Zero Punctuation: Infamous 2

[shogunblade]

Might give it a try.
Maybe the first one too.
Not many games that that good a review from Yahtzee.

The first one is unbelievably pretty fun, and this is coming from someone who hated the demo.

OT: I am shocked, shocked that Yahtzee had such few criticisms for Infamous 2, but when the last game you played was Duke Nukem Forever, playing in the toilet from Saw would probably be more fun, I assume.

 

[Swifteye]

Wasn't this supposed to be the 200th episode?

Yathzee didn't really celebrate his hundredth episode when it came out so far as to actually mention it a couple episodes later and what did he do then? Just play that intro song in full. Weeee....

If he doesn't want to make a fuss than I don't mind him not making a fuss personally online people get kind of annoying always celebrating a number.

 

[daxterx2005]

Call me immature, but my goodness I loled at "or you can fuck a cow"

 

[Ddgafd]

IMO they worked a lot more on the Good side and a lot less on the Bad side. I just don't think there's a reason to be evil. At all. What, taking over the city and being reckless? Well, then you should've given more destructive powers. The Good side yields a lot more practical powers, like Ice Launch, and...well, powerful powers, like Bolt Stream. Also, Nix is the most annoying character I've seen in a while, what a whining *****. I'll give the Evil ending credit though, it made me cry, and I don't cry easily.

 

[ultrachicken]

Kinda disappointed he didn't notice the achievement that's really a homage/reference to his review of Infamous 1.

What was that?

 

[sb666]

I think this is going to be his pick for game of the year.

nah my bets on saints row the third

 

[jmarquiso]

Kinda disappointed he didn't notice the achievement that's really a homage/reference to his review of Infamous 1.

What's it called?

I think it's called "extreme makeover"

Extreme Makeover is a reference to the first review? That's just a TV show.

I think "Well-Adjusted" would have been better. "Down-Syndrome Batman" might be another. "Electricity is just the thing for a collapsed young" also.

 

[Madara XIII]

What the, he actually enjoyed a game that I also enjoyed? What is this madness?!

Madness!? THIS!!!!! IS!!!!.....The escapistmagazine.com, where gamers from every corner of the globe unite under this one HTML site and watch our ever loving Yahtzee review games.....hehehe thought I was gonna say Sparta.

I'm surprised myself he liked it. However I still need to Play Just Cause 2 first

 

[iamultraman]

There is some damn brilliance in predeterming a player's karma BEFORE the game begins. First you wouldn't have to integrate some sort of karma system for the game; second you can just concentrate on really dicking around a sandbox instead; third you don't have to think of the karmic duality of missions too difficultly; fourth it would be a good exploration of a character's psyche, like two legitimate responses to one event that end in absolute good or absolute evil, a real statement on the flippantcy of the human mind. It's like if Mass Effect had a preemptive button that changes moral attitude, and if you choose good people are like "Oh Commander Shepherd you're so great" or "Commander Shephard haha what a sucker I can con it", and if you choose bad people go "Commander Shephard you are such a bastard" or "Oh Commander Shepherd we can make a partnership in my KITTEN NEUTERING BUSINESS." The plot would change dramatically--shying away from the overall neutrality of the plots we have now--and show the player the contrast between being a good guy or a bad guy, like Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde. For example the good side would have Shepherd getting its dossiers and information from planetary militaries, and the bad side would have Shepherd getting its dossiers from pirates and mob bosses and neo-nazis.

Anyway, damn. I predicted Yahtzee's big problem would be UGC. I even screamed out UGC! when he stated there was one problem. Ah well.

 

[Jinx_Dragon]

I have to say, the idea of letting us have the choice at the beginning of the game is actually quite good. If you are not going to be able to re-write every scene to count for five or so playing style (Evil, on the path to evil, neutral, on the path to good, Good) so the story flows smoothly then this is the very way to go about it. Give the player the choice at the start and then make the cut-screens designed so you get a good feeling of character depth during the whole of the game and not these bland, pointless, 'hero' and 'anti-hero' templates.

It is always good to see that I the only one sick with good and evil moral systems not based on the circumstances they are in. Cause face it, when you make a moral choice in real life it isn't based on 'will I be good or evil?' but a wide range of variables at that point in time. Not just 'am I a dick' but also if you are wanting to impress someone who is near by, if you are planning for a bigger betrayal due to revenge, have a irrational hatred or fear of something... I can go on and on with reasons people do good things for evil reasons. Hell, even if you are just having a bad day affects if you will be good and evil more then what we see in said games.

Never forget: The most evil acts in history are those justified that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.

In games life Infamous having those sort of thought patterns leave you getting screwed out of all the good power up and other stuff in the end because you simply can not play this game like a real, rational, human being. You have to either be a saint or a dick all the way through and that is unbelievable, to say the very least.

Sure, maybe I am asking for too much like game developers to make the story part of their game five times just to make it all fit together with a more smoother feel... but if your not willing to do that, make the player choose good and evil at the start and write the whole story with more depths and feeling then some bland 'can swing either way' gray moral character.

