Why Be Famous, When You Can Be inFAMOUS — Again?
One of my favorite game series on the Playstation 3 was the Infamous titles. Giving the player control over the super-powered “conduit” Cole McGrath brought a new form of superhero to the gamer at home. So needless to say, when Infamous: Second Son was announced I was overly excited about it. And it pleases me to say, the game did not disappoint me — well, mostly.
The story of Infamous: Second Son takes place seven years after the events of the good ending from Infamous 2. Due to the aftermath after Cole’s death, the Department of Unified Protection (D.U.P.) is formed to hunt down and capture the remaining conduits who survived the Blast from the Ray Field Inhibitor. You take control of Graffiti artist Deslin Rowe, a young man who seems to constantly get in trouble.
One day a transport carrying 3 conduits — people with special abilities — crashes, and they escape. Grabbing one of them to save him, Deslin awakens his own latent conduit powers which grants him the ability to copy other conduits’ powers. Shortly after that, a conduit in charge of DUP, Brooke Augustine, confronts the escaped conduit and Deslin, which sets in motion the events to unfold. Now on a quest to save his people, Deslin heads to Seattle.
I’ll start off by saying this game was a perfect title to show off the power of the PS4. Seattle is brought to life in spectacular fashion via amazing graphics. From the clouds above, to the puddles left on the ground, everything was clear, and graphically superior to anything I’ve seen so far of the new-gen consoles. I also loved watching how amazing the destructible environments fell apart in my battles with the DUP. The whole city isn’t destructible, but watching cars blow up and DUP structures fall was quite satisfying.
Character design gets the same praise. Each character stood apart from one another. The character models in this game were very impressive, and I love the fact that each character had their own look to them. Troy Baker does a phenomenal job as the voice actor for Deslin. His portrayal brought the character to life, making his banter with his brother, fellow conduits, and others really worthwhile. My gripe with this is I felt that the other characters in the game didn’t get enough screen time. Characters such as Hank, Fetch, and Eugene didn’t get enough time in the games story, and I felt they were overshadowed by Deslin — which is to be expected, I guess, as he is this game’s hero.
Enough about the story, lets discuss the powers Deslin wields in this game. Having the power to copy the powers of other conduits, by just touching them, means Deslin clearly has the best power. You start off by getting the power of Smoke. This power allows Deslin to turn into smoke to travel through vents, over/through obstacles, and fire smoke blast out of your hands. Next the power of Neon, which grants Deslin the ability to run at light speeds, and project light blasts.
Next up, Video… I’m not kidding, you get videogame powers. As strange as this sounds it works for the game, and can be considered one of the best powers you get until the end game. With this video power you can turn invisible, fly for short distances, use either a sword, or claw depending on your Karmic state, and summon angels, or demons. As crazy as this sounds, it actually is pretty cool, and you quickly see how useful these powers are. Switching between them is as easy as absorbing the smoke from wreckage, neon light signs, and from satellite arrays located all over the city. Each of these powers have an awesome cinematic finishing move, or Karma bombs. Whether it’s smoke’s Orbital Drop, Neon’s Radiant Sweep, or Video’s Hellfire Swarm. Each power keeps similar moves, but each feels different, and honestly I like the versatility of the powers.
Something that remained from previous Infamous titles is the Karma system, however this is also my biggest complaint about the game. The Karma system is a gauge in which the player’s choices are seen, and are judged. Depending on your actions you’ll either become Good, or Evil. In the game these moral choices pop up a few times in the game that will grant you Karma points, as your Karma changes to either good or evil you’ll start to see Deslin change in appearance. Also, your three powers will change in look and abilities. They can be further changed and upgraded through the game, and the games skill tree, which has multiple different branches for your powers which some can only be achieved depending on your Karma state.
I mentioned I had a gripe about this, and it is that your Karma choices don’t really seem to matter that much. I didn’t really feel a big difference whether I beat the game on good or evil. It wasn’t until the ending cutscene I noticed a difference. I remember in Infamous 2, your choices shaped the game, you did different missions depending on your Karmic state, and your appearance was a reflection of that. Evil Cole looked like a nightmare, a monster, while good Cole looked like a big shining hero. Deslin just gets a different hoodie with a different design on the back.
In the end I think Infamous: Second Son is an incredible game, aside from a few personal gripes as a fan of the Infamous story, but I really did enjoy the game. I felt it was a good continuation to the Infamous series, and Deslin makes an awesome character. Versatility in gameplay style, and an amazing story — I recommend that all PS4 owners pick this game up. Also try playing Infamous 2, you won’t regret it.
Infamous: Second Son gets a 4 out of 5.
