[Review] Infamous

Posted by Jeremy M. Zoss at 10:01 AM Jun 29, 2009

After long delay, I finally able to bring you the first review in my OWSS09 competition. As the only PS3 game of the bunch, the untimely death of my Xbox meant that Infamous got bumped to the top of the review pile, but even when I scored a loaner Xbox I stuck with Infamous, because it's simply a damn fine game that's hard to put down. It's not perfect and it's too early to say if it will be my pick for best Open-World game of Summer of 2009, but there's a lot to love about Infamous and very little to dislike.

Infamous

Infamous puts you into the shoes of Cole, a messenger who is imbued with electrical powers when a package he's sent to deliver explodes and fills him with a mysterious energy. Thousands die and gangs take over in the chaos, and it's up to Cole to bring the city back to some semblance of normality. Story missions are doled out by characters who also help expand the plot, some of which are genuinely engaging characters. Cole's girlfriend Trish blames him for the death of her sister in the blast, and her grief and conflicted feelings are handled well. Cole's best friend Zeke could have been a thin joke character, but over the course of the game I grew to like him quite a bit and understand the decisions he made that affected the plot in major ways. I won't spoil those for you, of course. The story, while serviceable, never rises to the same level as the characterization's and the real star of Infamous: Cole's powers.


Cole's electricity-based powers grow and evolve at a steady pace throughout the game, and can be customized with a light RPG-like experience system. After a few hours, you'll be zapping bad guys with electrical shocks, grinding on power lines, throwing sticky pulse grenades and much more. Different powers become available based on your moral choices, but they're really more like variations on the same core abilities. Regardless of what path you choose, you'll be getting around the city with Cole's acrobatic "urban exploration" moves, which were by far my favorite part of the game. Like Altair in Assassin's Creed, Cole is a climber. To get to the top of a building, you need to find a path with scaleable objects like windowsills, signs and pipes. But unlike Assassin's Creed, you can't just hold up on the analog stick and watch your character automatically detect a path. You have to jump from object to object each and every time. Every building is like its own little puzzle, and while climbing buildings is rarely frustrating, by the time you're a few hours into it you'll be able to scale a building without a thought. Occassionally Cole will attach to an object you don't want him to which, while somewhat annoying, rarely leads to critical mistakes.

Sucker Punch handled the growth and limitations of Cole's superpowers in a clever, logical way. Restarting underground power substations earns new powers. Using them drains your electrical stores, but you can refill your powers by leeching it out of nearly any electrical object, like lights, generators, cars and more. Each ability can be powered up by earning experience points from killing enemies, completing story missions or finishing side missions. As a gamer who generally prefers a linear game experience, I'm pleased that Sucker Punch gave me good incentive to veer off the main path and finish side quests. Beating them retakes an area of the city, permanently clearing it of enemies. There's a good variety of side missions, although a few that I didn't care for are repeated. They're easy to avoid though, so it's not a major issue.
 

The morality system in Infamous has been much-discussed since the game was released, and it's often singled out as the game's weak point. There is a good and evil way to finish many quests, and the choices that you're offered are sometimes comically lopsided. The good path almost always involves saving citizens, while the bad path almost always involves killing them. There's no ambiguity or gray area in any choice, it's always either "saintly" or "demonically evil." I chose the good path, and while I will likely continue playing to finish up unfinished quests (which you can do after the story ends), I'm not sure I'll play through the bad path anytime soon. The story and alternate powers aren't a huge enticement for me, and I don't have the desire to be evil for evil's sake. Had Infamous not featured a morality system, it would have been just as good. Then again, the name wouldn't make sense.

Other than the arguably superfluous morality system, Infamous has few flaws, and those it does have are minor. Sometimes Cole would get stuck on an object or the camera would freak out. Once completing a mission to rescue a medical clinic gave me negative karma for no discernible reason. A few late-game story missions were frustratingly hard. But overall, I simply loved Infamous. It's a great-looking game with core game mechanics that make it a pleasure just to move around, it has good characters, good pacing, strong rewards for side missions, and plenty of nice little touches that bring it above any beyond the the average game. As your karma grows, the NPC characters change how they behave in ways that makes the world feel real. At first, you're hated. Build your rep, and pedestrians will take your picture. They'll throw rocks at enemies. They'll put up posters of your face. The world of Infamous feels real, and it's a world I hope to revisit in a sequel. Infamous is, along with Uncharted, one of the best games I've played on the PS3 yet. 


Four out of Five Blue Pig Ganons.