inFamous

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Reviewed by: Joaby 12:55pm 04/06/09 2 member reviews Write a review Genre: Action Developer: Sucker Punch Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment Classification: M15+ Release Date: 4th Jun 2009 Platforms: PS3	8 0 MEMBER RATING: Average of 27 Ratings Login to submit your review score
The Good bits You feel like a superhero. The story is engaging, even if the women are crazy. Lasting appeal, once you forget the side missions.	The Bad stuff The side missions get a little repetitive. Also some of them are really annoying. It takes some time before you become a full superhero.

Sucker Punch clearly hasn't realised the biggest thing about gamers - we're fickle creatures. The lead up to becoming an all-powerful good or evil is so long, so... powerless that most players won't ever get to the good part of inFamous before taking it back/returning it for another rental. And that's sad, because the good part of inFamous is really, really good!

Imagine surfing along power lines at 100km/h, blasting dudes from a rooftop with a Force Push move, leaping through the air, hovering, firing some electricity rockets and then landing in a shockwave of destruction before leeching the electricity from a guy so you can do it all again. That's the good part of inFamous. And it's the most superheroic/villainous you can be in a game short of being Superman - and that never works.

Before you start doing this however, you'll be slumming it - walking places, punching bad guys and zapping guys will occupy literally over half of your game time, and you might find it a tough slog.

The issue lies with the restrictions placed on Cole McGrath early in the game - he can't slide on railings or powerlines, he can't fire rockets, he can't hover and his force push is kinda lame. He can't use guns (he blows them up accidentally) and he can't get in cars, so the first half of your game is actually not in any way indicative of what's to come.

The worst thing for inFamous is the fact that knowing this will seriously hamper the game's replayability - when the game is inherently designed to be played twice. You see, the game revolves around that kind of black and white morality which gives the illusion of choice when there really isn't any.

In inFamous, however, these choices directly affect the powers available to you. If you play through the title as an evil person you are then restricted from checking out the good abilities at hand until you play through again. At which point you'll be weak again.

The other thing hampering this games replayability - and playability - is the repetitive nature of the side missions. While thought has definitely gone into the main story missions, the side missions are taken from a stack of about ten different options - kill 14 of these guys, find 12 of these transmitters - and they tend to get tedious fairly quickly.

Some respite is found in the good/evil side missions - they're suaully quite different to the norm, and their rewards are almost always worthwhile. They actually feature some decent variety and they add to the character of Cole well.

Speaking of Cole's character - the story in inFamous is actually really well done. Told through a series of comic book like cutscenes and expanded on through in-game tv broadcasts - propaganda from the news media and the city's resident pirate TV specialist - the game actually spins an engaging story. It's a little predictable, and it plays on cliches somewhat but it does a great job of melding the story of a regular man given superpowers with the good and evil choices you make.

The dynamic comic book style doesn't mean the game is cell-shaded or anything like that - the game looks really nice, especially when there's a lot of action happening. The explosions and electricity effects really sell the power at your fingertips - force throwing a rocket back the way it came and then chasing it with a electrical rocket of your own looks great, and you can definitely get a whole Darth Sidious thing happening with your chain lightning attacks.

inFamous is all about balance. It's got the best parkour in any game ever - but

you'll often latch onto objects when really you just want to fall somewhere else. It realises the feeling of being a superhero/villain better than any other game - but you don't get all your powers until very, very late. It has dozens of side-missions - too many of them are repeats and thoroughly annoying. And it features a moral compass which drives the story - but it's all heads or tails morality, and there's no room for the in-between.

I know this review has come across as pretty damning, and inFamous has its flaws. The reality is no game has ever really captured the essence of being a superhero/villain quite like inFamous has, and while it might take you a little while to get to a point where you are capable of really showcasing your powers - once there inFamous demolishes all other games. It's probably not going to sell PlayStation 3's, but it's a worthy addition to your library - if you haven't yet grown tired of the open world game formula, that is.

Member Reviews (2)

9.5

gorgara's Review

I am going to come out and say it. This is what Assassins Creed should have been, no not a superhero game but hear me out.

The parallels between the games are striking, in both you serve as a free running bad ass who gradually begins to build their strength, but while Assasins Creed gives you a poncy sword of +1 damage Infamous gives you Elecro Grenades and Electro Rockets and Electro Grinding and Electro-Healing and all manner of cool Electro- related powers. This all creates a feeling of actually growing in power and gives a manner of substance to the game.

Now I have not had time to finish this game yet but there are some mild spoilers in this review. You have been warned.

The game starts with a very cleverly hidden cutscene, the main menu flashes a message "press any button to begin" and then KABLOOY!!!!!!! a massive explosion of blue electricity eminates from the centre of the city and the city plunges into darkness,the game has begun.

The gameplay itself is enough to warrant the purchase, featuring a climbing system that adapts to the situation the player has orientated themselves in, for me the greatest exmple of this is climbing onto balconies, jumping forward at an overhanging ledge will cause the player to do a 180 spin and grab onto the ledge as you pass by, very hand when making quick escapes. The actual combat system is good overall although I must mention that you run as fast everyone else does, this makes it ridiculosuly frustrating when u want to mash face with your fists and common street thugs backpedal away from you, spraying the living **** out of you untill you die.

The visuals fit in to the common brown of the 'next gen' era but if you play as a good guy the city gains more colour and if you play as a bad guy then the city will plunge further into in darkness, however you wont notice the amount of brown as you will be running the rooftops and the screen is often filled with blue or red lightning depending on your moral allignments.

In conclusion inFamous is definetly the best Superhero game out for current gen consoles and in my books a hot favourite for best PS3 game and exclusive. Now, when's Prototype due?

9.5

solid23's Review

When I first heard about inFamous I thought that is looked like an interesting game, although I had never thought that it would be anything special. Than when I heard some more details about what the game was going to be about and how it was going to play I started to pay a bit more attention.

I started to watch some video's but after a while I stopped keeping track and had totally forgot about it, and after not paying any attention to it I had accidentally ran into a review of it on the internet. I said to myself I remember this game, so I read through the whole review and I was suprised off how positive it was, it score a 9.2 out of 10.

Than more positive review's came along saying that it had an engaging story and great gameplay elements. So I got some money drove to my nearest Gaming Store and picked the game up at the price of $88. I came back home and chucked the game in, installed it onto my HDD and got ready to play.

It starts of with a small look of Empire City before the explosion goes off, showing a few people walking down the a pathway in the Historic District. Than all hell breaks loose and a huge electrical explosion goes off, you than hear a man's voice and than you wake up to a catastrophie. Everything is destroyed, and you are nearly dead, you run for your life to get to safety and just make it back alive.

At this point of the game I still wasn't completely impressed, but after another hour's worth of gameplay I started to understand why this game is so good, the gameplay is just spectacular and I had never thought the story would have been this good, but this game is just full of surprises.

By the time I had gotton some great power's I don't think that I had ever had so much fun with a game in my life. And as soon as I completed it as a hero I started again as a villian. Their is some great parts in the story and overall I was surprised how everything worked out so well within this game.

I was impressed and surprised and I was never once bored, there isn't much wrong with this game, and there is so much right. I would even say this game is a masterpiece, it's a great surprise all in one disk. I recomend.

Gameplay: 10
Graphics: 8.5
Sound: 9
Story: 9

Great game !!!

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