InFAMOUS 2

Last week I posted a poll on Facebook asking readers to vote for this weeks review. And with a landslide victory of ONE VOTE, the winner is InFAMOUS 2. Thanks guys. You fill me with confidence. Because I'm already a day behind, lets not waste any more time!

STORY
InFAMOUS 2 begins with a handy summary of who Cole McGrath is, and what's going on in his life. For those of you who haven't played the original, Cole was a bike courier who unwittingly activated a deviced that killed thousands, but also activated superpowers in people called Conduits. At the end of the game, it's revealed that "The Beast", a conduit of destructive power, is making his way to Cole's home of Empire city, and it's up to him to fend off the attack.

The sequel begins with Cole leaving for New Marais (an in game clone of New Orleans) when the Beast launches his attack. After Cole flees, the game follows his efforts to gain more powers and local support in his new surroundings before the Beast tracks him down, while having to deal with the oppressive Milita, and a mysterious swarm of dangerous Swamp Monsters.

In short, the game has a very comic book-y feeling, which is perfect for a game about a super powered man who has to decide what to do with the gifts he's been given. While there are two paths to follow, there aren't many major story ramifications until the very end, although its fun to play through twice to see the awesome endings.

While the story isn't as focused as it's predecessor, it works well enough. We're reminded of the Beasts ever nearing presence by captions at certain points in the game, and it helps keep the game's feeling of tension. My biggest problem with the story is that there weren't mny characters that were associated with the three enemy factions, like Alden Tate and Kessler from the original. Instead, we get Joseph Bertrand, who is interesting to say the least.

PRESENTATION
The city of New Marais is a fresh, vibrant setting for a sandbox game, that still manages to be gritty and realistic when it wants to be. Sucker Punch has neglected to go the route of NYC clones, and instead they've built their own New Orleans, complete with Streetcars and flooded neighbourhoods. It's alot more bright than I remember Empire City being, and it just feels more busy and alive.

Cole and Zeke, the returning characters, have gotten minor makeovers, and they work well enough. The biggest change is to Cole's voice; instead of sounding gravelly and gritty, he sounds somewhat lighthearted, and a bit more human. This is, in part, thanks to the entertaining script, which contains some truly funny lines, between Zeke and Cole in particular.

Voice acting as a whole is interesting, and each main character has their own unique sound. Nix's dialogue is very seductive and playful, which is all part of her character, while Kuo is all about Order and Control, which is reflected in her very business-like tone. The south african accents of the Ice Soldiers are some of the funniest things I've ever heard. But that might just be cause it's South African.

The soundtrack isn't really anything to write home about. It gets the job done, but I never found myself listening to the soundtrack and getting chills like I do from other games. On the other hand, the comic book styled cutscenes are expertly drawn and they provide a fresh, vibrant look that cointrasts with the sometimes gritty game engine visuals.

GAMEPLAY
If you played the original, this'll all be fairly familiar to you. InFAMOUS plays like a platformer/third person shooter, with a sandbox for you to cause chaos or enforce order in. Controlling Cole is fairly easy, as climbing a building is as simple as mashing the jump button against a wall with grabbable points. Sure, it's not as fluid or as pretty as, say, Assassin's Creed's parkour system, but it gets the job done and opens up many approaches to different situations in New Marais.

Occasionally, however, McGrath gets bogged down while traversing the city. Grinding rails and train tracks are a quick way to get around, but falling off can be a nuisance. Luckily, the addition of upward boost poles helps get Cole off the ground, and enhanced thruster abilites allow McGrath to stay off the ground longer. It keeps zooming around the city fast and satisfying.

Using Cole's powers works like a third person shooter, you aim with one button and use each power as if it was a different weapon (i.e. grenade, rocket, standard gun) mapped to each button. Cole retains most of his powers from his first outing, and this time adds multiple flavours of each power to his repertoire. Using the "Punch Blast" variation of the "Blast" power is damn fun, for example, but within seconds, it can be swapped out for a different variation. Sucker Punch have found a great way of accessing a good helping of powers on the fly without disrupting gameplay too much.

Combat makes up most of the gameplay, and one of the biggest improvements over the first game is the addition of "The Amp". The Amp is like a giant cattle prod which McGrath uses to bash enemies around. The old melee system was pretty sterile and lifeless, but InFamous 2's finisher/ultimate meter helps keep the Amp melee feeling powerful and fun.

REPLAYABILITY
InFAMOUS 2 is one of the best kinds of sandbox game: fun main story missions, collectibles to find and a whole bunch of Territory gaining side quests to finish help InFamous 2 justify all that open game world. Finding blast shards and dead drops increase your power and uncover the story respectively, while the side quests help Cole clear out the majority of enemies from any one area.

Aside from these, inFamous 2 provides heaps of minor side missions, which can range from Stopping a Mugging to beating the hell out of street performers. They help to change your Karma meter, and all of the actions above net you Experience to spend on varieties of Cole's vanilla powers.

Done all of that? Found everything and beaten every mission? Well theres another playthrough waiting for you, good or evil, depending on what you played last time. On top of that is Sucker Punch's User Generated Content, and while nothing particularl impressive has been made by the community as of yet, I have faith in Sony's creative user base. I mean, just look at Little Big Planet.

OVERVIEW
InFAMOUS 2 is a damn good sequel to an utterly fantastic title from two years ago. There a lot more likeable characters, and even the protagonist seems more human, but the overall story has taken a bit of a hit in terms of focus. It has a good sense of tension, but there aren't many memorable faces on the opposing team, with Bertrand being the only real villain for the majority of the game.

The gameplay has improved in various ways; the amount of power variations means players can play the way they want, additions to the landscape and Cole's repertoire make traversing the map fun and fast, and the sandbox feels so much more alive than Empire City.
If you can excuse the less focused, but still serviceable storyline, then the gameplay shouldn't really disappoint. Fans of the first InFamous should definitely pick this one up. PS3 owners should definitely give it a try, because its just a whole lot of fun when it comes down to it.


Going to put another poll on Facebook for next week. Lined up are; Brink, Fable 3 and Red Faction Armageddon. Go vote, or not, I don't care. See you next time!