Game title: inFAMOUS 2
Console: PS3
Developer: Sucker Punch
Release date: June 7, 2011
Pregame:
The original inFAMOUS (commonly called simply Infamous) was released in 2009, and was well-received as one of the PS3's precious few exclusives. It put players into the shoes of Cole MacGrath, a bike messenger who is given electrical super powers and can chose to be either a blessing or a curse for sprawling metropolis of Empire City (New York for all intents and purposes).
The game was a third-person platforming superhero/supervillian game that brought a fresh take on sandbox gaming to the market. It was also released close to the same time as Prototype, another open-world super-powered game, so the two are often compared.
While Prototype tended to be grittier, Infamous went more to the tune of comic books, going so far as to include comic-book style cutscenes, which also appear in Infamous 2.
The main antagonist of Infamous was a man named Kessler, who revealed - mild spoilers - that a much larger threat called "the Beast" will soon arrive, and Cole must be ready to face him. The game ends with Cole cursing Kessler, but still swearing that "when the time comes, I will be ready."
Play-by-play:
Between Infamous 1 and 2, fans were madly curious about the Beast, asking a million questions: where would he come from, what could he do, just how apocalyptic would it be, and so on. All they really knew was that he looked human and that he was trouble The Beast had a huge amount of hype to live up to, and Cole's confrontation with him was sure to be epic on the grandest scale.
When players booted up Infamous 2, they were rewarded by finally getting to battle the Beast. In the first five minutes. As the tutorial level.
<rant>
What the hell, Sucker Punch?
I get that you want to build anticipation for the climactic final battle by having Cole lose to the Beast early on, but that tension was already there from the last game. Most of it just disappeared with a half-assed opening fight. Besides, Cole didn't even lose that badly. If you want to make the Beast seem like a big threat, don't have Cole blow off half his face in the first few seconds of the fight!
What's really strange is that Cole was going to New Marais anyway, on the pretense of gaining new powers, and the Beast just popped up on Cole's way out and conveniently "drained" his powers in the fight. This allows Cole to rebuild his powers from the ground up; Infamous 2 is a sequel, after all. Everything carries on just like it would have if Cole hadn't run into the Beast in the first place. It's like the whole scene was added as an ill-concieved afterthought.
This game would be infintely more dramatic if the Beast had appeared the day after Cole left Empire City. It would have given Cole the chance for a deep crisis; he would have left to become strong enough to fight the Beast when he appears, only to have the Beast appear while he is gone. He could agonize over the missed opportunity to stop the Beast, and it would be a chance for him to grow.
You could still have the corny "The Beast is __ miles away" countdown if you wanted, and it would make Cole's confrontation with the Beast actually climactic. Instead, you have a tiny fight, then Cole unconvincingly stating that he'll be ready next time. It's just disappointing.
</rant>
Once Cole arrives in New Marais, he is greeted by the Militia, a group of armed fascists who have violently seized control of the city, supposedly to protect it from "abominations" like Cole. These guys act a lot like the gangs in the first Infamous, so fighting them will be a pretty familiar experience to most players. They fire rifles, throw grenades, shoot missiles, and have turrets. You know the drill.
Occasionally, they're logically stunted, as they'll bazooka each other in the back or step off a rooftop. My favorite tactic of theirs is the old stand-on-destructible-items trick. They like to hide out on the balconies that are in some sections of town (totally not the French Quarter), and I like to blast the floor out from under them.
To the Militia's credit, there are some pretty dangerous baddies that need fighting, like this little bottle of sunshine:
These things seemingly crop up for no reason, and they fight the Militia, Cole and anybody else that gets too close. The varied forms of these "swamp monsters" certainly mix things up combat-wise, from the melee type displayed above to spitting long-range types and gigantic boss monsters.
Later in the game, super-powered enemies also arise, and Cole will sometimes have to fight all three factions at once. Sometimes it's a smart move to let the warring factions take each other out a bit before moving in to mop up the rest, but then you might miss out on being the heroic savior for the innocent bystanders. Of course, you could always just blast the bystanders yourself to get them out of the way. A tagline from one of the game's advertisements comes to mind: "being a hero is optional."
