Playstation 3 Exclusive: InFamous Review

InFamous was one of the most hyped Playstation 3 exclusives in the console's short history, but does it live up to expectations? InFamous is a sandbox style third person action shooter, but with a twist. You play as Cole, a bicycle delivery man who has a package explode on him destroying much of Empire City, but Cole lives and now he has powers. His powers are electrical, ranging from shooting electric streams from his hands to throwing explosive bombs to summoning lightning strikes. His powers are fueled from electricity so you must constantly recharge by sucking the energy out of anything that conducts electricity. Of course the powers are unlockable and upgradeable as you move through the game.

The game is open world, allowing you to move from side and main missions at your own pace. Side missions tend to get repetitive, but can still be exciting as you upgrade your powers. The story is probably the best part of InFamous. Instead of cut scenes the story is told in a comic book style, which is a very cool feature that varies from most games these days. The story draws you in throughout, making it difficult to put down. You also get to choose your path, hero or infamous. Both display the story in a different way and give you different unlockable powers. You'll also notice that if you make good decisions the civilians will be taking your picture, whereas if you go infamous they will throw rocks at you. Empire City really feels alive and your actions have an effect on the city. This all gives a game without multiplayer some pretty good replay value. Which side will you play first?

Cole is a pretty good looking character, but some of the other characters leave something to be desired. The city as a whole looks above average for an open world game. You'll notice some pop-ins when moving at high speeds while grinding the railroad tracks, but it's not really anything to complain about as the game never seems to slow down when there's a lot of action. There are also some missions where you go into the dark sewers and grind electrical wires, and I have to say the lighting is absolute beautiful.

In terms of movement Cole can climb anything, which adds even more space to explore and some great places to evade enemies. One problem with the climbing is that you stick to everything. If you're trying to jump down from a building it's very likely that you'll get sucked back to the building. They could have simply fixed it by having a button that when held you don't grab anything. As you move through the game you will unlock the ability to grind rails and electrical cables, which makes moving around the three islands a lot quicker. Another unlockable is static thrusters. This allows you to glide through the air allowing you to cover greater distances when moving from building tops.

You'll probably get around 12-15 hours out of your first play through if you do all side missions. There are also collectibles, 250 blast shards and 32 dead drops to find, which will add a few more hours if you enjoy Easter Egg hunting. The second play through is just as enjoyable as the first and should give you easily over 30 hours of gameplay to complete everything.

The game is not too difficult as there are an extraordinary amount of checkpoints throughout the missions. Each of the three islands consist of different enemies with different abilities. There are also some pretty exciting boss battles as well.

Pros: Story, Voice Acting, Overall Appearance, Flat Out Fun, Something Different Than Shooting Guns, Ability to Make Decisions, Replay Value

Cons: Supporting Cast Appearance, No Multiplayer, Repetitive Side Missions, No New Game+

Score: 9.5/10 -This game is almost perfect and is definitely a must own for any PS3 owner.