Review: inFAMOUS – It is really not all bad

Mike Bantick
Monday, 01 June 2009 17:48

Entertainment

Eventually Cole will be bad-ass, either in a good or virtuous way, throwing energy blasts at the Dustmen, Reapers and other mutant or mechanical foes.  Or Cole can level up the dark side powers, which are similar in nature but are powered by evil Karma choices made along the way.

Cole will still need to beatup the mutant gangs along the way, but he can be headless of innocent life or limb in doing so.  Mind you, there is plenty of mindless destruction fun to be had, whilst exploring the lighter side of human nature also.

Blasting away at the semi-destructible scenery, especially automobiles is, well, a blast.  Something that doesn’t get tiring quickly and the missions augment this sense of fun and mayhem in the most part.

There are a bunch of niggles with this title, clipping issues, a couple of graphical glitches (especially with the in-game water), AI that is heavy on the “artificial”, and a little light on the “intelligence” and the biggest problem of many, many broken missions.  None are really show-stoppers, but they can be annoying from time to time.

There are times when your PS3 will freeze, and other times when you really won’t know what you are supposed to be doing.  But the general, simple fun of the game will have you come back for more.

Other reviewers have complained about elements such as the accuracy of spawning enemies, blasting away at you from half a city block away, without being able to firstly see, let alone blast back.  This becomes less of an issue the further into the game you travel; eventually you will be ignoring the ping-ping of gun fire, and only look to retaliate if some heavy fire power starts heading your way.

Then there are the chain-link fences.  Whilst Cole can parkour around the city effortlessly, leaping from the top of buildings to ground level, bounding (in fact gliding) across whole city sectors with ease, throwing lightning bolts like some sort of modern day Thor, when he is confronted by a flimsy set of chicken-wire and curl of barbed mesh, he will be stymied.

Yep, these mesh fences are Cole’s Kryptonite, he cannot blast through them, he cannot jump over them; they add a strategic element to the Empire City geography that many have complained about. 

I think they are great. 

Sure, you can actually break through the chainlink fence texture (which is a bug), but giving Cole some weaknesses to overcome is part of being a super powered human.  Even Superman needs a foil, something to take the edge of the overwhelming feeling of bad-assness that can otherwise ruin the challenge of a game.

Having said that, there are plenty of other frustrations that inFAMOUS could have done without, the stealth missions are just horrible, the stickiness of Cole’s ability to find a ledge to land on when jumping is just a little too sticky, but understandably necessary and finally the lock-on function is a little too hap-hazard.

But overall, inFAMOUS does a great job of giving players a sense of being a super-powered human, with a less than cheesy storyline, an environment not overwhelming large, plenty to do, see, explore and experience.

If you finished Terminator Salvation in under an afternoon, and are waiting for the release of Prototype , then this title will more than adequately fill the gap your itchy thumbs are craving

7.5 Ray Spheres out of 10