inFamous is not nearly as bad and its name implies.
inFamous is a sandbox game developed by Sucker Punch (the creators of the Sly Cooper series) that puts you in the shoes of Cole MacGrath who gets electric powers after getting blown up by the package he was in the process of delivering. The game is basically a shooter where you shoot electric bullets from your hand instead of real bullets with a gun. You get to play in a huge city separated into 3 island districts. The mission structure is what you'd expect from a sandbox game; you have your main story missions along with completing the side missions that result in Cole taking over territory. A power level up system and a morality system round out the experience.
Story:
inFamous' story shoots a lot higher than you'd expect. It's much more than the standard story of you getting awesome powers and having to take out the bad guys. The overall story is actual pretty good and the game always has one more surprise up its sleeves. As a person with super powers, you are going to have to make tough decisions and you can't save everyone, and game does a good job with that. The strength of the plot is also one of its weaknesses as well because to give the story its due justice, the game needed a more cinematic feel and a lot more interaction with the main characters. The cinematic quality is below average as characters just run up to you and start talking in standard sandbox genre style and that's fine if the story is just a clothesline to get you from mission to mission; however, inFamous' plot deserves more than that.
Some of the story elements just didn't work. For example, the game attempts to create some historical fictional with the game's enemy organization, The First Sons, by saying The First Sons have been around for hundreds of years because they were responsible for the Salem Witch Trials and that's it. Also, this organization has really no record of doing anything until the events of the game. The game says only conduits can get powers like Cole, but there is very little backstory explaining things or any game encyclopedia feature where you can get optional information about the game's universe.
Gameplay:
The gameplay, as said previously, is basically a sandbox shooter. Yout most basic electric power is exactly the same as shooting a regular gun. Later on, you get powers that equate to a sniper rifle, a RPG, and grenades. You do get powers that are nothing like what you'd find in a shooter and your "shooter" powers do evolve during the game to become more like powers as the last grenade power upgrade is awesome. Overall, the core gameplay works great in the sandbox style and Cole becomes very powerful when you get all of his powers.
The game's mission variety is actually pretty damn good for a sandbox game. Yeah, you'll do several of the same side missions several times but new types of side missions get added into the mix as you progress in the story. The game does reach a bit of a lull when you move onto the second district as it all starts to feel repetitive until you get to the game's second boss fight and the pacing really ratchets up and the game really starts throwing enemies at you. You do get some of the cooler powers a bit too late and when the game ends, you'll feel like you should've gotten more use out of the later powers and some of the fully upgraded powers.
inFamous also a morality system and it's nothing special, it's just your typical good/bad system; however, it actually works well for the game since as a person with superpowers, ethical dilemmas will naturally crop up. The morality system also ties into the main story in a way. The most important thing is that the morality system doesn't feel like a cheap way to get you to play through it twice. Plus, you get different powers and upgrades for being good or evil.
The platforming and climbing is the biggest gameplay issue. Cole what's to grab every little thing he can gets his hands on when most of the time you just want to land on the ground, having a grab button (at least when falling) instead of Cole auto-grabbing everything would've been preferable. Climbing is also hit and miss; for whatever reason, Cole can't climb fences. It really becomes a pain sometimes when you need to get to specific places, it'll take several tries. Cole also does this thing where he'll walk backwards when you are pressing forward quite often; Cole walked backward into some fire during a boss fight and killed himself once. All-in-all the platforming issues rarely do get you killed even on the game's hardest difficulty so it's not that big of an issue but very annoying.
The boss fights range from just OK to great. The 1st boss fight is very simple and basic and rather disappointing. The middle two boss fights are good while the final boss fight is great. I would suggest playing the game on hard as there isn't really any really tough spots during the game if you wisely use your powers. The last boss is probably the toughest part of the game and it's still very manageable but it just takes too long for that health bar to go down. You can switch difficulty levels at any time so if things get to hard, you can drop the difficulty.
Graphics:
The graphics are very solid and above average for a sandbox game. The game has pop-in like every sandbox game. There's a relatively small amount of graphical glitches for a sandbox game. The character models of the main characters outside of Cole really should've had more detail. The city overall is interesting and there are several unique places to keep the city from feeling like the same buildings were copied and pasted all over. The last district though does feel a bit same-y and less unique compared to the first 2 districts you get to explore.
The graphics really don't do a good job giving the game the proper cinematic feel the plot deserves. A decent amount of the story is told through motion comics, which do a pretty good job while giving the game a comic book vibe. Although, the game should've had in-game cinematics for other plot and character points.
Sound:
The sound is extremely average. The musical score isn't anything noteworthy nor is it bad. There was really only one time where the score really kicked in during an important mission making it feel all the more crucial and it got me moving at a faster pace. The voice acting is fine, it gets the job done. The sound effects are good and really make great use out of the sub-woofer.
The game is inexplicably lacking in audio options. For one, the game has no options to lower/increase overall volume, sound effects, music, and dialog. I'm always been one that lowers the music and sound effects as they are always mixed too high and overpower the dialog. Also, this game is in dire need of a custom soundtrack. I think any sandbox game with a good deal of side missions and collectibles should have the custom soundtrack feature. And Sucker Punch is a Sony developer, there is no reason why they couldn't borrow the coding required for custom soundtracks from another Sony developer and put it into the game.
Closing:
inFamous ended up being a much better game than I was expecting because I don't really like sandbox games very often. But the electric powers you get over the course of the game really do lend themselves well to the sandbox style of gameplay. Towards the end of the game you really feel like a near indestructible force when you have all your powers and everything upgraded. The fun just ends a little too soon and you don't have as much time being at max power as you'd want.
