I bought the game as it came out, without having played the demo, but based on several reviews as well as PS3 Magazine's "People, we have another must buy!" comment and 9/10 score.
And I have to say...Wow! Are they paying PS3 magazine to write good reviews or what? This game is a big disappointment. With so few games out for the PS3, I mainly stick to 360 and PC, so I was looking forward to the first decent game since MGS4. Looks like I'll have to wait a bit longer. I wish....oh how I wish I had read Jordan's review before buying this waste of time. This has to be one of the most frustrating games I've played this year.
First of all, let?s talk a little bit about how it looks. It looks...awful. Aside from some nice lighting effects, and fairly decent explosions, the city itself as well as the character designs might as well be on a PS2. Load up GTA4 or Assassin?s Creed...then load up inFamous and see just how poor it looks. I had to drag my chair three feet from my massive TV just so I could see what was going on. Not that there was much to see. It seems that the main character Cole needs glasses, because aside from being able to see the next building over, the city surrounding him is just a complete blur. Surely this isn't down to a lack of draw distance processing power of the PS3! So I can only put this down to half-heartedness on the developer?s part.
Okay, so it looks pretty awful, but what does that matter if it plays well? Well...it doesn't. I believe PS3 Magazine said that the climbing aspect put Assassin's Creed and POP to shame. Which is true, if your idea of complex free running is holding down the X button and watching your character scale with impossible agility and complete lack of challenge as he changes direction mid-air Sonic style and can literally climb anything! At first, I was being careful to time my jumps and balance on beams. Than I realised that you need not put any thought into it what-so-ever. You can literally hold down the X button, watch him jump and land with precision on practically anything with zero challenge to the player. Although Assassin Creed's free running was also fairly easy, you at least had to put some thought into what you could climb. And there was a feeling that it was somewhat of a struggle for Altair as he pulled himself up onto a ledge. There's no feeling of realism with Cole's climbing.
But at least the city is colourful, diverse, interesting and just feels 'alive'. Oh no, wait a minute, I'm thinking of GTA4. The city in inFamous is dull and bland, with no atmosphere or consequence to any actions. The people who inhabit it aren't people at all, but simply mannequin like fodder who I found myself beating and shooting with no satisfaction or point other than the fact they were in my way. They might as well not even be there. The cars move without purpose of realism, as you stand in front of one just watch as it jolts pathetically forward waiting for you to get out of the way or until you send it hurtling across the street with once again, no consequence to such action.
OMFG! How boring can this game be? Within ten minutes I was trying to explore the city while snipers lined every rooftop taking random pot shots at me. I mean, what the fuck are they all doing up there? Waiting for me? Just running through the city is frustrating as you are shot from every direction from various ledges by bland growling enemies who all seem to shop at the exact same store and buy the exact same fucking clothes. That's what a game needs to add a little flavour...copy & paste enemies. Fucking laziness!
Oh...but at least the lighting powers are fun...right! Right? Wrong! Running around like a blue arsed fly while multiple enemies shoot at you with sniper rifles (with superb accuracy considering how fast you can run I might add) while you shoot a bolt of lighting in their vague direction and wait for the little writing to pop up saying 5xp Take Down just so you know you killed the annoying faceless little cretins. And why bother ducking behind cover? Cause you're only going to get shot from behind, and as you scan the blurry horizon for the hooded little fuck for 20 seconds and you finally see him on a rooftop fucking miles away, you let loose you shitty little lightning bolt and wait for the 5xp Take Down again so you know the ****'s dead. Just give me a fucking gun! Screw the lighting! Their guns are better than my shitty little lightning bolt!
Well...at least there's variety with the missions. Go into the sewer, jump the gaps, restore the power...then ten minutes later, just do it all again in a slightly different sewer. Find the gold citizen who wants you to help him kill the reapers so his medical clinic (beds on a rooftop...) can operate properly. Oh yeah, sure...I mean, I'm an evil mutherfucker with red lighting and negative karma cause I go around mercilessly killing anything that gets in my way...but sure, yeah, I'll help you! Just then I receive a phone call from who-ever-the-boring-ass-sidekick-guy-is telling me they're putting posters of me up and that crime is reducing in the city. What?! I'm a total chaos causing nuclear explosion of a criminal nightmare for this city...and that's turning out to be a good thing?! NO CONSEQEUNCE!
I've talked about this too much. The only reason I'm even talking so much about it is because for some reason game reviewers seems to be praising this pathetic lazy turd of a game.
Remember how Spiderman was fun - swinging through a detailed city for a couple of hours though every other aspect of the game was shit, but the swinging was so fun you could forgive the rest of the game? Well inFamous is like that...but without the fun swinging part.
Rent it, explode a few cars, traverse a few rooftops, complete a couple of missions, try your hardest to feel evil and then throw the controller down in frustration and break the DVD in two using the case of a better game.
A generous 7 out of 10, and one of those points is kudos for managing to somehow get good reviews from supposedly unbiased game reviewers.
