Review – Infamous 2

Action/Sandbox

A polished performer that makes umpteen things clean?

Colin

It seems that over the past decade the world of media has been more and more fascinated with the comic book genre. We have had our superhero movies and TV shows with powers but oddly not nearly enough videogames (or great ones for that matter). Perhaps due to the fact that the very essence of even the most “normal” video game character is extraordinary, every level you face the bizarre, the impossible and the just plain absurd, and that’s just from the latest CoD.

Don't bring a fork thing to a shotgun fight.

When a team does actually go out there to create an original power-based IP, I can’t really think of a better example than the first Infamous. Quick recap: bike messenger is hired to carry a package which explodes, killing many, ruining Empire City and giving him sweet electricity-based powers. Moral choices are made, heal people or drain the juice from them. Powers evolve and the city either respects or fears you. Final showdown with Kessler (the guy who caused all this) reveals that all the damage he caused was for the greater good, to prepare you for something even worse coming: The Beast.

The second game picks up shortly after the first, you tangle with The Beast and promptly get your ass handed to you (and rather conveniently he steals some of your powers you spent the whole first game building up! – grrrrrrr, lazy devs!) so you up-sticks and run to New Marais to find some new powers to prepare yourself for round two.

Some firey shit coming out of a bloke. Fuck, I don't know.

All in all the game is much the same as the first and you’ve got many different ways to play, the story is really good and essential for reclaiming and harnessing new powers. Meeting new people with powers, uncovering the secrets of New Marais and even the in-game news broadcasts (with real actors no less) reporting on The Beast’s path of destruction down the East coast of America all add to the enjoyable experience and will keep you playing to find out more. You can take some time to shoot down carrier pigeons for audio logs and extra back story – much more enjoyable than the dead drops of the first game and they do really well to enhance the story. The optional side missions will help you to reclaim territory in the city from the bad guys and more importantly unlock a few new passive abilities to boot, and the free running and climbing will help you find blast shards all over the city to boost your electrical capacity.

Matthew Secondary Review I was pretty disappointed with Infamous. It was on the verge of being great, but just didn’t feel quite there yet. Did developers Sucker Punch push it that bit further to fix the problems and irritations from the first game? For the most part, thankfully they have. One of the main complaints I had with the first game was the fact that all of Cole’s superpowers just felt like pistol, shotgun, rocket launcher etc. replacements. This time the electrical powers are shaken up a little more with the addition of ice and fire powers with each being dependant on what path you take throughout the game and who you side with. The new mobility powers such as the ice launch which causes a pillar of ice to grow out of the ground and catapult you in the air help break up the tedium of scaling buildings via the normal climbing method. Another plus is that you no longer have to go through the tedium of the sewer sections in order to return electricity to parts of the city to be rewarded with new powers, instead you are rewarded at the end of quest chains. The eagle-eyed enemies who can shoot you square in the face from the other side of the city are as annoying as ever and at times if feels that either they have too much health, or your powers do to little damage – probably a combination of both. The introduction of a third faction of foes later on in the game makes fighting more interesting when there’s basically three groups fighting each other, and even more so when one of those factions has super powers similar to your own. The new setting, characters, powers and soundtrack (despite the absensce of Amon Tobin) make for a worthy sequel, but one that doesn’t do enough to elevate it to the next level Secondary Score: 7/10

Powers now come in ice or fire flavours, depending on your choices in game and as such you can’t have both, however there are now different variations for the individual powers you had in the first game, take the basic zap electric blast, as you play through the story you unlock new variations to purchase with xp which range from a three-way bolt, a long range bolt, a slow firing magnum bolt or the rapid firing bolt. Most of the powers have different variations which really enhance the way you decide to dish out the damage and are very easily accessed with a very nifty and extremely useful in-game pop up menu. Although at least half of the basic powers (shock, rocket, blast, grenade) were in the first game, this tweak on the idea is an excellent addition and gives the illusion of much more powers than there actually are and the new super-ionic powers (usable once you collect special orbs dropped by random bad dudes) are excellent at turning the tide of battle and much more useful than the super-dooper power you acquired in the first game. The new melee ‘Amp’ weapon also allows you to kick things up a notch and make it more enjoyable to get up close and personal than before.

There’s also a new feature where you can create your own missions which seamlessly pop up in other’s games, it’s relatively easy to use but unless you have the creative spark you’re not going to really want to. From what I saw while playing I wasn’t really wowed by this User Generated Content  from the other users or even the levels the devs made themselves, it in no way detracts from the main game and it gives you more content once the game has been completed.

A few negatives come in the form of the audio, at times the levels seem as screwy as the Alien3: Special Edition DVD and at other times sound is oddly absent. When it works the music sets the tone beautifully but it’s a little ominous when you can’t really hear anything and there’s not much ambient street noise. The difficulty is as erratic as before, at times it’s easier to kill a 50 foot behemoth compared to when you try to stop a mugging and get bummed. Checkpoints are very liberally scattered around but one really has to question the logic of the difficulty, perhaps it’s to show the frailty for the character but once you learn not to run in guns blazing at all times you will stop from getting shot in the face. Enemies don’t quite seem as unique as in the first game, gone are the giant scrap behemoths and big ghostly looking guys and in come swamp monsters and ice dudes, the character design is very good but they just don’t stand out as much as before.

Infamous 2 is an excellent game that allowed me to once again dust off my PS3. Like most sequels, the changes aren’t earth shattering but frankly the whole experience was a joy from start to finish. Combat, story, progression, exploration, characters that you actually like and some choices that will make you think will keep you playing to see what’s around the next corner and much like the last game there’s a fantastic ending to it all. Even if a new game in the series stays true to the formula of Infamous like this has, it will still be one helluva ride.

Rating: 9/10