Infamous 2 Review

excellent
key review info
  • Game: Infamous 2
  • Platform: Playstation 3
  • Show system requirements
  • Gamepad support: N/a
  • Reviewed on:
Infamous 2 is a great game

The original Infamous surprised a lot of people with its open world, intriguing story and unique, electricity-based powers wielded by its protagonist, Cole MacGrath. Now, with the sequel, its developer, Sucker Punch, promises to improve on all of the aspects of its predecessor, as well as upgrade the arsenal of powers that can be used by Cole.

With an even larger world, in the form of the city of New Marais, new moral choice options dictated by two female characters, Kuo and Nix, as well as plenty of brand new enemies for Cole to defeat, Infamous 2 definitely seems like a bigger and better version of the first game.

So, did Infamous 2 manage to get the juices flowing once more or should this superhero (or supervillain) open world simulator get shocked to a crisp? Let’s find out.

Story Infamous 2 continues the story of Cole MacGrath right after the events in the first game, which left him wanting purpose to his life after deciding the fate of his native Empire City. He now has just one goal, to become even more powerful, in order to defeat a brand new menace known only as the Beast.

After a failed encounter with this much more powerful entity during the opening of the game, he, alongside his longtime friend Zeke, flee to New Marais, a city in the Southern US, inspired heavily by New Orleans with inhabitants that know how to party but are still suffering from cruel leaders as well as an old flood that left a big part of the city under water and in ruins.

Infamous 2, just like the first game, amps up moral choices, allowing players to choose if they want to wield the powers of Cole MacGrath for their own selfish needs or focus on trying to make the world a better place. The first game allowed for some chances to make these choices, especially during crucial moments, but the second game adds lots of new things that can be done and opportunities to highlight Cole’s humane or inhumane side.

In Infamous 2, Cole will meet two unique female characters, in the form of Kuo, a former NSA agent, now a super-powered “Conduit,” just like Cole, and Nix, a native of New Marais that got her unique powers after cruel experiments done to her and her family. These two women will offer Cole special ways to handle key plot events, and in doing so, decide the fate of New Marais and how he will take down the Beast.

While the moral choice system is executed in a better way, with plenty of new choices to be had, the game still kind of forces you to play either all good or all evil, by locking upgrades for your powers behind certain good or bad karmic quotas. The game does detect save games from the first Infamous, and, depending on your actions, will reflect and reference key choices throughout parts of its campaign.

There are a few nice twists and turns along the way, especially towards the end, and even if the second act feels a bit weird, partly because of the boring location, in a flooded part of New Marais, the ending amps up the challenge and the reward.

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Cole's back ...
... with new friends

Gameplay

Cole MacGrath is definitely a unique superhero (or villain, depending on your choice) and Sucker Punch makes the right decision to let you keep most of the powers you got from the first game, while offering plenty of upgrades for them, as well as quite a few new tricks concerning electricity.

Over the course of the campaign, you also get a chance to earn new powers relating to fire or ice, which make a pretty smooth transition into Cole’s arsenal. Devastating area of effect attacks like Ionic Vortexes are now available, which are extremely fun to deploy and help you quickly deal with the hordes of enemies coming towards Cole.

You also get a chance to upgrade mainstays like the lightning bolt, shock grenades or homing missiles with new varieties, which can be unlocked either by story progression or by executing special tricks like nailing head shocks, kicking enemies off buildings and so on.

You can freely swap between these powers in the game by pressing left on the D-Pad of the PS3 controller, and this allows Cole to dole out a pretty diverse cocktail of punishment for his unlucky enemies.

Speaking of enemies, they are a bit smarter this time around, and are split into three distinct factions with unique abilities and strengths, not just different types of crazy hobos like in the first game. You have the Militia, your ordinary thugs with guns. Then there are the swamp monsters, which prefer to move near Cole and dole out annoying melee attacks that usually see him be pushed into the water, which almost certainly results in instant death. And last but not least, there are some very special ice-powered mercenaries that are extremely resistant to damage and can easily jump from the immediate location and fire shots off from a safe distance into Cole.

The rest of the game is pretty much the same, with Cole being able to swiftly navigate his urban environment through a combination of parkour and special powers like the static thrusters or by grinding on power cables or tram lines, which replace the train tracks from Empire City. While the building climbing isn’t as smooth as in Assassin’s Creed, for example, and Cole is a quite sticky in regards to many surfaces or objects, it’s pretty fast and doesn’t slow down the actual gameplay all that much.

