Infamous: The Power is in Your Hands

[SporkySpork]

Yes, the climbing in the previous games was easy, but you had the sense that you were climbing. You didn't just zap to the top of a structure in the blink of an eye. The hippity hop manner with which Cole climbed wasn't the most ideal, which is why I had hoped Second Son might've improved upon it, like have it somewhere between the slow fluid scaling of Assassin's Creed and the jump 'n crab of inFAMOUS. But no, just run up a building, why try to improve on what we had?

And yes, there were grind rails all over the place, but you still had to run and climb to get to them. The entire play area wasn't just one uncut grind, like in Second Son. They were placed in a manner that invited you to try catch them without touching the ground, the inFAMOUS 2 Charge Up missions were even designed with that in mind.

I don't know about you, but I've never liked the climbing in inFAMOUS, and the fact that this game goes through pains to ensure I can avoid doing it in a more efficient way is an improvement to me. I don't want to spend three minutes looking at Delsin bunny hop up a building, I want him to be up there now because he's getting shot by five different people and hit by pissy rock demon things.

There's a reason why Assassin's Creed doesn't put machine guns in, it would make climbing terrible because you'd get filled with lead due to the slow as hell climbing in that game. This game actually makes Delsin feel like a superhero who can't be bothered by this "climbing" this most of the time (which might be why he's sort of bad at it) outside of the arbitrary climbing sequences that I actually enjoyed, because they mixed the vent/wall running thing with regular climby bits. Differing opinions and all, but I play inFAMOUS to be a badass superhero, not a guy with the best climbing. I have Assassin's Creed and Uncharted and the dozens of other third-person games for that.[/quote]

 

[Casual Shinji]

I don't know about you, but I've never liked the climbing in inFAMOUS, and the fact that this game goes through pains to ensure I can avoid doing it in a more efficient way is an improvement to me. I don't want to spend three minutes looking at Delsin bunny hop up a building, I want him to be up there now because he's getting shot by five different people and hit by pissy rock demon things.

There's a reason why Assassin's Creed doesn't put machine guns in, it would make climbing terrible because you'd get filled with lead due to the slow as hell climbing in that game. This game actually makes Delsin feel like a superhero who can't be bothered by this "climbing" this most of the time (which might be why he's sort of bad at it) outside of the arbitrary climbing sequences that I actually enjoyed, because they mixed the vent/wall running thing with regular climby bits. Differing opinions and all, but I play inFAMOUS to be a badass superhero, not a guy with the best climbing. I have Assassin's Creed and Uncharted and the dozens of other third-person games for that.

I play inFAMOUS to be a badass superhero too. But if it hardly takes any effort, what's the point?

You can say 'I want him to be up there now', but that's the same as saying 'I want that enemy defeated now'. The fact that you had to climb a building is what ultimately makes it satisfying to finally be on top and gain advantage over the enemy. inFAMOUS 1 did this the best if you had the grind charge ability; If there was a large host of enemies, you could either take them on on ground level, or climb a structure with a power line up top -- taking/avoiding fire in the process -- and rain down death with unlimited energy. For that moment you were unstoppable, but you had to make an effort to get there.

 

[SporkySpork]

I don't know about you, but I've never liked the climbing in inFAMOUS, and the fact that this game goes through pains to ensure I can avoid doing it in a more efficient way is an improvement to me. I don't want to spend three minutes looking at Delsin bunny hop up a building, I want him to be up there now because he's getting shot by five different people and hit by pissy rock demon things.

There's a reason why Assassin's Creed doesn't put machine guns in, it would make climbing terrible because you'd get filled with lead due to the slow as hell climbing in that game. This game actually makes Delsin feel like a superhero who can't be bothered by this "climbing" this most of the time (which might be why he's sort of bad at it) outside of the arbitrary climbing sequences that I actually enjoyed, because they mixed the vent/wall running thing with regular climby bits. Differing opinions and all, but I play inFAMOUS to be a badass superhero, not a guy with the best climbing. I have Assassin's Creed and Uncharted and the dozens of other third-person games for that.

I play inFAMOUS to be a badass superhero too. But if it hardly takes any effort, what's the point?

You can say 'I want him to be up there now', but that's the same as saying 'I want that enemy defeated now'. The fact that you had to climb a building is what ultimately makes it satisfying to finally be on top and gain advantage over the enemy. inFAMOUS 1 did this the best if you had the grind charge ability; If there was a large host of enemies, you could either take them on on ground level, or climb a structure with a power line up top -- taking/avoiding fire in the process -- and rain down death with unlimited energy. For that moment you were unstoppable, but you had to make an effort to get there.

I think the lack of grind rails is mitigated somewhat by the ways you can stay in the air with a lot of practice. It became a mini-game in itself to chain smoke dashes on vents to launch myself in the air while moving through the city, and I eventually realized I could incorporate that into regular combat by dashing into a vent, then orbital dropping down into a crowd of enemies. It's the same basic principle of the invincible grind rail trick.

And with the enemies in this game constantly throwing rocks that stun/knock you over, climbing shouldn't get in the way of getting into a good position in a fight. The enemies of the old inFAMOUS were mostly dumb idiots, while the ones in inFAMOUS are actually fairly intelligent, since most of them can instantly jump onto buildings. I found the combat focused more on building hopping with your enemies to get to good positions and power sources, managing them from below and if you're unlucky, above.

Still, it's all a matter of personal taste. Even if you didn't like the climbing, you can't say you didn't have fun with the game, no? As someone who played the old inFAMOUS games, I thought this one was stellar, if too short for my liking.

 

[Casual Shinji]

And with the enemies in this game constantly throwing rocks that stun/knock you over, climbing shouldn't get in the way of getting into a good position in a fight. The enemies of the old inFAMOUS were mostly dumb idiots, while the ones in inFAMOUS are actually fairly intelligent, since most of them can instantly jump onto buildings. I found the combat focused more on building hopping with your enemies to get to good positions and power sources, managing them from below and if you're unlucky, above.

I'd have to thoroughly disagree with that. I've been replaying the older games, and it amazed me how sneaky the enemies can be. If they have the high ground they tend to back away out of sight when you aim at them, only showing themselves when they're ready to fire. And even when standing on a rail or lamp post you wouldn't be safe from their grenades, since they always timed them to explode around your vicinity.

And two of the three enemy camps in inFAMOUS 2 could easily jump ontop of buildings. Most of times they were already patrolling the rooftops anyway.

I quit Second Son shortly after getting the Video power, so I obviously can't be sure, but the enemies really lacked variety as well. It was just the same rock troopers with the occasional officer that had the floaty rock bits around him. And the rest were just drug dealers. No giant monsters or anything.

Still, it's all a matter of personal taste. Even if you didn't like the climbing, you can't say you didn't have fun with the game, no? As someone who played the old inFAMOUS games, I thought this one was stellar, if too short for my liking.

I can't really say I did. After acquiring Video power, and being horribly unimpressed with it, it dawned on me that the only reason I was still playing the game was out of obligation for having just bought it. Neon seemed cool at first, but quickly wore out its welcome.

Honestly the one things about the game that I liked were that old lady's facail animation and when Delsin absorbed power from neon signs. That just had my jaw on the floor everytime. But apart from that, not much else.

 

[samuraiweasel]

What, no doughnut powers? Lame, I'm looking elsewhere for my superhero fun.

if youre looking for something with crazy powers, take a look at Wild Cards the comics/books