Infamous 2 Updated Impressions

Gamescom 2010 is the first chance that the general public will have had to go hands-on with Infamous 2, in a section from E3 in Los Angeles. Behind closed doors, Sony was also offering members of the press a glimpse at a new section of the game. The section, which takes place in the game's new location of New Marias, sees Cole starting out in the city swamps, before fighting a barrage of enemy reapers and ultimately meeting the monstrous revenger, a huge new enemy for Infamous 2.

The new section of gameplay we saw was finished by developer Sucker Punch just a few days ago, so it's the latest build of the game yet seen. It showed Cole wielding his new melee weapon, the amp, which is a pair of metal batons that he electrifies by transferring his super electric powers to them. After beating off a procession of reapers and demonstrating the game engine's impressive new level of destructibility, Cole faced off against a giant new enemy called the revenger.

The revenger is a mutant enemy borne out of New Marias' swamps, which have mutated their victims to a hideous degree. The revenger charged at Cole and threw cars at him, so it was good for Cole that he now possessed the ability to fling cars back using his electrical powers. This was just one of the new super powers that Cole will possess in Infamous 2, with more being revealed in the run up to the game's release.

Following a somewhat negative response to the revised look of Cole from fans, developer Sucker Punch has changed the design of its lead character to make him much more recognisable. That said, Cole will be voiced by a new lead actor, Eric Ladin--a performer so versatile that he's also providing the motion capture for the character. The resulting revision means that Cole is looking both reassuringly familiar and more agile than ever, and we can't wait to find out how Cole 2.0 handles.

The demo we saw was only on show behind closed doors at Gamescom, but it will be revealed to the public at this year's Penny Arcade Expo. For more on Infamous 2, be sure to check out all of the previews on GameSpot, and to see it in action, watch the multiple trailers for the game on the site.