InFamous (Good) Review
Wow. I really am impressed by how much I enjoyed this game. Then again its a game that lists no less than 5 coffee shops in its credits under "Special thanks". And while the credits are rolling and I'm starting to write this review, I have to pause to watch because the visuals of the credits, and the song playing hold my attention.
InFamous is a PS3 exclusive game where in you play a character named Cole. Cole awakens to find himself at the center of some kind of crater that has taken our a huge portion of Empire City. And that starts a rather fast rollercoaster ride worthy of any comic book. In fact I'd be willing to read the comic book this game more or less describes. Cole learns that he has super powers. He is inhumane strong and durable, and has control over electricity. While he is recuperating and growing his powers, Empire city falls into shambles. The US declares it an infected zone and quarantines it from the rest of the nation, in order to cover up the disaster. But then they stop (for reasons that slowly get revealed), leaving lawlessness and gangs to take control of the city.
Its about this point that you, the player, get to make the decision. Will you save the city as a bastion of electric light, or will you rule it under your electric fist? As the game proceeds you unlike powers and events which let you decide to do acts of good or evil. What side you ultimately pick changes the story line just a little either way, and also has an effect upon what powers you can lock and unlock. Only one particular track of powers is completely locked by being good or evil, but almost every attack power as enhancements you can add based upon your alignment. The alignment has six status (7 if you count unaligned which there isn't really). Good has Hero, Champion, and something else. Evil has Brute... and I'm not sure what else. Sorry. :)
The game play is open world based. You start in one small section of the city, ruled by gangs, and are given a map that shows mission points. Mission points come in three/four flavors 1) Blue - Story missions which progress the story. 2) Yellow - Side Missions which generally reclaim parts of the city from the gangs, making it safer for you to travel and 3) Yellow Border Red/Blue filling - These are side missions which, if you under stand, help dramatically shift your alignment. This missions also count towards unlocking enhancements for your alignment's special power. Their are a limited number of these sadly so you won't be finishing all of them quickly to get super powered up. Some missions only become available after story missions are finished.
Speaking of story, this one has a fair amount of it. Story is explained in a multitude of ways which I find freshing. The first off is the cut-scene, done in semi-animated comic style, self-narrated by Cole himself. This generally helps us define his character or push time along quickly if we're going to have him go sleep, or just have some kind of time pass. Secondly is through character dialog. Cole is kinda an antisocial guy for the most part. He doesn't like talking face to face, but he does keep a fancy cellphone on him at all times which has two-way talk. So everybody in the game has Cole's number and loves to talk to him. There are one or two exceptions to this rule, people who decide to talk to Cole using psychic powers. But they're all badguys so they don't count. This kind of exposition usually is paired with a story mission and is the main exposition. It actually makes for a nice smooth way to tell a story since I can be running around the city or actually doing a mission, listening to Cole's best friend Zeke talk about how he wants me to help out this girl cause he wants to score with her. Good times.
Another story mechanic is paired with a collection quest for 'dead drops'. One side character, 'John', is a spy in the organization that caused this entire giant bomb mess which gives you your powers. He uses small satellite dishes to leave messages with his employers (who may or may not be good guys). You have a sonar like power that lets you home in on these satellites if you like so its less of a grueling process than most collection quests, plus the game informs you when you've cleaned out all of the dead drops in an area, and how many there are in the entire game. Through this you learn another side of the story. The final story avenue presented to you is television. How very meta, no? There are televisions on the roof in Empire City (because it never rains there apparently) and while most of Empire city has no electricity unless Cole takes his time to go running around the sewers turning on generators (which he does whenever he can cause 1) He gets dizzy when there isn't a lot of power around and 2) Each time he does, he gets a fancy new power), when they do have it, mostly all they get is commericals or news. Poor Empire City.
News, however, is always interesting. One particular female reporter likes to appear and tells us what our government is doing to help the poor city of Empire City, which is generally a lot more than what we see them doing. They take credit for your good (or bad) deeds, they claim everything is honkey dory, etc. It does not paint the US Govnt in a very good light. But what does? The other news show that likes to come on is actually a pirate broadcast by a guy that reminds me kinda of a skinny Ice-T. He likes to pirate the airwaves to tell people the truth, give out survival advice, and generally bad mouth Cole. Which makes for a humorous backdrop as Cole grumbles about this guy calling him a monster.
So those are the story mechanics. What about game play? Game play of this game is solid. Its a 3rd person open-world shooter with RPG upgrade elements and mission style game play. Is suffers from the usual camera issues, although not as much if you're a control freak like me. Like Assassin's Creed, your character is the most badass free-runner ever. Even more so since the first trick you do is jump off a 5 story building and land without getting hurt (ostensibly because you're super powered). So you're actually expected to get around the world by climbing up buildings and running roof top to roof top. Which is good because you're never allowed inside a building ever. There are power cables and lattices built for all of this, but unlike Mirror's Edge they don't look like they were placed there just for your convince. The entire city has a kind of retro vibe when it comes to technology. Like they're still kind of stuck in the late 70s but have all the nice tech of the 90s.
