Infamous Review - PlayStation 3

Posted by playblog

Posted: June 12, 2009 - 11:57 am

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Photo courtesy Sucker Punch: I'm sure Cole's blowing up that car for the greater good.

Infamous starts with a bang.

No seriously, there's a big explosion and it gives our bike messenger/everyman protagonist known only as Cole the power to conduct and control electricity. As the sole survivor of this curious explosion, Cole's naturally accused of being the terrorist responsible for taking out several city blocks and dozens of people, not to mention plunging the entire city into a fit of anarchy, looting and poor hygiene. Cole must develop his powers and try to figure out the truth behind the shocking (I went there) explosion that's torn the city apart.

What superhero story in a triple-A game title would be complete without some form of morality system superimposed in a strictly binary fashion? Infamous totally has one of those and it is black and white. As Cole uses his new and shocking (again!) powers to bring order back to a city on the edge, he can chose whether to play the altruistic hero or the brutal Machiavelli.

The difference? Electricity is blue if you're good - red if you're nasty. Moral choices are horribly extreme and ultimately don't impact the game play or story in any real way. So why include them at all?

Whether you play as a noble savior or Richard III, combat revolves around slinging sparky projectiles at mutated street thugs known as Reapers. Not an original name, by any means, but the character design in Infamous stands out. Developer has a pedigree of unique designs; they made the Sly Cooper games on the PlayStation 2 and have yet to employ an art style that's old hat.

The one thing Infamous absolutely nails is the verticality of its design. Cole develops the ability to grind on rails and power lines and can use his electricity to glide a short while, making long leaps from rooftop to rooftop easy as crossing the LaTouche Street and Northern Lights Boulevard at 3 a.m. on a Sunday. It's this kind of contemporary platforming that invigorates an otherwise lackluster action genre. Just like in Crackdown for the Xbox 360, the sheer joy of scaling buildings and using the rooftops to get around a la Batman makes up for what is a pretty shallow story and morality conceit. Zone out during cut scenes - you may need to - but give Infamous a shot. You might be shocked (three was too much, huh?) by the results.

Seth Boyer grew up in Eagle River and currently lives stereotypically in his mother's basement (it's temporary). His pithy insights can be found at Twitter.com/sethboyer.

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