InFamous is shockingly good
In the heart of every ordinary person is a little child longing to be a super-hero. We all have that little part of us that wish for something more spectacular in our generally unspectacular lives and super hero games for me always play on this child-hood dream. InFamous tells the story of ordinary delivery man Cole McGrath who is given electric-based super powers from a device that destroys a great majority of the once grand "Empire city". A plague arises soon afterwards causing the government to quarantine the area causing a social collapse and anarchy to take control. Gangs Arise, the city loses most of it's power and any cops that once patrolled the streets are now too afraid to stand up and restore order. As you can imagine, the citizens of Empire City are desperate for change, and as the only super-powered vigilante on the streets it is up to you to change things. This is where InFamous excels, it's no run of the mill super-hero story, great power doesn't have to mean great responsibility in Empire City. It is up to you how you approach the story, will you be the good-hearted saviour? Or the power-hungry oppressor? There are a number of moral choices throughout the game which lead to your "karma metre" either going up or down. The more heroic you are the more civilians respect you and your powers take a more responsible turn, with less explosive powers and more designed to stop enemies in their tracks. The more evil you are however the more you are feared and hated and your powers become more destructive. Through this InFamous becomes much more then a super-hero story, it's gritty, some choices may hinder you and some may help you, would you be willing to give up your food to starving civilians? Or should you take it all for you and your friends? This real world spin gives InFamous a level of depth that immerses the player into Cole's world. Adding to the depth of the story are the intriguing "Dead Drops" placed throughout Empire City, when found these reveal a message from an mysterious FBI agent known as "John" and when pieced together they create an interesting back story to the events that take place whilst playing. The story remains strong throughout and is sure to keep the player engrossed with it's many twists and shocking (excuse the pun) revelations.
In terms of game play InFamous excels, moving around the city is fast and exciting with Cole's movements being fluid and enjoyable to watch, the climbing system is extremely fun and the amount of tricks and impressive stunts you can do make you feel an overriding sense of "did I really just do that? ... Awesome!". Fights are often frantic, if somewhat lacking in variation. Often when fighting you'll aim, shoot lightning/lightning grenades and roll around like a mad-man trying to dodge bullets. Which is fairly fun if not somewhat annoying when Cole decides to stand still when he can't quite figure out how to duck behind cover. New powers delivered to you every so often do offer some variation to battles however. These make you feel extremely powerful, examples of these powers include shock grenades that blow your enemies to pieces and a precision shot that lets you snipe your enemies from a distance. When low on health/power Cole can drain electricity from various power supplies around the city and this keeps combat fair even if you outnumbered, when you take power from something it will take some time to recharge so you'll need to move quick if low on health. The controls are easy to use and the amount of powers you'll have at the end of the game wont confuse you or your fingers. Missions are often varied, with some focussing on exploration, defending vehicles and people, destroying enemy bases and many more.
Graphically InFamous is brilliant, Cole's animations are smooth and slick and the lightning animations are magnificent to look at. The City however lacks in variation and appears grey and dull at all time, though arguably this adds to the apocalyptic feel of the game. The characters within the story have a significant amount of depth which draws the player in, dialogue is superb with fantastic voice-work for all characters. Cutscene's are handled through comic-like art-works and a narration by Cole, these work well in aiding the super-hero motif of the game and move the story along nicely. The score of the game is well made and fits with the game, especially in the most dramatic moments towards the end. The difficulty remains constant throughout and at no point will you feel too over-powered. Once you complete the game once an additional hard mode is unlocked for the die-hard players striving for trophies. InFamous is completely replayable, after your first play through (which will take a max of about 14 hours) there are many items to find around the city as well as optional side-missions. Some of these side-missions will be locked out due to your karma, often as a good-guy you'll help the police but you wont be able to as a villain for example. Once you've finished the game as a hero you can also play it through as an evil-doer with different moral choices and different outcomes and powers.
InFamous is a game that you'll remember for a long time and will keep you enthralled and entertained. The story is exciting and engrossing and the game play is superb with the exception of a few glitches that you may encounter whilst playing. The game does well to make you feel like the powerful super-hero you've always longed to be. I highly recommend anyone to play this game and enjoy it as much as I did.