 

[BehattedWanderer]

I'll contest you on the system not making sense in this one. At it's weirdest, yes, it's a bit shallow. At it's best, which has more examples, you see a viable option (for the comic book themed superpowered individuals in question) that stays well within the boundaries of selfish, self-indulgent, self-glorification (evil), and the for-the-betterment-of-the-many selflessness that makes him a hero to the people, often risking losing something himself (hero). Consider the biggest decisions of both games. They follow this line to the letter. Does he save the lone woman he loves, or save a number of doctors instead? Does he steal medicine and break through the heavily defended enemy line to get the support of the people, or does he stage an attack that he ends, making him necessary in preventing further deaths? Does he sacrifice himself and others to save millions, or does he protect his own life at the cost of many other deaths? The morality is at least consistently directed, and does usually make sense in that light.

Nice to see the emotional endings getting some love, though. One, a tear-bringing affair with an emotional sendoff, the other a stolid, somber affair that is in itself rather heartbreaking, making the result a lonelier world. Well done, Sucker Punch, Well Done.

 

[Centrophy]

Huh... I didn't know Brits pronounced "St. Bernard" that way.

Not to sound like an annoying hipster but I disliked Infamous 1, so unless Infamous 2 is several times better I doubt I'll get it until it costs $20 at the bottom of a bargain bin.

What about endless player-made custom missions through the mission creator?

That was honestly one of the biggest problems on this great game. In order to prevent exploiting the UGC for experience they made it so you barely gain any exp at all. I also don't know about you, but I found most of the UGC missions far too tedious for the measly 50-90 experience gained. Well, except the "Cole - God of Thunder" ones - infinite health, no knockdown, rocket to the face? what? Psh... let's not forget infinite energy and a bunch of respawning dudes. Even then you don't get experience from any of the stunts or kills you make so it's pointless. According to the Sucker Punch forums it's based on how much time you spend in there up to the current cap of between 100-300... couldn't get confirmation. So yeah, UGC... no incentive to do them short of mind numbing boredom once you're done with the campaign and the trophies. So my final take on that... good idea, decent tools, poor execution. It's like Co-op in Dungeon Siege 3.

Oh, and on an entirely different note; Cole's voice and design is much better in this game than the first game.

 

[duchaked]

lol Yahtzee loves sandbox games way too much

also the Assassin's Creed games to some degree despite their flaws...guess I'm the same with the latter and sandbox games kind of sometimes

 

[dudeman0001]

Y'know, I recall on this very site one of the reviewers was talking about how much fun they were having being evil, but then said "the story's...meh..." and I instantly thought
"But the story goes to SHIT if you're infamous!" Seriously on my 2nd playthrough when I was evil it felt like I was playing a lame parody of the good story. but when I thought about it, I couldn't really put my finger on why the story was so much worse. But now that good ol' Yahtzee's worded my thoughts in a much more organized and coherent way (with a posh british accent to boot) I got lots of newfound insight to walk away with, it was also fucking funny. My new favourite review! They say the best stories are the ones that tell you what you already know.

 

[Adzma]

I had a feeling he'd mention the INSANE health bars of the bigger enemies since that was my biggest gripe with the game. Very good show Yahtzee old chap. *sips tea*

 

[Zing]

I played through evil in my first and only playthrough and I thought the story was great.

Anywayy the only thing that annoyed me about the story is that Nix's switch from bad to good seemed tacked on and ridiculous (that she loved the stupid creatures sooo much that she was willing to kill herself just for revenge). People don't change their personalities so drastically just like that.

Other than that, an extremely solid series, Infamous 2 is.

 

[redisforever]

Well, it does seem like an interesting game. I'll probably be getting a PS3 this year, because I now have a JOB! (YAY) So, I'll go for this, Infamous 1, Heavy Rain, and something else good.

 

[DoomBlackDragon]

Yeah I must agrea. The idea of having a good or evil choses in alot of these games. Really do not have much effect on me. Cause no matter what I do the game is 100% the same. Really if game makers add the good or evil system they need it to totally change the story. Make for you feel that this was a totally different game. Like in the good old days where games that epic stories that end with 4 - 6 endings with 200+ hours of game play to even unlock 1 ending let alone all of them.

Then again. The epic rpg games always had shit graphics so they needed the good story and gameplay to make people play their games.

Damn Graphics have killed gaming.

 

[head desk tricycle]

Being forced to live with choices you made can be an excellent source of dread for the player, but when the choices are so transparent, the effect is ruined. These game designers are really shooting themselves in the foot.

 

[DracoSuave]

Moral choice needed to be different?

I might be the only one who noticed this, but I thought Infamous was about playing a lightning-powered silver-age superhero vs playing a lightning-powered silver-age supervillain. I don't recall 'making the hard choices' being appropriate to the genres that it was trying to be a simulation of.

The evil side is supposed to be about being a lightning powered asshole who destroys everything he comes across because of the sheer lulz. It's an Emperor Palpatine-simulator. It's a Doomsday-simulator. It's a slide-along-the-electric-rails-dropping-grenades-on-everyone-because-you-can simulator.

I'm actually tired of comic book video games going 'You can be the villain!' and have it mean 'You do almost the same stuff the hero does but with more bondage gear!'

Kudos to Sucker Punch for not going that route, and actually making villain gameplay the destructive laugh that it's supposed to be. This isn't Paragon vs Renegade, this is cartoon heroism vs cartoon villainy. And it's damn appropriate to Infamous.

My only complaint is that there weren't so many cut scenes split between the two playthroughs, unlike the first.

And you can have your iceleap. Ionic Drain is an I-win button. And Scythe Blasting into a group to be grenaded to death as they're stunned into doing nothing to stop you is a laugh.