Lets clear this up straight away - InFamous is quite possibly the best "superhero" videogame of this generation. However despite being such a fantastic game thats not to say it doesn't have its flaws. So lets get into it...
Putting you in the hands of Cole, an electrified free running "average" guy, your able to roam freely around a vast city until your heart's content. As a character cole is interesting however doesn't stand out like Nathan Drake (Uncharted) for example. Sucker Punch has gone to great lengths to try make Cole believable, by allowing him to make morality choices where often his comments show us that the temptation of the "dark side" is often an appealing one. However these morale choices are far too clear cut for my liking - for example do you kill a guy, or save him? Theres no real inbetween or tough choices. Yet right towards the end the developers completely flip this around by throwing an honestly difficult decision at you - one which, if you get involved in the characters, will genuinely make you feel bad which ever path you choose, and one which made me change my mind at the very last minute. Another problem that InFamous suffers from is its character art style - in no way do any of the characters particularly stand out, Cole for example looks like Starkiller (Force Unleashed) mixed with the dull Nathan Hale (Resistance). However the build up of character relations throughout the story is an interesting one, and something which I found to grip and encourage me to continue plowing through the story. By no means will the twists and turns of the story win an Oscar, however it should keep most people pretty interested throughout, especially as it draws to a close.
The City in InFamous is... interesting. On many levels Sucker Punch show that they can get it right, with pedestrians walking around, sifting through bins, taking pictures of you, making comments about you and even insults at times. Whats interesting is how the city almost evolves depending on how you play the game. If your good then people will relish in you - taking pictures, shouting compliments and running up to you to ask for help with something. However if your evil then people show their hate through insults. Despite this InFamous suffers from the old open world repetition problem. Maybe we've just been spoiled by the fantastic unique variety of Liberty City, but InFamous often uses a copy and paste technique. I noticed when I finally headed over to the second city that some of the docks for example where just ripped right from the first one, and a large section of the city just looked the same, however there are distinctive areas for example on the second city the enemies are the "trashmen" and a few of the areas look like shanty towns to represent this. Yet theres still a large feeling of similarity throughout the environment where I would have liked to see abit more variety in 3 distinctive cities. But I still have to give huge credit for just how amazing travelling around the city can be. Thanks to Cole's free running past he's able to scale almost everything in a fantastic fashion. Every windowsill, pipe, nook and cranny can be climbed - which is probably a good reason why Sucker Punch just didn't have the time to make every area individual and unique.
Which leads me to the controls - InFamous almost "snaps on" to buildings when jumping to them. 95% of the time this works beautifully, and I'd go as far as saying it at the very least matches Assassins Creed's brilliant climbing mechanics. Once your powered up you'l be zipping accross the city like it's second nature, running across rooftops to flying between buildings to speeding on train tracks or cables - InFamous takes onfoot travelling to a new level. Also when travelling your able to use buildings and objects as cover, like most third person shooters nowerdays, but with a twist. Cole can hang onto the side of a building and poke up to fire his lightning blasts for example, which really does bring "vertical cover" into play. Despite all this the system has its flaws. Earlier on in the game you may find Cole grabbing onto objects and buildings during the heat of battle by accident, leading to a frustrating death, however I personally found once you become more familiar with the movement and powers this occurred less and less.
Sucker Punch have managed to create Cole's powers in an engaging way. You still use the same kind of "shooter" weapon archetypes such as standard shots, grenades and rockets but they are all designed in an interesting fashion that they still feel new. The game integrates an upgrade system into play - with every kill and deed you gain experience points, which you can then spend on upgrading your powers to make them more powerful and robust. Your alignment affects these powers in a significant way - being good you find your powers are more about control and restraining the enemies. But choosing the evil path means your powers are more wreckless and destructive due to not needing to prevent civilian casualties. Yet even though the evil powers may sound more appealing the developers have done a fantastic job of making both sides very interesting to play.
Graphically the game is a mixed bag. For any open world title, especially one which involves fast movement, you can't expect the pinacle of graphics, however InFamous really shows some muddy textures, aliasing, pop-in, awful character dialogue animations and a downright poor draw distance. However at the same time the game can still look pretty, with fantastic looking power effects and neat little details such as when walking through a puddle the water becomes electrically charged. I have seen some reviews comment on the framerate being rock steady however this is far far from the case. Although oddly enough the framerate holds up during mass destruction, specific areas of the city just cause it to drop significantly. Run off to the waterfront and look out to sea and the framerate shoots up to what must be around 60fps, yet turn around and look back at the city and down it goes to 25-30fps. However I have to mention the fantastic comic-style "cut scenes". Rather than have in-engine cutscenes Sucker Punch have embraced the super hero style of the game and implemented comicbook'esque slides which really add charm to the game.
On the Sound front InFamous wont blow you away however it ticks all the right boxes. The music is a standard affair, voice acting is well done and all of the powers sound just right. Civilians will talk to you, however you never really hear them talking amongst one another. The city sounds like a city. Theres not much more you could ask for.
Overall it may seem like there are some large negative points to make about InFamous, and indeed I'd be lieing if I denied that. However the game is just quite simply huge huge fun. Travelling around the city is an absolute blast, and when you start stringing together movement with all your powers you will feel like a true badass. The game clocks in at around 10-12 hours on your first playthrough, however could stretch even longer if you were to complete all the side quests. The game has provided me with some of the most fun I've had in a videogame in a long time. I would personally say that InFamous is the most enjoyable PS3 exclusive out to date, and is one of my favourite superhero games of all time. The game has many flaws and rough edges but they rarely take away from what is such a fantastic, interesting and simply enjoyable open world game.
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