Infamous Review - Worth the $$$
After going thru the game twice, I still want to go back in and zap things. That says a lot about a game to me, I might be tooling around on Burnout, doing some Gears with some buddies, but I always look at Infamous and think how much fun I know I will have playing the game. If you are reading this review, you know the ratings this game is getting....it's a great game, but is it the game for you? I would say if you had fun with games like Crackdown, GTA4, Prototype, Hulk Ultimate Destruction, third person open world games...then it's worth a rental and ultimately a deserved purchase.
The world that Infamous is built around for me is the lasting appeal for this game. Sure the powers are nice and very well done, the parkour aspects are great (which makes the world so much more fun), the story is passable...but it's the living breathing city that is what I enjoyed the most. Empire City (ugh...how original is that name) feels like a real city, artistically it is diverse and your decisions eventually effect the world overall and it's perception of you (more on that in a bit). The city is very large and there is plenty of things to do, no matter which way you go. The parkour aspect is near perfect, climbing and running around is so much fun, once you can grind and glide...it just opens things up so much more. Honestly, that is the funnest part for me. Tooling around the city on powerlines and rails and chaining it all together like it's nothing.
A lot has been talked about the morality system....but it boils down to either you are going all out one way or the other to get the benefits of certain powers that are only attainable if you max out your good/bad meter. Playing as a bad guy is a little easier...because you don't have to care about collateral damage...you can just grenade the crap out of everything. Being good...sure you can still grenade the crap out of everything...but is that what good guys do? No, Captain America and Batman aren't exactly happy with collateral damage, neither are the dead citizens and their relatives. So the morality is an either or kind of thing, it's worth trying both aspects.
The main story missions serve their purpose and keep you moving down a linear path and an eventual end game. There are enough of them to give you some good solid play time. The side missions in the games won't have you retelling your friends about how amazing this part was...but there are plenty of them and are the standard fare. They could be a little more varied...but for the most part they offer up enough challenge and you have incentive to play them. By completing them you free portions of the city from gang control, which is nice to give you a little safe haven. However, and Brad mentions it. Once you clear out an area...enemies don't really respawn in that area. So when beating the game the first time I cleared out all areas, makes for a very peaceful city...but not a lot of fun (enemies do spawn randomly, but not in great numbers). So the second time around...I left a little pocket for the bad guys to keep hold of so I could shoot for some trophy stuff, have an enemy area, etc. I could see Sucker Punch throwing out a patch to fix this aspect, like a gang uprising that you have to quell.
Now to what I feel is the weakest aspect of the game, at least for me. It's not a deal breaker by any means, but the story just doesn't pull you in and engage you. It's on par with most above average video game stories, but it's nothing that will floor you. The problem with the story being passable but not that next level, is the enemies are a product of the story, they are passable...but not memorable. They are Scooby Doo bad guys, people dressed in trash, tar monsters, rubber suits, all faceless minions, etc. They could have been more rooted in reality (I know it's comic booky...but who runs around with trash on them and bags on their head) and they could have been made darker and some of that might have made them more memorable or engaging I think a few other boss battles would have been nice, really you only have three big ones....I could see peppering in a few other mini-bosses and second tier villains. But that can be done in a sequel, because Sucker Punch really has a franchise here...and the story does setup a likely sequel.
All in all, this game is worth the purchase, Sucker Punch has knocked this game out of the ball park and they deserve some love. There is much fun to be had, grinding on rails, calling down lightning, beautiful platforming, great design, tight controls, and it's one of the best games for the PS3 period. That is generally how I rate a game, would I buy it...and I have bought this game and have no issues recommending it to someone, it's a great game.
****Prototype vs. Infamous****I just rented Prototype and a lot of comparisons have been made between Infamous and Prototype. While I'm not far enough into Prototype to give a definitive answer, there is one aspect I felt that is very important to mention. I've been playing Prototype for about 2 hours (on PS3)...way early....but there is a shit load of loading in this game that keeps taking you out of the game world. Load times vary. Infamous has hardly any loading...at all. You start the game, there is a minute of a glowing Infamous text...and then that is it. Your are in the game zapping stuff.....you complete a mission, it pauses for a second and rewards you with XP...but it's literally just a second or three. Zero to no load times is a big thing to mention for Infamous because it's a huge world. And honestly....you throw the disc in you want to just sit down and play, you don't want a 5 minute install, then DL a patch, install the patch, if you own a PS3 you know what I mean. You also just want it all to be fluid....the more time your playing the game and immersed in the world...the better chance that game will reel you in.
