Infamous: Festival of Blood is an odd, yet interesting take on what it would be like if Cole was part vampire.
Infamous: Festival of Blood takes place in the lower portion of New Marais. The event, "Pyre Night", which is basically a city-wide Halloween celebration is going on and Zeke is narrating the tale of Cole Mcgrath's encounter with Bloody Mary and a horde of vampires as it unfolds. Cole was bitten by this Bloody Mary and he only has until sunrise to destroy her or else he'll never revert to his old self. The story of course is shallow and cliché, but that doesn't prevent the game itself from being fun. The plot doesn't really fit into that of Infamous 2 despite it taking place during the events. It's essentially a fictional story tied within the game, which is interesting, but doesn't expand anything in the series.
With Pyre Night going on, New Marais is more lively, yet unsettling, than in Infamous 2. People dressed up in strange costumes are seen dancing in the streets, flashy lights and fireworks are seen going off, large balloons and decorations are scattered about, and packs of vampires seen creeping atop buildings are few of the many new sites to behold. Civilians are mostly unaware of the ominous events transpiring in their city, so when the now blood-thirsty Cole preys on one of them, their reactions of horror fit in perfectly with the spooky setting.
The gameplay for the most part is left unchanged. Cole initially has most of his powers stripped, but progression through the game unlocks familiar powers. The most substantial addition is the ability to transform into bats and fly throughout the city as such. This makes traveling even more of a cinch than it was in Infamous 2. It has its limits obviously. A meter must be filled by biting innocent civilians or staking hostile vampires. It also has its usefulness in combat as you can ram into enemies while in this flying state to deal significant damage. It's also great for fleeing some encounters you don't feel like engaging in. Collectibles remain present in the form of canopic jars and hidden messages left by Bloody Mary which provide interesting background information. Canopic jars fill and expand Cole's blood meter, which is what allows his flight. These similarities and alterations for the most part do a decent job in balancing out the experience to where it feels like an Infamous game that also has unique aspects so it doesn't feel like too much of the same.
Enemies are replaced with a variety of vampire-like foes. There are only a few variants, but each with their own unique tactics. It changes the pace a bit, but facing the same enemies over and over again in a short period of time gets repetitive after a while. The action is a bit more challenging than Infamous 2 with some of the situations being a little uncomfortable. It doesn't get too cheap or ridiculous with the exception of an instance or two.
The plot doesn't go very far or provide many shocking moments. A pause in the story line forces you to play a couple of UCG missions from Sucker Punch themselves, which is a bit odd and a little unnecessary. The purpose may be to show off some of the new features of the mission creator such as comic book-styled cut scenes. Still, the missions would have been more engaging if they had the actual dialogue and real cut scenes. It's only a minor annoyance, though it does slow down the pace a bit.
From start to finish, Festival of Blood may only consume about 3 hours of your time. Finding all of the collectibles and earning every trophy could clock in another few hours. There are no side missions, but luckily user-generated UCG missions make a reappearance. As in Infamous 2, these missions give some additional life to the game, but don't remain entertaining for a prolonged period of time.
While it would seem impossible for vampires and Infamous to co-exist, Sucker Punch managed to pull the two together quite well. Though it's unsurprisingly brief, Festival of Blood provides a fair amount of content that make it an overall solid experience. Given the length and content itself, $10 isn't too much to ask for. It would have been nice to see a true add-on for the Infamous , but this side tale suffices as it includes the same elements that make up the fun factor that make the Infamous games satisfying to play.