some terrible plot by the Founders, Elizabeth holding her head in pain, and ending with Booker and Elizabeth in a cornfield with a tornado coming towards them]].

** [[spoiler:There is an voxophone where Comstock says he was (rightly) accused of having Indian blood, so he attempted to prove it wrong by burning tepees down. With squaws inside. And we learn at the end of the game that Comstock ''is'' Booker]].

** One of the means of travelling around Columbia is via a magnetic rail system known as the Skyline traversed via hand-held hooks. It's very fast, there's no safety nets, and landings appear to be rough and you'll probably feel horrible pain, but this wouldn't make gameplay fun so [[AcceptableBreaksFromReality it's an Acceptable Break for Your Shoulder...er, Reality]] as you use them. It's an (During the gameplay demo, Booker jumps from one rail to another and laughs with relief that he's not now plummeting to his death.) [[JustifiedTrope The Skylines weren't originally intended]] for people's use, according to [[WordOfGod Ken Levine]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XYPgH_HFCU&feature=relmfu in a video]], their purpose is to move bulk cargo containers about Columbia (though one [[NonPlayerCharacter NPC]] comments that reckless youths sometimes joyride on them with crude wheels.) However, the Vox have apparently been using them to smuggle themselves around the city and establish hideouts and safehouses along them in areas unreachable on foot. The hand-held hook Booker uses was one of several that were recently issued to the Columbia police to help them hunt down Vox operatives and flush them out.

* ImprovisedWeapon: The skyhook doubles as a brutal face-wrenching, bone-shredding claw. It sees a lot of use this way before actually getting near a skyline.

* InMediasRes: Aside from the numerous flashbacks peppered throughout the game, the immediate events of the game begin[[spoiler: when the Luteces bring the Booker we play as into their reality; Booker doesn't immediately remember this despite this occurring mere minutes before the game's opening because his mind is struggling to construct new memories to comprehend a new reality. And this is to say nothing of the hints showing that this isn't the first time the twins have done this to a version of Booker]].

* LimitedLoadout: Unlike [[VideoGame/BioShock1 Jack]] and [[VideoGame/BioShock2 Subject Delta]], Booker can't carry every gun in the game at once. The player gets any two at a time plus the Skyhook QuickMelee, but every vigor is available once found or bought with no slot system like the earlier games had for plasmids.

** The way the Boy of Silence [[spoiler:ambushes you in]] Comstock Tower, with you unable to move until you turn around, is exactly like how a Doctor attacks you in BioShock 1.

** A down-on-his-luck man being hired to infiltrate an insane religious cult secluded from the rest of the world, possessing advanced technology, was the pitch of the original BioShock.

*** Ironically, BioShock 2 was supposed to contain flashbacks of the player character in Rapture before its downfall that [[spoiler:might be parallel universes]]. Infinite has flashbacks to Booker's life before Columbia. BioShock 2 was [[spoiler:also was supposed to have the twist that you actually ''are'' Eleanor's father, but it's just heavily implied in the final product]].
** You find an ex-employee of a [[BadBoss deranged, evil boss]] murdered and impaled to a wall, with a sign that reads "SACKED". In BioShock 2, you'd find similar corpses, but the wording was "YOU'RE FIRED" or "FIRED". You also get shuffled into a deadly "demonstration" of their fine products to prove your worth, both of which include robotic enemies.
** An "amusement" park meant to inform that's really more to scare the kids and keep them in line, or indoctrinate them to the nation's cause. In BioShock 2, it was Ryan Amusements, here, it's the Hall of Heroes.

** You find some pistol ammo sitting on a baby carriage, a callback to receiving your first weapon in the original [=BioShock=].
** A broken vending machine looks much like the tonic vendors from [=BioShock=], and laying on the ground nearby is the wrench. You can also 'hack' the vending machines with your first vigor, Possession. They dump out a number of coins.
** The Dollar Bill vending machines are all voiced by Ken Levine, in the same voice as the Circus of Values machines from the first game. They even have modified versions of the original vending machine scripts. "Come back when you've got some money, buddy!" becomes "Return when you have the currency, fella!" If you don't notice it right away, you will when you hear the Dollar Bill machine say "I appreciate a lady who appreciates value!" "A carnival of thrift at your disposal!" -- "carnival of thrift" being a rough synonym for "circus of value".

** Eating food or using a medical kit plays the familiar med hypo/med pack sound from System Shock 2 and [=BioShock=], respectively.
** The sound played when a new objective displays is also the same as in [=BioShock=].

** When you first enter Columbia, you end up in a church used for baptisms. The entire church is waterlogged, and you are up to your ankles in the stuff... just like you were in [=BioShock=].

