Title: inFAMOUS
Developer/Publisher: Sucker Punch/ Sony Computer Entertainment
Platform: Playstation 3
Release Date: 05/26/09
Number of Players: Single Player
Straying away from the popular Sly Cooper series, Sucker Punch has taken a stab at a new style of game. InFAMOUS has taken everything superhero fans know about an open world game, and improved every facet of it in order to create one of the best PS3 games to be released thus far. Comic book fans and action gamers alike will be immersed in the highly stylized and free mechanics of the game within minutes of picking it up.
The game picks up putting you in the shoes of Cole McGrath—your everyday bike messenger—at least until he was the center of a powerful explosion in Empire City. A huge chunk of the city was leveled, along with thousands of casualties recorded. Now, Empire City is filled with citizens stricken with fear, the streets are run by the local gangs, and it appears as though the government is neglecting the newly quarantined city. Cole awakes from a coma a few days after the explosion to find that he has a newfound ability to manipulate electricity, and must use his powers to bring order to a city gone wild. With help from his best friend, and love interest, it’s up to Cole to decide the outcome of Empire City. The story is pieced together in the way a typical comic book is, with Cole struggling to find the bomber, and making choices about how to go about using his powers. InFAMOUS constantly keeps things interesting using drawn stylish cutscenes to depict major points in the plot, along with a memorable and appealing cast of characters. The story is completely decided from then on by the player’s decisions in the game, many being extremely different sides of the moral spectrum.
Controlling Cole is much simpler than I anticipated upon picking up the game. Cole can basically climb up anything in the city (except his one weakness, the chain link fence!), and he does so with great ease. There are so many different ways to get around the city that it doesn’t feel like a chore to run across the town, and can be done fairly quickly. As well as this, the electricity powers come in a large variety, and are always fun to play around with. InFAMOUS plays like a third person shooter, with an over the shoulder view in order to aim attacks, and using various buttons around the controller for different attacks, with the main lightning bolt assigned to the trigger buttons, and other attacks coming from the controller face buttons. The game can be beaten by barely using any of the special powers aside from the standard lightning shock, but they add a nice variety and make the game easier. It allows a problem to be attacked at several different angles, which always is great to have in a game.
The powers vary anywhere from a shock based grenade to a hovering ability, and each power can be used for certain situations to take out specific enemies with a greater ease. The powers however tap into a sort of electrical energy reserve, as depicted in a bar at the top of the screen. Cole constantly needs to recharge his electricity—almost like a battery—in order to continue using special attacks, and at times in order to recover health more quickly. Using Cole’s powers, experience is gained whenever enemies are defeated, and bonus experience awarded for using stunts (stylized attacks). Enemies are generally scattered around the city almost anywhere you can think of, but slowly start becoming scarcer as missions are completed. There are three major gangs in the game, each with different types of enemies, and all three containing a different type of Conduit that gained a special power during the explosion. When enough experience is gained, powers can be upgraded from their basic forms to more advanced versions with further benefits. As well as this, each set of upgrades generally has different forms whether picking the good or evil side. The game is paced well, with several powers earned early on, and more advanced and powerful attacks coming into the game later.
InFAMOUS works in a mission based manner, with main story missions appearing one after the other, and several side mission scattered around the different parts of the city. The missions come in a great variety and don’t ever get bland. The main story missions tend to take a lot longer than the side missions, however and usually involve more of the moral decisions that affect your “karma”. The “karma” meter determines whether Cole is taking the good or evil approach to the game, and when one of these major decisions arises, the game freezes and Cole immediately provides some inner thoughts on a good or evil way to deal with the situation. The game is best played taking the completely evil or completely good route, which is cool but at the same time only allow for the game to follow two general styles of play. However, the game is also best played through twice in order to fully get the infamous experience.
