Game Review: Infamous 2

Infamous 2 is an open world action game where you can choose to be a superhero or supervillain. Developed by Sucker Punch Productions, the game is a direct sequel to their 2009 PlayStation exclusive, Infamous. This game will instantly feel familiar to anyone who played its predecessor and is a big improvement. If you’re not familiar with the Infamous series, it’s about a bike courier with bad taste in tattoos, his name is Cole MacGrath and he somehow survives a freak accident giving him electric super powers. Cole must choose how to use those powers in a world that’s changing as rapidly as he is.

Infamous 2 starts off almost exactly where the first one leaves us. The prophesied Beast is terrorizing the east coast and Cole retreats to the fictional city of New Marais, which is clearly inspired by New Orleans. You don’t need to play the first one to enjoy this one as the game gives a very quick synopsis of those events but if you like to play games for the characters then you may want to stop right here and pick up the first. I can honestly say that having played the first one gave me a much deeper and needed connection to the characters. There are very few references to the first game and Infamous 2 really does assume that you already know the important stuff.

My first complement to this game is that it doesn’t assume you’re an idiot and proceed to show you every single button and combo in a boring and drawn into introductory chapter. There’s no holding hands here. Sucker Punch makes sure you know how to move and aim and then it’s on to the killing.

The game handles just like its predecessor with some improvements. The first notable improvement is your new surroundings of New Marais. The city is iconic, unique and strategically designed. You can always tell what district you are in because each has their own flair and landmarks. The city is big, but not too big and backtracking to previously visited areas is never a pain. Of course the city is filled with blast shards, dead drops and audio diaries and gang territory lines to encourage you to explore every nook and cranny. (Is anyone else craving an English muffin? I like mine with peanut butter.) You still get around with your wall crawling parkour style free running and power line grinding.

The core move set is basically the same with some new additions that can really come in handy. I won’t spoil how you get them but soon enough Cole won’t be limited to dancing the electric boogaloo if you know what I’m saying. Unfortunately, you can only have so many moves in your arsenal at one time and with all the cool and different moves that Cole can learn this can be a real hindrance. I found myself constantly pausing the game and changing my move sets based on the situation at hand. It was a real frustrating limitation but at the same time there are some beneficial limitations to Infamous 2. One of my favorite aspects of the Infamous gameplay is how Cole is limited to his energy capacity. He’s basically just a giant battery who has to constantly recharge by sucking the power out of cars, circuit breakers, lamp posts, etc. To add to that, Cole’s buddy Zeke makes him a new weapon called the Amp. It’s an awesome melee weapon that looks like a tesla coil. So if you ever run out of juice you can still pack a punch. Eventually you’ll be able to use it to absorb the energy of your opponents and refill your gauge by pulling off a finishing move. I don’t know when Zeke became a metal shop electrician but hey I’m not complaining. Maybe he can build a radio out of a coconut next.

Rarely do I play games that keep my interest all the way to the end. Somewhere down the line I get bored with the story, the characters or the repetition and I put the game down with no interest in seeing it through. I’m proud to say that Infamous 2 was not the latest victim of my ADD wrath. Sure the missions can be repetitive sometimes but I never got bored. Each gang or boss or super powered being, aka “conduits” you come across keep the game interesting. The missions have a good variety and that’s taking into account the 60 side missions.

Your karma decisions have a more angel and devil on your shoulder feel as your sidekicks weigh in with their own opinions. The evil side is tempting because of how badass and powerful you can become but some of the ways in which you become evil don’t seem as important as the good choices. Hmm, do I save innocent lives or beat up musicians… Like many games where you choose moral alignment, your appearance reflects your actions. It was a nice idea but didn’t feel fully explored. Seeing my shirt change color isn’t exactly the most rewarding experience. Still, Sucker Punch did a great job with the Karma influencing the ending. Both endings are absolutely nothing alike and both are worth getting. Neither one really leaves us with any cliff hangers, which is a real relief seeing an actual conclusion in a game these days. I am sure that an Infamous 3 will be made but there’s really no need for it.

I really didn’t like how easy it is to reach full karma potential. About half way through the game I had reached maximum good karma, so from that point on I ran right past citizens in need of help since it wouldn’t boost my meter any more. Yea I’m a selfish prick.

The best part of Infamous 2 is the sense of urgency. Hitting the menu button would also show you just how close the Beast is to finding you and seeing this ominous path being torn into the coast really gives the game a feeling of progression and an inevitable fight that could determine the fate of the world. I loved the final confrontation and all the battles that take place before that are great. Each boss fight carries meaning and results in a big reveal or important story progression. The comic book narrative of the first game isn’t used as much as I was hoping. I really liked that style of storytelling and it’s done really well here, I just wish there was more.

The biggest difference that Infamous 2 has over the first is the introduction of User Generated Content (UGC). You can now design your own levels and upload them for other gamers to play around the world. If you’re signed into the PSN network you’ll see green dots scattered around your radar. Walking up to these locations will trigger a User Generated level. It’s a very cool idea and it seamlessly integrates into the sand box world. Unfortunately, like most UGC, the levels aren’t very good and most are there to help you trophy whore the game. That’s not to say that there aren’t any good levels, I hear this one is fantastic, but finding an enjoyable level is rare. All dialogue in these UGC levels are done via readable text at the bottom of the screen. I’m not complaining about that, but the voice work of this game is so good that it spoils you and having to read dialogue takes me out of the experience.

As is all too common with sand box games, it’s glitchy as hell. I can’t tell you how many times I restarted a mission because I got stuck in a wall or an item I needed to pick up disappeared into thin air. It happened close to a dozen times but none of them were major inconveniences. I found the AI to be very poor and once the enemy sees you, they always know where you are, no matter how sneaky you think you might be.

Also, I should mention that if you played the first Infamous then you can carry your save data over for some extra perks. By choosing to import your trophy data you can gain extra karma levels, energy cores and bonus XP.

Infamous 2 isn’t anywhere close to perfect but it’s solid entertainment. As far as sequels go, it brought in the perfect amount of story, character development and doing the all-around “kickin it up a notch”. The music, voice work, gameplay and graphics are all great and I’m glad that this is a series with a fan base that care enough to revolt when Sucker Punch tried to make Cole look like a cousin of Nathan Drake.

Play my outro….
- Jon Duryea (Follow @Artifact911 on Twitter)