Did Infamous SS Sustain the Franchise or Fatigue it?

Just wrapped up our weekly Pedal to the Metal podcast (of which you are all invited to be on, just let me know) and I brought up the question, did Infamous Second Son do justice in preserving the franchise to have you hyped for another installment? or was it simply just another good infamous game, having not hit a high enough note to keep you interested in more...?

I wouldn't say it left me "hyped", but I wouldn't be adverse to another installment either.

It's a nice looking game and I enjoyed the core game play loop, they just need to work on the side mission stuff more.

just another good imfamous game for me,

8/10

It certainly made me excited for Sucker Punch's technical abilities. The game itself is super fun at its core, just way too much basic mission design and fluff around it.

Props to their better development of characters this time around.

The only recent game I can think of that catapulted the franchise is Far Cry 3.

Got pretty boring after about the 4th or 5th hidden area take over.

The first was definitely the best in the series. They need to work on making more diverse and creative side quests.

Second Son definitely felt like a rushed game. I did like how the shards were shown on the map though.

It was good. It was also too similar to Infamous 2.

I still need to play it.

I doubt it's too early for franchise fatigue, the latest installment seemed more a testament to the PS4's performance than it was to the series itself, and was a worthwhile early gen title but nothing more than that. Games released early typically are forgotten in later years. If they want to make a worthy effort with the series it'll happen later in the gen, when install base is higher and developers are more familiar with the tech to truly bring a great experience.

Yeh i felt most of the side characters were a waste of space and Eugene the most so. They should have stuck to Delsin and Fetch more imo but i suppose that's tougher to make a game out of.

I'm happy they shed Cole and especially Zeke who was flat out annoying. Another game would certainly interest me.

it was good, but 2 things kept it from being great.

1. it was too short (at least for the price)

2. it lacked variety both infamous 1 and 2 had.

Infamous 1 had you fighting 3 very different factions of bad guys with different powers. Even 2 had generic bad guys + monsters + ice dudes. This game was just concrete guys with guns. We barely had any real time with any of the sidekicks in this game either. You spend 1-2 missions (over in 10 minutes total) figuring out who they are, 1 to fight them and take their powers, and then only ONE mission with them afterwards. (well technically more, but only 1 mission to focus on them and your karma choice for them.

If anything, inFamous: SS validates the proof of concept. There is a really great game waiting to happen in that franchise - or at least with the premise they tout. But the game still falters with the simple things - narrative and AI, most notably. It warrants a monetary investment to make bigger and better, IMO, but they should look to expand the franchise's scope.

Technically its amazing, however the story was god awful.

it just sustain the decently good franchise it is. Which to me is a bad thing.

All the Infamous games are all solid 8/10s, but why do i wanna keep playing a series that doesnt improve or does anything out of the ordinary?

It didnt fatigue it, but if the next Infamous game is just more of the same another 8/10, then they should seriously consider pulling the plug.

@Slashkice: so you'd gamble on another infamous instead of say, a new sucker punch ip if given the choice?

The game is certainly entertaining. The city traversal out-shining the actual combat in terms of gameplay, but it never really ascends to anything overly inspiring that makes me sit back and feel need for more of it. In the end, it feels like a pretty lucid open world with little to sway from the story for more than a few minutes. I suppose if they were to develop the weaker parts of the franchise (some you mentioned) I'd be on board for more, but as it stands I'm cool with a new ip.

I didn't even like the first inFamous. Gameplay was only decent and the characters/story were awful. I literally hated everybody in that game. Unless the franchise got radically better with the second game, I don't see the appeal really. There's better games like it.

I liked it a lot better than the previous infamous games, in fact I thought the first two were pretty meh.

I just beat Infamous: First Light earlier today and yeah i seem to get more and more addictive to the franchise after every game i play.. Infamous: SS not only improved a lot of things from infamous 2 ( which is by far the best infamous game last gen ) but it also had some amazing powers and an interesting story.

Im also loving that hat that came with the LE lol

It is a good game... I think SP have a few areas they should improve with the next installment in the series but they're on the right track :)

I liked it, yeah sure it was a little more of the same however the gameplay was good enough and the characters was way more likeable than the previous installments. I think 8/10 is a fitting score.

"There is a really great game waiting to happen in that franchise"

Yeah after 3 average games, I can't see them ever making anything "great". Its not like they haven't had enough chances.

Loved it

@TheEroica:

Played and watched a bit on my brother's PS4, but the trailers had already given me the distinct impression that the main character was an irritating, wise-cracking tool box.

