If he want guns why not play GTA or Saint's Row. That is just stupid really and for crying out loud, haven't we have a lot of games have guns lately. MGS have guns, GeOW have guns, VC have guns, Killzone have guns and the list goes on and on.

GAMEDAILY 9/10

Level7:9/10

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/reviews/2009/05/infamous-review.ars

A man afraid to run away: Ars reviews inFamous

The demo was good, and the full game is a powerful experience in what it is to be a hero, or a villain. With strong characters, beautiful graphics, and a good selection of things to do and see, this is one of the best open world titles in recent memory.

In many ways, Cole MacGrath, the protagonist of Sony and Sucker Punch's latest title, follows the Spider-Man model of being a superhero. You have to have amazing powers, and the people have to hate you for it. To be fair, at the beginning of inFamous, the people have a good reason to hate you. You see, the city has been reduced to piles of rubble by the explosion of a bomb. Untold numbers of people are dead. The government has quarantined the area. The police are outgunned, and the gangs control the streets with very little to fear.

So why are you stuck in the middle? Simple. You delivered the bomb.

Things aren't that simple though: Cole also survived the blast, even though he was literally on top of it. After waking up, bruised, bloody, and near death, bad things start to happen to things around him. Somehow, Cole now has the ability to control the power of electricity, although everyone in the city wants his blood. "Let's see the freakshow," his best friend Zeke says, asking Cole to use his power to charge the home-rigged batteries that power the rooftop hideaway they share.

Cole realizes that even if he jumps off the roof, he won't be hurt. He begins to realize that he can control what's happening to him. There is no electricity in the city. The gangs are becoming more violent. There is no help coming. As Abraham Lincoln famously said—and the game quotes—"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man, give him power."

The city is yours

Cole isn't a normal superhero. He doesn't wear tights, preferring instead to stick to his daily wear from when he was a messenger. He can't fly, although his love of urban exploring and enhanced strength give him the ability to scale walls with little problem. He's also burdened with a populace that wants him dead, a girl that won't talk to him, a friend who wants his help to get laid, and the knowledge that he may be the only one who can help stop the anarchy the city has fallen into.

The city is split into three large sections that you explore as the game moves along, each area opening up when you've completed enough story missions. As you explore the city you'll also be presented with the problem of how you want to maintain order. Do you sacrifice others for your own safety? Leave behind a man to hang? Do you use your power to heal people, or to steal their energy? Every battle becomes a tight-rope walk; you can't use your more destructive attacks without causing flipped cars and explosions, taking out innocent lives.

The game is beautiful, with a detailed, crumbling city and dark, quiet sewers to explore. Your electrical attacks cause crackling energy to spark between metal surfaces, and you can shock large groups of enemies if they're foolish enough to stand in water. Speaking of water, don't go near the stuff; it's a quick death when you can't control the power rushing from your body to the liquid. Don't worry about guns, since you can't use those either. The game explains what happened the one time Cole tries to touch a gun after the explosion: the spark from his hand ignited the gunpowder. 

Don't worry, you have plenty of attacks to discover and level up. You can send shock waves through the air, causing bodies and cars and dumpsters to fly this way and that. You can use a precision electrical strike like a sniper rife. You can throw electrical grenades that can stick to bad (or good) guys. All of these powers, outside of your standard shot and melee attacks, use electrical power. You have to recharge by finding sources of electricity and tapping them, and this also heals you. Yes, this is one of those games without a real health bar, meaning you have to look for the blood splatter on the screen to see how close to death you are. You'll want to move away from the light if things start going black and white, if you get what I mean.

You can use the experience you gain from doing story and side missions to level up your powers and reduce the damage you take, but even with your amazing powers your body is rather frail when it comes to bullets. The gangs are everywhere, and they have an annoying habit of completely covering an area with gunfire, leading to some deaths that feel a little cheaper than they should. Don't feel bad if you die... a lot.

Is this just Crackdown, revisited?

In many ways, yes, this is very reminiscent of Crackdown on the 360, but don't say that like it's a bad thing. Instead of the pristine future city of the Xbox 360 title, you have a gritty urban setting. You may not be able to jump as high as you could in Crackdown, but a few hours into the game you gain the ability to slide across power lines, grinding them like a skateboarder and building up speed.

In one memorable scene, you use your electrical power to keep a train car moving. As someone in the game points out, your power makes you a living third rail. If you don't want to wait to catch a ride with the train, you can simply ride the rail itself, sparks jumping from your body, hands out for balance. It's a thrilling way to travel, and gets you to where you're going quick and easy. You may not have webs to sling or a cape to help you fly, but you'll be moving around the city like the hero—or villain—you hope to become.

