... I'm loving it.
*Warning: Spoilers ahead*
This game is absolutely incredible. I have yet to play Fight Night Round 4 (which I think may top this, not sure), but this is probably the most fun I've had on the PS3 out of the 2009 games (so that includes killzone 2, RE5 and SF4 briefly).
I'm about 3 hours into the game and I've unlocked powers uptil the touch powers (heal, restrain and absorb) and all my choices have been the heroic ones so far. I've also taken back around 60% of the first island from reaper control.
First off, the bad stuff:
1) There's some very minor technical issues, but they pop up frequently enough to be noted. Sometimes you'll get guys on infinite loop floating animations (happened in Mass Effect as well when you did "lift") when you do the electric push move and you get the occasional dead body lying just above the surface. It happens in all sandbox games so it's easy to forgive, but should be noted. Also, and I only noticed this with trish in particular, some characters look butt ugly because of the lighting (it gives them an un-natural skin tone), similar to virtua tennis 2009.
2) I really enjoy the comic book style cutscenes, but the transition between comic and in-game is underwhelming. You get a really stylised comic book cutscene and then it transitions into a close up of cole, who looks really plain in-game. I found that a bit disheartening because the contrast was so extreme
3) The scaling and parkour is not as fluid as AC1 (for me at least). I sometimes found ledges I couldn't latch onto when I had just attached myself to a similar ledge not too long ago and sometimes in order to scale multiple window ledges you'll need to continually tap the X button because cole will scale one window sill and then as if to show he had momentum he'd attempt to reach for the next one up but then he won't be able to and so he'll land on the window edge that you just climbed up and you'll need to jump again for him to reach the one above him.
4) Side missions don't have enough variety. Okay, I don't really mind the escorting reapers to police, or ambushing a bunch of them (who are either holding civilians hostage or are planning something or moving something) and I enjoy the following a reaper missions. But I HATE the racing ones (i've only had 1 and I'm sick of it), the find the surveillance equipment ones and the find the X item ones. I hope more side mission types open up because I'd be pretty disappointed if what I've gone through so far was it.
But to be honest, this is all very nitpicky and it won't detract from the experience (it hasn't to mine thus far).
Now the good stuff:
1) This game succeeds because it makes you feel like a BADASS. You start off as a bit of a weakling, having to run back and forth between fighting and healing, but after about an hour, once Cole starts pumping out the bolts more, the game starts to make you feel like you're a beast. The game makes you feel so powerful with the level of devastation you cause.
Not many games make you feel like you're ridiculously power without it being too easy.
2) This game is tough if you don't think about what you're doing. A few times I became overconfident and thought I was strong enough to walk into a fight and just start laying the smack down and I got whooped each time. You don't really have to think about what you're doing, but running into a battle and just blasting is going to get you killed. You have to stand back and pick off some of the near by enemies and you have to surprise them by coming from above if you want to survive. I've never felt the game has killed me through being cheap, only through my overconfidence.
Which is a very good thing.
3) The graphics. This game looks spectacular for a sandbox game. The best I have seen so far. The graphics really add to the feel that this city is alive and you can kind of feel that you're making a difference (like when you switch on a section of the city or you've put in place a medical area).
4) The story. I'm pretty intrigued, which is all you can really expect 3 hours in. I'm liking the story arc with that hallucinations boss (the "woman" that's trying to seduce cole or whatever she's doing). Those hallucination bits with the giant reapers is cool.
5) Side missions. Okay I marked this one as a negative as well, but the escorting reapers to cops, guarding a location or people from a wave of reapers and tailing the courier reaper missions are really fun. Most fun is the tailing missions, you feel ridiculously empowered when you are standing on the top of a building staring down at the reaper who's frantically looking around to see if it's being followed below.
6) Powers. The powers obviously aren't varied in the sense that they are all electrical based, but suckerpunch has come up with a few great ideas. I've found all of the ones I've acquired so far (except for the absorb ability because I'm trying to play the hero) to be useful in the right moments. Hopefully the future powers I unlock won't make my current runs obsolete.
7)Atmosphere. Like I said in graphics, the city feels alive and it really adds to the game, because it makes you feel like you're making a difference. Also the reaction of inhabitants also adds to the feeling of change as well. The city has it's own style and because of the that the game feels like it has a "soul".
8) I'm liking the "looking for shards" thing this game is doing. I hated AC's flags not because it meant absolutely nothing on the PS3 version (I had a 360 back then) but because I didn't care about the achievements. At least with Infamous, you're getting it to extend your electrical meter.
9) I LOVE the train tracks. It's very spiderman-like when peter parker saves the train full of people, but I really like how the train line basically connects the entire city. Aside from being a nifty addition, it also helps me in that I don't need to open the map all the time. All I do is look at the map, figure out which part of the train line to get on and off at and then look at the map when I reach that point. The train lines really enhance the experience in that way.
So yeah, 3 hours into InFamous and I am LOVING IT. Like I said, most fun I've had with a 2009 PS3 game all year. It's trully brilliant. I've yet to run into a the game ending bugs that some of the other users have mentioned, so hopefully I don't run into any at all.
I'm actually thinking about picking up prototype now because of this game, because the two are oftenly compared. If prototype succeeds at making you feel like a badass like Infamous does, then I'm sold.
Infamous is a truly fantastic game, I highly recommend it to anyone even thinking of picking it up.
I'll give no score because I know people will read too much into it.
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