I find it very hard to play as characters that I am not invested in, especially when they talk a LOT.

Gameplay was solid, but I felt weaker than in the other two games. Considering it's supposed to be a superhero game, it was way too easy to die (which led to running in, hitting some dudes, and then running away to regen health - hardly the best way to make a player feel powerful).

Who cares... I just want Prototype back... :( Prototype had Covert Options.

I haven't played it yet, but i hosnetly don't really want to.

inFAMOUS was one fo my favourite PS3 series. What i loved about it was the novelty of a super hero game that wasn't license based. Also, it was in the name.

Cole was a bland character, but, it was the sacrifice that needed to be made to allow the binary moral choice of being a villan or hero. Being in the middle was horrible, but, it was this split choice that made the game interesting, as your powers would change depending on which road you took. Ense teh name "in (FAMOUS)". The destroyed city and the gloomy landscape added a nice touch to the atmosphere.

Now, it seems all of that's gone from the plays i've seen and reviews i've read.

The good/evil part has been downplayed to special move sets and finishers (fully gone in First Light) so has to allow 4 new "elements" that don't seem to chang all that much and that, IMHO, could have been fitted into the binary system. Also, allowing a new character with more personallity, but the basis of what made the game awesome just seems to be gone.

Oh, and fucking over the cannon to keep rehashing the series is bullshit.

Really enjoyed second son, but a next infamous with the same gameplay would over fatigue it, controls and powers are fine but the whole killing all enemy to clear a map is gonna get old

It was an ok game and an awesome tech demo. The next game will be better for sure.

It killed the franchise for me.

Most boring and repetitive game i've ever played.

Wow that is about as accurate of a description as is possible. Well done my friend.

I haven't played Second Son but Infamous 2 was garbage and SS didn't look like that much of an upgrade.

The game seems like it would be very easy to platinum. The problem is the game has NO replay value. I started a new game months ago so I could get the rest of the trophies but haven't touched it since. The wow factor from the visuals wears off eventually and then the repetitiveness of the gameplay takes over. And the story was terrible. Troy Baker deserves better.

Haven't picked the game up yet. I didn't really find the previous games to be all that great, and sadly the problems stem further than being fixed by a fresh coat of paint. I'll for sure pick it up sometime in the future but still not in a real rush to nab it.

Reading alot of responses it would seem that second son fatigued the franchise more so than augmented it.

It was a solid B- to me.

RE4 was preceded by how many RE games?

Lets see it is the 3rd chapter and score 80 the other scored 80 something,so i would say no.

For the next pedal to the metal make one about Forza...

i think infamous ss left a good impression about the franchise because this new gen doesnt have as many games to highlight so it had a lot of attention. I think it held up well and i know a lot of people were introduced to the franchise.

I think if they improved the game (i thought the game length was too short) i think this could end up being a tier 1 franchise like god of war/ uncharted/ gran turismo

Fatigue it.

Come on...shake up the gameplay.

Bad example considering how great RE1 and 2 was. Heck even Code Veronica. All stellar games.

So how this relates to Infamous I don't know...

Infamous is a pretty worthless series and SS is more of the same. When first party exclusives are so mediocre you have to question their purpose. Games like that aren't selling systems nor are they bringing anything worthwhile to users of those systems. Honestly if Infamous went multi-plat I'm not sure anyone on X-Box or PC would give a ****.

I have yet to play it. I was a big fan of Cole, so its going to be hard for me to get used to a new protagonist.

As a lot of others have said, it's a good game, well made, just quite basic and kind of bland.

I really didn't like inFamous 2, but the new game seems to be more interesting. I wouldn't mind a new one tbh

It's the same above average action game it's always been, and Suckerpunch is barely above being mediocre. The new character and mechanics could make for an impressive game, but Suckerpunch consistently under delivers in terms of encounter design, pacing, and level design top to bottom. They make bland action games that become rote and tiring way before the half way mark as they have no real sense of variety, and that's been the issue since day fucking one.

I'd be interested in playing an inFamous game where Sucker Punch handles the game mechanics, but any other studio handles everything else. Oh and the morality system is still fucking hot garbage.

I enjoyed the first game but never felt the urge to play more of the series. Too much shooting, extremely simplistic close combat mechanic, virtually empty world with hardly anything to do beside similarly structured missions and repetitive as ****. Not a fan of where the story was going either. 6/10

Perhaps not seamlessly analogous, yet still indicates that the best does not necessarily precede later iterations.