Released: May 26th, 2009
Developer: Sucker Punch Productions
Publisher: Sony
Genre: Action Sandbox
It's pretty silly to review this, as it was released months ago and people lost their brains over it, but here we go! Forward, to one of the PS3's best exclusive's, inFamous!
inFamous starts out immediately in-game. There is no real main menu. (the main menu is basically pressing start in-game) If you just bought the game and have no saves, it starts you at the beginning. If you do have a save, it loads up the more recent. Anyway, the game opens up to this giantic electrical explosion. People are screaming, and it's total chaos. The main character, Cole, wakes up in this little platform in the middle of where the blast was. He is injured and limped, and you get to play (a little tutorial really) and lead him to a safer area. Electricity keeps shooting him and he's just confused as hell.The game is full of interesting characters. Zeke is Cole's best friend. They live on the roof of a building. Trish is Cole's girlfriend, however their relationship is strained when her sister is killed in the blast. Empire City has gone to hell, and the government has put it on a quarantine and won't let anybody out. Crazies run the city, and Cole was given electrical powers. In the beginning of the game, one of your first missions is to knock down some food, either for you, Zeke, and Trish, or for everyone (keep this scene in mind) Either way, Zeke and Cole wish to escape Empire City, but fail to do so. Machine guns open fire at them, and Cole jumps to safety.
He lands in a tiny building and meets a woman called Moya. We learn, that she is looking for her husband, John, who was lost during the explosion, and this object called the Ray Sphere. (Cole was delivering a package, and told to open it, it turned out to be the Ray Sphere and it exploded) If he does so, she will let him leave the City and clear his name. Throughout the game, we also meet Sasha, Alder, and Kessler, leaders of the particular gangs who run the 3 sections of Empire City. (they all look similar, but they do have nice little differences)
The story is told through cinematics. They are very unique though. They are drawn and colored to look like a comic book (although with a voice of course) I never spoil anything in my reviews, but I will say this. The ending, is fucking awesome. That's all I'll say. If you are playing this, DO NOT look up spoilers. I can't even describe tiny details of why it's awesome, I'm too scared for spoilers :BThe game is basically a sandbox type game. You are free to focus on the main missions, do side missions, explore the city, find fun objects and all that. The camera is set behind cole, unless you hold down L1, which backs it up to behind his shoulder, RE 5 style. This is a great system and it works. Cole has many moves which require the L1 system, and that don't. Some of the "fun objects" I mentioned are things like shards and dead drops. Shards are these neato pieces of crystal, that when you collect enough it increases your electricity meter. The dead drops just tell more to the story, they are basically John's history. Very interesting stuff.
In order to get the full experience from inFamous, you will need to play through it twice. Once as a good guy, once as a bad guy. Karma is pretty easy to gain. (killing innocent people, doing bad karma decisions...the game will sometimes go into a mode where you can choose what to do and gain karma based on what you do) Some missions will give you the wrong karma, but it doesn't effect things badly. Evil Cole is stronger than good Cole. When you defeat enemies or do certain things, Cole gains xp. You can use this xp to upgrade your moves. Some moves are only unlocked by being evil or good enough. Cole can use basic lightning strikes, gernades, sucking electricity out of enemies, healing people, a lightning storm, get a shield, hover in the air, increase melee attacks, grind faster on rails, and a bunch more. The evil upgrades make things more destructive, more powerful. The good side makes things give you more electricity, levitate enemies, sometimes make them more powerful, odd things like that. The story differs in little ways, only the ending being the biggest difference. Cole's appearance goes darker the more evil you are, and his lightning turns red. The look of the city and how people treat you change too.To get around Empire City, Cole is the master of climbing, grinding, and hovering. Climb up a building, grind around on the rails, then hovering to other buildings. It does take a bunch of X mashing, but that's ok. It isn't repetitive combat, it's just climbing buildings. There is also a map, and a wonderful minimap so you'll never get lost. The difficulties (easy, medium, hard) are true to their word. Easy is easy, medium is medium, and hard is hard. It's pretty fair.
I dunno why, but whenever they show footage, they only show and talk about the above boss(es) fight. There are more boss fights. At least with 4 different creatures, sometimes multiple times. They're very interesting, challenging too. I swear, the difficulty is perfect. It isn't too frustrating, but it isn't too easy and mind-numbing. The game pulls you in and keeps you interested and want to play. Whether you are motivated by the powers, the things to find, or just the story, there is something to keep you wanting to play. Fuck, even after I beat it, I immediately wanted a sequel and to keep playing. It's amazing.The missions are actually interesting. They are not just a repeat of the same old, same old. The side missions tend to repeat, but that's ok. (protecting a bus, following a helicopter, turning on electricity in a city section, they get more interesting later on in the game) The main mission is where it's at. The music is amazing, and it fits the game perfectly. They have little sneaks towards Sucker Punch's other game, Sly Cooper.
inFamous is glitchy, but they are fun little glitches. Enemies will get stuck, halfway falling off of something but still be on land. They just sit there doing the falling animation, it's hilarious to watch. Another glitch will have the same repetitive NPC movement. (raising his arm and putting it down) Some cars will have no drivers, ect, ect. But they are amusing, so don't get your panties in a bunch when you see an NPC do something odd.
Now...it's hard to find problems with inFamous. Even after you've beaten the game, there is still so much to do. One problem maybe that there is little to do after you've washed the entire thing out as both karma's. However, if you use your imagination, you can invent ways to make the game awesome. (like never using a certain move or something, people do it all the time for Zelda) Another thing is that the random enemies can be very annoying at times. Your just trying to start a mission, but you keep getting shot...and shot...and shot...and shot....and shot... and shot... Only clearing out side missions will clear areas of enemies, but not on certain missions. You just have to be patient during those parts.
In short, inFamous is an amazing games. The problems are far and few and hard to find. It's definitely up there on the "Best games of the PS3"+ Karma System
+ Good Difficulties
+ Many, many moves
+ Interesting missions
+ GREAT story
+ Much to collection
+ Empire City is a good size
+ Easy to navigate.
- Enemies can be annoying
- Might get boring after everything is collected and done.
inFamous for the PS3 gets a 4.4.