It certainly is, and just like the first game, the world will treat Cole differently depending upon his actions and choices. If he's good, civilians will cheer as he passes and help fight his enemies. If he's evil, civillians will either run from him or attempt to fight him. What's more, Cole will physically change based on his "Karma" score. He won't grow Fable-style horns for being evil, but his electricity's color, his clothing and his tattoos will change. Why do his tattoos change? Rule of Cool.
Unlike the first game, Cole will also change if he chooses to be good-aligned. In the first Infamous, Cole looked halfway demonic at the end if he was evil, but basically the same as the start of the game if he was good. This time around, he adopts a classic hero color scheme and - again - new tattoos to reflect his progression.
Personally, I play through games with alignment systems both ways, but I choose good first. Despite evil being the obvious choice in a series named Infamous, evil choices are often portrayed as senselessly violent, instead of ruthlessness or callous. Some choices in Infamous 2 do this, but not most.
Most often, good-aligned event would have Cole rescuing civilians that are being captured by the Militia. This requires the player to carefully attack, avoiding innocent casualties. An evil event would be Cole knocking a street musician out for no apparent reason. Both of these are real events that almost constantly throughout the city. While being evil may be easier or funnier sometimes, it just doesn't make a lot of sense in context.
To offer not-so-subtle shoves in the appropriate direction, Cole has two new female companions: Kuo and Nix, who embody good and evil, respectively. They'll help with Karma-related missions and demand that Cole pick each of their opposing plans for big story moments.
Kuo is a straight-shooter who will help Cole on a (mostly) law-abiding, human-helping path, and she'll urge him to be smart rather than reckless. Nix, on the other hand, will appeal to Cole's love of power and will encourage him to wreak havoc and make the world bow before him. Essentially, Nix is a crazy bitch who says things like "Blood... blood... BLOOD!" during battle, and her skin is straight-up red for some reason. But then, evil Cole's skin is grey and veiny, so who am I to judge?
Whoever Cole sides with, it'll shape him and the story. In fact, without spoiling anything, I can say that the last decision of the game affects the ending significantly. The ending of the first Infamous was essentially the same no matter what, so this is a refreshing change.
While Cole is fighting the various forces in New Marias, his main mission remains the same: to gain new powers to help fight the Beast. He certainly does that; by the end of the game, Cole accumulates a veritable arsenal of powers to flex as he sees fit. He still can't wield a gun, but who needs one when when you can shoot electricity rockets out of your palms?
Cole's main powers are divided into several categories, and each category has a few upgrades to eventually earn. Cole can equip and change them out on the fly, so he has really become a one-man army at this point. His enemies should particularly fear Cole's new ionic powers, which are big, destructive moves that can flatten whole groups of bad (or good) guys in one fell swoop.
One ionic power was available towards the end of the first Infamous, but the Beast "drained" it out of Cole's repertoire, presumably to keep from over-powering the player right out of the gate for Infamous 2. In any case, when your job description includes shooting at a guy that can throw a damn tornado at you, you might consider a new career path.
In addition to the new and old electric-themed powers, Cole will have access to either fire or ice-related powers after a certain point in the game. The choice between them will affect Cole's alignment, and each enemy defeated with one of these powers carries karmatic weight. Mostly, fire or ice powers are upgrades to existing powers (napalm grenades, for instance), but a few are all-new. In particular, I'd like to point out the Ice Launch.
This ability will summon a thin column of ice under Cole's feet, launching him into the air. It's insanely useful when platforming, especially when combined with the new and improved Static Thrusters. With both, Cole can run, launch himself at a 45 degree angle, then use the thrusters to glide surprisingly far to his destination. Cole still can't leap tall buildings in a single bound, but it's definitely easier to reach one of the city's many power lines, which are Cole's main mode of transportation.
