inFAMOUS Thoughts

I just played around 6 straight hours of inFAMOUS for the PS3 and thought it might be a good time to take a break from the action. In order to come down in a gentle fashsion from my video game high I figured the best thing I could do was inform you dear reader of how much fun you could be having with this game.

inFAMOUS hits all the sweet spots I look for in a video game. Moral choices, open world, great story, fun combat, and a forgiving continue system are all enjoyable aspects of this game.

inFAMOUS tells the story of Cole, a bike messenger who just happens to live through an apocalypse in a major metropolitan city that is modeled on New York. Cole is out of it for a few weeks after the catastrophe and when he wakes up he finds himself supercharged with the power of lightening. As the player Cole is a joy to move around the city, whether he is scaling roof tops, grinding power lines, or shimmying through the sewers he is easy to control and fun to watch.

Also of note, Cole is super powerful and gets stronger as the game goes on. Unfortunately, he needs to be because this game can be very hard. The good news is that when Cole fails to complete a mission in inFAMOUS the game puts him right back in the action. He does not have to slog all through the city in an effort to get back to the start of the mission that was just botched and that is something the player will learn to appreciate.

At this point I’m about 10 hours into the game total and I’d say I’m a little less than halfway done. The story is still a bit of a mystery but I am enjoying the ride. The narrative is not exactly told to the player, in fact, it happens as you are playing for the most part. Through Cole’s push to talk cell phone (which for some reason survived the disaster) he communicates with an FBI agent, his best friend, the remaining police officers, and his ex-girlfriend and they all do a great job teasing out the story bit by bit.

The only thing that limits what Cole can do in the city are the rival gangs of super mutant drug dealers who were able to take over the city in the post apocalyptic environment. While Cole can easily dispatch one or two at a time they can start to swarm pretty quickly and then he’s in trouble. Enemies shoot at Cole from roof tops, behind cover, and at street level and none of them are willing to stand around while Cole electrocutes them.

My only complaint so far is that it is hard to stay on the moral path in this game. While making the “good choice” is usually straightforward, civilians tend to get killed by Cole very easily considering he is a human transformer (the electric kind, not the more than meets the eye kind). If Cole gets wet he gets hurt, if Cole runs through a puddle and another person is also in the puddle, Cole electrocutes that person to death. Cole can also bring people back to life bearing in mind that he is in fact a walking AED, so for everyone he kills he tries to bring a few back, but the cosmic scales are most likely tipped against him.

I’ll check in again with inFAMOUS after I beat the game but right now it is ranking as some of the most fun I’ve had with the PS3. inFAMOUS is rated “M” for mature and is exclusive to the Playstation 3.