Reader Review: inFamous

13 responses to “Reader Review: inFamous”

1. 

   liahocho

   July 7, 2009 at 2:11 pm

   I agree with the repetition but not in game play but in sound effects. One thing that I instantly picked up as annoyance was the little variance in the Cole’s sound effects when running/walking the world. Also there is no easing from walk to run, e.g. walking >>> running fast. It was difficult to control the character.

   That said it is a good game, but it is often small things that make a good game great.

   Reply
2. 

   Garrick Bortignon

   July 7, 2009 at 2:13 pm

   Brief but good.

   Reply
3. 

   Garrick Bortignon

   July 7, 2009 at 2:18 pm

   What i was going to say before the comment rudely posted itself was…..

   One thing that does annoy me about the game is the lack of environmental change from the 3 islands.

   You can be excused from thinking they are all the same place. I think this is just a product of the world that the game is created in, but i think it could have done with a bit more variety (GTA4 style).

   One other thing i noticed while on Aldens tower is that the game mechanic for grabbing onto stuff seems a bit broken. I would just fly straight through some objects while climing up it, and getting onto ladders can be a tad painful :(. Overall, however, the climing mechanic is implemented extremely well and never once have i wished i could get into the car and drive around.

   Other than that i must say its a hell of alot of fun just going around kicking ass with powers. Some niggling little things but other than that its just good damn fun 🙂

   Reply
   1. 

      Andrew

      July 7, 2009 at 2:56 pm

      i get what your saying about the world, and maybe it could have used more variety, but honestly would it matter?, The gta world was just so huge and sluggish to get around that everyone started getting taxi rides everywhere by the time they reached the second island, that kind of rendered the variety moot.

      I get the feeling sucker punch were trying to recreate a city from a comic book in the game, the whole stylistic aspect of some of the buildings gives this away. One thing I would have liked to see was destructible environments, and not lampposts and cars, but real buildings. That may be a big ask for an open world city with practically no loading times, but we are halfway through the lifetime of the ps3, I kind of expected that stuff to already be done, hell red faction did it in 2001

      Reply
      1. 

         Camb3h

         July 7, 2009 at 4:09 pm

         I have to confess something…I only found out about the taxis after I had finished the game. =\

         I personally enjoyed crusing around the city that was what I found fun about the other GTA’s the freedom to drive along and then suddenly yell “A RAMP!”

         Reply
4. 

   Camb3h

   July 7, 2009 at 2:49 pm

   Nice review. I’m still having a great time with Infamous. I do have to agree that each island felt very similar in terms of buildings, etc, however the enemies you find on each island did give it a very different feeling.

   I would love to see a sequel of some sorts and I’m normally against sequels!

   Reply
   1. 

      Andrew

      July 7, 2009 at 3:38 pm

      I don’t want to give the ending away but the game is obviously left open for a part two and probably part three, I cant wait either, infamous is an awesome game

      Reply
5. 

   Nick

   July 7, 2009 at 2:57 pm

   The grammar in this review is terrible.

   I also disagree with many of your points – in particular, I found the morality system overdone, unconvincing and clichéd.

   Reply
   1. 

      Camb3h

      July 7, 2009 at 4:07 pm

      While the morality system was definitely binary in nature I feel that this was the purpose behind it.

      To paraphrase from Hyper Magazine’s review, the morality system makes you choose from two extremes rather than watering it down with thousands of decisions. This makes you feel more in control and more like a superhero. It works better in this scenario than it did in Bioshock as the decision is no the same everytime.

      Playing through it on both good and evil definitely gave me a different feeling when I decied to share the food or keep the food. It was a darker, meaner, feeling.

      Reply
6. 

   Scott Vandonkelaar

   July 7, 2009 at 9:42 pm

   I’m just about to finish my first run through playing the evil role. Loving it so far. I’m pretty sure I’m up to the final mission, or at least last couple, so instead of finishing up I’m running around getting the collectables and trying to get those final few stunts.

   I think what has kept my attention the most is the slow unlocking of new and very different powers. Each one distinctly gives you a different advantage in a fight, and you feel more empowered and capable with each one.

