Culture

Platforms: Playstation 3, (4/5).

Infamous 2 is a slick sequel to the 2009 open world action adventure game. It manages to stay true to the elements that made the original a success, while adding enough new features and contains a well enough scripted plot to keep things interesting. While the game does not innovate, or offer any new perspectives on, the world of modern gaming, it does succeed at building off the successful elements of the first game and in terms of sandbox action games, it is one of the stronger of these.

If you’re new to Infamous, the series features superhero Cole as the protagonist of the game, who due to an experiment gone wrong can now harness the powers of electricity in various different ways, including the odd bit of telekinesis and floating. Shooting electricity all over the place functions as Cole’s central weapon, but there’s a whole heap of variations and upgrades for one to learn throughout the game to keep things interesting. He can grind on rails around his city, perhaps thanks to some very durable shoes, and aforementioned floating makes it very easy and fun to jump from roof to roof. As this is a sandbox game, you’ve got an entire city to play in, and one of Infamous’ strengths is the immersive nature of Cole’s world. The city is beautifully designed, you can talk to people and there are plenty of side quests ranging from the ridiculous (the game has some hatred towards street performers and keeps asking you to take them out) to the necessary. Everything you do in the game has an effect on the world around you and your outcome in the story, much like in other sandbox games such as Fable. To take the bad option, killing everyone you see and causing havoc is perhaps the easier route, and in spite of your weapons turning a much more badass red colour, you might find the good route results in more powerful weapons and a more satisfying conclusion.

The game starts with a suitably epic boss fight hinted at in the ending of Infamous against an enemy called ‘The Beast’. But the Beast remains too strong at this stage for the abilities of Cole, and thus Empire City, home of the first game, is destroyed. Cole and company head to fictional city New Marais, which bears obvious similarities of New Orleans, and which serves as hub for the action of this entry. The game starts you off with a limited amount of powers, but it doesn’t take long to have at your disposal a considerable amount of tricks. Additionally, this time round you’ve been given a melee weapon, an electric prod type thing good for bashing enemies at close proximity, God of War styles. Graphics are sexy, especially in the cut scenes thanks to some nice motion capture facial detail, the city is well detailed, and there isn’t a shoddy texture in sight. Cole is not alone in his quest to destroy the Beast (or become the beast depending on how you choose to play) and is helped by a supporting crew of characters, with personalities often more textured then Cole’s. His relationship with buddy Zeke is particularly complex, and I felt myself actually giving a shit about the lives of these pixels. If you’re not interested in cinematic elements, there’s plenty of entertaining combat, Cole controls well and has plenty of tricks to keep things interesting. Telekinesis was a particular favourite of mine; taking out enemies with floating projectile cars is just plain bad ass.

All and all a solid gaming experience. Check this one out if you’re a fan of superheroes, sandbox games or third person action games of any kind. It’s not the deepest game ever, and it is perhaps a bit too biased towards doing things the good way, but these are small flaws; more than worthy of a weekend rental at the very least.