Infamous: Second Son

I have to admit, I have never been a big fan of the Infamous series, Sure, I played the first two, and its not so much as I didn’t like it, more I wasn’t particularly interested in it myself. Unfortunately, I am a graphics whore, and when things look as good as some of the previews we had been shown by Sony for the first next gen outing from Sucker Punch studios’ Infamous, my interest was piqued… As it was all quiet on the next gen front so soon after launch, I had to succumb to my next gen visual desires, and snapped it up on launch day.

Infamous: Second Son tells the tale of Delsin Rowe, a right cool handsome bastard, with a cheeky grin and an attitude to match. He’s a resident of a small rural town outside of Seattle, with the Space needle looming large on the horizon. He’s a normal grunge fan, complete with appropriate garb. He is living in a time of the Conduits, where people are imbued with elemental powers, and the Department of Unified Protection is hunting down the Conduits, who they lovingly refer to as Bio-terrorists.

Handsome Graphics, Handsome Bastard

This grungy, handsome bastard is soon entangled in the Conduits plight when he, for reasons never explained, absorbs the power of another Conduit when he rescues his ungrateful ass out of a car wreck. The DUP soon turn up, headed by the ever increasingly popular middle-aged hard faced bitch, she causes a few upsets with Delsins town folk, and Delsin vows to avenge them and kick that bitches ass….

Augustine.... ANOTHER middle aged woman baddy....

You travel to Seattle and proceed to dispatch them naughty DUP soldiers, using your new found elemental weaponry. You start with the obligatory fire (called smoke, but I distinctly remember fire hurting a lot, and smoke just making your clothes smell…) and you gain new powers as you meet new Conduits. I won’t ruin it for you, but the powers do get awesomer as you progress.

There is a Karma element to the combat, where you choose how to dispatch those meddlesome DUP, a straight up kill earns you bad karma, and knockouts/incapacitates earn you good karma, and there is different rewards for each. I, as always, chose the hero. I tried to obtain good karma wherever I could. Earning karma, good or bad, fills up your special ability meter. When full, you get to attack with a one-time use special move, which is wicked. The attack you get depends on the element you have equipped, and by Christ they are epic…. And kill every mother fucker in the room! So much so, after the first time you pull one off, you’re stunned! You check over your shoulder to see if anyone saw it…

It always looks this awesome, if you have time to stop and look,

Hang on… I’ll just use the share button again….

Your elemental powers give you new means to traverse the Seattle skyline. With smoke equipped, you can use building vents to quickly traverse to the roof. A smoke dash helps you move quicker, and you can use your element to help you leap higher, and your new powers help you jump off the tallest buildings and land safely. String them altogether, and you soon find you’ll be leaping across the city like a friendly neighbourhood Spiderman! But not crap…

Actually, I don’t want to undersell this, some of the best fun of Infamous is how you can control Delsin through the city, its empowering, fun, and Sucker Punch have got the controls bang on. It’s an absolute blast.

Traversing the city, looking for some motherfuckers to dispatch! 

Enemies are a bit dull to be honest. Normal armoured police looking dudes who are given the elemental powers by the Head of the DUP, who get harder and harder as the game progresses, but it’s still fun taking them down, mainly cos you’re such a badass that anything you do in the games feels good. 

The DUP kinda remind me of the troops in HAZE on PS3, which makes them so much easier to kill, anything to erase that pile of shit from my mind...

Boss battles are pretty good, all arena based death-matches. I do feel like the developer missed a trick here though. Let me explain it with shitty bullet points…               

1. You play a badass mother fucker…
2. With awesome building hopping powers…
3. In an awesomely realised city…
4. Against an evil empire who has more power than you…
5. Which should equal an Epic last battle above the streets of Seattle, all elemental powers blazing, across the rooftops?

But it doesn’t….

The last boss is another arena battle. I don’t understand how a developer can miss using some of the games strongest assets, and give us the same tired old videogame trope. Though the last battle is still very enjoyable, a piece of me still yearns for that giant rooftop battle….

Imagine Chasing a Giant End of Game Baddie over the rooftops! well... you'll have to imagine, cos it don't happen

Not that I didn't enjoy any of Infamous, I loved it. The graphical fidelity is the start of our next gen journey. It’s as sharp as a button, well-acted, mature with hints of mischievousness, in the gameplay and story. Oh, and whoever thought if the graffiti mini-game at Sucker Punch, I’d like to see them be creative director of their own game, truly genius which puts a massive smile on my face every time I do it.

If Rocksteady hadn't already produced the Arkham series, I’d go so far as to say this is one of the best Superhero games (without a superhero in) that I've ever played.

Actually…  I’ll stick with that…

9 outta 10…