Review: Infamous 2

Infamous 2 is an action sandbox game for the PlayStation 3. It was developed by Sucker Punch.

Cole MacGrath, running around the streets of New Marais.

Cole MacGrath and his buddy Zeke have travelled to the city of New Marais to help Cole develop his superpowers in preparation for the Beast, a giant destructive force that Cole is prophesied to fight. Unfortunately, when Cole arrives the laboratory that was developing a device to help stop the Beast is destroyed, scattering the source of Cole’s power-up all over the city. Cole has to retrieve these power-ups, the Blast Cores, so he can power up the device, the Ray Field Inhibitor, before the Beast makes his way down the Eastern seaboard to New Marais. He also has to deal with opposition from monsters that are mysteriously coming out of the swamp, a local militia that has taken over New Marais and turned it into a superhuman-hating police state, and an insane private army with ice powers.

Cole is given missions by his friend Zeke and his other allies around New Marais, which continue the story when completed. Missions are mostly going somewhere, and either beating up people, or collecting or destroying something while beating up people. While it does not sound like much, the slowly growing diversity of enemies, the difference in things to collect, and the detail of New Marais makes missions feel fresh every time.

Cole has the ability to generate and redirect electricity, which he uses in a multitude of ways. In combat, his main form of attack is to shoot aimed bolts of lightning out of his hand, as well as a blast that pushes people, and an electric grenade. For utilities, Cole uses his powers to hover over long distances and levitate objects. Cole needs to recharge his powers regularly, which he can do by draining electrical devices.

Cole's basic bolt power.

Running and climbing around New Marais is the best part of the game. Cole is very fast, very light and can jump really far, so climbing and running over rooftops never feels slow or sluggish. Nothing can stop Cole from climbing a building in seconds.

Cole leaping across some roofs at night.

Sucker Punch put a lot of effort into making sure all of New Marais was as interesting to climb over as possible, though maybe not so much in being visually interesting. Every part of New Marais looks different, is differently shaped, has uneven rooftops, plenty of landmarks, lots of things that make New Marais look like an actual city, and not just a series of identical buildings.

Cole starts in the actual city part of New Maris, moves to the flooded part of the city partway through the game, and eventually ends up in the industrial section. The city part is the most interesting to run around, since it has more variety of buildings, residential, commercial, and industrial, and is modeled after New Orleans. The flooded part provides an interesting challenge of having to avoid all the water, but it mostly houses and debris. The industrial area is nothing but towers, tanks, and warehouses, and is the least fun to explore.

Cole can climb any building.

Combat is both enjoyable and frustrating. Cole’s powers are both fun to use, because they give you a lot of options, are more original than shooting a gun, and are a bit sadistic. The enemies though are a pain in the ass. They are smart enough to notice you from a couple of blocks away and start shooting at you when you just want to run down the street, but are stupid enough to shoot a rocket at you when you are standing in front of them, killing you both. Simple lighting attacks barely faze them, and even the most basic grunt can stand up after several grenade blasts, unlike Cole, who is really weak all the time. It is annoying to go through the entire game and still be susceptible to a one shot kill from an RPG in the first area. Thankfully the game has plenty of checkpoints, so when you die you start nearby with little time lost.

The boss fights are often impressive.

Besides main missions, Cole can complete side missions for people on the street. Completing these missions captures part of the city for Cole. Captured parts have no enemies patrolling the streets, making them easier to travel through. Side missions have less diversity than main missions, and are even more focused on only beating people up. But like the main missions the variety in New Marais’ design keeps them interesting.

Infamous 2 has a karma meter for Cole; do good things and one side fills up and Cole gets access to certain powers, do evil things and the other side fills up instead, unlocking different powers. You get good or evil karma for doing things like attacking enemies or civilians, rescuing civilians or beating up cops, and for main missions where you have to make a moral choice.

Karma meters are not fun. They were novel when Knights of the Old Republic used them in 2003, when showing that your actions could have consequences was a new idea, but now that video games can do that without bashing you over the head with what is good and evil, the restrictions such a system puts on the player are pointless. I should be allowed to use whatever powers I want, and I can decide whether I use them for good or evil and the game can just show the consequences. And I do not appreciate being forced to make heavy-handed choices, like having to choose between saving a bunch of cops and killing a bunch of cops for some bigger plan, and being told that one side is good and the other is evil. That is some blunt and lazy writing trying to look deep and thoughtful.

The story lacks direction. Cole is supposed to be getting prepared for the Beast, but all he does is get dragged into fights with the different factions and find Blast Cores along the way. There is this subplot in the background about a plague killing everyone in the United States, in addition to the Beast, but the game does not care. Then at the very end the plague is suddenly the most important thing ever. Then a minor character from the first game is brought back, and is made a very big deal without any foreshadowing. And the game ends with a heavy-handed “Cole has to do something really good or really evil” bit that feels so forced.

Cole and Zeke make up for most of the story though. They have a constant banter going on during missions and in cutscenes; Cole as the snarky smartass and Zeke and oafish smart guy. Their banter is funny throughout the game and quite sweet and endearing at the same time.

Seriously, these two are adorable together.

Infamous 2 is plenty of fun that is only hampered by its lame story. You can spend hours exploring New Marais, collecting things, completing missions without ever getting bored, from beginning to end.