So I'm slowly picking up this game I've been extremely excited for, Infamous: Second Son. I played the first one ages ago as messenger Cole Mcgrath and could not have had my mind blown any greater by the ending of the story. As Cole, you control matter and electrify all enemies, and the occasional accidental civilian, to find out how to defeat those who "cursed" you with this power all while becoming the hero the city needs or the hero the city deserves....haha. In essence, this new Ps4 exclusive game has maintained that idea. However, the comic relief is no longer your best friend but yourself, comically commenting on your own"curse" as awesome and a bad smoking habit. With this comes the first major difference, Smoke. Unlike our electrifying predecessor, our new hero smokes his enemies with a heaping helping of cancer, making the Truth Campaign's worst nightmare. Also, superpowers aren't awesome? From the start of the game you're given a choice: good or bad (duh). But the game essentially chooses for you unless you're just inherently evil or you despise the elderly. The game essentially reminds you that murdering is still bad in a world where superpowers exist.
Akomish? Is that like the Amish?
Maybe it's just to give our hero to have a permanent tan or maybe it's cause Native Americans have secretly wanted superpowers to overthrow government, but I find it very odd they choose Natives for this particular story. Our hero Delsin has a typical family, a loving grandmother who runs a lodging house and an pessimistic brother cop to care for and arrest him because they're both orphans.....Okay so not the typical family. Delsin's brother immediately comes off to me as someone with "Disappointed Father Syndrome". His DFS constantly spurs him to criticize his brother for his mischievous ways. But in all honesty, Delsin is only making the best of his situation by learning to control and effectively use his newly gained superpowers rather than denying it and rejecting his opportunity to make a difference in his life. It seems very backwards but it's all building up to our reluctant/emerging hero.
"Okay I'll go, you stay here. And..." (Mimics) "DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING"....."I'm going to touch everything...."
Should I Spend 80$ on this?
Well for the Beanie and the Buttons that come with it, of course. All story aside, the combat is very interesting and flowing. You earn your combat abilities with great ease and there is always a clear objective. The game isn't as smart as some others, you will be seeing that typical boring tutorial to press L2 to smash better a lot, but it's forgiven when all are not available from the start. Because you gain your powers by absorbing abilities like a Shamwow, the game introduces new abilities as you yourself grow, which almost doesn't necessitate there be upgrades when you get a new power each mission. Upgrades simply make your game experience slightly unique rather than monumentally different. Side missions are simple in the open world, which is a nice refresher from the previous game, and most of them are quite fun. However, the one draw back is that all enemies, missions, etc are blips on your GPS, making it ultimately confusing. Drug busts and spray challenges are neat little combat events and a little bit of Ps4 flexing its new controller muscle by allowing you to actually shake the controller and spray it like you're actually holding a spray can. However, there are some easily seen drawbacks with the combat that I can immediately see, not in Delsin himself, but in the combat environment. In order to fight effectively you need to have smoke which you gather through your fingers from nearby smoke from explosions or "ammo crates" which are just exploded fuel. However, these come sparingly and thus it is very easy to die without maintaining a strong distance. In addition, it is quite obvious that all computer enemies you face have an auto-aim which gives little flexibility to actually avoid bullets or large concrete blasts. Let me also take a moment to question how out of all the possible superpowers a villain could have, that they chose concrete to be even the top 5......it's original I guess. The most basic combat which is basically a fiery chain is to be rarely used, while projectile heavy blasts are also shunned because they cost too much smoke.
What keeps me playing is honestly the nostalgia. The first game I truly loved the story and this one is not disappointing me yet because it's the classic story of love and super-powered revolution....well my version of a classic anyway. From the moment you see the villain, you are rallied against her and the D.U.P, which is essential if you want a gamer to essentially perform a virtual version of overthrowing governmental power. Enemies aren't so difficult that they're just impossible, you simply need to upgrade the right abilities that work for you and learn the right way to face a mass of enemies. The game does a great job of adding a little something every hour or so to add to your fun and the game allows you to go as far into it as you want to. In reality you can just appreciate the scenery, climb buildings, destroy mobile bases and collect shards and move on. It's as fun as you make it. That's the best part about open-world games, you're not limited to a linear story. You make a story....Got a little teary there...Give me a moment.
So what do You Think?
If we're Gonna Star this one (Out of 5) I'll List some Pros/Cons
Pros
Interesting Story
New Powers
Female Villain
Open World
Renewing Old Abilities
Cons
Concrete Power?
Stale/Robotic Climbing (Hover Jumping)
Unnecessary upgrades
A Second Opinion: http://www.ign.com/blogs/lavinavich/2014/03/26/infamous-second-son-impressions
Stars: 3.8/5
Shawn I think this is a very good article about Infamous 2. I was on the fence about purchasing it because I didn't play the first one. So I'll probably have to check it out. I'm really impressed about how you broke the game down and tried to give us your honest opinion about the game. You explained the combat system, a preview of what the story is about, and a little insight of what the main characters are. You're not just trying to sell it to us. From your writing I can tell this probably isn't your first blog post about video games. Keep up the good work and I hope to read more your blogs in the future.
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