The game continually throws moral challenges your way, and while the choices are binary, the writing does a good job of making the evil choices seductive. In many ways they make sense, even if you know it will make you more of a villain. If you go bad or good, it changes your powers, it changes how you look, and it changes how people see you. Start killing innocents and the people will jeer you, throwing rocks your way. Do good things and they're cheer you or take your picture. Posters will begin to be hung in your honor, and they show either a savior or a demon, depending on the choices you make.

I hate being the bad guy in games—I never harvested a single Little Sister in my time with Bioshock—so I was delighted when I found out you could take areas of the city back from the gangs and make them safe for both yourself and the random citizens in the game. Even better, when the areas are safe, people begin to clean up and take the city back. The more you play, and the more you interact the people, the more the city will rebuild in your image, for good or ill.

I'm trying to stay away from discussing story missions, as this is a game that does best when you explore the story on your own time, but inFamous does a good job of keeping the side missions interesting. Sure, there is some repetition, but not nearly as much as was seen in the newer Spider-Man games or other open-world environments. Every now and again something novel will be thrown your way, and you'll also get the added satisfaction of making the streets safer, if you choose the good path.

Edna Mode said it best: NO CAPES!

Your powers will grow as you go into the sewers and turn the power stations back on—which is an annoying task that often includes jumping puzzles, and platforms over water. As always, water and electricity don't mix. These sections are tolerable just because you'll always gain something cool out of them, but they don't add much to the game.

Combat can also be somewhat frustrating at times, as enemies can easily overwhelm you with fire coming from every direction. This isn't a game where you can blindly attack a fortified position. Mix in gangs of similar enemies and you have some frustrating situations.

The good things far outweigh the bad, though. Attacking armored enemy trucks and finding the correct way to take them down? Thrilling. Riding on top of a bus your girl helpfully wired with a generator to fuel your attacks is likewise awesome, and an oddly touching moment. The writing and character of the game are just as good as the action, and will keep you interested in the relationships the story is built around. Normally comic-book style cut-scenes feel like a way to save money on animation, but in this case, with this subject matter, they work perfectly, and are used in exactly the right amount.

You can decide to collect glass shards to increase the amount of electricity you can hold at once, or track down the game's "dead drops," audio files attached to satellite dishes that tell their own story. Sometimes a citizen will run up to you and ask for help. It's not a mission, it won't move the game forward, so it's merely something that happens in the game. Ignore them or do something heroic; it's your choice. Merely existing in the city, and dealing with situations as they come up—screaming around the rooftops or gliding over the elevated train tracks—is a thrill. This is a superhero game with soul and gameplay to spare.

There is something about inFamous that's decidedly adult and satisfying, and not in the "OMG BOOBIES" way. This is a what-if story about a city with no hope and a man who has been taken out of his life to do something about it. An absolute must-buy.

The good

• Detailed, living city to help rebuild, or continue to destroy
• Brilliant writing and character work
• Fun superpowers
• Cut scenes set the mood of the game very well
• Much to do and explore, this isn't a game that will be over soon
• Be a hero, be a villain, it's your choice
• Fresh take on the genre, Cole is a unique and compelling hero
• Solid variety in missions
  

The bad

• The enemies can be repetitive
• Sewer sections are annoying
• Combat can get frustrating in places
  

The ugly

• We live in a world where dreck like X-Men Origins: Wolverine makes it onto the big screen, and something as good as inFamous is created in a medium barely respected for its storytelling
  

So basically this game has been well received, now at 90 on metacritic!

The demo hits tomorrow right?

The game is now 86 on Metacritic do to a swarm of ill reviews such as Eurogamer's -_-! The game needs a few 9.2+ reviews to get it back to where it should be on meta as a 9+ game.

Regardless, Infamous shall be awesome!

I'M HERE!!!!! Sorry that I'm late

Play.com- 9.5/10!!!!!

