Developed by famed studio, Sucker Punch, masterminds of the Sly Cooper
franchise, inFamous is a PlayStation 3 exclusive open-world superhero
game in the same vain as Activision's Spiderman series. The story
follows the path of Cole, a courier in Empire City, who unwittingly
finds himself delivering the most deadly of packages. The game opens
after Cole's mysterious delivery goes horribly wrong, causing a huge
explosion which tears the city apart, levelling 6 blocks completely.
Somehow Cole survives the explosion and discovers to his surprise that
he has developed powerful electrical abilities. With the city in ruins
and cut off by the US government, Cole pledges to make amends for the
disaster that he started.
Welcome to Empire City
inFamous' gorgeous opening cutscene makes a great first impression with
it's stylised comic book visuals. Once you're in engine some of that
sheen is lost, but the hyper-reality of the world remains instantly
engaging. Unfortunately, as Sucker Punch themselves have admitted, the
game engine clearly wasn't designed with PS3 architecture in mind. Many
of the NPC character models lack detail and the odd low-res texture can
look a little out of place. Secondary characters and enemies can
sometimes appear a little stiff and robotic in the way they animate as
well, especially during the occasional in-engine cutscenes.
Thankfully the special effects have enough of an impact that you often
won't be paying too much attention to what's underneath. The
electricity and lightening effects that Cole can create with his
superpowers are really something to behold. They completely draw you
into the fast-paced and frenetic combat. The blue and red of the
electricity really stand out against the often grey background of
Empire City. The city itself is teeming with pedestrians and enemies
and is definitely one of the better realised open-worlds in recent
gaming history.
Become the hero… or the antihero
Controlling Cole and navigating the massive city is an absolute joy.
The basic movement and platforming mechanics lean heavily towards the
style of Xbox 360 hit Crackdown, so don't expect to get away with
holding down a couple of buttons, Assassin's Creed style. Right from
the start you'll quickly be using ledges and pipes to scale tall
buildings. Cole is much more agile than most other game characters and
can even climb up flat surfaces, provided they're narrow enough for him
to hold onto each side of them.
The major difference to other games of this style is in the way that
inFamous approaches your character's abilities. Cole never holds a
weapon as such; he relies on his electrical abilities instead. Powers
include firing bolts of lightening, creating electrical storms and
throwing "energy grenades," as well as many others. How his power
develops depends entirely on your "karmic choices." Good actions give
you points towards your heroic karma and negative actions give you
points towards your inFamous karma. Many powers are only accessible to
you if you reach a certain level of good or bad karma. You must also
maintain that karmic level, or you will lose those powers again.
Karma has a few other effects as well. The more of a hero you are, the
more the city's citizens will react positively to you, taking photos of
you and ganging up on smaller groups of enemies to help you out. Of
course they'll also expect you to go out of your way to help them more
often. Become inFamous and pedestrians will throw rocks at you and run
away in fear.
Unfortunately the major karmic choices in the game suffer from that
classic videogame problem of being far too black and white. inFamous
even flashes up on-screen warnings effectively saying "hey, do this if
you want to take the good path, or maybe do it this way if you want to
be inFamous!" Early on in the game you'll probably decide whether you
are going to play good or bad, so you'll always know exactly which
choice you're going to make in advance. There are no shades of grey to
be found here.
The fight for Empire City
The combat in the game is very shooter like despite the uniqueness of
Cole's powers. Basic moves use standard left trigger aim and right
trigger shoot controls. When you've progressed a bit further you'll use
the game's experience system to unlock a ton of powers which can be
combined to great effect. Very quickly you'll learn how to "thunder
drop" from tall buildings, use shockwaves to launch enemies into the
air and then shoot them down with lightening. As you become more
powerful the combat becomes hugely gratifying and spectacular just to
watch. Try not to get caught up in staring at the explosions though
because the enemies will keep coming thick and fast!
Missions are structured in the typical open-world way. You go to a
checkpoint on your map to activate them and then follow the
instructions given to you. The vast majority of the story missions are
very entertaining and constantly apply your skills to different
scenarios. There are a good number of side missions too, some of which
contribute specifically to your good or bad karma. Completing a good
side mission in an area of the city automatically locks out the evil
version, further encouraging you to pick one style of play from the
beginning. These missions also allow Cole to take back areas of Empire
City from the gangs controlling them, in a mechanic very reminiscent of
GTA: San Andreas.
There are several types of side mission such as removing surveillance
equipment from friendly areas, escorting gangsters to police stations,
collecting medical supplies for civilians and many others.
Unfortunately certain types of side mission occur too often, leaving
you wanting for something new to do. Each area of the city also
requires you to do several missions to activate generators to restore
power to that region. These sections always involve you jumping around
in the sewers and this type of enclosed environment doesn't play to the
game's strengths in the slightest. Thankfully they don't usually last
too long.
A few too many technical flaws
For all its superb entertainment value and fast-paced action, inFamous
certainly isn't without its frustrating bugs and glitches. There is
some obvious environmental pop-in, as well as for traffic and
pedestrians. The game also suffers from some clipping issues and
noticeable framerate slowdown. Perhaps most annoying though is that on
a couple of occasions I found myself falling through infinite empty
space after executing a thunder drop from a tall building. Chances are
you won't experience these rare issues, but they are definitely present
and could do with a patch at some stage.
A wonderful adventure for PS3 owners
Despite its numerous flaws it cannot be denied that the core experience
which inFamous provides is just plain fun. Anyone who enjoyed Crackdown
will have a blast with this game and so will anyone else who's a fan of
great platforming and free-flowing adventure games. It may leave a bit
to be desired in a few areas, but you won't find a more entertaining
gaming blockbuster released so far this year. Not only that, but as
soon as you're done playing one way, you'll immediately want to go back
and try the other karmic options so that you can see all of the
superpowers available. inFamous has it's issues, but they never get in
the way of it being a joy to play.
