Greetings and hello, I am in the midst of playing a more modern game to review so in the meantime we have another Throwback Thursday. This week I have Infamous, a superhero power trip where being the good guy is not a given.
This was made by the people who made the Sly Racoon series and was a step towards a more mature audience. The whole point of it was to pose the question, you have powers do you help or do you take?
I bought this game straight upon it’s release and the moment you install this game it really gives you both barrels. You start the game with an explosion and your character (Cole) is the only survivor. From there you get launched into a comic style narrative, which was really quirky but I enjoyed it, and then the tutorial begins.
A special mention to the graphics, which are actually amazing. They hold up pretty well today, but bar the very occasional bug, the animation runs smoothly, the characters well animated and the lightning is a thing of beauty. It glows in the darkness and leaps like the real thing. The textures on the buildings are pretty good too, so all in all I approve of the look of it.
The gameplay is where this game really shines. Your given the ability for climb buildings and able to drop from any height with no damage. As you’re a lightning man you can’t swim. So your inability to drive is also attributed to your powers but you are not limited in your mobility options, especially mid game where your zipping about the place. Your mobility options involve running, climbing, falling, gliding, rooftop train rides and grinding on the train & power lines. So getting around is not a problem.
The other aspect of gameplay is the fighting. With your electric powers comes with inventive ways to use them, ranging from your basic lightning strike to calling down a lightning storm on someone’s head. The actual combat is fairly balanced, being challenging but not impossible. You can easily die if your not paying attention but it’s never Dark Souls hard. Enemies are a little repetitive so having the challenge is good for keeping you engaged and alert. There are platforming elements in the game but these are mainly reserved for story and collectible reasons.
On collectibles, I actually really enjoyed collecting the tapes for the undercover dude. I enjoyed the backstory it provided. The shards are also worth collecting, a pain to get but they boost the amount of charge you have. Worth the pain.
Character progression starts you off with some basic powers and abilities that you can upgrade as you do things around the city, become good or evil, while the story unlocks more powers that you can upgrade later on. My most useful power was speeding up the drain power, helping me charge quicker. Most badass power is the storm attack, which I can admit made me feel like Thor in the Ragnorak film.
Onto the story, you spend your time discovering your powers (which unlock as the game goes on), runnin’ n’ gunnin’, helping Zeke (your best friend) and your girlfriend, Trish. As you navigate the what is right and what is easy, the city is divided into three parts which you must take back and also restore power (which gives you new powers anyway). I actually enjoyed the story, with challenging your characters morals and the twist involved. I really grew close to Zeke, as he is some sort of Elvis impersonator who is a comic relief character that grows when his personality and ambitions are shown to you, giving him real depth as a character.
I’d recommend giving this game a go, it looks great and plays really well.
Hints and tips to supercharge your gameplay:
- Dedicate some time in the early parts of the game to collecting shards. You haven’t got that many powers so the next best thing is having plenty of charge when your in a fight.
- Following from that, the basic bolt doesn’t take up any juice, so spam the hell out of that. Save the more spectacular stuff for diverting rockets and sharpshooting for when you need it.
- Evil playthrough, the grenades become much more useful when civilian lives aren’t your concern. Just be aware they can drain your charge.
- When it comes to upgrades, focus on mobility and charging. You’ll need to drain fairly regularly to stay charged and in the middle of a gunfight it pays not to stand there for too long.
- Once you’ve got a few powers and shards under your belt, experiment. You may find combos and maneuvers that you wouldn’t originally find.
- If you hear screeching, get to high ground or look around quickly. Screeching suicide bombers are an absolute ball ache to deal with.
- In my opinion, good vs evil here is more accuracy vs area of effect. If your in it for the power trip, go full evil as your given more freedom to unleash your powers. Good tends to make you limit or avoid your other powers.
- Although grinding is cool, if your in a hurry the train is faster.
- At some point you will find yourself at the highest point, once your as high as you can go, use your electro bomb move to earn a cheeky trophy and for the satisfaction of it.