As far as I’m concerned the fat lady was bound and gagged until Sucker Punch’s first game hit the streets. Now the PS3 is officially launched. I was actually kind of dreading the day I’d finally play inFAMOUS, having thoroughly convinced myself that Sucker Punch had lost their minds the moment I laid eyes on the regular Joe that would follow in the footsteps of one of the most fun-to-control and charismatic characters to ever grace the widescreen—Sly Cooper. How do you top a suave raccoon that hangs out with a turtle and a hippopotamus? The last game in the Sly series came with custom red/blue glasses to play the special 3D levels. Do you have any idea how cool that is? How’s a guy in a motorcycle jacket that shoots electricity out of his hands supposed to compete with that? I wouldn’t care if I didn’t absolutely love everything Sucker Punch touches, but I’ve been on the bandwagon since they revolutionized physics on the N64 with Rocket Robot on Wheels.

Oh me of little faith…The moment Cole hit the ground running, after a 100-or-so-foot plunge from the building he and his buddy Zeke call home, I knew that they had done it again. I didn’t know exactly what “it” was yet, but whatever it was, it was gonna be great. First impressions are everything. Cole is super light on his feet, ultra responsive, and wiry as a cat. You immediately identify with him as a video game character. He may look like a regular Joe but his movement suggests something realistically unrealistic.

Click to see all inFamous images.

Running behind Zeke—who’s chattering like he’s overdosed on Monster Fuel—as we make our way to the city square to grab some groceries at the government food drop, people are freaking out; all the cars are crushed or gutted, and there’s trash and debris everywhere. Empire City is in total disarray. It looks like Godzilla just left town. And it’s all thanks to Cole. All we know at this point is that approximately 13 days ago somebody gave him a package to deliver that went big-bada-boom with a vengeance sending out a shock wave that gutted the city, leaving inestimable casualties (including Cole’s girlfriend’s sister) and one supercharged anti-hero in its wake. When we meet Cole he can climb like a monkey, leap from any height and land unscathed, and fire lightning bolts out of his hands 3rd person-shooter-style, no gun necessary. When he runs low on power, recharging is as easy as draining the nearest energy source—fuse boxes, cars, phone booths, generators… as long as there’s power to the grid, Cole’s like an energy sponge.

The food drop sets the stage. Once Cole climbs the tower and zaps the crates loose he’s presented with a choice; he can either zap a bystander, sending fear through the crowd so he can keep all the food for himself, Zeke, and Trish (leaving the weak to die), or let them eat their prunes and live to see another dreary day. Karma plays a big role in inFAMOUS, affecting the way Cole looks and in the way people look at Cole. At present, food or no food, they hate his guts (the propaganda machine is in full swing), so, time to go. But not before your first encounter with the Reapers— demonic hooded thugs that have taken control of the streets, killing anyone who stands in their way.

Cole wasn’t the only one affected by the blast. Reapers don’t have powers, but there’s definitely something sub-human about them.

Blue markers on the map represent primary (story) missions, and yellow depict side missions, which in this case are just as important. For every side mission you complete you reclaim a parcel of the city, crime-free, causing the people to rebuild, and if you’re being “good,” worship you. They’ll take your picture, plaster the region with your poster, and whenever someone is injured, beg you to use your Pulse Heal to revive them. I think I heard Zeke say I have a fan club… You’ll also earn valuable XP used to unlock new skills. Certain skills can only be acquired with a particular Karma rank, so Cole’s abilities reflect his demeanor. How you level up also depends on whether you’re naughty or nice. The Shockwave sends out an electromagnetic wave that can flip cars like dominos (effective relief versus marauding hordes); Overload Burst fires a bolt of electricity that chains off of conductive surfaces to fry multiple goons; Shock Grenades let you hurl a ball of exploding energy; and Thunder Drop turns Cole into a human torpedo, but affects anyone in the blast radius. Cole scales poles and scurries up sides of buildings like an anthropoid; he can zip across power lines and rails on a bolt of lightning, use his hands as boosters to hover and even channel the final thoughts of the dead.

(cont...)

By the time you cross the bridge linking the first two islands, you will be in complete and utter awe of what you’ve become, guaranteed; as long as the power’s on. Juicing Cole is a tactic unto itself. When the city goes dark you can drain injured Reapers to replenish Cole’s health with the eerily vampiric Bio-Leech, or if you’re fully charged use Arc Restrain to pin them where they lay. Tapping L3, Cole can also send out a Radar Pulse to locate any nearby energy.