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Story: 7.5/10
Gameplay: 8/10
Graphics: 7/10
Sound: 4/10
Overall: 7.5/10
inFamous is a sandbox game developed by Sucker Punch (the creators of the Sly Cooper series) that puts you in the shoes of Cole MacGrath who gets electric powers after getting blown up by the package he was in the process of delivering. The game is basically a shooter where you shoot electric bullets from your hand instead of real bullets with a gun. You get to play in a huge city separated into 3 island districts. The mission structure is what you'd expect from a sandbox game; you have your main story missions along with completing the side missions that result in Cole taking over territory. A power level up system and a morality system round out the experience.
Story:
inFamous' story shoots a lot higher than you'd expect. It's much more than the standard story of you getting awesome powers and having to take out the bad guys. The overall story is actual pretty good and the game always has one more surprise up its sleeves. As a person with super powers, you are going to have to make tough decisions and you can't save everyone, and game does a good job with that. The strength of the plot is also one of its weaknesses as well because to give the story its due justice, the game needed a more cinematic feel and a lot more interaction with the main characters. The cinematic quality is below average as characters just run up to you and start talking in standard sandbox genre style and that's fine if the story is just a clothesline to get you from mission to mission; however, inFamous' plot deserves more than that.
Some of the story elements just didn't work. For example, the game attempts to create some historical fictional with the game's enemy organization, The First Sons, by saying The First Sons have been around for hundreds of years because they were responsible for the Salem Witch Trials and that's it. Also, this organization has really no record of doing anything until the events of the game. The game says only conduits can get powers like Cole, but there is very little backstory explaining things or any game encyclopedia feature where you can get optional information about the game's universe.
Gameplay:
The gameplay, as said previously, is basically a sandbox shooter. Yout most basic electric power is exactly the same as shooting a regular gun. Later on, you get powers that equate to a sniper rifle, a RPG, and grenades. You do get powers that are nothing like what you'd find in a shooter and your "shooter" powers do evolve during the game to become more like powers as the last grenade power upgrade is awesome. Overall, the core gameplay works great in the sandbox style and Cole becomes very powerful when you get all of his powers.
The game's mission variety is actually pretty damn good for a sandbox game. Yeah, you'll do several of the same side missions several times but new types of side missions get added into the mix as you progress in the story. The game does reach a bit of a lull when you move onto the second district as it all starts to feel repetitive until you get to the game's second boss fight and the pacing really ratchets up and the game really starts throwing enemies at you. You do get some of the cooler powers a bit too late and when the game ends, you'll feel like you should've gotten more use out of the later powers and some of the fully upgraded powers.
inFamous also a morality system and it's nothing special, it's just your typical good/bad system; however, it actually works well for the game since as a person with superpowers, ethical dilemmas will naturally crop up. The morality system also ties into the main story in a way. The most important thing is that the morality system doesn't feel like a cheap way to get you to play through it twice. Plus, you get different powers and upgrades for being good or evil.
The platforming and climbing is the biggest gameplay issue. Cole what's to grab every little thing he can gets his hands on when most of the time you just want to land on the ground, having a grab button (at least when falling) instead of Cole auto-grabbing everything would've been preferable. Climbing is also hit and miss; for whatever reason, Cole can't climb fences. It really becomes a pain sometimes when you need to get to specific places, it'll take several tries. Cole also does this thing where he'll walk backwards when you are pressing forward quite often; Cole walked backward into some fire during a boss fight and killed himself once. All-in-all the platforming issues rarely do get you killed even on the game's hardest difficulty so it's not that big of an issue but very annoying.
The boss fights range from just OK to great. The 1st boss fight is very simple and basic and rather disappointing. The middle two boss fights are good while the final boss fight is great. I would suggest playing the game on hard as there isn't really any really tough spots during the game if you wisely use your powers. The last boss is probably the toughest part of the game and it's still very manageable but it just takes too long for that health bar to go down. You can switch difficulty levels at any time so if things get to hard, you can drop the difficulty.
Graphics:
The graphics are very solid and above average for a sandbox game. The game has pop-in like every sandbox game. There's a relatively small amount of graphical glitches for a sandbox game. The character models of the main characters outside of Cole really should've had more detail. The city overall is interesting and there are several unique places to keep the city from feeling like the same buildings were copied and pasted all over. The last district though does feel a bit same-y and less unique compared to the first 2 districts you get to explore.
The graphics really don't do a good job giving the game the proper cinematic feel the plot deserves. A decent amount of the story is told through motion comics, which do a pretty good job while giving the game a comic book vibe. Although, the game should've had in-game cinematics for other plot and character points.
Sound:
The sound is extremely average. The musical score isn't anything noteworthy nor is it bad. There was really only one time where the score really kicked in during an important mission making it feel all the more crucial and it got me moving at a faster pace. The voice acting is fine, it gets the job done. The sound effects are good and really make great use out of the sub-woofer.
The game is inexplicably lacking in audio options. For one, the game has no options to lower/increase overall volume, sound effects, music, and dialog. I'm always been one that lowers the music and sound effects as they are always mixed too high and overpower the dialog. Also, this game is in dire need of a custom soundtrack. I think any sandbox game with a good deal of side missions and collectibles should have the custom soundtrack feature. And Sucker Punch is a Sony developer, there is no reason why they couldn't borrow the coding required for custom soundtracks from another Sony developer and put it into the game.
Closing:
inFamous ended up being a much better game than I was expecting because I don't really like sandbox games very often. But the electric powers you get over the course of the game really do lend themselves well to the sandbox style of gameplay. Towards the end of the game you really feel like a near indestructible force when you have all your powers and everything upgraded. The fun just ends a little too soon and you don't have as much time being at max power as you'd want.
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Story: 7.5/10
Gameplay: 8/10
Graphics: 7/10
Sound: 4/10
Overall: 7.5/10
