[12/27/2009] inFAMOUS

[Devia Eleven]

 

* SCEA

* Sucker Punch

* Modern Action Adventure

* Release: May 26, 2009

* ESRB: Teen

inFAMOUS is a Sand-Box Action Adventure game exclusive to the PlayStation 3 video game console. Released in 2009 a month before it's primary competitor, Prototype. Many hardcore gamers and gamers in general have debated upon which game is better. inFAMOUS starts the player off with a bald, uninspired looking man named Cole McGrath. Cole is ordered by an anonymous customer to deliver a package, although Cole is unaware that within the package relies the Ray Sphere, an orb of ultimate destruction of some sort, that can easily destroy earthy life. As he opens the package it explodes, causing a devastating explosion that wipes out the residents of the Historic District. Cole survives this blast, and in the process, also, absorbs energy from the Ray Sphere's fantastic aura, granting him powers to discharge and store electricity.

 

 

The game itself acts on a generic morality system, Cole has the choice to be either a Hero, completely infamous, or somewhere in between. Throughout the game you will be faced with various Karma choices, for example, Would you leave this male to die, or will you save him?, type scenarios. Much like Fable being Evil or Good changes the main protagonist's clothing, body, and electricity color. Both Evil and Good have slight alterations to Cole's powers, for instance, Cole as a Hero contains sticky electricity grenades that increase in explosion radius, Cole as a Villain, contains sticky electricity grenades that splatter into clusters to expand explosion radius. The question is to whether or not something similar to this would entice a player to replay the game for a second time to try out a different Karmic side. The cutscenes consist of comic book like pictures with a grungy art-style, with Cole's dry Dark Knight narration.

 

 

The game's ending and storyline changes little even with two choices provided every major event. People around the city react to your wickedness or bravery, by trying to fight you, or praising you and taking pictures. inFAMOUS has a very small RPG-like leveling system, instead of acting on numeric leveling, it involves upgrading of certain attacks, with experience points gained by healing, devouring people, or by killing enemies. Certain stages of an attack can only be unlocked by completing Evil or Good missions. Once a Good mission is completed, an Evil mission is locked and deleted, or vice versa, allowing you to clean up the city. Each optional mission that is completed clears up parts of the city, which decides whether enemies will keep appearing, and will open up medical housing to treat you when you die as a wake-up point. There is a variety of optional missions, this fact is clear, but being able to enjoy doing the missions themselves is non-existent.

 

 

The game's navigation is fairly sparse and unexciting. You're able to grind power lines, and use static electricity to glide certain distances, there's no way to fly, or run extremely fast, fully utilizing your electricity. The powers themselves are also unimaginative, except for a few. You have the sticky grenade, the electrici missile, the electric sniper ability, basic electrocution, a few others to spare a full spoil. The game's combat also includes melee without any depth whatsoever. Overall the combat makes the character feel underdeveloped and less spectacular and flashy as the game presents him to be. The entire Sand-Box genre has been dieing for quite sometime, roaming around New York city and making things go boom has been overdone to a tee, and inFAMOUS keeps up the annoying streak, of generic buildings, cars, people, and missions.

 

 

The enemies are buggy and overly aggressive, unrelentingly savage. It makes the game extremely frustrating, more than any other game I've played in years. Imaging trying to do a mission of any fashion, while enemies are shooting at you from every other angle possible, Cole's defense can only be upgraded three times, and the health bar remains small and unreliable. As your health decreases you can stop by nearby light posts, generators, cars, or any other object that contains electricity, to recharge your batteries. It heals you, and also restores your electricity. Once again, the enemies makes the game overall a more irritating experience than an enjoyable one. The graphics show nothing impressive, the environments spouts out nothing audible, as it has modeled itself after countless Sand-Box titles before it, games like Spiderman, the Hulk, the millions of Grand Theft Auto games, True Crime, and the list goes on. I am baffled that gamers or even developers today still think that New York City or a city modeled after such is an astronomical selection for a map for integrated interaction.

 

 

If you were to take out Spiderman out of the Spiderman games, and throw in the most generic Electric super-hero, you would have inFAMOUS, a fairly decent or even mediocre game, where it's mediocrity is maltreated by the games repetitiveness, cheap difficulty, and unoriginality. This game along with Prototype is overhyped, dubiously average titles that look great from the outside but play not so well. The major verdict of this title suggests that the game does not deserve a rent, it's an 8-hour dose of average agitation. It is a mystery as to why these games get such high reviews, because personally, I felt this game was a waste of money, and all jokes aside, I was one time almost near breaking the game itself out of sheer anger.

 

Overall: 7

[Agozer]

Awww, you trashed it. Based on your narration, the game's on the bland side.

[Devia Eleven]

Yeah bro, I don't know, the game's formula reminds me of how some Video Games just don't eliminate problems that hinder most Video Games in general.

 

At first inFAMOUS was a decent game without many flaws, but after trying to complete the game twice, you really start to realize the game's chinks in it's armor. I don't understand whether or not the reviews for games like these are done after someone plays it half-way, because based on the data I've collected, running around completing repetitive side missions, doing story-mode missions over and over again due to an overwhelming amount of building snipers, and just being totally fed up with the game's lack luster combat and gameplay, makes me regret paying $35 for the game, still knowing that it was a waste of money before putting the game in my console.

[Agozer]

Well, at least it looks nice, although this game is proof that graphics don't make the game. (and this coming from a guy who still view most games through a "last-gen lens" when ever next-gen game look dazzling.)

 

It seems that a lot of games these days (and even in the past) have this problem where the main idea is decent or even great, yet the developers never run with that idea all the way through. Either a) the game falls apart due to bone-headed design choices, great premise/idea notwithstanding, or the first half is enjoyable, but the developers forget their original idea in the latter half and/or under-use it - or go overboard with it and the idea implodes.

[L.S.D]

I tried to avoid this game most of the times but the price of USD25 is very tempting.......

[Skythe]

So this game is like playing as Electro and Prototype is like playing as Venom/Carnage.

[emsley]

I dunno but im glad i wasn't tempted now.