I usually walk through town, or drive, or occasionally catch the bus, but if there is one thing i have learnt from this generation of gaming, it's that traversing any open world environment can be made significantly more interesting by climbing buildings and leaping from rooftop to rooftop. inFamous in its grammatically incorrect glory is the next title to take the sandbox genre and make it vertical.
You play Cole McGrath, messenger and man in the middle, as a package he is delivering explodes causing huge structural damage and plunges the city into societal oblivion. As we all know, proximity to explosions has a high likelihood of resulting in super powers and as Cole wakes from an explosion-induced coma he quite literally charges himself with the task of restoring order and finding the perpetrators. The story is not exactly the stuff of literary dreams but there are some interesting characters and an occasion plot twist which is more than sufficient to satisfy. A combination of in-game dialogue and visually pleasing graphic novel style cut scenes keep events moving along at a fair pace throughout the 8-12 hours that you will put in on your first playthrough.
As a super powered gent you would expect our protagonist to leap around the city with the greatest of ease and for the most part this is true. Whilst the climbing mechanic does not quite have the organic fluidity of Assassins Creed, the almost magnetic surfaces you cling to when climbing make traversing the environment a simple task. Controls in general are a charm here as despite the ever increasing number of powers which Cole attains, everything is easily accessible even during the most intense battles. Much like the well paced story line, you acquire additional powers periodically in a manner that helps to spice up the variety and keep your interest. Given the large open world there is inevitably a few minor issues; i encountered a few invisible walls during my adventure and the architecture and art style has little or no variation from island to island.
One of the criticisms that is often leveled with open world games is including enough content and variety to keep the player interested and inFamous does suffer somewhat in this regard. Truth is, the majority of missions (and side missions for that matter) are variations of common themes so expect no shortage of escort missions, protection missions and "go there,kill that". The repetition doesn't grate quite as much as i does with some titles but you do start to feel that drag towards the end.
Much will be made of the increasingly obligatory "moral choice" mechanic but it feels a little undercooked here. The choices are woefully black and white and your decisions have little to no effect on either the story line or the gameworld at large. The presence of these moral moments is to push you towards either good or bad which unlock unique powers and upgrades with the more altruistic among you being rewarded with precision and regenerative attacks whilst the ruthless develop attacks designed for maximum carnage. The variation in abilities does however provide some incentive to replay the game from the opposite perspective.
From a technical perspective the game is solid but perhaps a little unspectacular. As previously mentioned, the controls are mapped well and Cole's powers and building scampering abilities are intuitive. Graphically you will be satisfied but not blown away. There is a general blurriness to the distance, a lack of detail on the majority of the buildings/scenery, the environment is very repetitive and the game is not immune to periods of slowdown when the action is at it's most hectic.
inFamous is much greater than the sum of it's parts. Whilst it may not be particularly original or spectacular in any category it is incredibly easy to pick up and play and it undoubtedly has that fun factor to keep you playing. The "gotta catch them all" blast shard collection mini-game is addictive, the combat satisfying and grinding across and electric line between rooftops before failing with style onto an adjacent building will bring a smile to anyones face.