During one’s experiences while gaming, certain milestone games establish an intimidating presence due to near perfection in game play. On Sega, it was Sonic, and on Nintendo it is Mario; on the PS1 it was Final Fantasy games and Bust-A-Move for me. Every once in a while, games like GTA and Metal Gear come along, transcending multiple generations of consoles. I believe that inFAMOUS fits the description of such a game like a glove.
PKH PKH PKHHH!
Imagine your typical GTA game, a perfect example of what a sandbox game should be, toss in some super human traits–say–the ability to manipulate electricity, and mix it well-let it sit for a few hours (yeah, I’ve been watching cooking videos) so that the ingredients can mix well, thereby creating a healthy dough of awesome. Oh, and make sure that the setting is in some vast city, with lots of skyscrapers to climb, jump across-and hey, while you’re at it, let’s add a some sewer action-you know, just in case ground level and air weren’t quite enough.
inFAMOUS reminds me of Urban Chaos, back on the PS1. If you remember that game, you might know what I’m talking about. Regardless of whether you know that game or not, there is this theme of infinite freedom, not even matched by GTA in inFAMOUS. This sense of undisputed authority, and it’s up to you, to either abuse it, or meld it for the greater good.
The story begins with Cole (you) in the origin of some gigantic explosion, which has rendered the city a hazardous environment, and therefore barricaded by the government so as to preserve some alleged hazard. You feel funny for some reason, and it turns out that you were somehow effected by the explosion to be able to freely manipulate electricity-and by a couple weeks, you’re able to fall from the highest building and not die-more or less, charge batteries, suck out electricity from fuse boxes and lamp posts, grind across railroads, and zap some baddies. During those weeks, unfortunately, crime has risen, people are angry, and certain gangs control certain parts of the city-no one is exempt from their violence. You are then given a choice, Cole, to either accomodate the people and help how you can, or jump into the fray as another danger.
Upon attempting to examine why you survived, you begin to meet a lot of untrustworthy people. The actual inhabitants of the city are unsure as to whether you’re a friend or foe-the choice is yours. And thus, your journey begins.
The graphics are fluid, one thing Sony and Sucker Punch did an excellent job of not letting slip, is the fact that this game is not dark, certainly not in appearance. The thing is, had this game been a monochromatic borefest, and drenched in black and white drudgery, it may have been heavy on the eyes. However, the city literally lights up-you see color, which I am glad was not knocked down a few knotches. There is no repetition: you won’t see the same building twice. I doubt you’ll see the same pedestrians twice, well, not three times at least. Given the fact that this game is on the PS3 doesn’t make me need to elaborate on the graphics. I think, by now, we know games can take advantage of this generation of consoles, and look good. Oh, and like Mirror’s Edge, the cut-scenes are basic CG with narration over them. Please read the Mirror’s Edge review for my comments on that in particular.
Hold the bus!
With regards to gameplay, and unlike Wolverine, for lack of a better choice of words, “amping up,” isn’t as horribly timed, and ill-placed. Enhancements appear after cut-scenes, and after that, you’re given the option of pressing start and easily investing experience points into leveling said enhancements. Now, I know I said ‘experience’ and ‘enhancements’ which more or less ruined Wolverine for me in terms of immersing myself in the game. However, inFAMOUS simply did a better job at timing when these messages appear. You don’t level up, you enhance up, which is what I wish Wolverine had. That directly means that as you are introduced to the game, and when you learn of a new way to use your power, when you press start, there’s an option to look at your traits and can choose to enhance them via purchasing ranks. There are only three ranks-and yes, they can all be unlocked. This is a classic example of how one game easily perfects something while another runs it: when you capture someone, the text relevant to that information is small, and does not grab your attention. It is just flawless in that sense.
Another obviously huge factor of the gameplay is your ability to manipulate Karma. Do a good deed, and your Karma level goes up; do the opposite and your Karma level goes down. If you consistently do good deeds, you’ll eventually be known as a hero, do the bad ones, and you’ll eventually be known as infamous. Guess which path I chose. :P The karma you choose doesn’t really effect how your powers grow, except that they are entirely different ones with different colors: red electricity for infamy, and blue for heroism.
There are a lot of side-missions, and you’ll get different ones depending on whether you’re a complete jerk or decent person. “Good” missions lock out “bad” missions, so you essentially choose where the storyline goes-sorta. However, you will need to make up your mind since certain enhancements are only given to the middle-to-finalized ranks for infamy or heroism. You’ll be given the duty of debugging buildings of spying machines, taking out some baddies who took over a clinic, grinding on some rails to establish some up link, jumping into the sewers to reconnect a blacked-out part of the city, escort sick people, chase bad ones, take out snipers, be a sniper, and much more. There’s a lot to do without this being troublesome. This game is amazing. I love inFAMOUS.
Hi, I'm Cole!
And oh my God, let me just say, that when the time comes for you to make a very important descision, you will totally freak out from shock. That’s another thing, the storyline is phenomenal-too depressed overall for my liking, but it’s very well-written, and you will be hooked. I can’t wait for the sequel, quite frankly.
To conclude this review, I am glad to say that this game has defined a place for itself as one of those great ones that you should consider trying. I’m proud of Sony for publishing this. Now, I realize it’s some faceless corporation that’s out to make the “munnies,” but it goes to show that if you know your business, you can create the most amazing games. At the end of the day, what’s relevant to me, was that this game is good. I really cannot do this game justice, you will literally find yourself a superhero, or villain, and it’s not even the point. It is certainly an amazing experience. That’s what I like about inFAMOUS, it takes that one humble step forwards, and is more than just a game. One word: freedom.
If you had to buy this or Prototype, get inFAMOUS.