So, it’s GTA on foot with super powers, right? Not even close. For the most part the missions in inFAMOUS are heated to say the least, and packed with tactical warfare, nimble acrobatics or both. The gameplay is far and away the most diverse, and altogether awe- inspiring, that exists in a single game today, open-world or otherwise. It has the precision of Sly Cooper (and the feel; if you’ve played Sly imagine that control, only better, in this world) and the look of a much smaller linear game. Infamous is textured and detailed better than the vast majority of big-budget games (name it, this beats it) and it’s simply immense vertically as well as horizontally. That said, the textures are only the beginning, the architecture itself is really the star. The animated signage simply should not exist in a playground this size, and the shapes and facades of the buildings is so varied and inspired I simply don’t have an expletive to do them justice. Each one is like a little piece of unique gameplay unto itself by design. The gameplay in infamous slaughters its competition, and believe me, you don’t need a car.

Click to see all inFamous images.

Even outside of the missions, the game is in constant motion. Crossing enemy territory to reach the next waypoint is never easy. You’re constantly using the world as a means of cover, stealth, and progression, leaping and hopping up the sides of buildings; hanging from any ledge to fire on attackers below or using the rooftops to leap, glide and hover into position or away from certain death. It’s a total rush. Reapers don’t have good AI, they have great AI. They attack in packs; some charge, some flank, some shoot from rooftops, some man turrets, some lob fire bombs…they might even arrive in trucks. Not with abandon of a typical NPC, but like they’re homed in on your beacon. It’s intense in a way I’ve never experienced. Sucker Punch are also known for their mastery of physics and once again, they’ve shown the way. There’s no question that these are the best action-game physics to date. Jump from any high perch onto a vertical pipe and you’ll begin to see what I mean. Climbing and building to building transfers are pure unbridled laugh-out-loud fun, and when you enter the sewers, well, say hello to your PS3 now. In fact, go ahead, give it a hug.

By the time you’ve taken on Sasha (one helluva French kisser) and graduated from Reapers to Dust Men (and other hulking monstrosities fashioned from junk), you’ll begin to realize the scope of what you’re into. Just prior, climb up to the top of the bridge before the engineer lowers it (once he’s safe) and think about how far we’ve come. It’s a very good time to be a gamer, even for a regular Joe.