Cole's wide array of abilities work well together (some can even be used at the same time), and they really accomplish the task of making the player feel super-powered.
Final call:
Infamous 2 maintains the jumpy-climby-shooty fun of its predecessor while adding enough new content to keep the game feeling fresh. The enemies are varied, the city is interesting and looks very pretty, and the powers are great to play around with. Even after the game's story is done, there's still a ton of missions to do due to the User Generated Content system. While user-created levels aren't typically as imaginative as something out of LittleBigPlanet, they do offer more chances to use all those upgrades the player worked so hard to gather.
Story-wise, while I'm disappointed with how the Beast was handled, the rest of the plot is interesting and engaging. The main antagonist in New Marias, a "purist" southern gentleman and leader of the Militia, makes for a very detestable villain as well.
All in all, if you have a PS3, Infamous 2 should definitely be on your wish list.
Console: PS3
Developer: Sucker Punch
Release date: June 7, 2011
Pregame:
The original inFAMOUS (commonly called simply Infamous) was released in 2009, and was well-received as one of the PS3's precious few exclusives. It put players into the shoes of Cole MacGrath, a bike messenger who is given electrical super powers and can chose to be either a blessing or a curse for sprawling metropolis of Empire City (New York for all intents and purposes).The game was a third-person platforming superhero/supervillian game that brought a fresh take on sandbox gaming to the market. It was also released close to the same time as Prototype, another open-world super-powered game, so the two are often compared.
While Prototype tended to be grittier, Infamous went more to the tune of comic books, going so far as to include comic-book style cutscenes, which also appear in Infamous 2.
The main antagonist of Infamous was a man named Kessler, who revealed - mild spoilers - that a much larger threat called "the Beast" will soon arrive, and Cole must be ready to face him. The game ends with Cole cursing Kessler, but still swearing that "when the time comes, I will be ready."
Play-by-play:
Between Infamous 1 and 2, fans were madly curious about the Beast, asking a million questions: where would he come from, what could he do, just how apocalyptic would it be, and so on. All they really knew was that he looked human and that he was trouble The Beast had a huge amount of hype to live up to, and Cole's confrontation with him was sure to be epic on the grandest scale.
When players booted up Infamous 2, they were rewarded by finally getting to battle the Beast. In the first five minutes. As the tutorial level.
<rant>
What the hell, Sucker Punch?
I get that you want to build anticipation for the climactic final battle by having Cole lose to the Beast early on, but that tension was already there from the last game. Most of it just disappeared with a half-assed opening fight. Besides, Cole didn't even lose that badly. If you want to make the Beast seem like a big threat, don't have Cole blow off half his face in the first few seconds of the fight!
What's really strange is that Cole was going to New Marais anyway, on the pretense of gaining new powers, and the Beast just popped up on Cole's way out and conveniently "drained" his powers in the fight. This allows Cole to rebuild his powers from the ground up; Infamous 2 is a sequel, after all. Everything carries on just like it would have if Cole hadn't run into the Beast in the first place. It's like the whole scene was added as an ill-concieved afterthought.
You could still have the corny "The Beast is __ miles away" countdown if you wanted, and it would make Cole's confrontation with the Beast actually climactic. Instead, you have a tiny fight, then Cole unconvincingly stating that he'll be ready next time. It's just disappointing.
</rant>
Occasionally, they're logically stunted, as they'll bazooka each other in the back or step off a rooftop. My favorite tactic of theirs is the old stand-on-destructible-items trick. They like to hide out on the balconies that are in some sections of town (totally not the French Quarter), and I like to blast the floor out from under them.
To the Militia's credit, there are some pretty dangerous baddies that need fighting, like this little bottle of sunshine:
These things seemingly crop up for no reason, and they fight the Militia, Cole and anybody else that gets too close. The varied forms of these "swamp monsters" certainly mix things up combat-wise, from the melee type displayed above to spitting long-range types and gigantic boss monsters.
