Bad Dog
30 May 2009, 05:05pm
Sick of the traditional Spider Man games they pump out right before the movie? Sick of the linear level based X-men games that are mere button-mash fests? Then inFAMOUS might be the game for you. inFAMOUS is an original IP from Sucker Punch studios.
You may remember them for their stylish stealth game Sly Cooper. If you ever did play Sly Cooper you immediatly will recognize a lot of the ways Cole (the Hero/Anti-Hero) does some things. On trains Cole stands like Sly, legs apart in an almost crouching look. If hes standing in a knee deep pond at a park, he's electricuted like Sly would be, back on that later. Hell even the way he talks and runs is reminiscent of Sly.
The obvious hook of the game here is the powers. Coles ability to manipulate and control electricity is both original and fun. Cole starts out with the ability to send electric shocks from his hands, and his powers progress from there. One might ask, how do you obtain said powers? Do you buy them from some menu and then magically obtain them like in some games? No, because the targeted audience for this game is not 5, and wont believe that shit (Not to say there arent SOME power upgrade menus, but that really is how superheroes upgrade their powers..) In inFAMOUS, powers are obtained by powering on substations throughout the city to return electricity to blacked out areas. These blacked out areas are warzones BTW, as there are very limited ways to obtain electricty and the Gangs there are swarming.
The gangs themselves are O.K. The first gang, the Reapers, are the gang you will be most passionate about fighting, mainly because there is a video explaining who they are, where they came from and what their doing to the city. The other two gangs just dont have that which dissapointed me.
The game itself is both forgiving and challenging. Many of the missions, mainly the first few, make the game out to be easy. You will be surprised how fast the game can go from "La la la *Blast blast blast* La la la" too "SHIT, *BLAST BLAST* *BOOM* RUN RUN NO NOT ANOTHER ROCKET LAUNCHER!" It gets hard. Luckily, this game seems to not fear something all other game developers seem to be deathly afraid of. Save points, in the mission itself. Get killed by some lucky bastard? Not to worry! You'll be teleported maybe a minute from where you died. Its that simple, and that much more of a difference from the horror of GTA 4's save spots.
The voice acting is ok, Cole sounds like Christian Bale when hes batman, raspy and very serious. Most conversing is done via Coles hands free phone thats pinned to his leather coat. Speaking of which, do you remember in GTA 4 a certain character named Roman? Your annoying cousin that seemed to call you every god damn minute asking if you "Want to go titty bar?" At least those calls were randomized, but for some reason, the developers decided that their "Comic relief character" Zeke, would call you after EVERY side mission, DURING missions, and whenever else he god damn felt like it. It gets annoying, fast.
The story, is to say the least, decent. There are some things that seem cliche, but the hook of the story is the games Karma Moments. These are moments where time freezes and Cole thinks about the moral dillemea presented to him. While every game now seems to have these Good/Bad choices, this game does it right. Weighing the consequences out before having to do so. Karma itself affects Cole, if your Karma is Champion or Hero, your lighting is the standard blue and your upgrades, bought with experience from kills/missions, are more about presescion. If your karma is outlaw, thug or infamous, your lighting turns to bad ass red, Cole himself turns grey skinned and evil looking, and his power upgrades are more about the "Boom." If you made it through this long ass review, not only do you really want to learn about this game, you also of the attention span of a genius on brain steroids. So go on, buy the game or geddouttaher!
You may remember them for their stylish stealth game Sly Cooper. If you ever did play Sly Cooper you immediatly will recognize a lot of the ways Cole (the Hero/Anti-Hero) does some things. On trains Cole stands like Sly, legs apart in an almost crouching look. If hes standing in a knee deep pond at a park, he's electricuted like Sly would be, back on that later. Hell even the way he talks and runs is reminiscent of Sly.
The obvious hook of the game here is the powers. Coles ability to manipulate and control electricity is both original and fun. Cole starts out with the ability to send electric shocks from his hands, and his powers progress from there. One might ask, how do you obtain said powers? Do you buy them from some menu and then magically obtain them like in some games? No, because the targeted audience for this game is not 5, and wont believe that shit (Not to say there arent SOME power upgrade menus, but that really is how superheroes upgrade their powers..) In inFAMOUS, powers are obtained by powering on substations throughout the city to return electricity to blacked out areas. These blacked out areas are warzones BTW, as there are very limited ways to obtain electricty and the Gangs there are swarming.
The gangs themselves are O.K. The first gang, the Reapers, are the gang you will be most passionate about fighting, mainly because there is a video explaining who they are, where they came from and what their doing to the city. The other two gangs just dont have that which dissapointed me.
The game itself is both forgiving and challenging. Many of the missions, mainly the first few, make the game out to be easy. You will be surprised how fast the game can go from "La la la *Blast blast blast* La la la" too "SHIT, *BLAST BLAST* *BOOM* RUN RUN NO NOT ANOTHER ROCKET LAUNCHER!" It gets hard. Luckily, this game seems to not fear something all other game developers seem to be deathly afraid of. Save points, in the mission itself. Get killed by some lucky bastard? Not to worry! You'll be teleported maybe a minute from where you died. Its that simple, and that much more of a difference from the horror of GTA 4's save spots.
The voice acting is ok, Cole sounds like Christian Bale when hes batman, raspy and very serious. Most conversing is done via Coles hands free phone thats pinned to his leather coat. Speaking of which, do you remember in GTA 4 a certain character named Roman? Your annoying cousin that seemed to call you every god damn minute asking if you "Want to go titty bar?" At least those calls were randomized, but for some reason, the developers decided that their "Comic relief character" Zeke, would call you after EVERY side mission, DURING missions, and whenever else he god damn felt like it. It gets annoying, fast.
The story, is to say the least, decent. There are some things that seem cliche, but the hook of the story is the games Karma Moments. These are moments where time freezes and Cole thinks about the moral dillemea presented to him. While every game now seems to have these Good/Bad choices, this game does it right. Weighing the consequences out before having to do so. Karma itself affects Cole, if your Karma is Champion or Hero, your lighting is the standard blue and your upgrades, bought with experience from kills/missions, are more about presescion. If your karma is outlaw, thug or infamous, your lighting turns to bad ass red, Cole himself turns grey skinned and evil looking, and his power upgrades are more about the "Boom." If you made it through this long ass review, not only do you really want to learn about this game, you also of the attention span of a genius on brain steroids. So go on, buy the game or geddouttaher!