[PS3] inFAMOUS Review

[AgtFox]

inFAMOUS Review

Title: inFAMOUS
Platform: PS3
Developer: Sucker Punch
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment America
ESRB: Teen
MSRP: $59.99
Editor: Loren 'AgtFox' Halek

What's Hot: The powers Cole gains as you progress; the pure fun factor and openness to do what you want in this open space; the obsession to complete all side missions along with the main story; the ability to become good or evil depending on your choices; riding the rails and power lines when you get the ability to grind them; the boss fights

What's Not: Graphics have pop-in and slowdown on occasion; the sucking into objects while jumping can work against you at times; the confusion when you don’t get as many good points as you thought; Cole needs some water for his gravely voice

When I first saw inFAMOUS being played on Gamespot’s live E3 floor coverage last year, after being shown off in teaser form the year before by Sony, I wasn’t very impressed. The company that did the fantastic Sly Cooper franchise had created what I perceived as a poor looking open world game with a guy that has the use of lightning for a superpower. Then I heard rumors that the game was of the short variety, clocking in under ten (10) hours. Then there were rumors that the karma system may not be everything it was cracked up to be. With all that I figured inFAMOUS was going to be failure for Sucker Punch, one of Sony’s most important developers. Well, I’m here to tell you that this game, even with the rare problems in graphics with pop-in and slowdown, is one to own if you have a PS3. It may not be quite on the same level as Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune or Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, but it certainly carves out its own place in the open world genre.

inFAMOUS is the story of one Cole McGrath, an everyman who gets hit with a bomb in his hometown Empire City and wakes up with the ability to discharge electricity from his hands. This of course becomes your basic weapon throughout the whole game. With the power of electricity come some obvious caveats. The biggest one is that Cole can’t be in water for too long since he is a living embodiment of electricity. Another one is that Cole cannot carry guns. Then he has the need to resupply his power at all times. By hitting the left analog stick in you can see things that generate electricity in your general area. Then you hold down L2 to refill the amount of battery slots you have. Cole can get energy from cars, light poles, telephone booths, generators, etc. The nice thing is that your normal power of firing off electricity (hold down L1 and fire with R1, you can also switch hands by pressing in the right analog stick…sometimes left and right does make a difference depending on how you are situated). This also holds true for most of the powers you gain as you go around reconnecting the broken power in the three (3) sections of Empire City.

The enemies Cole faces off against are a little interesting because each of the sections of the city has a specific group of enemies. In the first section you fight off the Reapers, basically drug dealers who get the awesome ability to fire a gun like a sharpshooter. Yeah, drugs and being a sharpshooter really doesn’t equate, but the craziness is not as bad as the next group. In the second section you have the Dust Men, basically homeless people who wear outfits of trash bags. The crazy thing here is that there are some side missions where the Dust Men have set up surveillance equipment on someone’s property. Where the heck do homeless people get the money to buy 10+ cameras to put on someone’s property? The third group is the First Sons, supposedly connected to two antagonists in the game, each of which is fighting for control of this secret group. These guys look like your assassin type of soldier, well armed and decked out. However they are unlucky to meet you at your full power.

If you’ve played any of the Sly Cooper games, you will notice similarities in this game on the gameplay level. The sucking into objects while jumping is a useful tool given a lot of the thin areas you have to jump on. However, there is a small percentage of times where the sucking in really works against you. The biggest one is when trying to collect the 350 energy shards that can be used to upgrade the amount of energy cores you have to use your powers from. There will also be times where you want to get away because you are outnumbered and the sucking in mechanism will keep you stuck onto walls and allow you to possibly die. The problem presents itself rarely, but it is important to note. There is another small similarity with Sly Cooper in the fact that Cole’s runner bag has the Raccoon symbol on the lower right corner, a shout out to Sucker Punch’s previous games.

inFAMOUS is an open world game where you can basically choose to do whatever you want. The main story missions are colored blue on the map, side quests are colored yellow and good/evil decision missions are yellow with a blue or red color in the center. There are a total of 15 decision missions and these go a long way to determining whether you are overall good or evil along with karma decisions you have to make along the way. I have a hard time going the evil route in a game. I am inherently good and I like to play my games that way when a moral ambiguousness is present. Every time you choose a side on these missions, the polar opposite mission is closed off. This of course means you can play through the game again and play the other side. I played a little with the evil side and certainly plan on going back through the game as pure evil. I know a lot of people love to play the evil side, but I just don’t understand that.

