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Sucker Punch created inFamous, a gritty open world game where you took on the roll of Cole MacGrath a super hero or villain, the choice was up to you. Now here it is two years later and Cole is back in this sequel that improves some things, but the core game play is very much the same.
inFamous had a great arsenal of weapon-like electric powers that made the game fun and refreshing. In this sequel you basically get the same kind of powers, but some new ones to boot, including powers for fire and ice as the game progresses. For the most part they all fall in line of the weapon structure from the first game, all of which are variations for grenades, rockets and shooting balls of electricity. Just like the first game, your powers are split between powers for good and powers for evil. In the first inFamous it felt like all the better powers were on the evil end and the good just got some bland empty powers that didn’t make you feel like a powerful superhero. In inFamous 2 however, the powers feel even on both sides giving anyone that chooses one side or the other a very nice and destructive set of powers to choose from. Also, in the first game they left the powers menu open to see what each power did before you could get it. It also was open to see what powers were on both sides of karma. If you were good, you could see all the powers you would have got for being evil. I always felt kind of teased when looking at powers, until I played through a second time with the opposite karma. In this game all powers are blocked off and you can not see them until you can unlock them and you can not see the powers for the opposite karma that you choose to play as, never giving that mocking feeling of wanting to try something and can’t.
inFamous 2 shares a lot things with its predecessor, a major one being the combat. It is always overwhelming you with baddies all around, up and down. Just when you think the game is ramping this up too much, you usually unlock a new power to use and the combat can become manageable again. That does not stop the combat from feeling very cheap at times. Surrounded by enemies and having them slide up right next to you and knock you back with a shotgun blast to the face and continuing to take damage as you are in the falling animation and have no control over what happens to you. As a whole the combat does make it a lot of fun to blast through tons of baddies. It just would be nice if the enemies design was a little bit better over all.
Getting around the first inFamous was made very enjoyable with electric thrust, sliding on rails and powers lines. Sucker Punch added to that in inFamous 2. The electric thrust works the same with an added lift later in the game, power lines to slide across and even electric beams on the side of buildings that shoot you straight up the side to help get you to the tops quicker. There are also a few other new ways to get around the open world in this game as well that come a long later in the game. The way Cole hovers around and grasping onto things just like before is much appreciated. However, there are the few frustrating instances when Cole grabs onto the wrong thing. Sometimes it can happen repeatedly and that can make even the easiest things like dropping to the ground way more annoying and lengthy. I kind of wish maybe the controls should have been changed here so that if you wanted Cole to grab at everything in reach, you would simply hold down a button. If you don’t hold the button down, Cole would simply fall to the ground. Much like the combat, the core idea here is good, but could be redefined.
The origin story always seems to be the stepping point for all great stories told about superheroes and that was proven true in the first inFamous. We saw Cole go through it all in the first game. Now that Cole is a full-on superhero it is a little less exciting. I am not sure what it is, but I have to say the writing of this game is not at all as good as the first one. Sometimes I was down right surprised by some of the dialog I heard. As interesting as the story is, it felt very tact on. Cole moves from Empire City down to New Marais to escape the Beast, the towering juggernaut that was talked about in the first game. Here is where Cole sets out to learn the technology or the Ray Sphere and harness the power needed to bring down The Beast.
Empire City was very dark and gritty on all islands. Nothing about it was a site to see. New Marais on the other hand is quite the picture. It was modeled after New Orleans, so there is lights and color all over the place. It also seems Sucker Punch took some extra time in the sequel to paint up the sky. At times looking absolutely beautiful during the scenes with the sun setting and rising.
inFamous 2 in many regards is a mirror image of the first game. Some areas have great improvements, in others it still needs work. As whole the game is a lot of fun and the story is very interesting. If you liked the first one you should like this one as well.
Final Score: 3/5
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