* PathOfInspiration: Comstock and his cult are incredibly focused upon the notion of salvation and redemption, "washing away sins", nothing to worry about on paper. Unfortunately Comstock must have learned the wrong lesson about what redemption actually ''is'' because it seems he believes it's "proof you did nothing wrong and have no reason to change your behaviour." Hence why he's already snuffed out a bunch of people who would have called him on his misdeeds and plans on eventually blowing up the entire United States, "the Sodom Below," because it's so choked with "sin".

** [[spoiler: It is later revealed this is due to [[PowerLimiter the massive siphon draining her powers]]. Once it is destroyed she has complete control and understanding over it]].

* ProtectionMission: [[spoiler: There's only one instance of this, and it's the final fight of the game, where you have to defend The Hand of the Prophet from the Vox trying to destroy the core]].

* JekyllAndHyde: In an intricate way. [[spoiler:Booker and Zachary Comstock are the same person, only Booker comes from a reality where he made a significantly different choice decades ago]]. In the beginning, it isn't technically a Jekyll and Hyde situation. They do not share a body, as they have not actually "merged" like the unfortunate dead/living soldiers, or [[spoiler:dead Chen Lin brought in from the first timeline we walk through, and living Chen Lin from the second timeline we enter]]. Metaphorically, though, [[spoiler:Comstock]] is a manifestation of the evil within [[spoiler:Booker - both are single-minded, cynical and have a high capacity for violence. Booker is willing to committ massive manslaughter and serve blatant lies to reach his goal (which in the beginning of the game is even quite morally corrupt)]]. Later on, the metaphor becomes physical reality. Firstly, [[spoiler:when Booker kills Comstock but is forced to take charge of the Hand of the Prophet and use the Songbird to destroy a Vox Populi attack. Temporarily, he is Comstock in both biology and social function]]. Secondly [[spoiler:when he is transferred back in time to actually merge with the earlier version of himself that is set on the path of becoming Comstock. When this past Booker "remembers" his future actions as the Hyde, observed from outside, he chooses to let himself be killed. The hero has, indeed, "caught himself"]].
* JesusTaboo: Despite the fact that the setting is drowning in the language, decor, and hymns of the Third Great Awakening, there is almost no mention of Jesus--largely because Comstock and the Founding Fathers have replaced Jesus and the Prophets in all but name. The only time Jesus actually receives a namedrop (other than Booker murmuring the name as a curse at one point) is from the preacher [[spoiler:attempting to baptize Booker after Wounded Knee. A marked contrast to the baptism in Columbia, where Booker is baptised in the name of Comstock, the Founding Fathers, and God. In that order]].

* MoodWhiplash: Being [=BioShock=], the dark turn was expected, but still. When you arrive in Columbia, the place is beautiful and brimming with life in a cheerful fairground setting. While some things may feel a little off, there's no sense of particular danger just yet. Then you win the raffle, and what's your prize? [[spoiler: First throw at the public stoning/execution of an interracial couple]]. Immediately after that, you proceed to [[spoiler: smash a cop's face against his partner's skyhook, with the expected gore ensuing.]]

* MooksButNoBosses: Unlike the first two ''Bioshock'' games, you never fight any of the major antagonists in a straight shootout, as each of them is either TheUnfought or dispatched in a cutscene. The Handymen and The Siren are the closest the game has to proper boss fights, but the former are not unique (there are about 4 total spaced throughout the game) and the latter isn't really a major character.

** Vigors are often put to more mundane purposes when they're not being used for attack and defence: Shock Jockey is often used as a power source- which forces Booker to go on a merry chase after the last bottle in the area when local machinery runs down. Devil's Kiss is advertised as being a handy torch, and in the Industrial Revolution game, it was originally marketed as a [[FingerSnapLighter solution]] to the problem of lighting a cigarette at high altitudes. Bucking Bronco can apparently be used to lift or move things in a more mundane fashion, according to fairground barkers. The Possession vendor suggests using it to avoid getting ripped off by vending machines or to ensure that phone connections run smoothly; Booker goes one step further and uses it to actually steal extra cash from vending machines. And finally, throughout the fair, Vigors are used for entertainment by both the performers and the audience.

** The way the Boy of Silence [[spoiler:ambushes you in]] Comstock Tower, with you unable to move until you turn around, is exactly like how a Doctor attacks you in Bioshock 1.

** The searchlights on the Gun and Rocket Automatons act the same way. In this case, green indicates an automaton that is affected by Posession.

** A down-on-his-luck man being hired to infiltrate an insane religious cult secluded from the rest of the world, possessing advanced technology, was the pitch of the original Bioshock.