   My ONLY disappointment with the game is the lack of multi-player. It would make for a very interesting online experience and fingers crossed they add that to the next installment.

   Reply
7. 

   Luke Gardiner

   July 8, 2009 at 11:52 am

   Hey guys,
   The following is a review of inFamous I did for a local volunteer paper. Feedback would be great!

   Enjoy.

   ________________________________________

   inFamous Review.

   Sucker Punch is best known for their Sly Cooper franchise which revolves around a cartoon raccoon thieving his way around last-gen platform environments. Sucker Punch have really put themselves out of their comfort zone for their first current-gen outing. inFamous is a free roaming super-hero sim that presents an interesting (yet entirely unoriginal) twist, the choice between being a hero or infamous.

   inFamous begins in fictional “Empire City” with a mild mannered bicycle courier by the name of Nathan Cole. Unknowingly Cole is hired to deliver a mysterious bomb. In the ensuing explosion everything in a 6 block radius is flattened except for our protagonist who finds himself at the center of the blast crater with newly awakened electrical powers. Soon after the explosion a plague sweeps Empire City forcing a quarantine of the entire city. As well as the being overwhelmed by marauding army’s of gangs our hero, Cole must choose between being the hero or terror of Empire City through a Fable style “karma system”.

   inFamous plays like the Playstation 3’s late answers to Crackdown and Fable. The loose nimble play-style you find when you are navigating the vertical landscape of Empire City is very reminiscent of Xbox’s Crackdown. However Crackdown’s controls at times could be a little too floaty, you often missed ledges when bounding from rooftop to rooftop. inFamous however has solved this issue by disabling the player from being able to walk of ledges. It seems like such a small change but it solves many of the games potential issues. Essentially, you always look cool, bounding from a rooftop to sliding down a power-line, to lading on the very top of a light post in one fluid, nimble sequence of movements.

   Going hand in hand with the tight controls is an impressive animation system. Cole moves naturally and with ease, although at times the fact you’re playing a video game is too apparent, when you see a repeat of the same climbing / jumping animation for the 1000th time.

   One of the best features of inFamous is that there is always something to do. In most games, I play for a few hours, then I loose interest, watch some lost, and then play some more later. However with inFamous I found myself constantly occupied. When I wasn’t busting up gangs, or helping / terrorizing the sheepish population, one can also look for dead-drops (small audio log’s that piece together the background story) or just tear-ass around Empire City.

   This all said, inFamous has a very underwhelming first act. I found all the characters in the first act to be cliché, annoying and I found no motivation to help them whatsoever. I also found the villains in the first act contrived and the art direction was no different. However after the first act things pick up in a big way, the art direction goes from cliché to inspiring, the story paths move the characters in unexpected and interesting directions and most of all after the first chapter you actually care what happens next.

   As the game progressed and became more interesting, it also became rougher around the edges. I found the polish on the missions slowly declined, on quite a few occasions a trigger in the game wouldn’t activate or enemies would spawn right behind me. On one specific occasion I was required to follow an enemy back to their villainess base, after following them you are supposed encounter a karma moment then fight a mini boss. However despite over half a dozen attempts the karma moment never triggered, so nothing else after that in the mission would trigger. After trying and trying, I was just about ready to give up on the game when the karma moment triggers for no apparent reason.

   All in all inFamous is a definite addition to any Playstation 3 collection. The game-play is solid enough to get you through the first chapter and after that the story should drive you the rest of the way. The bugs can be easily addressed with patching and besides the uninspiring first chapter all the games issues are fixable. inFamous is defiantly an impressive first entry into the current-gen market from Sucker Punch and I eagerly await more from them. (Sly Cooper 4 coming soon!)

   Reply
8. 

   Cat Tactics

   July 8, 2009 at 3:19 pm

   holy bandidos! is this Andrew Burdusel who went to Gladesville Public?

   remember when you use to say “It’s nutty” in an english accent?

   I left at the end of year 3 to fight crime. I will reveal my true identity if you are the true Burdusel.
   PLEASE REPLY!

   Reply
   1. 

      Andrew

      July 17, 2009 at 9:41 pm

      Yes it is, who is this?

      Reply