As many of you probably already know, inFamous is a sandbox superhero game exclusively for the PS3.
The game starts with an explosion, and you find out shortly later that a bike messenger named Cole McGrath delivered a package, which caused the explosion. This blast levels six blocks in the Historic District, and understandably kills quite a lot of people. Cole wakes up in the middle of the crater, when he gets a phone call from his conspiracy-theorist friend Zeke (how his phone still worked, I have no idea). While escaping, Cole absorbs electricity from several exposed wires. Once Cole gets out, a lightning storm starts and kills several cops. After running across the bridge to the Neon District, Cole fall unconscious. When he wakes up 14 days later, the city has fallen into chaos, and, for good measure, the federal government has placed a quarantine on the city. The game then gives the players the reins in a six-day storyline with enough twists to keep it interesting.
Enough about the plot, though. The gameplay is divided into two different parts: platforming and combat.
Platforming is a breeze. Since Cole latches onto whatever is near him, a person doesn't have to worry as much about missing jumps, which allows them to pull off some pretty daring maneuvers. Even if you miss a jump, there is no falling damage to you, so the only consequence is wasted time, unless you fall into water. This isn't like instant death zones in other games, as you actually have quite some time to escape before death.
After a while, though, platforming does lose its novelty, as most buildings can be scaled by simply mashing X.
Combat is where the game gets the most fun. At the start of the game, Cole has a lightning bolt, a shockwave used to move objects and people, melee attacks, and "Thunder Drop", which creates an electrical shockwave that damages and throws back whatever it hits. The player gains more powers as the game progresses, by completing sewer missions, which also re-establish power to sections of the city. Some of the powers you gain are attack abilities, like an electric grenade, an electric missile, a sniper lighting bolt, and lastly, the ability to call lightning storms down on enemies. Other powers you gain are the ability to slide on rails and wires, a glide ability, and an electromagnetic shield.
Each of the abilities are fun to use and are useful in different situations. Most of the abilities can be upgraded with experience gained from completing missions, killing enemies, and helping civilians. The upgrades for the powers vary from good to evil, so play styles vary depending on the player's moral standing. Good players gain precision attacks along with regaining energy per hit. Evil players gain more area-of-effect attacks along with higher damage.
The game takes place on the three different island of Empire City; the Neon District, the Warren, and the Historic District. Each of the islands have their own look, and are populated by different enemies. Enemies themselves are more than just cannon fodder. They display some intelligence; taking cover and moving around, even on the easiest difficulty.
Some of the main plot devices are told in comic book-style cutscenes, but it's a shame that there aren't more of them, because they are really cool to watch.
As good as the game is, it has its share of flaws. The enemies may look different, but they are basically the same. The enemies are divided into normal riflemen, suicide bombers, shotgunners, chaingunners, and conduits. Your friend Zeke is hilarious, but unfortunately, there is no real character development for anyone besides Cole. Another character, the Voice of Survival, shows up now and then of T.V.'s but disappears near the end of the game. When grinding on rails and wires, there is some moderate pop-up.
There are also a few glitches; no game breaking ones, but they can be a nuisance. The glitches are like dying on certain surfaces plays the death animation in a loop for a short while, and and enemies becoming untouchable. There are some serious glitches, too. One of these has Cole repeating one half-second section of the falling animation while moving underneath the ground. Al of these glitches were rare, each happening twice at the most throughout the entire campaign.
One of the games draws, the moral choices, are poorly done. The karma system itself was a good idea, don't get me wrong, but the choices for the options are either common sense or DC comic supervillain evil. Also, contrary to what Yahtzee said, the game wants you to be good. When you meet an incapacitated pedestrian, you can revive them and get experience (and good karma), or you can use one of the other two options, and get no experience (and evil karma). Also, when standing over a downed conduit, you can use "arc restraints" (good) and get more experience than restraining another type of enemy, while using "bio leech" (evil) nets you as much experience as draining some ordinary grunt.
The game is black-and-white when referring to moral choices. It treats the karma meter as am experience bar, where you can only get the best things by being the maximum of either good or evil. You can only do well in the game (not to mention getting the trophies) by being either Electro-Jesus or Satan.
The Final Verdict: B+
The game has a lot going for it, but the samey enemy types, glitches, pop-up, lack of character development, and the improperly done karma system only serve to bring it down.
Suggestions for improvemnet: The karma system should have been different. Instead of encouraging players to be entirely good or entirely evil, players should have been able to choose what level of good/evil they want to be. Instead of having better upgrades for being higher/lower on the scale, the upgrades for karma levels should have been different. Not better, just different.
