inFamous

The choice between good and evil is commonly explored ground in videogames. Heck, almost all games these days has some sort of choice between being good or evil in it, and inFamous is no different. And while it may not innovate on that part, the game surrounding it makes up for it.

With excellent, if somewhat finicky, platforming, a vast city full of secrets to explore, satisfying combat, and an enthralling story, developer Sucker Punch's superhero epic constantly delivers. It's a little rough around the edges, but that hardly has any significant impact on its overall quality.

InFamous puts you in the role of Cole McGrath, a bike messenger turned human battery after a mysterious bomb goes off giving him powers over lightning, while destroying most of the fictitious Empire City in the process. This eventually gets him mixed up in some sort of conflict between the US government and a shady group called The First Sons, both of which are after a powerful object called the Ray Sphere -- a weapon of mass destruction, and the very same item that granted Cole his powers.

It's mostly your typical superhero/villain origin story, but the darker, more mature tone, and intriguing characters make for an enthralling tale. Cole's a very stoic character by nature, but his development based on the decisions you make create something of a connection. From a simple bike messenger with no real sense of morality to a shining example of a hero or villain is interesting to watch. The developments mostly affect his appearance more than they do the story, but they do wonders to illustrate how much of an effect they have on him and his surroundings.

As a hero, the city has a sense of liveliness to it. The citizens adore Cole taking pictures at every chance they get, and, most of all, the city has a feeling of prosperity. As a villain, however, the city carries a sense of dread. The citizens fear Cole, running away in terror at first sight. Some even go as far as to attack him by throwing rocks toward him, yelling insults all the while. The biggest difference, however, is that Cole is slowly drained of color as he further descends down the route of evil, eventually reaching a point where he's as pale as a ghost. By contrast, when playing the role of a hero, Cole's appearance improves giving him a more lively look about him.

In addition to the aesthetic changes, his karma alignment (the way of telling how good/evil you are) also effects the way his lightning based powers develop as well as the color of the lightning. The differences between the powers aren't terribly drastic, but the effect they have on the overall gameplay is. As a hero, Cole's powers are more focused and defense oriented. And as a villain, Cole's powers are more spread out and destructive. So if reckless destruction is your game, then the path of evil is for you, whereas if you're a more careful, conservative player, the role of heroism is more up your alley.

But regardless of which path you choose, the general gameplay remains mostly the same. You'll move about the three large districts of Empire City taking on missions and searching for hidden items like Dead Drops (small satellites that contain little insights into the story) and blast shards (crystal-like stones that net you experience points and, when you've collected enough, extra battery cores). The exploration element is fun and easy to do thanks to thanks to how Cole will automatically latch himself to any climbable item in the immediate vicinity, making traveling across the city a cinch.

However, there is one major problem with that, and that's how Cole's latch onto anything tendencies make it nigh impossible to hit the ground sometimes. See, since just about everything in the game world can be climbed upon, Cole has a tendency to keep latching onto items in the environment whenever he's anywhere close to such objects. This can lead to some incredibly frustrating instances where Cole simply won't do what you want him to do whilst moving about. Such instances seldom occur, but when they do, you'll be crying out in frustration at Cole's reluctance do what you want.

When not moving about the city, you'll probably be engaging enemies in battle. Combat in inFamous is akin to playing a third-person shooter. Even though Cole can't use firearms (his powers tend to make them go boom), he can still use his powers as one. His range of abilities range from a simple lightning bolt to grenades (aptly called "Shock Grenades") to a rocket like burst of electricity (i.e. the Megawatt Hammer) to a simple shock wave of energy. The array of abilities at your disposal allows you to take down your adversaries with ease, and generally cause mass amounts of chaos if you so desire. (And really, who doesn't want to cause mass chaos?)

As diverse as Cole's abilities are, however, your enemies always seem to have the advantage of strength in numbers. While they don't always attack in large groups, it doesn't take much of them for things to get hairy. Why? Because these guys are smart. They'll hide behind cover, run behind corners -- anything to avoid being shocked. These hit-and-run tactics they employ make them formidable foes, especially when faced with large groups of them. Thankfully, these tactics can be countered (somewhat) by making use of cover yourself, a useful mechanic that will no doubt help you avert death many times.

Visually, inFmous is mixed. The overall quality of the visuals is excellent, with Cole's acrobatics being fluidly animated, and the city effectively conveying that disaster struck dystopia through its crumbled buildings, trash ridden streets, and hurt civilians that litter the streets, but there's some rough spots that hinder it.

Character animations during in-game cut scenes are stiff and facial movements are awkward, and characters themselves look ugly and kinda lifeless which hinders the believability of the voice acting. The visuals themselves are bit too sharp looking, making the edges of certain objects and such appear jagged. And lastly the artistic approach to the city's design is bland. The gray look to the city's architecture, while understandable for creating the look and feel of the city, is dull and generally unpleasing to the eyes. A dash of color variety -- just a little -- would have been nice to help counteract it.

As far as audio goes, the music, while not terribly common, is well composed and suits the tone nicely. The game opts mostly for a bunch of drum-based tunes suit the game's more combat oriented sections well, but the other, quieter tunes that instill a sense of mystery or danger work into the game nicely. Voice acting is well delivered and suits each character well, though it is a little odd that Cole's voice is so deep and gravelly. That's not to say it's bad or anything, just that it's a tad odd.

It's got its problems, but overall, inFamous delivers an excellent open-world superhero experience. Superb gameplay, an excellent story, and generally fun exploration elements make for an enthralling open world game that most anyone can enjoy. The game's a little rough visually, and the platforming can be grating, but the general fun factor help offset its flaws to keep them from ruining this excellent experience.