InFAMOUS does come with some flaws however, and while they aren’t deal breakers, they can be an annoyance to some gamers. The most notable aspect that can be seen is that enemies seem to be too good at aiming and shooting their weapons. They hardly miss in the game, unless there is a clear obstruction between you and their point of view. As well as this, while the mission system works out pretty well—and there being specialized side missions depending on whether you choose the good or evil side—the game has several side missions that are very short and almost serve no purpose. As well as this, there is no real “free” way to play the game, taking both good and evil actions. If you decide not to pick a side, your character becomes seriously weakened compared to the one sided counterparts. There are nowhere near as many neutral ability upgrades as there are specialized ones. At times the game can get somewhat glitchy, with Cole sometimes frame jumping, and going through walls. Finally, the game sports no load times, but can lag and show some texture reduction when Cole is moving at high speeds (namely while he is using his electricity to ride the rails).
Graphically, inFAMOUS isn’t anything spectacular, but it is a good looking game. Buildings are pretty detailed, and the game is filled with memorable landmarks so the structures aren’t all too similar looking. The electrical powers look gorgeous, especially in High-Definition, so it’s definitely not a strain on the eyes to play the game. The best looking parts in the game are when major points in the plot are being addressed, and the cutscenes go into a comic book, hand drawn style. Mostly these scenes are depicted in a still frame view, with a picture being shown with minimal motion, and Cole giving his perspective on the situation. These scenes make the game very memorable and appealing, and never cease to interest the player.
It seems as though the music played during the major plot points is the most memorable out of all the music, as it isn’t anything spectacular (albeit, the song in the closing credits is pretty sweet). While it’s always nice to have a great memorable soundtrack, inFAMOUS doesn’t really need it, as the sounds of the city are much more important. The player will constantly have to be listening out for reports on TV against you, or listening out for screams of people who may need help. Gamers should just be happy there isn’t an annoying soundtrack along with the game, and the sounds of the city are fantastic.
InFAMOUS is the kind of game that never gets bland or boring through the first couple of minutes. From the second you press the start button at the opening title screen, to the final moments of the credits, Sucker Punch did a fantastic, high quality job making sure this game was a great gaming experience. In a world where moral decisions create a larger impact on the world around him, Cole must make hard decisions in order to shape this gaming experience. While the game must be played at least twice to get the full experience, there are so many missions to do around the city to keep gamers coming back to play inFamous multiple times. The open world action-adventure game does not fail to create an engaging experience with a fantastic style, memorable/relatable character, and a real comic book feel. The game is definitely worth a purchase, and easily one of the best games to be released so far on the PS3.
The Review
Story:
InFAMOUS brings a good plot to the table, creating a scenario that could easily be put into a comic book. It brings in a cast of characters with unique back stories, and the story is told in a compelling manner through Cole’s inner thoughts. Hearing what Cole’s perspective is on the situations, and how that progresses as the game goes really keeps the gamer on edge wanting to find out more.
Gameplay:
There are sixteen powers to play around with, along with plenty of upgrades, and fluid controls. It never gets boring to mess around with Cole’s powers, and it’s simple to maneuver around the city. Plenty of missions to play throughout the game, and not many of them are boring. Players will find themselves wanting to play through the game at least twice, if not more to try to find everything in the game.
Sound/Music:
The musical score is actually pretty forgettable, seeing as I don’t remember much about it after recently going through the game. However, the sounds of the city are really great, and it feels just like being in a big city, hearing chatter and constant noise around.
Graphics:
The graphics are nothing to scream about, and don’t even come close to some high end PS3 games (ex. Metal Gear Solid 4), but they aren’t bad looking. Lightning effects are fantastic, and the stylish look of the major cutscenes will make hand drawn fans drool.
The Good:
Really fun gameplay, and a compelling story. The learning curve is fairly easy, and the game doesn’t get too frustrating or complicated. Powers are fun to play around with, and combat is fun. The style of the game is great, and being the comic book nerd I am, I couldn’t get enough of the cutscenes.
The Bad:
The game can have some minor glitches here and there, as well as some lag during really fast movement. Graphics aren’t anything amazing, and enemies tend to be sharpshooters. It’s tough at times to evade enemy attacks, even from extremely long distances. In order to reap the full benefits of the game you must go completely “good” or “evil”.
The Ugly:
Nothing to see here
Final Score: 4/5
What Others Thought:
TestFreaks: 7.5/10
MetaCritic: 84/100
GameRankings: 86.29%
Tags: InFAMOUS, Playstation 3, Review, Sucker Punch
