“A choice is better than none, whatever the outcome.” These words, spoken by the character Elizabeth in “BioShock: Infinite,” best encapsulate the core principles of its game design, as well as the tone of its narrative with its heady themes of pre-determinism and guilt. It is a narrative that will propel the player from one vertigo-inducing and addictive action set piece to the next and which seamlessly blends plot and gameplay into a cohesive whole. “BioShock: Infinite” reaches for the sky so ambitiously you can feel the heat of the sun on  your hands, but will you get burned?

“BioShock: Infinite” takes place in the nation of Columbia, an enormous floating city powered by quantum physics and cheap labor. It exists in a horribly plausible alternate America circa 1912 and its society reveres the founders in an explicitly religious manner and fetishizes American exceptionalism. While you gawp at the astonishing visuals and fully realized steampunk aesthetic of this world, you will undoubtedly be equally disturbed by the ubiquitous casual racism, xenophobia, and outright bigotry of its inhabitants.

The narrative of this world is told primarily through exploration rather than exposition. It relies on you as the player to peek behind every door, to read every propaganda sign, to listen to every song played on the radio; in short, to stop and smell the roses. No pixel, no background whisper, is wasted in immersing the player completely. Irrational Games has succeeded in constructing an immensely complex and detailed alternate reality. Columbia is a living, breathing Norman Rockwell painting, which is endlessly gratifying to uncover.

Below the surface of this idealized America, however, simmers a worker’s rebellion and a vast minority underclass eager to overthrow what they see as the tyranny of robber barons and capitalist exploitation. The main character, Booker DeWitt, inevitably gets drawn into this conflict, as does his companion Elizabeth. As engrossing as this story is, however, it serves merely as a backdrop for a much larger tale told across time, space, death, and reality.

With all this going on around you, it’s sometimes easy to forget that Infinite is still a game. Many games with this much to say give up much to tell it. Rest assured this isn’t the case here. Infinite is every bit the shooter as its predecessor and doesn’t miss a trick.

Many of the gimmicks that made this series a hit return full force. As with the original “BioShock,” you have plasmids, here called vigors, which allow the player to use magic powers to do anything from fling enemies into the air to temporarily force them to fight along side you. These vigors allow for some very interesting options, and how you choose to use them and which ones you’ll upgrade first will drastically alter your play experience.

“Infinite” contains a veritable arsenal of era-authentic weapons, albeit with some tweaks and embellishments to better fit its steampunk aesthetic. For example, the heater gun, which is a sort of short-range grenade launcher that lobs what can best be described as napalm at your foes, covering entire areas in flame.

New to this game is the skyhook, an electromagnetic prosthetic arm that serves as both a tool to traverse the sky-rails and as a rather brutal weapon. Where the original “BioShock” was claustrophobic, Infinite is positively acrophobic, and shooting while whizzing around on the sky-rails might not agree with anyone who gets motion sickness.

Sky-rails are positively everywhere, and you will use them both in combat and as a means to transport yourself from one objective to the next. It’s frightfully simple to hop on and hop off, and hopping off at the right time allows you a free shot at an enemy below, often knocking him to his death. This acrobatic combat couldn’t have been done better technically, and players will have a lot of fun experimenting with its potential.

Last but certainly not least is your companion, Elizabeth. Aside from being the singular plot hook in the story, Elizabeth is a respectable comrade at arms. While you run from objective to objective, Elizabeth will run around picking up all the things you missed and tossing them to you just when you need them. In the thick of combat, just when you think you’re done for, you’ll hear your companion’s cry from behind you and the game will sort of pause, ever so briefly, while she tosses you health packs, ammo, etc. Each time this happens is exhilarating and, like everything else in Infinite, flows seamlessly with the rest of the game.

Without giving too much away, Elizabeth also has the ability to open tears in the fabric of reality itself, creating windows into alternate dimensions. While this is, of course, central to the plot, in combat it can allow you to bring in cover or a sky-rail or even an ally into the fray. This small gimmick adds inestimable depth of play, allowing you to tailor the environment itself to your preferred play style.

Which is not surprising for this game. Nearly every aspect of the gameplay is customizable. Each of the vigors and every weapon have multiple enhancements for you to choose from. Assuming you search every nook and cranny you will also find power-up vials which force you to choose between increasing your health, salts (mana) or shields. There are even items of clothing that give you situational bonuses or abilities. A favorite of mine was one that allowed me to re-search empty containers to try to find something more useful.

For a game about choice though, Infinite deprives you of any meaningful ones. The plot is hopelessly linear and completely on rails. Combat, while incredibly fun, often feels like a barrier between  you and the plot, which is meted out like proverbial crumbs to show you the way. There is no map-there’s no need of one-you simply move from one objective to the next. If you get lost, simply press a button and the computer will show you the right path.

Likewise, there is no morality system like in “Infamous of Fable,” and the decisions you do make are purely your own to live with. Let an enemy go and he may come back with reinforcements; kill him in cold blood and Elizabeth might look at you in disgust. It’s a much subtler and, for this player, more effective way to show the consequences of the player’s actions. This can almost be explained away by the fact that, unlike most games of this type, where you’re silent or faceless, Booker DeWitt is a well-defined character in Infinite’s mythology. Hearing words he speaks and seeing actions he performs, out of his own eyes, is a remarkably schizophrenic feeling.

At the end of the day, though, these are minor complaints. The only genuine complaint that can be levied against it is that it’s far too short. If you don’t rush and you breathe in everything Infinite has to offer, it will give you maybe 14 hours of solid gameplay. There are multiple difficulty modes, including a super-hardcore “1999” mode in which it is possible to plan so poorly as to require a restart of the entire game, though I suspect most players will stop when the story does. In short, this is the perfect weekend rental.

“BioShock: Infinite” is an experience without equal that will undoubtedly be spoken of as a high-water mark in the medium for years to come. It draws you in with a story unequaled in the medium and propels you along with addictive and customizable combat. Both these things will prevent you from putting it down until you finish and, without spoiling it, the ending will leave you gobsmacked.