Thoughts about inFAMOUS

Sucker Punch Productions has done it again! They have made another great title with solid gameplay, great controls and well written story. The game has just about everything going for it. The open world is large much like a GTA environment. The upgradable powers are worth the investment and the amount of playing time equates to good bang for the buck. Every PS3 owner should buy this game because it is very enjoyable and entertaining.

If you play both paths, good and evil, you would probably get about 20-30 hours out of this title. I played the game on the Hard difficulty setting and was challenged while not being frustrated very often. I only finished the game as the good alignment and still need go back and play through the evil side. I probably won’t get to do this any time soon though because there are other games I want to check out that I recently purchased. I should be able to give it another try sometime later this summer.

I do have a few minor points I want to comment on however…

One of my few complaints with inFAMOUS is that the main character lacks the recognizable and memorable aspects that Sly Cooper possessed. Without looking it up online, I can’t even remember the main character’s name – which happens to be Cole MacGrath. His visual features and design are also a bit forgettable. I am sure that the developers felt that Cole’s jacket would be a unique trait, but it doesn’t really work as well as it could. The gray visuals of the entire city fall into the typical ‘next-gen’ mentality making it look like a lot of other games on the market today. Sly Cooper had a stylized look that really worked for it and made it stand out from the pack. Obviously this game has a serious tone with regards to its story and that is a big difference compared to the Sly Cooper series, but it could still have used a more unique look especially since the 2D/Flash style cut scenes were done so well and had a lot of panache.

There are a few other minor technical issues that gamers might notice as well, like some models that LOD or pop into view when you are traversing the world at a fast pace (i.e. while riding the train or wires that connect to buildings). There are a few surfaces on the facades of some buildings that are difficult to climb because of extruding geometry. There are some collision surface issues where you can actually fall into an object and not get out without reloading your saved game and there was an occasional crash that made me restart as well. Even though these bugs (and probably some others) exist, they don’t detract from the overall experience of the game. It is worth pointing out that these issues exist with many games on the market because you just can’t test every possible scenario that can occur in a game this size. Overall, I found the game to be very solid from a technical aspect.

At any rate, don’t take my word for it. Go out and give it a shot. I don’t think you will be disappointed!