Brikar

"inFamous" by Sucker Punch
PS3 Exclusive

STORY
You are Cole, an everyman bike messenger (who happens to possess fabulous Parkour skills), making a delivery in Empire City. Suddenly, your package explodes, leveling entire city blocks and killing thousands...

...but not you. When Cole wakes, he discovers that he has gained bizarre electrical powers. The city is quarantined; the government blames a plague that pops up after the blast. The cops are overwhelmed, gangs rule the streets, and people huddle in the dark, alone and afraid.

To top it all off, Cole is blamed for the detonation that started everything.

One day, Cole and his friend Zeke decide enough is enough and make a run on the blockade. The attempt fails, and Cole is captured by a woman named Moya, an FBI agent who explains to him that the blast was set off by a terrorist group called the First Sons. Moya wants Cole to use his powers to find her husband, John, who disappeared while undercover with the First Sons. With Moya guiding Cole, Cole's ex-girlfriend Trish managing a trauma center and Zeke around to lend a hand and a witty retort, Cole sets out to take down the gangs and restore order to Empire City.

Along the way, there are twists and turns, lies and double-crosses... and some awesome friggin' set pieces.

GAMEPLAY
"inFamous" is a sandbox game, in the style of "Grand Theft Auto". Empire City lives and breathes much the same way Liberty or Vice City did in those games. It's loaded with NPCs who will act in a variety of ways. At first, many of them will lie injured, and the dead litter the streets. Eventually, Cole will gain the ability to either heal these people, or suck the remaining life out of them.

And this will lead us into the game's Karma system: Do good things, and your Karma meter will run into the blue, awarding you ranks like "Guardian" and "Hero". Do good things, and people will cheer you as you run by, take your picture, or ask for help. They'll even hang up posters honoring you. Later in the game, they will even assist you in your pitched battles with the gangs, throwing rocks or shooting their own sidearms at enemies.

Do bad things, and it's a whole different matter. They will run and scream when you approach, or even attack you instead of helping you.

Throughout the game, Cole is presented with moral choices to make. A man is strung up by a mob for stealing food; will you save him or let the mob tear him to pieces? The gangs have poisoned the water supply; will you absorb the poison yourself or let it into the water? Each decision you make will affect your Karma rating.

There are a number of story missions and side missions for you to undertake. Missions are color-coded blue for story missions, green and yellow for good side-missions or red and yellow for evil side-missions. Doing good side-missions will lock out evil side-missions, and vice versa.

Combat is a matter of targeting your various powers and then unleashing them. Being good generally means you have to be a bit more careful with your shots. Indiscriminately firing into a crowd will make you more evil, while choosing your shots more carefully and saving innocents will make you good. Nailing enemies, saving people and completing missions will net you XP, which can be used to upgrade your powers to various levels. You'll get standard electric shocks, energy grenades, shockwaves, and you can even call down devastating lightning strikes later in the game.

Using your attack powers means using up your energy, which can be refilled by sapping energy from nearby electrical sources such as cars, phones, lights, generators and practically anything else that has power.

Let's talk for a minute about moving around the city. Unlike GTA, you can't jack cars in Empire City. You can jump atop and ride moving vehicles, but aside from the trains, they tend to be pretty slow-moving cars and trucks. Instead, Cole has the ability to scale ... everything. Every building, every pole, every fence can be climbed, clambered over, jumped upon. Cole can slide up and down electrical wires, phone wires, train tracks and build up some awesome speed.

GRAPHICS
"inFamous" is not the prettiest game ever created, but what is done here is perfectly good. The production design is great, with Empire City looking truly down in the dumps. Many sections of the city are littered with dead bodies and piles of debris. Buildings are trashed and smashed. Empire City doesn't have weather cycles like GTA; night doesn't seem to occur much at all, though there are lengthy periods of twilight. There is fog, but no rain (since Cole is hurt or even killed by water, putting rain in this game would just be ludicrous).

GRADE:
A

__________________
"A million monkeys typing until the end of time will produce the complete works of William Shakespeare. Ten thousand monkeys typing for ten thousand years will write a Hemingway. Ten monkeys typing over Columbus Day weekend will give you a Dan Brown."

http://olympusmans.blogspot.com
http://benforrealz.blogspot.com

Closet Racist

It rocks! I've never considered using a sick day to play a game, but it is only Wednesday...

Bean

You've both sold me. I'm going to the store tonight. Gonna trade in Guitar Hero Metallica. I got bored with it.

On another note, I just finished Dead Space. Not bad for a Resident Evil in space.

__________________
"I haven't faced death. I've cheated death. I've tricked my way out of death and patted myself on the back for my ingenuity. I know nothing."

--James T. Kirk

Brikar

That's why I think "Rock Band" is a considerably better investment than "Guitar Hero" has been - The constant addition of new material means it never gets old. And you're adding new songs into a single growing library instead of buying standalone games.

But definitely go ahead and give 'inFamous' a try. It's fabulous.

__________________
"A million monkeys typing until the end of time will produce the complete works of William Shakespeare. Ten thousand monkeys typing for ten thousand years will write a Hemingway. Ten monkeys typing over Columbus Day weekend will give you a Dan Brown."

http://olympusmans.blogspot.com
http://benforrealz.blogspot.com

Brikar

I just beat "inFamous" with good karma. Now I'm going to play through as evil Cole and see what's what.

Definitely itching for a sequel, though. Like, right fucking now.

__________________
"A million monkeys typing until the end of time will produce the complete works of William Shakespeare. Ten thousand monkeys typing for ten thousand years will write a Hemingway. Ten monkeys typing over Columbus Day weekend will give you a Dan Brown."

http://olympusmans.blogspot.com
http://benforrealz.blogspot.com

Closet Racist

When I awoke from my slumber this afternoon, my roommate was at his computer...He had HUGE black circles around his eyes. He had been playing this game for 20 hours straight, maybe longer.

Cymro

Wow, he needs a fleshlight or something.

__________________
"Let me tell you something about humans, nephew: They're a wonderful, friendly people - as long as their bellies are full and their holosuites are working.

"But take away their creature comforts, deprive them of food, sleep, sonic showers, put their lives in jeopardy over an extended period of time and those friendly, intelligent, wonderful people...will become as nasty and as violent as the most blood-thirsty klingon."

Closet Racist

So he's been told.

Brikar

It's been eating my free time for a week, and will continue to do so likely for another.

__________________
"A million monkeys typing until the end of time will produce the complete works of William Shakespeare. Ten thousand monkeys typing for ten thousand years will write a Hemingway. Ten monkeys typing over Columbus Day weekend will give you a Dan Brown."

http://olympusmans.blogspot.com
http://benforrealz.blogspot.com