Sucker Punch did upgrade the melee combat, as Cole can now wield a special weapon called the Amp, basically a large tuning fork, which allows him to build up energy while attacking and then unleash it with devastating Ultra moves that eliminate enemies in a single, impressively choreographed movement.

Sadly, seeing as how Cole’s main attack remains his trusty lightning bolt, aiming is once again a bit tricky, and perhaps the developer should have implemented a small auto-aim option in order to really simplify taking down enemies from afar, and not just see your bolts narrowly miss them while their bullets or other attacks always find their way towards your character.

Mission variety has been increased this time around, as there are different types of quests that can be completed by Cole, not just story ones but also karmic events, like stopping muggings, taking down police officers or beating street musicians, as well as side missions, which help lower the enemy influence in different parts of the city, reducing the chances you’ll encounter them while free roaming.

But while Infamous 2 has 40 story missions and even more side missions, the team at Sucker Punch decided that something else was needed, and introduced a special User Generated Content component into the game.

Basically, this is like LittleBigPlanet on steroids, with less cuddly creatures and more blood thirsty enemies. You can select the locations of the missions, the sorts of enemies that will be met by Cole, what powers he can use, what props should be present and so on and so forth.

If you want to know every part of the UGC in Infamous 2 , then be prepared to spend quite a lot of time messing around with the huge variety of options that can be used by those that have their own ideas about how missions in the actual game should go.

Sucker Punch added quite a few unique UGC missions on the map of the game, which can be accessed if you’re playing Infamous 2 while connected to the PlayStation Network. You can engage them just like regular missions, experience what they have to offer and then rate them for others to see. Some are quite fun, including a sort of 8-bit animation of another Sucker Punch creation, Sly Cooper, but others are a bit hit or miss, with scripted events not going according to plan or objectives not being clearly established.

Still, with everyone being able to let their imagination run wild, expect lots of new missions to pop up in the city of New Marais throughout your lengthy adventures in Infamous 2. The game's main story lasts around 15-17 hours, and if you embark on completing all of the side quests or karmic moments, then be prepared to spend over 20 hours with the game, without counting the UGC missions.

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Use old powers ...
... and unleash new ones

Visuals and Sound Sucker Punch made quite a lot of improvements in terms of visuals with Infamous 2, as the game truly looks marvelous, with a rich, detailed and colorful open world. While it’s no Uncharted or God of War 3, Infamous 2 definitely ranks up there in terms of beautiful graphics on the PlayStation 3.

What’s more, the developer decided to tone down the use of comic-book cut scenes, instead using the engine of the game to render cinematics with improved facial and character animation. Cole’s powers look much better and even more impressive in the new game, while New Marais offers a more diversified world than the gloomy Empire City.

The design of the city’s inhabitants could stand to see a few more upgrades, especially when it comes to facial hair or sunglasses, but, all in all, the people Cole meets on the street are pretty detailed and won’t distract you from the actual gameplay.

Sound-wise, the game once again shines, partly with its detailed audio effects, for powers or regular combat, but also with the general soundtrack, which highlights jazz and urban songs that fit the mood of New Marais.

Voice acting is pretty well done, with Cole sounding reasonably gruff, while supporting characters like Zeke, Kuo or Nix have some pretty good dialog, even if they can get a bit campy, especially with Nix, who does her best Jamaican accent throughout the story.

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Take down regular enemies ...
... and abnormal ones

Conclusion Infamous 2 is a worthy sequel to the first game, taking most of is aspects a few steps higher, with graphics, powers and mission variety being the areas where Sucker Punch poured the most upgrade work.

While there may be a few glitches from time to time, and the lack of an aim assist feels a bit unfair, the game still delivers a polished experience.

Infamous 2 makes you feel powerful in the shoes of Cole MacGrath, who faces some serious challenges but, thanks to his wide array of powers and with the moral guidance provided by players, makes some quite interesting decisions.

Infamous 2 is now available exclusively for the PlayStation 3 as either a retail disc but also a digital download from the PlayStation Store, while a demo can be found on the marketplace of the Sony console.

story 9
gameplay 9
concept 9
graphics 9
audio 9
multiplayer 0
final rating 9
Editor's review
excellent