*** Ironically, Bioshock 2 was supposed to contain flashbacks of the player character in Rapture before its downfall that [[spoiler:might be parallel universes]]. Infinite has flashbacks to Booker's life before Columbia. Bioshock 2 was [[spoiler:also was supposed to have the twist that you actually ''are'' Eleanor's father, but it's just heavily implied in the final product]].
** You find an ex-employee of a [[BadBoss deranged, evil boss]] murdered and impaled to a wall, with a sign that reads "SACKED". In Bioshock 2, you'd find similar corpses, but the wording was "YOU'RE FIRED" or "FIRED". You also get shuffled into a deadly "demonstration" of their fine products to prove your worth, both of which include robotic enemies.
** An "amusement" park meant to inform that's really more to scare the kids and keep them in line, or indoctrinate them to the nation's cause. In Bioshock 2, it was Ryan Amusements, here, it's the Hall of Heroes.

* NeckLift: Booker can do this to human opponents with the Skyhook device. The game sometimes has him do a NeckSnap with the Skyhook to kill them.
* NeckSnap: Booker can do this to human opponents with the Skyhook device. The game has him do a NeckLift with the Skyhook on them first.

* NumberOfTheBeast: The second upgrade for the Devil's Kiss vigor costs 666 silver eagles.

* OlderThanTheyLook: Elizabeth's age is hard to pin down just from looking at her; she's actually about 20 years old, but can easily be mistaken for being in her mid teens due to her short height, petite build, and the Little House On The Prarie outfit she wears for the first half of the game. To a lesser extent, Booker Dewitt is in great shape for a man who's actually pushing 40, especially someone who's lived as hard a life as he has.

* ImportantHaircut: Elizabeth cuts off most of her long hair [[spoiler:after she commits her first direct murder]].

* OneBulletClips: The Vox Heater, [[spoiler:unless you equip Bullet Boon or Ammo Advantage.]]

* OneBulletClips

** The residents of [[BedlamHouse Comstock House]] also wear UncannyValley porcelain masks of old presidents.

Escorts children to their grave

* ThePeepingTom: Outside Elizabeth's chambers are a bunch of one-way windows through which her captors have been monitoring her, including in her bedroom and bathroom. There are also voyeuristic photos of her (including one of her changing) hanging up to dry. She is ''upset'' when she finds all of this during the escape.

* MoodWhiplash: Being [=BioShock=], the dark turn was expected, but still. When you arrive in Columbia, the place is beautiful and brimming with life in a cheerful fairground setting. While some things may feel a little off, there's no sense of particular danger just yet. Then you win the raffle, and what's your prize? [[spoiler: First throw at the public stoning/execution of an interracial couple]]. Immediately after that, you proceed to [[spoiler: smash a cop's face against his partner's skyhook, with the expected gore ensuing]]

* MickeyMousing: Slaves at Fink Industries are forced to perform their jobs to [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAsM3GWW2Os a droning, discordant, thoroughly miserable waltz]] (A heavily-distorted, lo-fi version of Frederick Chopin's Nocturne in E-flat major, Op. 9, No. 2, to be precise), moving with a loud tick on every third beat.

** Preston E. Downs murdered white people for mating Native Americans and scalped them. He has a HeelFaceTurn after wounding a Native American kid. To add to the irony, he made the full turn after a white man with Native American heritage taught him the kid's language. Additional irony comes from the fact, that he was going to have the kid scalp the white man, [[spoiler: who was an alternate reality version of Booker, the white man in question]], who brought suffering to Native Americans, the very group of people he himself used to prosecute.

* {{Mockumentary}}: The videos of ''Columbia: A Modern Day Icarus?'' Which is a documentary of Columbia, based on evidence left by a segment of Columbia which crashed on the Alps.

BioShockInfinite/TropesAToH | '''Tropes I-P''' | BioShockInfinite/TropesQToZ | BioShockInfinite/BurialAtSea

*** He is named after [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Comstock Anthony Comstock]], an extreme religious zealot who was the US Postal Inspector in the same timeline Columbia was built and launched, and was responsible for the Comstock Act, which forbade any "immoral" materials being sent via mail. He was racist, destroyed anything he found "immoral", and was a ''major'' hypocrite - just like Zachary.

* LyricalDissonance: With a dash of GeniusBonus. The song "Goodnight, Irene" that the crowd sings at the fair. The chorus, which is the part you can most easily make out, makes it sound like a cheerful love song ("I'll see you in my dreams...") However, the ''other'' verses (which you have to listen carefully to understand, or be already aware of) clarify that it's actually about a troubled marriage, and a man either considering or already on his way to a much more ''permanent'' type of "sleep."

[[/folder]]

* PromotedToPlayable: Elizabeth is set to become the player character in Burial at Sea part 2.