inFamous 2

I found it slightly funny that during all the craziness and official reveals of games at E3, Sony was releasing the sequel to one of their most successful franchises. It seems oddly fitting in that, aside from a couple of releases, the majority of E3 was a lot of sequels, closing of trilogies and iterations only for another sequel to be released that very week which is somewhat similar in design. Make no mistake, nothing about Infamous 2 takes on that incremental leap forward like Mass Effect, Assassin's Creed or Uncharted did where they take a promising franchise and completely made it a fuller and better realized experience. Infamous 2 is really that "it's like last time, but better" class where everything about Infamous 2 will feel so familiar and the things you wanted fixed or improved on have been. But even then, the game isn't entirely perfect which is a bummer. 
 
The end of Infamous introduced the idea that "the Beast", a powerful and rampaging monster would appear and wreck havoc on humanity, leaving Cole MacGrath with a future and a fight he's going to have to prepare for. No sooner does the game start does the Beast appear in Empire City and Cole battles him with all he has, nearly costing him his life in the process. While he recuperates, him, his best friend Zeke and agent Kuo boat down to New Marais in hopes that Cole's powers grow and he's a lot more prepared for the Beast's arrival in the city, which is fast approaching. 
 
It's kind of a weird parallel but Infamous 2's main focus (to gain better powers before something happens) is almost the exact same premise of Mass Effect 2, which was about strengthening and building a team before a giant fight at the end. But whereas the storytelling in that game was better than ever, the actual story arguably suffered in that there was no "plot" per se, it was just doing side missions and character-focused elements until the main story thrust appeared again. Infamous 2 is kind of the same way in that the story kind of suffers in that it feels like the story goes off-track or meanders so while the Beast is the game's ultimate focus, a villain is introduced by name of Bertrand and Kuo and another Conduit named Nix join the cast as well. Because of this, the game becomes a series of collection missions and taking the spotlight off Cole's development as a character and more on him as a player (gameplay-wise).  
 
But that being said, Cole controls as great as he always does and controlling him through the action is just as exciting as before. He also gains powers depending on who he sides with whether it's ice powers or fire powers. And thank god Sucker Punch listened to Cole's traversal up buildings because now he has more tricks at his disposal such as a car jump, an ice launch and electric wires that he rides up similarly to Ezio in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (he also gets one more at the very end which I won't spoil). Now you'll notice I said Cole's traversal up buildings because trying to go down is still a problem in that Cole is just too clingy. Sure you can Thunder Drop down but if you're playing as a good guy and want to avoid collateral damage, you wanna take the nice way down and yet he still has this tendency to just want to grab everything. 
 
When it comes down to the combat, there's not a whole lot that's changed other than some improvements or some changes but the big one is not only the types of powers you get but how you get them. So in Infamous one, an electric bolt was the same at the end but maybe more damage or different properties but now you can have multiple types such as one with multiple "bullets" in one shot, a 3-shot bullet, a high-powered one and this additions also apply to the other powers as well. For example the "force push" move where you can push things away from you now has an upgrade where anything it hits will stay there and zapping it acts like a mini-bomb of electricity. While switching between them pauses the action (Left on d-pad) it allows for some cool experimentation. Another is that despite the fact it still costs XP to buy the upgrades, you no longer just have to just have the XP but rather fulfill certain criteria such as head-shotting enemies, sticking them with a grenade or getting them killed indirectly (i.e: off buildings, hit by car explosions etc). It's a cool system that helps break up the monotony of XP grinding. 
 
However, one new addition, a better melee system, is kind of clunky. Cole carries around what looks like an electrified tuning fork (which can also come in Sly's cane, samurai sword and others with redemption codes) and while it's a lot more cinematic, the actual camera zooms in a bit too close preventing you from seeing where you are in relation to enemies around which isn't a big deal for the generic shooting enemies but for these swamp creature...things who like to run up to you and bash you around, it can get frustrating getting hit by them while you're trying to get the camera back on track which might go inside the wall anyway once you've been hit. The enemy variety and AI leaves a lot to be desired as well from the enemies who just potshot you in bursts, those rocket launching bastards and one enemy type, who burrows underground, becomes a big headache. And pretty soon enemies that were considered "bosses" are now thrown into the thick of everything so you end up running from 7 creature things and 2 burrower guys because it just sucks taking them all on at once. 
 
The game, reminiscent of last week's Hunted, comes with a level editor so you can create your own missions. While the process is a bit more complicated then one might think and isn't as intuitive and quick as Modnation Racers but more like the first LittleBigPlanet, I'm sure the community will add some cool uses of it. Although the actual Sucker Punch missions were meh at best from a grind-rail race to destroying a disco ball (seriously). The game's replay value is there from blast shards (305 down from 350), side missions, purchasing all upgrades, trophies plus the opposite karma playthrough, Infamous 2 adds some bang for your buck. 
 
Unlike Portal 2 which was like the first game but awesome-r, Infamous 2 is more like Dead Space's sequel: bigger, better, more improved but not a radical departure. Nothing wrong with a sequel delivering more of what you enjoy but instead of using the "1.5" excuse, Infamous 2 is definitely worth a play, even a full-blown purchase but coming with "that old familiar feeling" baggage with it.