Product Features

Genre: Accessories
Publisher: Sony
Release Date: June 10, 2011
Available Platforms: PlayStation 3

inFAMOUS 2

Summary
Reviews
Trailers
Price History

Play once more as comic book super hero Cole McGrath (who gained his incredible powers after being caught at the centre of a massive explosion) in this totally absorbing sequel to inFAMOUS from 2009. Having been blamed for the destruction of Empire City, you have a lot to prove as you head out to New Marais to regroup so you can take on the terrifying mission to destroy the massive demonic creature called the Beast that now threatens the city's population. As before you possess the ability to hurl lightning bolts and can top up your energy by sucking power from generators but this time your electrical attack capabilities are enhanced with a system of advanced super powers. The game, as before, is set in an open world environment and game players are offered a huge amount of choice at every stage. Your powers may even be used for good or evil. Choices made at each stage affect the plot and even the outcome of the entire game so the game has the potential to be different each time it is played. Shocking!

Matthew Brew January 31, 2012 PS3

****

Infamous 2 begins in Empire city dramatically with the attack of the revered "beast" shown as Mcgrath's main adversary at the end of the first game. Immediately we can see the graphics have been ramped up a notch, faces are much more alive & lighting is ten times better giving the whole game a "hd" feel compared to the first games grainy graphics of dark grey tones. The game opens with a brief demonstration of Mcgrath's powers and even lets you summon an electrical storm upon your enemy, but this is clearly shown to be nothing against this monster that is the beast. Mcgrath is simply no match. Yet.

The story basically covers Mcgrath's development of new powers in the new city of New Marais, basically sucker punch's take on New Orleans, all with the aim of defeating the beast. To develop your powers you must find blast cores, which upgrade your powers significantly, as each core is absorbed however the beast is rampaging through North America; destroying everything in his path and heading straight for New Marais. It is told mainly through animated cut scenes, however the original comic strip style cut scenes have made a return and are equally as refreshing and original as ever and tell the story superbly. The main protagonist has a completely new look from the first game, the voice actor has changed and he looks much younger, personally i prefer the old Mcgrath; he just felt more of the gritty sort of hero his character is meant to be. We do see some familiar faces here, Zeke, Mcgrath's slightly chubby and hilarious best friend, makes a return with slightly cliche one liners and an unfortunately shallow character. We also see the introduction of new characters here: Nix, another conduit like Mcgrath but instead with the ability to manipulate fire: Kuo, starting off as an agent she too becomes a conduit in the game with the ability to manipulate ice & fly. There is a wide character range and suitably so, as it is a sandbox game and there is a lot to do, but sometimes it feels like character development is a bit under done: i find myself often wishing the developers had gone deeper with a lot of these characters and who they really are. However overall the story is good & provides a satisfying play through that will draw you in, even if it is lacking in some areas.

The game play has also had a face lift, attempts to make free running more fluid are clear, with the inclusion of new powers which allow a jump to be electrically charged when leaping off a car; hence giving more altitude. Static thrusters are included from the start this time and when upgraded allow longer gliding times and provide an upwards boost when first launched. Another key aspect of the game play that has changed is melee, there is now the "amp" which serves as basically an electrical sword for you to perform acrobatic electrical attacks with. For the most part it works well and greatly improves on the lacking melee from the first game, but the camera zooms in far too close when attacking not allowing you to see whether an enemy is coming from behind or indeed what anyone else is doing. However for the most part combat has remained the same, with a basic style of a third person shooter but with electric bolts rather than guns. The ability to upgrade powers from the start menu has also been improved with different variations on electrical shock waves, grenades and even tornadoes available; the best improvement for me is that once an upgrade is bought it can be switched between by a simple press of the left directional button reducing the amount of time navigating clunky menus. New powers are also available that are not electrically based, there is now the inclusion of ice and fire powers which adds a whole new element to game play and steps up the combat a notch. There is also a return of the karma system, with clearly laid out bad and good choices allowing your character to become a super hero, or a super villain. I don't find this system particularly effective as it so linear, it detracts from the realism as the choice is pointless, as you always know you can just go back and replay the mission; and the only real motivation to be either good or evil is to unlock different powers. This is a major flaw in infamous 2 in my opinion, but it does give replay value as evil or good are missions are locked out once you have chosen.

The game, being sandbox, has a lot to do and is made up of story missions and side missions, the side missions fall a little flat, with an element of repetitiveness to them that make them boring. The story in the side missions is also very under developed which leaves the player with a very unsatisfied feeling upon completion. However the story missions go a lot more in depth with characters and story, and are good fun to play, however clunky aspects of combat like how hard it is to aim correctly and how easy it is to die let them down.

Blast shards have also made a return in Infamous 2, 305 of them. They again upgrade the amount of electrical energy that you can store and are scattered all around New Marais and it is up to the player to find them all. This was one of the most difficult challenges in the original game and again returns to frustrate perfectionists such as myself, however it is extremely satisfying and very well done by sucker punch.

There is also the new inclusion of player content, players get to design their own infamous missions to be played by others. These appear as green exclamation marks on the mini map and allow the game to extend its play time as the content is in theory infinite. The design features are well made up and user friendly and it is incredibly satisfying to find a creative and original mission to perform.

Overall i think this game is very good value for money, it is packed full of things to do with at least two playthroughs required to complete the game fully. There is at least 50 hours worth of game play here, it is missing a bit of polish that would have beeen very nice to see in character development and game play but overall it is very satisfying to play and will keep you amused for a long time to come.