Much like Assassin’s Creed and even Crackdown before it, Cole can go pretty much anywhere. Although we are never told, Cole is a runner much like Faith was in Mirror’s Edge. He doesn’t have the runner’s vision or anything, but he is somewhat of a parkour artist and is able to climb any surface with a ledge, but for some reason he cannot climb a simple chain link fence. As Penny Arcade noted, it is his kryptonite it seems. Cole cannot die from a fall of any height. You can either do a shockwave pound with the square button or just let him land where he will put a dent in the pavement and roll out of it. Later on in the game you will receive the ability to glide in the air with electricity via the R1 key and it, along with being able to ride the rails and power lines in order to move more quickly (once you gain the power), helps you get to places faster and allows you to traverse the rooftops more easily where not as many enemies are.

This game also allows you to choose your difficulty. After the training area the game will default you to a difficulty, but you can easily go into the pause menu and change it between Easy, Medium and Hard. Hard does make some changes to the game and actually gives you a major penalty if you kill your enemies versus just taking them down. It makes the game more interesting, but if the difficulty seems a bit too high you have the option to change it.

In terms of length, the game can be as short or long as you want. I personally decided I was going to hit every possible thing I could, including all the side missions. I wasn’t so much into collecting all 350 energy shards, but getting a majority of the Dead Drops (satellites that have voice recordings from an important character), freeing most of the zones in the sections and completing most of the various stunts never seemed to get old to me. I can honestly say I don’t remember any open world game that was so fun I would go out of my way to complete it as much as possible. Most of the time I would blow through a game like this and hit only the story missions, but with inFAMOUS I touched pretty much everything.

Is this game for everybody? Probably not. I think a lot of people will be turned off by the electricity power, but until you go through and reconnect circuits in order to gain new powers you really don’t know just how cool Cole’s power actually is. He isn’t as strong as your character in Crackdown and is probably not as strong as Alex Mercer in the upcoming Prototype, but he certainly stands out with the variety of electric attacks at his disposal by the end of the game. I also think a lot of people, even PS3 owners, are waiting to see how Prototype is. They perceive the two games as being somewhat similar, but I think the opposite will hold true. Yes, they’re “superhero” games, but I question how similar they will actually be.

I was totally wrong with my initial impressions of inFAMOUS from E3 last year and the rumors of short length and lame karma system is simply untrue. Although the karma system may not be as plentiful as it could be, it certainly makes a difference between good and evil, along with many of the powers, in the game. It will be tough for Prototype to outdo this game, but I certainly await the challenge in a little over a week. inFAMOUS is a special game that I hope many of you will have fun with, because I certainly did. Now to go back and play as evil Cole, painting the town red with my electricity as I go.

Score: 4.5 out of 5 CoGs


Loren says, “inFAMOUS is a great open world superhero (or supervillain I guess) game that deserves to be played by those that own a Playstation 3. The pure fun I had playing the game was unmatched by games I played lately and it will be tough for Prototype to outdo this game, but it can certainly try.”

[bapenguin]

I don't know, the first 2 hours or so I really enjoyed this - but the more I play the more it's just kind of eh....

Mike says it best on the upcoming Co-Opticast. It takes a lot of things from other open world games, but it doesn't do any of those better than the respective game.

Still, it's really awesome just to climb buildings and run and jump around.

[nnanji]

They do explain why he can't use guns. At the beginning of the game you escort Zeke to pick up a new gun. Along the way he laughs at you for picking up his old gun, and the electricity in your hands cooked off the gunpowder, almost taking off your hand when the gun exploded.

[Iron Past]

Originally Posted by AgtFox

I have a hard time going the evil route in a game. I am inherently good and I like to play my games that way when a moral ambiguousness is present... I know a lot of people love to play the evil side, but I just don’t understand that.