A lot of your powers you unlock deal with the ability to get around the city faster. Nothing so cliche as teleporting or flying, although your enemies do, on occasional, develop these abilities. No you learn how to electric glide on power lines or train rails. Which is way cooler and lot more fun than it sounds. Plus efficient in terms of getting around the city. Another alternate mode you gain in terms of movement is a gliding feature that allows you to descend more slower when jumping from building to building, which saves a significant amount of climbing time.
Your attack powers are all electricity themed. Your basic attack which uses none of your energy is an electric stream you aim and fire. It is actually a very precise weapon, which means it is easy to miss with. But you can just about rapid fire it if you're used to using the trigger buttons. Head shots count kiddies! Other energy weapons you unlock include grenades (my favorite when upgrades), a jump and fall down creating a shock-wave attack which come in handy on occasion and is a fun way to jump down quickly, a wind burst/shock wave attack that blows people off their feat (my favorite without upgrades), and a powerful semi-homing ball of energy. You also gain special attacks that are activated differently, such as a sniper electric shot, and the ability to call down giant lightening storms as your final ultimate power. Man that one is bad ass. You gain one defensive power late int he game, which you wish you had from the very start, which is a one-way shield that does its job about 80% of the time.
All your powers save your basic attack and defense power cost energy. So if you run out of energy what do you do? Oh you suck it out of the nearest electrical thing. Or if you're evil, you suck it out of people! Muhahaha. Note the title of the post says (Good) Review, that means I have yet to play evil. But I definitely plan too! Gana kill 'em all! There is also a collection quest which involves gathering shards that emanated from the blast. Collect enough and it grants you some more stored energy. You also have health, which isn't measured by a meter but instead by vein lines on the side of your screen, then your screen growing gray if you're really hurt. Thankfully sucking on some juice (electricity) clears that right up!
Overall the game play is solid. Some of the missions are a little mean and unfair unless you take them cautiously. You really do get a feel for how much you can take one. Dying isn't too penalizing. You end up waking up in a nearby clinic (if you did the side mission which creates the clinic) or the closets one to you anyway, and get to go back and try again. Most story missions have unknown checkpoints so that if you die some part of the way through, you don't have to do it /all/ over again. This includes boss fights, which I was very grateful of. There are minor things to nitpick about the game but I don't really feel like trying to, mostly cause its late and I enjoyed the game.
Also I really liked the twist ending. I've heard others mention that they should have guessed it, so it made me seriously curious. I wasn't able to guess it until the end either. I'm curious how differen the game is now when I play evil.
However that won't be for awhile. I'm going to be playing Scribblenauts, finishing Chrono Trigger DS, and either Starting Prototype or Arkham Asylum before I revisit InFamous. Hopefully I'll play it again before the seque however!
InFamous is recommended by Nojh.
InFamous is a PS3 exclusive game where in you play a character named Cole. Cole awakens to find himself at the center of some kind of crater that has taken our a huge portion of Empire City. And that starts a rather fast rollercoaster ride worthy of any comic book. In fact I'd be willing to read the comic book this game more or less describes. Cole learns that he has super powers. He is inhumane strong and durable, and has control over electricity. While he is recuperating and growing his powers, Empire city falls into shambles. The US declares it an infected zone and quarantines it from the rest of the nation, in order to cover up the disaster. But then they stop (for reasons that slowly get revealed), leaving lawlessness and gangs to take control of the city.
Its about this point that you, the player, get to make the decision. Will you save the city as a bastion of electric light, or will you rule it under your electric fist? As the game proceeds you unlike powers and events which let you decide to do acts of good or evil. What side you ultimately pick changes the story line just a little either way, and also has an effect upon what powers you can lock and unlock. Only one particular track of powers is completely locked by being good or evil, but almost every attack power as enhancements you can add based upon your alignment. The alignment has six status (7 if you count unaligned which there isn't really). Good has Hero, Champion, and something else. Evil has Brute... and I'm not sure what else. Sorry. :)
The game play is open world based. You start in one small section of the city, ruled by gangs, and are given a map that shows mission points. Mission points come in three/four flavors 1) Blue - Story missions which progress the story. 2) Yellow - Side Missions which generally reclaim parts of the city from the gangs, making it safer for you to travel and 3) Yellow Border Red/Blue filling - These are side missions which, if you under stand, help dramatically shift your alignment. This missions also count towards unlocking enhancements for your alignment's special power. Their are a limited number of these sadly so you won't be finishing all of them quickly to get super powered up. Some missions only become available after story missions are finished.
Speaking of story, this one has a fair amount of it. Story is explained in a multitude of ways which I find freshing. The first off is the cut-scene, done in semi-animated comic style, self-narrated by Cole himself. This generally helps us define his character or push time along quickly if we're going to have him go sleep, or just have some kind of time pass. Secondly is through character dialog. Cole is kinda an antisocial guy for the most part. He doesn't like talking face to face, but he does keep a fancy cellphone on him at all times which has two-way talk. So everybody in the game has Cole's number and loves to talk to him. There are one or two exceptions to this rule, people who decide to talk to Cole using psychic powers. But they're all badguys so they don't count. This kind of exposition usually is paired with a story mission and is the main exposition. It actually makes for a nice smooth way to tell a story since I can be running around the city or actually doing a mission, listening to Cole's best friend Zeke talk about how he wants me to help out this girl cause he wants to score with her. Good times.
