My First Impressions of inFAMOUS

Yesterday my friend picked up a copy of inFAMOUS for his PS3. This game is one that I saw when it first started ramping up the media buzz and thought “I’d almost buy a PS3 for that”. I’ve taken notice of the many favourable reviews out there for the game, but I’ve also noticed some solid criticism pointing out the game’s shortcomings both at Penny-Arcade and Listen Up!. I was glad to have a chance to take a look at things for myself. I should plainly state that this is not a review of the whole game. It’s my first impressions after a few hours, both playing myself and watching my friend play.

inFAMOUS is not terribly new in terms of superhero games. You explore a sandbox of a metropolitan city with a variety of variations on a specific skill set. The city is populated with civilians who will either cheer or loath you as you pass and gangs of bad guys for you to fight. You start your quests at specific points when you choose. You’re also able to traverse the environment in a unique way. In this case, the main character doesn’t so much use parkour as he scales walls by frequent jumping. Try as I might, I wasn’t able to get this movement to look fluid rather than a series of double jumps. You also upgrade your character by levelling up after fights and by collecting hidden icons throughout the city. The story follows Cole, an unlikely hero given super powers through an explosion that killed everyone else it touched. You know, the standard fare.

There are moral choices which shape the game, but these are obvious and binary. You are able to unlock certain powers only if you’re good or evil, and the people do react differently to you depending on your alignment. Ultimately, however, the game pretty much asks you to play it twice to get the full experience.

The graphics of the game are quite nice. I didn’t find them exceptionally astounding compared to what I’ve seen in other sandbox games, but it does look nice. The lightning looks similar to the effect in Bioshock, which is to say damn cool. The story is told not through cut scenes, but rather comic-esque stills with voice-over narration. I never really get tired of seeing comic presentation in games, and I think that using this technique definitely asserted the superhero quality of the game.

Where inFAMOUS really seemed unique to me was the combat. While I didn’t get a chance to try more than the first few attacks, I found the basic moves nothing special in them selves. In fact, I would say that many of the effects could/have been done in games such as Spider-Man: Web of Shadows and even Hulk: Ultimate Destruction. What is unique is the use of a cover system. You see, Cole isn’t like most superheroes. He’s quite susceptible to bullets, which means that if you decide to stand still and aim your lightning over his shoulder, you’ll quickly die. Instead, the game allows you to crouch behind fans, crates, and barricades while you line up your shot, then Cole will pop his head up to take the shot on command. While this system isn’t perfect (the AI have a tendency not to adapt for your use of cover), it is fresh, and something I’d like to see with some of my classic favourite characters (Captain America and his shield anyone?).

Since inFAMOUS is being released really close to Prototype, there have been a lot of critics trying to compare the two games. That’s the analysis which dominates the discussion on Listen Up. However, since Prototype isn’t out yet, I remain unable to make such comparisons, though rest assured I will be picking up Prototype for my 360. The game which I do wish to compare, with both other games, is Spider-man: Web of Shadows. It’s clear to me that all three games share many similarities, but I admit that I really didn’t feel inFAMOUS was exceptionally different from the game that came out back in November. Both games have tons of collectable icons throughout the open world which upgrade your character. The moral system in WoS was better implemented, in my opinion. While your actions resolving small incidents, such as a mugging, in inFAMOUS may affect you alignment, it’s not clear saying so. In WoS, however, the HUD displayed every incidence of moral choice. Oh, and WoS allowed you access to all the abilities at the same time, meaning you were either good or bad because of how you used the powers, not because of which powers you used.

Don’t get me wrong: I quite enjoyed playing inFAMOUS, and if I owned a PS3 I would definitely purchase a copy. That being said, I didn’t find it to be a game that was entirely different from anything I could get for my current console. The combat was good, but the rest of the game, the environment, the characters, the narrative, was so derivative and predictable to me that it just doesn’t move me to take the plunge. If you’re into superhero games and you own a PS3, I’d definitely recommend you pick this up, but if you don’t own a PS3, you shouldn’t loose any sleep over it.

Next week I get to pick apart E3. Whoot!