Me too! For some reason it really bothers me if I make 'evil' choices, at least in a first playthrough. I think Fable II was the only game that didn't bother me, probably because of the way you crafted the story.

I agree on the comparisons to Prototype, also. Although I haven't played inFAMOUS and obviously haven't played Prototype, they seem like two very different games, with inFAMOUS looking like the more focused one and Prototype being more akin to Crackdown (or Ultimate Destruction, natch). Could be completely wrong, though.

[Mot Wakorb]

Something to add about this game - if you got tired of the side-quest repetition that existed in Assassin's Creed - this game isn't for you. It's the same damn thing on this game, they just don't change. If you avoid the side-missions, the game ends up being more enjoyable for this fact alone.

[Gorvi]

If I actually had the cash I'd be all over this. The demo plus all the positive impressions I've heard about the game make it hard to resist.

[AgtFox]

Originally Posted by Mot Wakorb

Something to add about this game - if you got tired of the side-quest repetition that existed in Assassin's Creed - this game isn't for you. It's the same damn thing on this game, they just don't change. If you avoid the side-missions, the game ends up being more enjoyable for this fact alone.

Totally disagree here. AC got boring after 4-5 assassinations with stuff you actually had to do in order to start the next assassination, this game I never got bored of the side quests. Maybe the fact it was optional to me in this game was the difference.

[AgtFox]

Originally Posted by nnanji

They do explain why he can't use guns. At the beginning of the game you escort Zeke to pick up a new gun. Along the way he laughs at you for picking up his old gun, and the electricity in your hands cooked off the gunpowder, almost taking off your hand when the gun exploded.

You're right, totally forgot about that after playing this game for so long. Thanks for the catch.

[Wilkz07]

great review. i'm enjoying this game a lot since I got it. I just hit Infamous rank yesterday. I'm not too concerned with getting all the shards on this turn through but I will stop the path I'm following to go pick up any I spot along the way.

The only challenging part I find is the stunts. The one on my pause screen is While in the air hit an enemy with a bolt and then hit the same enemy with a thunder drop. I just can't seem to get both moves in.

The tutorial level put me at Hard Difficulty... i dont' find it that difficult, in some missions you just have to find the best approach or get the height advantage.

[AgtFox]

Originally Posted by bapenguin

I don't know, the first 2 hours or so I really enjoyed this - but the more I play the more it's just kind of eh....

Mike says it best on the upcoming Co-Opticast. It takes a lot of things from other open world games, but it doesn't do any of those better than the respective game.

Still, it's really awesome just to climb buildings and run and jump around.

There was a lull of excitement after the initial couple hours, I'll give you that. However, once you gain extra powers (key ones being the ability to grind the rails/power lines and the glide for me) and start to face off against some of the bigger enemies the game just took off in my experience.

I also don't think you're going to find much unique in open world games, given that they are a heaping genre in this day and age with number of games. I do find the additional powers as you go on quite unique, so inFAMOUS kind of stands out with that. I mean, where else do you have a variety of electricity powers in gaming? And, the last power is truly badass.

[Spigot]

Originally Posted by AgtFox

Totally disagree here. AC got boring after 4-5 assassinations with stuff you actually had to do in order to start the next assassination, this game I never got bored of the side quests. Maybe the fact it was optional to me in this game was the difference.

My sentiments exactly. This is one of the few open world games where the sidequests and optional bits actually felt worth doing. There was repetition, but for the most part the annoyance factor was missing, unlike Assassin's Creed's optional investigations. I also love how the Dead Drops (aka hidden package quests) actually add backstory to the game and flesh out the world a bit more.

I'm currently working my way through the latter sections of the second island and I can see how, if you're not grabbed by the game, it could wear thin after a bit. That said, I'm having a pile of fun with inFamous right now and it is one of the first games that I've played for quite some time that I find myself jonesing for while at work or elsewhere. It is very much the PS3's Crackdown, only with a much stronger narrative. I mean, it's not THAT strong, but it's Tolstoy in comparison to Crackdown's plot.

I also went evil. I NEVER go evil in games that give you a choice, but I had a buddy playing through at the same time and he was already going to be good, so I've decided to give evil a chance. So far, it's very satisfying.

