InFamous surprised me, with it's superhero theme and it's protagonist Cole who has somehow received superhuman powers, in particular the use of electricity as a weapon in the city of Empire City. It had similar tones to fellow superhero themed video games, in particular the new Batman games with it's dark setting, theme and tone that is far different to games involving Spider-man or Superman. Cole is grounded in realism, as a man who can choose between good or bad actions, but must face the consequences of those actions later in the game.
Your bad choices are certainly darker, than you would expect in a superhero game where you can become a villain if that's your decision. You can choose to let people die, and save yourself or use people as cannon fodder to avoid large battles with enemies.
The story is easy to understand, shown through cut scenes and comic book visuals that Cole is regarded as an enemy of the State, since he has these new found powers of his, and Empire City tearing itself apart with a virus running wild, killing it's citizens to crazed marauders terrorising the under-siege city.
Visually the game being a launch release for the PlayStation 3, lacks a lot in terms of detail and smooth environments, and character models. But that's to be expected, it was released as a launch title but it's visuals are still solid, and stable which pushes you to continue playing on.
Gameplay wise, InFamous is very smooth in terms of climbing buildings, scaling the city and travelling across it via wires and such, but this also extends to combat which is smooth and solid as you use your powers of electricity in your body. You can run and gun with electricity coursing through your fingertips, as well as scale buildings easily just like in games such as Crackdown.
The Good:
- Solid, dark toned story and setting that links to the Superhero theme but stays true to the sinister theme of a man who may or may not want to be a good man, and can choose how he wants to live his new life.
- Solid, stable visuals.
- Gameplay is solid and smooth, no problems in traversing the city via buildings and combat is simplistic.
The Bad:
- Compared to games since it's release, InFamous shows it's age in terms of it's visuals, and is quite dated but is acceptable for it's content.
InFamous is one of those games you'll remember, and enjoy playing occasionally to explore Empire City, and complete the game's long range of side missions, and quests. Now since it's release, and with a sequel since released you can find it for less than £5 in some stores. I would recommend it to fans of open-world games, and games that allow you to make choices of your own choosing.