forevercloud3000 said: Play.com- 9.5/10!!!!! As far as I’m concerned the fat lady was bound and gagged until Sucker Punch’s first game hit the streets. Now the PS3 is officially launched. I was actually kind of dreading the day I’d finally play inFAMOUS, having thoroughly convinced myself that Sucker Punch had lost their minds the moment I laid eyes on the regular Joe that would follow in the footsteps of one of the most fun-to-control and charismatic characters to ever grace the widescreen—Sly Cooper. How do you top a suave raccoon that hangs out with a turtle and a hippopotamus? The last game in the Sly series came with custom red/blue glasses to play the special 3D levels. Do you have any idea how cool that is? How’s a guy in a motorcycle jacket that shoots electricity out of his hands supposed to compete with that? I wouldn’t care if I didn’t absolutely love everything Sucker Punch touches, but I’ve been on the bandwagon since they revolutionized physics on the N64 with Rocket Robot on Wheels. Oh me of little faith…The moment Cole hit the ground running, after a 100-or-so-foot plunge from the building he and his buddy Zeke call home, I knew that they had done it again. I didn’t know exactly what “it” was yet, but whatever it was, it was gonna be great. First impressions are everything. Cole is super light on his feet, ultra responsive, and wiry as a cat. You immediately identify with him as a video game character. He may look like a regular Joe but his movement suggests something realistically unrealistic. Click to see all inFamous images. Running behind Zeke—who’s chattering like he’s overdosed on Monster Fuel—as we make our way to the city square to grab some groceries at the government food drop, people are freaking out; all the cars are crushed or gutted, and there’s trash and debris everywhere. Empire City is in total disarray. It looks like Godzilla just left town. And it’s all thanks to Cole. All we know at this point is that approximately 13 days ago somebody gave him a package to deliver that went big-bada-boom with a vengeance sending out a shock wave that gutted the city, leaving inestimable casualties (including Cole’s girlfriend’s sister) and one supercharged anti-hero in its wake. When we meet Cole he can climb like a monkey, leap from any height and land unscathed, and fire lightning bolts out of his hands 3rd person-shooter-style, no gun necessary. When he runs low on power, recharging is as easy as draining the nearest energy source—fuse boxes, cars, phone booths, generators… as long as there’s power to the grid, Cole’s like an energy sponge. The food drop sets the stage. Once Cole climbs the tower and zaps the crates loose he’s presented with a choice; he can either zap a bystander, sending fear through the crowd so he can keep all the food for himself, Zeke, and Trish (leaving the weak to die), or let them eat their prunes and live to see another dreary day. Karma plays a big role in inFAMOUS, affecting the way Cole looks and in the way people look at Cole. At present, food or no food, they hate his guts (the propaganda machine is in full swing), so, time to go. But not before your first encounter with the Reapers— demonic hooded thugs that have taken control of the streets, killing anyone who stands in their way. Cole wasn’t the only one affected by the blast. Reapers don’t have powers, but there’s definitely something sub-human about them. Blue markers on the map represent primary (story) missions, and yellow depict side missions, which in this case are just as important. For every side mission you complete you reclaim a parcel of the city, crime-free, causing the people to rebuild, and if you’re being “good,” worship you. They’ll take your picture, plaster the region with your poster, and whenever someone is injured, beg you to use your Pulse Heal to revive them. I think I heard Zeke say I have a fan club… You’ll also earn valuable XP used to unlock new skills. Certain skills can only be acquired with a particular Karma rank, so Cole’s abilities reflect his demeanor. How you level up also depends on whether you’re naughty or nice. The Shockwave sends out an electromagnetic wave that can flip cars like dominos (effective relief versus marauding hordes); Overload Burst fires a bolt of electricity that chains off of conductive surfaces to fry multiple goons; Shock Grenades let you hurl a ball of exploding energy; and Thunder Drop turns Cole into a human torpedo, but affects anyone in the blast radius. Cole scales poles and scurries up sides of buildings like an anthropoid; he can zip across power lines and rails on a bolt of lightning, use his hands as boosters to hover and even channel the final thoughts of the dead. (cont...) By the time you cross the bridge linking the first two islands, you will be in complete and utter awe of what you’ve become, guaranteed; as long as the power’s on. Juicing Cole is a tactic unto itself. When the city goes dark you can drain injured Reapers to replenish Cole’s health with the eerily vampiric Bio-Leech, or if you’re fully charged use Arc Restrain to pin them where they lay. Tapping L3, Cole can also send out a Radar Pulse to locate any nearby energy. So, it’s GTA on foot with super powers, right? Not even close. For the most part the missions in inFAMOUS are heated to say the least, and packed with tactical warfare, nimble acrobatics or both. The gameplay is far and away the most diverse, and altogether awe- inspiring, that exists in a single game today, open-world or otherwise. It has the precision of Sly Cooper (and the feel; if you’ve played Sly imagine that control, only better, in this world) and the look of a much smaller linear game. Infamous is textured and detailed better than the vast majority of big-budget games (name it, this beats it) and it’s simply immense vertically as well as horizontally. That said, the textures are only the beginning, the architecture itself is really the star. The animated signage simply should not exist in a playground this size, and the shapes and facades of the buildings is so varied and inspired I simply don’t have an expletive to do them justice. Each one is like a little piece of unique gameplay unto itself by design. The gameplay in infamous slaughters its competition, and believe me, you don’t need a car. Click to see all inFamous images. Even outside of the missions, the game is in constant motion. Crossing enemy territory to reach the next waypoint is never easy. You’re constantly using the world as a means of cover, stealth, and progression, leaping and hopping up the sides of buildings; hanging from any ledge to fire on attackers below or using the rooftops to leap, glide and hover into position or away from certain death. It’s a total rush. Reapers don’t have good AI, they have great AI. They attack in packs; some charge, some flank, some shoot from rooftops, some man turrets, some lob fire bombs…they might even arrive in trucks. Not with abandon of a typical NPC, but like they’re homed in on your beacon. It’s intense in a way I’ve never experienced. Sucker Punch are also known for their mastery of physics and once again, they’ve shown the way. There’s no question that these are the best action-game physics to date. Jump from any high perch onto a vertical pipe and you’ll begin to see what I mean. Climbing and building to building transfers are pure unbridled laugh-out-loud fun, and when you enter the sewers, well, say hello to your PS3 now. In fact, go ahead, give it a hug. By the time you’ve taken on Sasha (one helluva French kisser) and graduated from Reapers to Dust Men (and other hulking monstrosities fashioned from junk), you’ll begin to realize the scope of what you’re into. Just prior, climb up to the top of the bridge before the engineer lowers it (once he’s safe) and think about how far we’ve come. It’s a very good time to be a gamer, even for a regular Joe. score 9.5 out of ten verdict inFAMOUS is now in the running for my number-one favorite game (how can this and Bionic Commando hit in the same year, let alone month?) and it doesn’t star a creature or a heroine. Hell must be frozen over. Sorry Sadam and Mr. Devil!

FUCK YEAH!!!!!!!