Good review, AgtFox!

[Cyndair]

I always enjoy your reviews, thank you.

I'm really tempted to pick this up. I just need to clear out the backlog a bit first. This will be my motivation to get moving on some of the games that I'm sitting on.

[AgtFox]

Originally Posted by Cyndair

I always enjoy your reviews, thank you.

I'm really tempted to pick this up. I just need to clear out the backlog a bit first. This will be my motivation to get moving on some of the games that I'm sitting on.

Thanks much, last few weeks have been interesting with reviews. Next game will probably be Prototype. I don't think anything else comes out before then that I'll cover.

[agentgray]

I'd rather be a Reaper. They never miss and can fire from 4-5 city blocks away.

This is a game where you cannot really take the enemies head on and almost never in groups. Go around and get to the high ground. I think it's all about stunning.

I, too, am going the good route. However, I did one of the underground conduit missions and got a negative rating. I have no idea what I did to garner that, but anyway. My people love me. The posters show it.

[TheEpicOfTyler]

I think John Davidson from What They Play put it best. "This is not the best PS3 game, but it's the most fun I've had with a PS3 game".

I'm putting on the finishing touches to my Good game (collecting blast shards and maxing out my powers) and then I'm going to go through on Evil and nab my first Platinum trophy. Love this game.

[Virtual Pariah]

I'm about 3 hrs in and I'm not sure I'm having fun yet.
Just completed the Blood Ties mission, but, not getting the immersiveness that I got with Crackdown yet.

I like the Jumping and Climbing, but, am annoyed with the fact that:
1. I can't go into houses. - Weakness of the genre, not the game itself.
2. Can't drive cars.
3. Enemies are very accurate and you are not.
4. Stickies. Character wants to hold on to all ledges and the game will correct for an inaccurate jump, even if I am trying to do something else. IE - Jumping between girders.

I'm not ruling it out, as there is a lot of good here. I'm just not feeling the "warm fuzzies" yet.

[AgtFox]

Originally Posted by Virtual Pariah

I'm about 3 hrs in and I'm not sure I'm having fun yet.
Just completed the Blood Ties mission, but, not getting the immersiveness that I got with Crackdown yet.

I like the Jumping and Climbing, but, am annoyed with the fact that:
1. I can't go into houses. - Weakness of the genre, not the game itself.
2. Can't drive cars.
3. Enemies are very accurate and you are not.
4. Stickies. Character wants to hold on to all ledges and the game will correct for an inaccurate jump, even if I am trying to do something else. IE - Jumping between girders.

I'm not ruling it out, as there is a lot of good here. I'm just not feeling the "warm fuzzies" yet.

3. Once you get into the second section the sharpshooting isn't as good

4. Yeah, that is straight from Sly Cooper. As I said in the review (and in the Infamous thread in Console) it is annoying at the beginning, but once you reach some spots you realize why it is there. It's annoying for a small percentage once you get the hang of it though.

[Spigot]

And the inability to drive cars is pretty moot in my mind too. Once you get the Grid Induction ability and can powerslide on rails and power lines, you won't miss not having a car.

Much like Crackdown, once you hit a certain level with your abilities, you won't want to get in a car, even if you could.

[Virtual Pariah]

Originally Posted by Spigot

And the inability to drive cars is pretty moot in my mind too. Once you get the Grid Induction ability and can powerslide on rails and power lines, you won't miss not having a car.

Much like Crackdown, once you hit a certain level with your abilities, you won't want to get in a car, even if you could.

I was thinking about the immersion factor when I mentioned the driving.
It breaks me out of the game, when I can't do something I should be able to.

Much Like not being able to enter buildings in this type of game.
They need to be fixed before a "sandbox" game is truly sandbox. Hopefully someone will create a better mousetrap before we go to a new gen.

I want to be able to be a superhuman and smash thru walls in the middle of a fight.
Like Superman and Doomsday. Stuff like that.

[Spigot]

But Cole isn't a crazy powerhouse a la Superman/Doomsday. And they explain exactly why Cole can't drive cars, just like they explain why he can't shoot guns.

If you can't make a sandcastle, why do they call it a sandbox game?!