
	Platform Playstation 3 Genre Action Publisher SCEA Developer Sucker Punch Productions ESRB T (Teen) Released June 7, 2011

- Amazing graphics and sound - User Generated Content provides virtually unlimited replay value - Refined gameplay elements make it better than the original

- Combat shines in certain environments, frustrating in others - Pacing could have used some refinement - It’s not Sly Cooper 4

Review: inFamous (PS3) Review: Prototype (360) Review: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (PS3)
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inFamous 2

Score: 8.5 / 10

It is really hard to write a review for a game without bias. In fact, it’s impossible if you have been playing games for a long time like I have. Of course, you want to read reviews from people like me because we have the experience to know what a good game is versus what is just a mediocre game.

My bias stems from my love of the developer. Sucker Punch wowed me with its first release – Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus in 2002. I played that game to the

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end, and each of the two sequels that followed it. I loved those games and so when I heard Sucker Punch was (unsurprisingly) coming to the Playstation 3, I was excited. I am not sure what instruction booklet developers read from that says the “kiddie” games need to grow into the “adult” games but it seems like they all did. Naughty Dog went from Jak and Daxter to Uncharted. Insomniac

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started to leave Ratchet behind (although they thankfully brought him back) for Resistance. Sucker Punch dropped Sly for Cole. Each move these developers have made has left a slight twang of heartache for me in their wake, and I was hoping this time it would be different.

I have to be honest. I played the first inFamous and after about three hours I was done. I was not excited, or even “electrified”. I was, quite frankly, disappointed. I was bored. The missions seemed to be repeats of the last and I missed the structure of a more linear game. Yeah, that’s right. I admit it – I missed not having my freedom. I never thought I would say those words. Yet here we are.

The good news about inFamous 2 is that it’s been awhile since I played the first one and I promised myself I would look at this one with fresh eyes and no preconceived notion that I would be bored right away or any of that. At the end of the day, I like the look and feel of the game and I’m much happier with the sequel.

This time around, as Cole you find yourself starting the game with all of your powers and very early on you face the Beast (from the end of the last game). Try as you might, you are just not strong enough and so you fail – causing you to focus on honing and improving your powers so you can face the Beast – and win. The game plays and feels much like the original (in all the good ways) and there are obvious improvements to the scale. The engine that drives the game shows vast improvement in draw distance and the level of detail it can render. Some of the scenes, quite frankly, are breathtaking.

The game brings back the idea of making moral decisions about who you rescue and how that affects the outcome. Overall, it means you are likely going to want to play the game twice just to see what happens because there are two very different endings to the game to reward you if you do.

Another great addition to the game is the inclusion of UGC or User Generated Content. Essentially you can create your own missions and share them with others. You can earn extra experience points and rate the missions, which allows only the best of the best to rise to the top to be seen by others. The content out there already is amazing and is just going to get better.

Bottom line? If you liked the original, there’s nothing here you won’t fall back in love with. It’s a true sequel in the sense that it builds upon what was great in the original and fixes up some of the bad. For those that weren’t exactly excited with the first one, I urge you (as I did) to give this one a try. You just might be shocked at how much you like it (sorry for the bad pun).

- Syd Bolton

(September 21, 2011)

Syd Bolton surrounds himself in thousands of classic video games as Canada’s top video game collector at the Personal Computer Museum (http://www.pcmuseum.ca) in Brantford, Ontario, Canada.