Later in the game, super-powered enemies also arise, and Cole will sometimes have to fight all three factions at once. Sometimes it's a smart move to let the warring factions take each other out a bit before moving in to mop up the rest, but then you might miss out on being the heroic savior for the innocent bystanders. Of course, you could always just blast the bystanders yourself to get them out of the way. A tagline from one of the game's advertisements comes to mind: "being a hero is optional."
It certainly is, and just like the first game, the world will treat Cole differently depending upon his actions and choices. If he's good, civilians will cheer as he passes and help fight his enemies. If he's evil, civillians will either run from him or attempt to fight him. What's more, Cole will physically change based on his "Karma" score. He won't grow Fable-style horns for being evil, but his electricity's color, his clothing and his tattoos will change. Why do his tattoos change? Rule of Cool.
 |
| Image courtesy of SpiderDude10 on deviantART |
Personally, I play through games with alignment systems both ways, but I choose good first. Despite evil being the obvious choice in a series named Infamous, evil choices are often portrayed as senselessly violent, instead of ruthlessness or callous. Some choices in Infamous 2 do this, but not most.
To offer not-so-subtle shoves in the appropriate direction, Cole has two new female companions: Kuo and Nix, who embody good and evil, respectively. They'll help with Karma-related missions and demand that Cole pick each of their opposing plans for big story moments.
 |
| That's Kuo on the left and Nix on the right |
Whoever Cole sides with, it'll shape him and the story. In fact, without spoiling anything, I can say that the last decision of the game affects the ending significantly. The ending of the first Infamous was essentially the same no matter what, so this is a refreshing change.While Cole is fighting the various forces in New Marias, his main mission remains the same: to gain new powers to help fight the Beast. He certainly does that; by the end of the game, Cole accumulates a veritable arsenal of powers to flex as he sees fit. He still can't wield a gun, but who needs one when when you can shoot electricity rockets out of your palms?
Cole's main powers are divided into several categories, and each category has a few upgrades to eventually earn. Cole can equip and change them out on the fly, so he has really become a one-man army at this point. His enemies should particularly fear Cole's new ionic powers, which are big, destructive moves that can flatten whole groups of bad (or good) guys in one fell swoop.
One ionic power was available towards the end of the first Infamous, but the Beast "drained" it out of Cole's repertoire, presumably to keep from over-powering the player right out of the gate for Infamous 2. In any case, when your job description includes shooting at a guy that can throw a damn tornado at you, you might consider a new career path.
In addition to the new and old electric-themed powers, Cole will have access to either fire or ice-related powers after a certain point in the game. The choice between them will affect Cole's alignment, and each enemy defeated with one of these powers carries karmatic weight. Mostly, fire or ice powers are upgrades to existing powers (napalm grenades, for instance), but a few are all-new. In particular, I'd like to point out the Ice Launch.
This ability will summon a thin column of ice under Cole's feet, launching him into the air. It's insanely useful when platforming, especially when combined with the new and improved Static Thrusters. With both, Cole can run, launch himself at a 45 degree angle, then use the thrusters to glide surprisingly far to his destination. Cole still can't leap tall buildings in a single bound, but it's definitely easier to reach one of the city's many power lines, which are Cole's main mode of transportation.Cole's wide array of abilities work well together (some can even be used at the same time), and they really accomplish the task of making the player feel super-powered.
Final call:
Infamous 2 maintains the jumpy-climby-shooty fun of its predecessor while adding enough new content to keep the game feeling fresh. The enemies are varied, the city is interesting and looks very pretty, and the powers are great to play around with. Even after the game's story is done, there's still a ton of missions to do due to the User Generated Content system. While user-created levels aren't typically as imaginative as something out of LittleBigPlanet, they do offer more chances to use all those upgrades the player worked so hard to gather.
Story-wise, while I'm disappointed with how the Beast was handled, the rest of the plot is interesting and engaging. The main antagonist in New Marias, a "purist" southern gentleman and leader of the Militia, makes for a very detestable villain as well.
All in all, if you have a PS3, Infamous 2 should definitely be on your wish list.
Not cool you included b I t c h together in one word!
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