I Tawt I Taw a Booker Dewitt

So, lets have a chat about Songbird. Before I go any further, I must quickly say:

Yeah, if the big arse picture didn't give it away, Songbird is a major character in Bioshock: Infinite, so there will be some definite major spoilers!

Elizabeth and Songbird have a... complicated relationship

Songbird is Elizabeth's guardian and gatekeeper, he fills a very interesting role that speaks very highly to the theory of Stockholm syndrome. Both protector and imprisoner. We first encounter him (I'm assuming Songbird is a him) as we first encounter Elizabeth, at the top of a large tower, where he immediately start trying to kill us. A fairly standard layout for a game character, especially an enemy, however that is where the similarity ends. Elizabeth and Songbird have a complicated relationship, both protector and jailor at the same time, Elizabeth starts off with songbird as her only friend, bringing her books, pictures, films, etc. Eventually, Elizabeth starts to hate Songbird, simply because of his position as her jailor. This complicated relationship is felt throughout the game, and sets the tone for your encounters with Songbird.

Eventually the inevitable happens, and Songbird ambushes Booker and Elizabeth, stealing her away to be taken back, kicking and screaming, like a stereotypical comic book damsel in distress. Story wise, there's not much you can do to get Elizabeth back, and mechanics wise, there's nothing you can do, as Songbird mostly appears in cut scenes.


The Death of a Songbird, a particularly emotional scene

Of course eventually you do get Elizabeth back and the story does progress, leading to the point where you gain control of songbird, I shant say when or why though, some spoilers you'll have to work out for yourselves. It’s very difficult to describe what happens next without giving away most of the plot. After many a cut scene you find yourself facing Songbird's death, a particularly stirring scenelet, which sums up this game perfectly. 

Another cool mechanic that I quite enjoy is the Songbird Defence system. Golden statues of the prophet, rather reminiscent of the mechanical patriots (except with rather less miniguns). If disturbed by Booker or Elizabeth, they emit a high pitched whistling tune, which players of the game will come to fear and dread, as it almost always bring a rather angry Songbird down on you.



Songbird Defence System statue, rather creepy and
egotistic, don't you think?

 If I had to draw a parallel to the other Bioshock games, I'd say that Songbird is very much like the Big Daddies of the previous games. However, there are many Big Daddies, and only one Songbird, allowing us to delve much deeper into the story of the creature.

I seriously recommend that you go and get Bioshock Infinity, as it's an excellent game, and Songbird is only one, very small (if particularly tear provoking) part. Lastly, I'll leave a YouTube link to the songbird call song at the bottom of the page, so you can listen to that damn creepy tune as much as you like.
 
So what do you guys and gals think? Songbird, Sorrowful Loss or Songbird, Beat up old monster?
Share your opinion in the comments!

Matt.