inFamous - review

inFamous is a third-person action-adventure set in Empire City, a New York-style metropolis that is decimated by an explosion in the opening cut scene. This being a videogame, that explosion gives the central character (a courier who was carrying the package that caused the explosion) super electrical powers.

The plot is, frankly, ridiculous and incomprehensible. There's a conspiracy (of course), a secret society (surely not?), a super-powerful weapon that various parties are after (Tolkien has a lot to answer for) and healthy amounts of duplicity (not exactly unexpected). In the final cut scene one of the characters still standing says something along the lines of 'finally I understood' - I wish he or she (no spoilers here) could have shared that knowledge with me!

But to be honest it doesn't matter. In some games, the plot enhances the game (Bioshock) and in some they seem bolted on (Resident Evil 5). inFamous is in the latter camp but I doubt that I would have enjoyed it any more than I did (which was a fair amount), had it been set in Rapture and populated with characters that I cared about.

The game is all about the superpowers. As I have said, they're electricity-based but they are essentially The Force. Force Push is there, as is Force Lightning and the ability to jump around in a superhuman fashion. No lightsabers (the Force is strong in Lucasfilm's lawyers, after all) but this is as good a rendition of Force powers this side of the next KOTOR game. And, in my eyes, there isn't much that couldn't be made better with an injection of the good bits of Star Wars (George Lucas please note).

To recharge these powers, you have to regularly (read: continually) drain electricity from the City - street lamps, generators, power lines, train tracks, cars, even people (if you're evil, that is). This recharge also restores health, which can be handy (if a bit tricky under fire) in the heat of the battle.

As I posted a couple of weeks ago, there are basic good/evil (Light and Dark, if you will) choices to be made. There are also 'good' and 'bad' side missions to undertake, the completion of one locking out the opposing mission in that area. Completion of a set number of these missions unlocks further powers.

Unusually for me I was seduced by the power of the Dark Side. I haven't played the game as a Boy Scout (nor will I) so I don't know what differences there are between the two ways but the effects of the Dark path are as you'd expect. You start to look a bit 'grr', your electrical powers are an evil shade of red (from the menu screen, I noted those that take the path to the Light Side get blue-white virtuous sparks. Each to their own) and, when you get particularly Sith-like, the populace of Empire City start throwing rocks at you like you were Thierry Henry at a Dubliners concert.

Rocks aside, I think playing 'evil' makes the game easier. A fair amount of the game can be completed by mashing the Force Push button, scattering cars, street furniture, petrol stations etc at the bad guys. Unfortunately, that leads to quite a bit of collateral damage to the locals, which ups your evil gauge but you get through the set pieces and ambushes reasonably unscathed. You can't make an omelette without breaking eggs though, right? Presumably that tactic, used indiscriminately, wouldn't work with the Light path.

As with Crackdown, the Xbox 360 exclusive that this game most resembles (though it is not as good), your powers increase as you amass the experience gained from offing bad guys and completing missions. And this is where a lot of the fun comes from - when your powers are maxed out, particularly Force Push (as you can tell, a favourite of mine) you can do a lot of damage. Pin wheeling a car by Force Push (it's actually called Shockwave - I just looked it up) into a petrol station and having it explode is most satisfying.

Graphically, it's a mixed bag. Sometimes it's superlative, other times it's glitchy, occasionally letting you fall through, or get caught up in, the scenery. One aspect it does do very well though, is height. I'm scared of heights - when I went to New York, I didn't go above the 2nd floor (3rd if you're American) of any building (Statue of Liberty excepted and that gave me the heebies). Even with this fear - or maybe because of it - I love vertiginous videogames. Several times, when climbing Empire City's taller buildings, clinging to twisted girders or flickering signage, I felt an involuntary twinge of fear - a 'wuh!' moment - and that is testament to how well height (and climbing) was used by the developers.

The story path is fairly linear but there are plenty of experience-boosting side missions for you to undertake. They can get a bit repetitive and I doubt that I completed more than half of the side missions in the game, even though there were advatages to their completion. As you complete side missions, zones of the island become free of bad guys, which in turn makes getting around - there is a lot of backtracking - easier, as there are less people taking pot shots at you. Not enough of an advantage to keep me interested though. And without bad guys, who would I Force Push?

Overall, it's a fun game, if a bit shallow and rough around the edges. I also thought it outstayed its welcome by a few hours and could have been shortened (certainly it didn't interest me enough to want to play it via the 'good' path).