Another story mechanic is paired with a collection quest for 'dead drops'. One side character, 'John', is a spy in the organization that caused this entire giant bomb mess which gives you your powers. He uses small satellite dishes to leave messages with his employers (who may or may not be good guys). You have a sonar like power that lets you home in on these satellites if you like so its less of a grueling process than most collection quests, plus the game informs you when you've cleaned out all of the dead drops in an area, and how many there are in the entire game. Through this you learn another side of the story. The final story avenue presented to you is television. How very meta, no? There are televisions on the roof in Empire City (because it never rains there apparently) and while most of Empire city has no electricity unless Cole takes his time to go running around the sewers turning on generators (which he does whenever he can cause 1) He gets dizzy when there isn't a lot of power around and 2) Each time he does, he gets a fancy new power), when they do have it, mostly all they get is commericals or news. Poor Empire City.
News, however, is always interesting. One particular female reporter likes to appear and tells us what our government is doing to help the poor city of Empire City, which is generally a lot more than what we see them doing. They take credit for your good (or bad) deeds, they claim everything is honkey dory, etc. It does not paint the US Govnt in a very good light. But what does? The other news show that likes to come on is actually a pirate broadcast by a guy that reminds me kinda of a skinny Ice-T. He likes to pirate the airwaves to tell people the truth, give out survival advice, and generally bad mouth Cole. Which makes for a humorous backdrop as Cole grumbles about this guy calling him a monster.
So those are the story mechanics. What about game play? Game play of this game is solid. Its a 3rd person open-world shooter with RPG upgrade elements and mission style game play. Is suffers from the usual camera issues, although not as much if you're a control freak like me. Like Assassin's Creed, your character is the most badass free-runner ever. Even more so since the first trick you do is jump off a 5 story building and land without getting hurt (ostensibly because you're super powered). So you're actually expected to get around the world by climbing up buildings and running roof top to roof top. Which is good because you're never allowed inside a building ever. There are power cables and lattices built for all of this, but unlike Mirror's Edge they don't look like they were placed there just for your convince. The entire city has a kind of retro vibe when it comes to technology. Like they're still kind of stuck in the late 70s but have all the nice tech of the 90s.
A lot of your powers you unlock deal with the ability to get around the city faster. Nothing so cliche as teleporting or flying, although your enemies do, on occasional, develop these abilities. No you learn how to electric glide on power lines or train rails. Which is way cooler and lot more fun than it sounds. Plus efficient in terms of getting around the city. Another alternate mode you gain in terms of movement is a gliding feature that allows you to descend more slower when jumping from building to building, which saves a significant amount of climbing time.
Your attack powers are all electricity themed. Your basic attack which uses none of your energy is an electric stream you aim and fire. It is actually a very precise weapon, which means it is easy to miss with. But you can just about rapid fire it if you're used to using the trigger buttons. Head shots count kiddies! Other energy weapons you unlock include grenades (my favorite when upgrades), a jump and fall down creating a shock-wave attack which come in handy on occasion and is a fun way to jump down quickly, a wind burst/shock wave attack that blows people off their feat (my favorite without upgrades), and a powerful semi-homing ball of energy. You also gain special attacks that are activated differently, such as a sniper electric shot, and the ability to call down giant lightening storms as your final ultimate power. Man that one is bad ass. You gain one defensive power late int he game, which you wish you had from the very start, which is a one-way shield that does its job about 80% of the time.
All your powers save your basic attack and defense power cost energy. So if you run out of energy what do you do? Oh you suck it out of the nearest electrical thing. Or if you're evil, you suck it out of people! Muhahaha. Note the title of the post says (Good) Review, that means I have yet to play evil. But I definitely plan too! Gana kill 'em all! There is also a collection quest which involves gathering shards that emanated from the blast. Collect enough and it grants you some more stored energy. You also have health, which isn't measured by a meter but instead by vein lines on the side of your screen, then your screen growing gray if you're really hurt. Thankfully sucking on some juice (electricity) clears that right up!
Overall the game play is solid. Some of the missions are a little mean and unfair unless you take them cautiously. You really do get a feel for how much you can take one. Dying isn't too penalizing. You end up waking up in a nearby clinic (if you did the side mission which creates the clinic) or the closets one to you anyway, and get to go back and try again. Most story missions have unknown checkpoints so that if you die some part of the way through, you don't have to do it /all/ over again. This includes boss fights, which I was very grateful of. There are minor things to nitpick about the game but I don't really feel like trying to, mostly cause its late and I enjoyed the game.
Also I really liked the twist ending. I've heard others mention that they should have guessed it, so it made me seriously curious. I wasn't able to guess it until the end either. I'm curious how differen the game is now when I play evil.
However that won't be for awhile. I'm going to be playing Scribblenauts, finishing Chrono Trigger DS, and either Starting Prototype or Arkham Asylum before I revisit InFamous. Hopefully I'll play it again before the seque however!
InFamous is recommended by Nojh.