If there was a time where you were torn between right and wrong, what would be your course of action? I have to admit, I struggle with these feelings almost every day when it comes to how people act in this world we live in. In the case of Cole MacGrath, being a hero has a lot of ups and downs. I welcome you to Infamous 2 with the same choices, but with upgraded powers, new enemies and dealing with your nemesis The Beast. I would suggest putting on some non-conductive attire because this review will shock you something fierce!
Infamous 2 continues where you left off in the first game, you have to save a group of civilians from something that’s attacking the city. In this first part of the story you see The Beast of pure energy being drawn to you and it is your responsibility to take this destructive force down or be killed by it. In Infamous 2, the enemies are a lot tougher but less scary than the previous title. This time around Cole has more allies. It is time to get into gear to learn about your new abilities and melee combat elements. The cool part is, depending on what you did in the first game, that karma can be used in Infamous 2. Which means your character can start you off good or bad.
Let’s start with the action elements and I have to tell you this game is full of action. If you played the first game then you are already ahead of the game and just need to learn the new stuff. If you didn’t it is no sweat because there is a nice tutorial in the beginning to bring you up to speed. The upgrade system is the same as the first, but now you use the quick change option to switch between how you shoot your lightening abilities. The game gives you a nice tuning fork weapon called “The Amp” which amps up your electrical melee attacks. The other new ability is your “Misc Powers”, where you can pick up objects with your electricity and toss them at enemies, like trash cans or cars. The “Iconic Powers” get an upgrade especially now that you will have ice and fire to use.
The game is a sandbox open world. You can make your own missions or find better ones to your liking. It was weird because I tried out one of the missions and was caught in a southern disco party where I had to destroy these strobe lights, it was trippy. I recommend upgrading Cole as much as possible before doing any of the user created missions. The other missions are pretty self-explanatory, you have your good/bad missions, and story missions.
The boss battles are pretty epic, even in the beginning of the game it throws you right into the flames giving you a heavy task. I have to give it up to the people at Sucker Punch because the visuals in the game are amazing and the parkour elements are very fluid. I enjoy the fact that it gives me a lot of different ideas to get the hell out of a bad situation. The environment is more of your friend with electric poles that give you a super boost up to areas, electric trolley car lines that gets you through the city as if you are freaking silver surfer, but on power lines. The game literally gives you the ability to skate on power lines, which is great to get through the areas quickly. I have to warn you though that water is still not your best friend!
There is not much I can really say bad about the game, but there are minor glitches at times where I go through the board or through a wall, however the game is kind of enough to fix itself. I definitely don’t like Cole’s new look, but that can pass that off as him being in a warmer climate and he got a gift card to The Gap; got a super cut and is now stylish. I could say that the game does get a bit boring, but it’s on you to make it entertaining. It is an open world game and with all the things that respawn with many enemies to test your new abilities on, I’d say it does stay pretty interesting.
I have to say that Infamous 2 is a great “BUY”, as an action open world single player experience, I found it very entertaining. The voice acting was not dry or corny and the story line does this game justice. I like that a little guy like Cole can take on Godzilla like monsters, because behind that new pretty boy exterior, holds a powerful electric, elemental badass! I hope you enjoyed this review and please check out Infamous 2 which is out now for the PlayStation 3 home entertainment console. I have to go people because a big bad monster is stomping through the Bayou and I need to give it the shock treatment, however please check out the gallery, also a gameplay video and stay frosty gamers!
