Infamous 2 - Review

Infamous 2 is the sequel to the 2009 PlayStation exclusive hit Infamous, which was given away for free to PlayStation network users last spring.  Free is a relative term, as it cost all of us our personal data because Sony was hacked, but in any case, we got a few pretty good games out of it.  Infamous 2 is now free to PlayStation Plus members, and has found a resurgence in popularity.

As a side note, if you have not yet taken the leap that is the PlayStation Plus, I highly recommend that you do.  The "Instant Game Collection" that Sony is offering is by and far one of the best deals available in gaming, and I feel foolish for not having jumped onto the bandwagon sooner.

Infamous 2 starts shortly after the end of the first game, in which the main villain has warned Cole that a enormous threat is approaching and he must get himself ready to face it.  Well, the threat arrives, and is called "The Beast" - a fifty foot tall being of fire and energy.  You spar with him shortly before being forced to flee the city to find a way to stop him.

It's a fun way to start off the game

From here, the game introduces to a new city, New Marais, a New Orleans type town post Katrina.  Sections of the town are swampland, sections are flooded, and the town is under control by the Militia, a group of gun toting maniacs who are trying to round up and imprison anybody they think might have super powers. 

The enemies you encounter don't ever feel as dangerous as the ones from the original game.  Battling conduits with machine guns was always riskier than normal guys with machine guns, or the two other factions that eventually show up.  They add some variety, but it's pretty much the same enemies you fought from the previous faction with a new ability and different weak point.  It's bad enough that you can pretty well predict when you're about to run into the newest baddie.

Gameplay was praised by several publications, but I just don't see it.  I'm not a huge fan of sandbox style games, and both Infamous and Infamous 2 were good enough to hold my attention through both, but there's nothing revolutionary about the game over it's older brother.  You still travel by electric line and rail, you still shoot lightning bolts and throw grenades, and you're still combing the city looking for pieces of blast core to draw power from.  There's a few new abilities, and melee combat was implemented, but it's just too little for the praise that it got. 

Melee combat isn't even very good, by the midpoint of the game you'll be opting for range

The story is passable, but is devoid of much in the way of good and evil choices as in the first.  The Karma missions are always selected by choice, and there's few moments where you have to make a decision then and there about how to proceed.  There's some major gaps that you're forced to fill in the details on your own, and the good ending was a little disappointing.  I would like to mention that there was an excellent scene between Cole and Zeke near the end of the game that really showed their friendship with only something like 5 words of spoken dialog.  The game would have been better served with more scenes like this.

Infamous 2 does a good job at making you feel like a pretty average guy with some extra powers that's trying to change the city, for better or worse.  There's not many similar games, especially without an IP like Spider Man or Batman to back them up with, so it must be incredibly hard to put out something like this.  If you have the PlayStation Plus membership where you can get this for free, you have absolutely no excuse to not try it out.  Otherwise when Sucker Punch comes out with Infamous 3, we might get something truly magical.  The elements are there, they're just not all coming together to form a five star game yet.