Playstation Gamer UK

inFamous is the first PS3 game from fabled Sony development studio, Sucker Punch Productions, creators of the Sly Cooper series, and their experience with this type of game definitely shows. inFamous is a 3rd person action game where you play as Cole who was granted super powers following an explosion that destroyed most of Empire City, the fictional city in which the game takes place. I describe this game as a cross between Spiderman 2, Assassin’s Creed and Bioshock. It takes the open world gameplay of Spiderman 2, the climb-on-anything mechanics of Assassin’s Creed and the good vs. bad morality choices of Bioshock to create a very compelling and fun game.

The game’s strength is really it’s story. It’s a very story driven game. It puts it’s players in the situation of “alright, you’ve got superpowers, now what?” While the morality choice system has taken a lot of heat in the enthusiast press I’m actually quite fond of it. While it does split the game it can be very fun to play through a game twice, two different ways, to see if there are different outcomes. I can’t go into the story too much because I don’t want to spoil it but it’s a very good story. The character of Cole is very engaging and Sucker Punch did a very good job of developing him, depending on your choices you can really feel sorry for him. The other cast of characters are also pretty good. None of them are overly stereotypical or so eccentric that they subtract from the story, like characters do in some games.

The graphics in the game aren’t perfect. That said, inFamous still looks very good. While it can’t compare to games like Uncharted, MGS4 and Killzone 2, it stands up very well to most games, and looks better than other open world games like Grand Theft Auto IV and Saint’s Row. Unfortunately, there are some issues. The face animations aren’t very good and there can be some weird clipping issues when you’re traveling through some of the more unusual sections of Empire City (particularly on the final island). That said, the characters look pretty good, and the different enemies look different enough to remove the repetitiveness of it.

The gameplay is another standout in the inFamous experience. This is really the most important aspects of game design for me and Sucker Punch did a great job again. Cole handles great. The climbing mechanics are awesome. Instead of just hitting a button and running straight up a wall Cole actually has to grab handholds. For instance water pipes, ledges, window ledges, large cracks, etc are all things that Cole can grab onto while he climbs up the side of the building. Despite the, Assassin’s Creed like climbing mechanics the climbing in inFamous is a lot faster than in Assassin’s Creed thanks to the ability to double jump while climbing.

inFamous really makes up for not being able to use vehicles with some of the travel power you unlock as you play the game. In the beginning getting around can be a tad annoying. But once you unlock the ability to grind on train rails and pseudo-glide while you’re in the air getting around becomes a lot quicker.

Which leads me into another standout point of inFamous, the powers. These powers are badass. Particularly the powers at the end of the game. The final power you unlock is the ability to call down a lightning strike and that is (for lack of a better word) awesome. Being able to unleash that and have enemies just blown away is amazing. All of the powers work very well, the grenade and “shock hammer” (it’s basically a missile) are also quite impressive.

There is a lot in this game. In order to complete one play through it’s going to take you about 12 hours. The side quests are fun and original. This game even manages to make the manditory escort missions fun. There are lots of collectables around the city and there are always enemies to kill, even if you’ve “freed” the entire city.

What we loved

The powers are great

The missions are unique and original

The city is large and fun to explore

Cole’s story is engaging and compelling

The morality choices work well

What we Hated

Traveling around the enviroments is annoying early on

there are some graphical/animation issues

You don’t have access to all the powers at once

Overall Verdict –  5 Stars ( What does this mean? )

This may be the best open world super hero game to date. While it may have some technical problems the gameplay and story make up for it a thousand times over. If you own a PS3 you should definitely pick up this game. I really feel that some of Killzone 2’s hype early in the year should’ve been put towards inFamous instead.

Also, those who have bought the game early got access to the Uncharted 2: Among Thieves beta. I mention this not because it’s counting towards the review but because I will have an impressions article from the beta up later on.