Thank you for sticking through the review. I know it was long.
The game starts with an explosion, and you find out shortly later that a bike messenger named Cole McGrath delivered a package, which caused the explosion. This blast levels six blocks in the Historic District, and understandably kills quite a lot of people. Cole wakes up in the middle of the crater, when he gets a phone call from his conspiracy-theorist friend Zeke (how his phone still worked, I have no idea). While escaping, Cole absorbs electricity from several exposed wires. Once Cole gets out, a lightning storm starts and kills several cops. After running across the bridge to the Neon District, Cole fall unconscious. When he wakes up 14 days later, the city has fallen into chaos, and, for good measure, the federal government has placed a quarantine on the city. The game then gives the players the reins in a six-day storyline with enough twists to keep it interesting.
Enough about the plot, though. The gameplay is divided into two different parts: platforming and combat.
Platforming is a breeze. Since Cole latches onto whatever is near him, a person doesn't have to worry as much about missing jumps, which allows them to pull off some pretty daring maneuvers. Even if you miss a jump, there is no falling damage to you, so the only consequence is wasted time, unless you fall into water. This isn't like instant death zones in other games, as you actually have quite some time to escape before death.
After a while, though, platforming does lose its novelty, as most buildings can be scaled by simply mashing X.
Combat is where the game gets the most fun. At the start of the game, Cole has a lightning bolt, a shockwave used to move objects and people, melee attacks, and "Thunder Drop", which creates an electrical shockwave that damages and throws back whatever it hits. The player gains more powers as the game progresses, by completing sewer missions, which also re-establish power to sections of the city. Some of the powers you gain are attack abilities, like an electric grenade, an electric missile, a sniper lighting bolt, and lastly, the ability to call lightning storms down on enemies. Other powers you gain are the ability to slide on rails and wires, a glide ability, and an electromagnetic shield.
Each of the abilities are fun to use and are useful in different situations. Most of the abilities can be upgraded with experience gained from completing missions, killing enemies, and helping civilians. The upgrades for the powers vary from good to evil, so play styles vary depending on the player's moral standing. Good players gain precision attacks along with regaining energy per hit. Evil players gain more area-of-effect attacks along with higher damage.
The game takes place on the three different island of Empire City; the Neon District, the Warren, and the Historic District. Each of the islands have their own look, and are populated by different enemies. Enemies themselves are more than just cannon fodder. They display some intelligence; taking cover and moving around, even on the easiest difficulty.
Some of the main plot devices are told in comic book-style cutscenes, but it's a shame that there aren't more of them, because they are really cool to watch.
As good as the game is, it has its share of flaws. The enemies may look different, but they are basically the same. The enemies are divided into normal riflemen, suicide bombers, shotgunners, chaingunners, and conduits. Your friend Zeke is hilarious, but unfortunately, there is no real character development for anyone besides Cole. Another character, the Voice of Survival, shows up now and then of T.V.'s but disappears near the end of the game. When grinding on rails and wires, there is some moderate pop-up.
There are also a few glitches; no game breaking ones, but they can be a nuisance. The glitches are like dying on certain surfaces plays the death animation in a loop for a short while, and and enemies becoming untouchable. There are some serious glitches, too. One of these has Cole repeating one half-second section of the falling animation while moving underneath the ground. Al of these glitches were rare, each happening twice at the most throughout the entire campaign.
One of the games draws, the moral choices, are poorly done. The karma system itself was a good idea, don't get me wrong, but the choices for the options are either common sense or DC comic supervillain evil. Also, contrary to what Yahtzee said, the game wants you to be good. When you meet an incapacitated pedestrian, you can revive them and get experience (and good karma), or you can use one of the other two options, and get no experience (and evil karma). Also, when standing over a downed conduit, you can use "arc restraints" (good) and get more experience than restraining another type of enemy, while using "bio leech" (evil) nets you as much experience as draining some ordinary grunt.
The game is black-and-white when referring to moral choices. It treats the karma meter as am experience bar, where you can only get the best things by being the maximum of either good or evil. You can only do well in the game (not to mention getting the trophies) by being either Electro-Jesus or Satan.
The Final Verdict: B+
The game has a lot going for it, but the samey enemy types, glitches, pop-up, lack of character development, and the improperly done karma system only serve to bring it down.
Suggestions for improvemnet: The karma system should have been different. Instead of encouraging players to be entirely good or entirely evil, players should have been able to choose what level of good/evil they want to be. Instead of having better upgrades for being higher/lower on the scale, the upgrades for karma levels should have been different. Not better, just different.
Thank you for sticking through the review. I know it was long.
