On Tuesday, the first piece of downloadable content for BioShock Infinite was released. Dubbed 'Clash in the Clouds', this DLC release was somewhat of a let-down for players anxiously awaiting any story-driven DLC, but nonetheless it's finally something to keep players busy until that next piece, called 'Burial At Sea,' arrives later this year.
Rather than continuing the stories of Booker Dewitt and Elizabeth, this combat-driven content instead offers four maps, including The OPS Zeal and Raven's Dome. In each of these maps, players will be tasked with eliminating 15 brutalizing waves of enemies that can range from regular soldiers, to heavy-hitters like Firemen and Handymen. On each map, there are skylines, tears, and freight hooks at your disposal to plan your attacks and eliminate with as you please. After completing each wave, you're sent back to stock up on ammo, infusions, gears, weapon and vigor load-outs for the next battle.
Though you can take out each enemy wave to your liking, each wave gives you a Blue Ribbon Challenge to shoot for. Though these are not required to complete the waves, they do give each wave a considerable challenge. Some challenges are as easy as taking each Soldier out with only Skyline Attacks or Shotgun blasts, while later challenges have you doing trickier stuff like taking all enemies out while only taking shield damage, or only using vigors to destroy motorized patriots and Handymen.
You earn money in each wave that you can use in any which way you want. You are allowed to upgrade vigors and weapons with your cash, which is absolutely necessary if you plan on finishing each map and earning every Blue Ribbon for Clash in the Clouds. You may also choose to hang onto your money, which leads me into a cool aspect of the DLC; the museum portion.
See, the entirety of Clash in the Clouds has the Columbian Archeological Society as your starting point. From here, you can start on one of the maps, or you can go visit the museum. If you so choose, you may spend your money here unlocking new exhibits. These exhibits consist of character models, concept art, unused Kinetoscopes, record players, and even your very own Songbird that hangs overhead. As you unlock more exhibits, citizens of Columbia will stop in to check it out. I find this portion of the experience to be very interesting, because it gives the player reason to keep fighting.
There are a couple things players should take note of before downloading this content, though. First of all, because of the steady-but-quick difficulty progression, some players might lose their patience with the Blue Ribbon challenges. Also, I should probably warn players NOT to stop playing between waves of enemies; if you decide to exit after, for example, wave 10 of 15, that's it. If you go back expecting to start up at Wave 11, you'll be sorely disappointed. All it saves is your earned cash and whatever Blue Ribbons you may have earned.
Clash in the Clouds is a fun way to pass the time though, at least until Burial At Sea arrives. So far, I say it's worth the asking price. If you don't have a Season Pass yet, this is good enough of a reason to get one.
Clash in the Clouds is available on Xbox Live, PlayStation Network and PC for $4.99 or 400 Microsoft Points.