inFAMOUS Review - Shockingly imPRESSIVE
Quick Summary
Pros:
* Great Story with Awesome Ending, Diverse Special Abilities, Excellent Karma System
Cons:
* Lacks Good Ambient Music, Few Platforming Hiccups
About inFAMOUS
Available Platforms PS3
Genre Action/Adventure
ESRB Rating T for Teen
Release Date May/26/2009
Publisher/Developer Sony Computer Entertainment/Sucker Punch
Story: 9 / 10
inFAMOUS literally starts out a bang! There is this huge blue explosion leveling numerous city blocks and buildings while you, as Cole, wake up to ground zero. While escaping, you encounter electricity that starts to interact with your body. Not only are you unharmed, but you realize this new power feels good! When the general public learns of your survival in the explosion, they conveniently blame you for the disaster (you did obtain super powers afterall). Your close friend, Zeke, stays by your side, but your girlfriend Trish (who lost her sister in the blast), can't even look at you. The government quarantines the city and eventually gangs fill in and take over. Now it's up to you to save the city or leave it in darkness.
Gameplay: 9 / 10
The gameplay of inFAMOUS is stellar. There are three islands to explore and although you start off with one, the other two get unlocked as the story progresses. On each island, every building and alley can be explored which makes this a huge step forward to super-hero gaming. The platforming of these buildings is nearly flawless except for the few areas where it didn't work quite right. There were a few pipes that didn't respond well and a few piles of rubble that Cole kind of had to skip all over, but other than that, it was great.
The place where inFAMOUS really shines is the use of Cole's super powers. If you have good karma, you'll have blue lightning and if you have bad karma, a red lightning. There is a good amount of abilities for both karma choices and a decent amount of diversities between the two. The differences are even catered to the designated karma selection. For instance, shock grenades can restrain enemies without killing them if you play with good karma, but if bad, they'll scatter to cause the maximum amount of damage. Overall, scaling the buildings of Empire City with a huge arsenal of powers to beat up gang members has never been more fun or awesome.
View article images hereGraphics: 8 / 10
Even if it's not considered breathtaking, inFAMOUS has some very impressive graphics. The large scale of its graphical presentation over all Empire City just blows you away. You can explore all three islands without ever having to sit through a loading screen which we know most open world games can't boast. There is some pop-in and a few framerate hitches but these are comparable to what you'd see in other open world games like Grand Theft Auto IV.
The coolest graphical display is with the electricity and seeing the lightning effects. The guys over at Sucker Punch really understood the importance of this as it's a significant part of presentation throughout most of the game-play. From draining electricity in street lights to shooting it out of your fingers, the play on lightning is great and as mentioned before, makes this game look good.
Another unique presentation effect was found in the cut scenes. inFAMOUS injects some artistic originality to each cut scene as they are presented in a moving comic book type fashion. The colors of the comic scenes really pop on HDTV and just like everything else, adds to the whole feel of the story and the state of Empire City!
Sound: 7 / 10
The sound effects in the game are great and add well to the environment with the gameplay and graphics. Although there were complaints over Cole's raspy voice, I thought it was perfect for the overall experience. The voice work of citizens and other main characters were pretty good, although some characters became somewhat annoying. I did find it weird that the game lacked music almost completely. There would be music during cut scenes and boss battles, but that was about it. Every now and then, short clips would play out, but they felt random and sometimes out of place. The best song in the game was played during the credits (called Silent Melody).
Challenge/Replay Value: 9 / 10
Plain and simple, inFAMOUS is not a very challenging game. However, when reflecting on this, I realized it wouldn't make sense to have super powers when you can't easily defeat common enemies. So the only real challenge come from the bosses, who of course also sport some extraordinary powers. Other challenges may come from facing large numbers of enemies that try to overtake you. The game also lets you play at your own pace without having to worry about saving all the time. This is fine because if you die, you don't lose anything and just need to go to a mission checkpoint or a med station.
The trophies are relatively easy to obtain but require two or three playthroughs and depend on your karma choices each time played. The good news is that you'll want to play the second time just to see what happens when reversing your karma choices. I personally enjoyed being the scourge of the city but I'm sure a lot of people will enjoy playing the hero on the other side of the karma spectrum.
Overall Score: 9 / 10
After all is said and done, inFAMOUS is a huge step forward to an open world super hero gaming. I am most certainly looking forward to, or should I say, "dying" for a sequel.
inFAMOUS Review - Shockingly imPRESSIVE
By: gamepodunk
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