E.G. Review: Infamous

 

Lightning Strikes on the PS3

What I find interesting with this generation is the trend of choosing between good versus evil.  Although not an entirely new concept, morality has made a distinct presence in interactive entertainment. 

The problem is that “good versus evil” is a very simplistic way of presenting morality in gaming.  The Bell Curve Theory teaches us that few things are ever in the opposite extremes, and normality often occurs in between.  I like games that pay respect to that theory and honors the choice of choosing the normal path or the extremes.  Fallout 3 did an excellent job presenting morality by offering varying degrees of good, neutral, and evil. 

The core of Sucker Punch’s Infamous is morality but presented in binary choice-fashion.  This is where I find issues with the game.  As stated before, I find morality to be a complex issue of humanity that cannot be encompassed by “either this or that.”  There are plenty of gray areas.  I say that if you see the world in black and white, you are color blind.

In Infamous, you have to choose a path: good or evil.  You cannot stay neutral in Infamous’ world.  If you can, it must be a difficult task for sure, since I was unable to do so.  In Sucker Punch’s defense, Infamous is a game about a comic-like hero and a villain, a concept that rarely treads the gray area.

To quickly overview, Infamous stars an everyday Joe named Cole, a courier, who delivers, unknowingly, a bomb-like device that levels a good chunk of the fictional city of Empire and gives him super powers.  These powers grant him the ability to manipulate electrical currents and the inability to practice good hygiene.  His aversion to water certainly makes him the smelliest hero ever.

Infamous can be summed simply as an “open world platformer.”  You are free to explore the world; however, exploration will involve wall-climbing, jumping from ledges, etc.  If you have played Sucker Punch’s previous effort, the Sly Cooper series, you will see the evolution of acrobatic mobility in Cole.

The meat of the gameplay in Infamous is really how you move Cole throughout Empire City.  Cole often reminds me of classic super heroes who expertly roam the roof tops at night in search of evil doers.  To Sucker Punch’s credit, controlling Cole is a breeze.  Jumping is accurate, wall climbing is easy, and his overall movement is smooth.  What adds to the ease of control is the “stickiness” factor of Cole; Cole will automatically grab the nearest ledge, pipe, wall, etc.  The movement system is summed as “intuitive” and user friendly. 

There are some problems with system.  First, it’s almost too “sticky.”  There were times when I wanted Cole to jump over a ledge and ended up having him hang from it from the other side.  Second, sometimes Cole doesn’t register to grab a ledge, wall, pipe, etc. for whatever reason.  I understand the system isn’t perfect.  It certainly works more often than it doesn’t.  I would also note that it’s a system I would like to see in future platformers. 

Cole’s powers are interesting and very utilitarian.  His electrical powers are used in creative ways such as weaponry, travel, shielding, etc.  It seems that the only thing he can’t do is take a shower.  One an interesting note, I have been wondering what would happen if it rained; however, it never rains in Empire City.  I smell a conspiracy.

Many of his powers are very cool; however, many of them cannot be unlocked until much later.  As a result, although you may want to feel like a badass, you’ll have to wait much later to do so.  Once you do get all the powers, you get the feeling of being unlimited and completely awesome.  How you choose to play your character will have an affect on how you feel at that point. 

As stated before, Infamous works on a binary choice system.  You can work to be a Hero or be on the other side of the coin as Infamous.  If you play as a Hero, the people of Empire City will cheer you on, rise against the baddies, and respect and honor you.  If you play as Infamous, the people will fear you, hate you, police will gun you down, and to top it off, you will also look darker and more creepy.  Movies and dialogue will also change depending on how you play.  There are also special missions that are geared toward being good or evil.  As a result of these differences between playing as a Hero or Infamous, the game encourages a second play through and, as a result, it offers more game for your dollar.

Being an open world game, you get to choose what missions you will do and in what order.  One great thing about the missions is that there are plenty of check points, eliminating needless retries.  I thank you, Sucker Punch.  The problem with the missions is that some are copies of other missions.  As a result, there will be some repetition.  Overall, there isn’t a large variety of missions.  Thankfully, however, there are other distractions such as finding satellites through signal location and hunting for blast shards, energized pieces of earth that will earn you more “battery life.”

Visually, you won’t find amazing eye candy in Infamous.  It doesn’t help that it can only be viewed in 720p.  However, this doesn’t mean Infamous is ugly.  Simply put, Infamous looks good but not great.  Auditory-wise, the sound effects are what you would expect it to be, but the big winner is the score.  Very reminiscent of The Dark Knight, the score really adds to the ambiance of the game.

Story-wise, although not completely original, Infamous is interesting and engaging.  Bits of info are spread across the game, and things won’t really come together and make sense until the end where it throws in a cool plot twist.  Was it worth it?  I would say “yes.”  As for Cole himself, he is somewhat disinteresting as the protagonist.  If it weren’t for his powers, Cole would be a banal character.  Nothing about him screams special or interesting aside from the fact that he can shoot lightning from his fingers.  And that he can’t take a shower.  Again, hygiene is important people.  Cole is ultimately forgettable.      

The truth is that Infamous will not be winning Game of the Year from me.  The problem is that it doesn’t do anything revolutionary or new.  However, it does a lot of things right and a lot of things well.  When I wasn’t playing it, I wanted to play it more.  Although fatigue will set in during the second play through, the first time will be fun and well worth it.  It’s one of the rare PS3 exclusives certainly worth owning.

-jj

~ by jj on June 9, 2009.